Codex Equus / Tropes E to F

Tropes for Codex Equus
Tropes A to B (Abusive Parents, Adaptational Badass) | Tropes C to D | Tropes E to F | Tropes G to H | Tropes I To J | Tropes K To L (Laser-Guided Karma) | Tropes M To N | Tropes O To P | Tropes Q To R | Tropes S to T | Tropes U To V | Tropes W To X | Tropes Y To Z

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Codex Equus provides examples of:

E

• Earn Your Happy Ending: Many characters in the Codexverse go through varying degrees of hell before they can achieve some sort of happiness in the end.
  • After being abused by her own director, Colton Marentino, and being confined to her own trailer yet barred from quitting by her film contract, famed Griffon actress Helga Greywing was rescued by Captain Polistes and his Wild Cards crew under the guise of a kidnapping. After having the time of her life on Polistes's airship for a few days, Helga would later stage a dramatic escape (with rehearsals) and returned to Applewood to expose her director's horrible treatment of her. She is regarded as a legendary hero who was courageous enough to escape from air pirates, and her first film as director, "Bitalian Holiday", is regarded as a beloved classic by fans and critics alike.
  • After he was emotionally abused by both family and friends alike for being born "evil" since he was young, Temnobog became genuinely evil out of spite, resentment, and misery. He also developed a deep grudge towards his twin brother, Belyolen, for being the favored child and did everything he could to spite him. However, after discovering they shared a unique elemental bond and being forced to work together to resolve a crisis that was threatening the Deer pantheon, Temnobog and Belyolen discovered that because of a divine ritual, they were born two halves of a greater whole, making them elemental equals. They reconciled, and Temnobog became co-leader of the Bogolenya pantheon alongside his brother, feared and respected by divines and mortals alike as chief punisher of wicked Deer and the tester of heroes and champions.
  • Much like what happened in canon, Thorax went from a lowly Changeling drone living under the tyranny of (ex)Queen Chrysalis, to the benevolent king of her hive after usurping Chrysalis. Here in the Codexverse, however, Thorax's actions caused him to become a Royal Changeling, the equivalent of an immortal demigod in Changeling society, and purified his fellow Changelings of their racial Curse, providing an alternate explanation why their true forms look like colorful deer-beetle hybrids instead of the insectile abominations with holed legs they once were. Thorax is also regarded as a Living Legend and revered as "The Sanctified One", and has multiple allies in both Changeling Courts, the Alicorn Princesses, the Crystal Empire, and a few dragons.
  • Midnight Bell was born an Earth pony among unicorns, and because she's illegitimate (it's implied that her father's an Earth pony), her tribalist maternal relatives would've abused her, causing Diamond Bell to secretly transfer her daughter to the care of great-aunt Scarlet Bell. The inferiority complex and loneliness Midnight developed, not helped by Page Wheel's teasing, caused her to wish to become a unicorn, which backfired as she was unable to control her new magic, and her lying to keep up her facade as a magical prodigy led to Page Wheel being kidnapped and experimented on by two disgraced teachers, transforming the unicorn colt into a monster. All of that gave Midnight PTSD on top of feeling inferior. She eventually realized her affinity for plant magic and her talent in chemistry, and has received private tutoring from a Zebra in alchemy and potion-making. She also became more mature and confident thanks to Mentálne's therapy sessions, and the love and support she got from her family, to the point where she impressed a disguised Luminiferous when she rejected his offer of becoming a unicorn again. She also reconciled with Page Wheel/Crystal Prism and became his "wing pal" while he's being mentored by Luminiferous.
  • Crystal Prism was once a unicorn colt named "Page Wheel". His mother became gravely ill for a time, and after teasing his young neighbor, Midnight Bell, he was later kidnapped and experimented on by two teachers, Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker, with the intent of turning him into an Alicorn that embodied Rebirth and Change to symbolize a "new age" for Ponykind. He became a magic-eating monster instead, and rampaged across the Grittish Isles before Luminiferous and the Equestrian Princesses killed him without realizing who the monster was until it was too late. Page Wheel was saved when the absorbed magic revived/Ascended him by incubating him in a magical cocoon, but came out severely frightened and traumatized several days later. Thanks to Mentálne's therapy sessions and the support of his family and friends, Crystal Prism is gradually recovering, with him becoming a student of Luminiferous and forgiving Midnight Bell for her role in his trauma. He was also encouraged to break away from his intended role and forge his own path by benevolent individuals such as Golden Scepter and Crystal Prism's divine ancestor, Prince Crystal Clear, leading to a few heroic deeds such as helping Button Mash defeat CreepEntity513 and rescuing all of the latter's victims, and helping Katastrofa deal with his catastrophic foresight and accept his creative side.
• Easily Conquered World: Subverted. Conquering even one world - usually Equus - is portrayed as being so monumentally difficult (From things like heavy unified resistance, nightmarish logistic problems, structural weaknesses/disadvantages of the conquering faction, blind historical forces beyond anyone's control etc) that nine times out of ten they fail spectacularly and in hindsight would never had succeeded. There are those conquerors who are just that brilliant enough that they could actually pull it off, and even then it is still an immense challenge for them that they have to make enormous amounts of preparations, resources and scheming just to be able to beat the odds. Only a very few ever come close to succeeding, but one way or another the world either won't make it easy, nor would it be inclined to stay conquered under them.
• Eaten Alive: A depressingly common occurrence in the Codexverse. Ponies, Griffons and other races often end up being on the menu of many monsters and predators, some of whom are sapient like themselves, and go either messily or are simply Swallowed Whole.
  • Giants, Dragons and other large monsters are prone to this, partly justified in that their enormous size and physiology meant they can't afford to be picky in what they eat, lest they starve.
  • Astrid the Jotunn Goddess of War likes inflicting this on those who anger or annoy her. She swallows and holds them in her belly for a while as a 'Time-Out', although she could and would digest them if she wants to. She also goes around eating bandits, monsters, demons or other evil foes when not stomping/sitting on them, or chopping them up with her giant divine axe. Given Jotunns are cervine Giants who are titanic even by Giants' standards and she is a goddess of them who could change her own size at will, this is unsurprising.
  • The Gigantes giants' chief deity Terraton also eats a lot of people, to the point that he could and had devour whole countries of Tinies and even Giants, and swallow dozens of gods during Divine Conflicts. Like with Astrid, this is considered normal by Giant deities' standards.
• Eldritch Abomination:
  • The... whatever that's residing in the Cosmic Void. It's implied that it's an evil being that was sealed within the Cosmic Void because it desired the end of the entire universe, and has done so to previous worlds in the past. The Church of the Stars warns that on the day the Cycle breaks, the Cosmic Void is the only place people should never explore, since the creation of Second Age villain Void Traveler was the result of a pony wandering into it by accident, and the being inside proceeding to use said pony's body like a puppet. Queen Dazzleglow herself is trying to prepare everyone for when that day comes, but keeps her true motives a secret so the public wouldn't panic and her enemies wouldn't try destroying her. Its name is eventually revealed to be the Void Sovereign, who went after Equus/Tellus in the Second Age and was defeated/sealed by various local gods and superheroes, but at a great price to the Equusians/Tellusians themselves.
  • It turns out the Void Sovereign has a sister, named the Genesis Sovereign, who is just as eldritch to behold and powerful as him, but completely benevolent in her morality. She was the one who sent the seed that'd create the Tree of Harmony to Equus in the first place and also the creator of both the Rainbow of Light and the power held by the Seven Royals. They also have a third sibling named the Perpetuity Sovereign, who is likewise benevolent.
  • The Grand Primevals are also this, though benevolent in nature and downplayed compared to the former two, being primordial deities of such scope and power that even Emperor Blackthorn is afraid to tangle with them, and having somewhat alien mannerisms. They're also the grandchildren of the Genesis Sovereign.
  • It's speculated In-Universe that Canteros' true form is very powerful and eldritch just like his father, Amareros, and the rest of the Grand Primevals. And given how he often appears as a butterfly-themed Alicorn, his true form likely involves butterflies. However, few have lived to see it and leave with their minds and bodies intact, due to the Grand Primevals' terrifying rages and the warping effects their mere presence can have on even lesser divines.
  • Prince Varázsló became one after he and his brother were thrown into the Well of Eternity and aged unnaturally from spending an unknown time in there. In Varázsló's case, his true form vaguely resembles an Alicorn-Deer-Draconequus hybrid whose body and chimeric traits constantly distort and shift to show bits of what he had been and what he could’ve been, along with everything in-between. His butterfly wings are mirrors that show multiple future visions of the person(s) looking into them, like a crowd staring from the other side of a window. His mane and tail frequently break into sparkling orbs that show moving images of various futures and realities, both good and bad. And because he's blind, all of Varázsló's eyes in his true form are holes that, when looked into, will reveal the dark expanse of space, filling the looker(s) with an existential dread. Anyone who is not an older deity has to wear 'Perception Filter' glasses to protect themselves from insanity when interacting with Varázsló while he's in his true form.
  • The Architects, the parents of the above Sovereigns, are the straightest example. They have existed since the dawn of time, witnessing the Big Bang, and are so unfathomly massive that solar systems are miniscule in comparison. They set the very foundations of the universe and they're so alien that their 'language' is the Music of the Spheres. Fortunately, they're benevolent and love everything.
  • After reconciling with his Prophecy domain and realizing the cyclic nature of things, Moon Ray Vaughoof (now Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya) transforms into an eldritch deity for real. In his case, Moon Ray/Canticum Lunae is a cyclic god whose appearance shifts between three cycles: The Alpine Cycle, the Equus cycle, and the Silicon cycle. These cycles rotate based on the conditions of certain planes, whether astral, cosmic, or planetary. His most consistent traits are his electric guitar Cutie Mark, his purple mane and tail, his skunk stripe, a multi-layered halo, ten wings, a purple wing gradient, and (unusually) a pair of great antlers. Despite this, however, Moon Ray/Canticum Lunae defies the standard Blue-and-Orange Morality by developing a greater understanding and appreciation of all life.
    • Moon Ray/Canticum Lunae's Alpine form is a black and brown-furred Alicorn that is essentially a rotting corpse with an Alicorn's skull for a head, black antlers, and a body perpetually covered in dead/rotting plant foliage. His mane and tail are composed of dark purple Death energy depicting endings in various forms, including literal and metaphorical deaths, with the white streak in his hair flowing like the river Styx, carrying the souls of the dead. His eyes are pitch-black holes with floating white orbs that depict alternate versions of himself who died in various ways in a never-ending loop. His rotting wings have feathers made of Destruction energy and a hidden eye on the underside that show bad futures when opened. His antlers have floating arcane orbs that he can use to destroy his foes or ease one's pain. His Cutie Mark is an old, broken, and rusted electric guitar that's surrounded by decay.
    • Moon Ray/Canticum Lunae's Equus form is an Alicorn with a body made of gray clouds of various hues with dark starry 'patches' and wings made of dark space energy and bright stars, with purple nebula-like wing gradients. His 'face' contains the overlaid faces of multiple alternate versions of himself speaking as one, whether old, immortal, or young, but his true face is a mixture of water and prismatic glass in the shape of his 'normal' head. His eyes show people whole futures where their lives and certain situations happen based on their choices. His wings also have hidden eyes that show unbiased futures when opened. His mane and tail are composed of Fate energy, being rippling galaxies that break off into orbs that show various futures and realities, with the white streak in his hair turning into a white Milky Way. His antlers are also made of dark space energy and have floating arcane orbs that are used to reincarnate people or affect cycles. Fittingly, his Cutie Mark is a constellation-like outline of an electric guitar on a dark patch.
    • Moon Ray/Canticum Lunae's Silicon form is a white and brown-furred Alicorn that resembles a healthy, youthful creature with a body dotted with healthy plant foliage, white antlers, and a head that's completely flesh-and-bone. His Cutie Mark is a newly-made, polished electric guitar that's surrounded by healthy growth. His mane and tail are composed of light purple Life energy depicting beginnings in various forms, including literal and metaphorical births, with the white streak in his hair flowing like a nourshing waterfall. His wings are healthy and white, with light purple gradients and hidden eyes that show good futures when opened. His antlers have floating arcane orbs that are used to grow, create, and heal. His eyes depict various alternate versions of himself being born to different lives in a never-ending loop.
  • Caelum Filum, Moon Ray/Canticum Lunae's corrupted form, is the result of him consuming a divine drug Joyous Freedom made as part of a collaboration with one of Pokhot's daughters, and then transforming by complete accident. Caelum's eldritch nature causes him to warp the lands around him just through his mere presence, and even his domains are warped, with his precognitive powers being vastly expanded to the point where he became immersed within the threads of fate.
  • While she has stunningly beautiful Pony and Alicorn forms, Silk Dawn's true form is that of a massive, glowing peacock-like entity made of light with multiple eyes all over her form.
  • After overpowering and assimilating Ymlezt'xix, an Abyssal One, Dr. Endless Dreams became an entity that vaguely resembles a Pony mare, but is distorted as if one is looking at her through the twilight of a dream, her body appearing to exist in physical reality, the dream realm, and several adjacent dimensions simultaneously. She also possesses numerous tentacles emerging from her back in a manner resembling an Alicorn's wings, no visible mouth, and eyes that display an endless loop of herself looking back when looked at. She also possesses a strange mindset and all kinds of eldritch powers as a consequence of the assimilation, but despite everything, she's still a benevolent mare at heart.
  • The Abyssal Ones are lovecraftian gods predating most life on Equus with magic powered by incomprehnsible Dark Mana (the Dark Matter counterpart of mana), and madding appearances with Blue-and-Orange Morality that makes understanding them impossible. They are the pantheon of the Oceanaiads, the Sirens' species. They awakened during the Third Age, ending with a mass awakening towards the end. They were ultimately all defeated, and by modern day are nearly extinct, with the only known pure blooded survivor being Kthoryu, the Abyssal Queen. Fortunately, thanks to a Fusion Dance with the mortal, repentant Oceanaiad named Deep Song, she gained insight into mortal morality and made a Heel–Face Turn.
• Elvis Lives:
  • A prominent example with Blue Suede Heartstrings, known as "the King of Music". Being based on Elvis Presley, Blue's life has been more or less an exact parallel to Elvis' up until he recorded the song "(You're the) Devil in Disguise", at which point he considered quitting performing music altogether due to both the deaths of his parents (especially his beloved mother) and his general disillusionment with the music/movie industry. Luminiferous found him while he was despairing, and the encounter led to Blue quitting his job and performing on his own terms, leading to not only his survival, but his Ascension to godhood.
    • Hilariously, the fact that Blue Suede suddenly "disappeared" after holding a farewell concert for his fans has led to In-Universe rumors and conspiracy theories that he actually died and was ushered into the afterlife by Malus Manes. Needless to say, Malus Manes himself wasn't very amused.
      Malus Manes: I don't care what it says, I never laid a hoof on him.
  • Subverted with Bossa Nova Heartstrings. He's based on Jesse Garon Presley, the stillborn older identical twin brother of Elvis Presley, so like his real-life counterpart, Bossa Nova came out stillborn while his younger brother, Blue Suede, survived. However, unlike Jesse Presley, he's raised by a Death god, allowing him to 'grow up' and play a more active role in his brother's life, which kicks off a series of events that leads to both of them Ascending to godhood. That being said, Bossa Nova becoming a Death god means that his very nature ties him to the Heaven/Hell-Realms he now watches over, so in a way he's still 'dead', though it still doesn't stop him from being active in the mortal planes, especially if it means protecting his little brother from harm.
  • Subverted with Moon Ray Vaughoof. He still died from a helicopter crash like Stevie Ray Vaughan did, but he slowly came to terms with it, leading to him becoming an Alicorn. Unfortunately, he became a Death god, which technically still makes him 'dead' as his nature ties him to the afterlife realms he now looks after. He didn't visit his loved ones until after they died because of this, only relenting with the now-Ascended Healing Song just to give him some closure. This didn't stop people from spreading In-Universe rumors about him surviving his fateful accident, with one rumor claiming Mag'ne herself took him with her because she needed a guitar teacher. He and Sunny Field would poke fun at this during an interview with Codex Equus researchers three Ages later.
    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.
    • It's later zigzagged - after permanently transforming into an Eldritch Abomination following the 'Cosmic Prophet Debacle', Moon Ray turns into a cyclic god who by nature shifts through three cycles: The Alpine cycle, the Equus cycle, and the Silicon cycle. Depending on the condition of certain planes, each cycle turns him into something living, dead, or something in-between for a certain amount of time. This represents his realization and acceptance of the cyclic nature of all things.
  • Unlike Jeff Healey, who died of terminal cancer in his forties, Prince Healing Song was saved by a last-minute Ascension thanks to a disguised Luminiferous providing the "Spark" needed while on his deathbed. Tragically, while being immortal allowed him to do everything he wanted to do, it also means he would outlive his own bandmates instead. Fortunately, Healing Song would end up reuniting with said bandmates in the Fourth Age after the latter (Steel String and Tempo Groove) chose to become Angels.
• Emotion Eater: Equus is home to a large number of these, in addition to the canon ones like the Changelings. They're known as Emotivores.
  • Boogeymares feed off of fear, normally by scaring foals with their Master of Illusion powers. Dreadmares are much stronger and more dangerous.
  • Heart Flyers are butterflies that each feed off of different emotions based on their color and can invoke them in others by touch.
  • Laughing Lilies are plants that feed off joy and laughter, which they get through tickling.
  • Prism Racers feed off exhilaration and excitement, which they get through stunt displays, racing sports pegasi and griffons, or giving ponies flights on their backs.
  • Accusers feed off of self-righteousness and indignation.
  • Glory Hounds feed off of pride, which they get by 'whispering' into the ears of ponies telepathically and stroking their egos. However, they can feed off of positive pride rather than hubris and are beneficial if tamed, as shown with Sunny, a domesticated Glory Hound who serves as a medical/therapy pet for Blue Suede Heartstrings/Prince Caerulus Melodia Equestria.
  • Browbeaters feed off self-hatred and despair, hence their name.
  • Mourning Glories feed off sorrow, mourning, and the aspects of the grieving process. Despite this, they're actually benign and a well-liked plant.
  • Temper Trolls feed off hatred, rage, aggression, and violence. This makes them quite dangerous, as their Healing Factor makes them virtually Nigh-Invulnerable to most forms of attack, though their Achilles' Heel is fighting defensively rather than pushing the offense, which weakens them quickly.
• The Empath: All over the place, and it is considered part of the standard Psychic Powers in the Codexverse. Not only do mortals have it, but several deities have this power, too, especially if their concepts involve Love, Diplomacy, Empathy, or something similar. This ends up being discussed when Prince Sparkling Wing notices the huge abundance of people with empathic powers.
  Prince Sparkling Wing: I've noticed something... I think we have too many empaths on this planet.
  Emperor Golden Scepter: Perhaps... but should there come a time where hatred, paranoia, violence, and suffering are most prevalent, then empathy might be the best and most powerful weapon we have.
• The Empire: Countless empires of ponies and other races had come and gone as civilizations rose and fell across 45,000 years of Known History, though how successful they were depended on the effectiveness of their rulers.
  • Equestria became one between its founding and its collapse at beginning of the five centuries long 'Age of Chaos', which at its height ruled much of the known world. Two of its three biggest successor states - the Crystal Empire and the Empire of Trot - are also this, until a string of failures and indulgence in flaws like pride, pettiness, and hedonism reduced them to little more than shells of their former selves.
  • The Empire of Zinari is an empire built by Zebras, based on the Empire of Mali. Not only is it magically powerful, building a Portal Network that allowed them to possess territories beyond Zebrica, it was also absurdly rich, to the point that enough treasure to buy kingdoms is considered 'pocket-change' to them. Queen Parabola from Issue 32 of the MLP Friends Forever comic was its ruler at its height before she suddenly disappeared. After that, everything went downhill for the empire, with many Zebra looking back on the era with fond nostalgia.
  • Subverted with the Terran Empire. Despite its name, it's actually a pretty benevolent one, especially when compared to the Imperium of Ponykind, which became a Wretched Hive largely due to Golden Scepter's then-tyrannical influence and mistakes. Notably, the Absolute Xenophobe behavior is absent, resulting in a happy and harmonious environment where Ponies are encouraged to live in peace with their non-Pony neighbors. And while the Terran Empire is technologically advanced and has a powerful military, with existing sub-chapters, the leaders of said sub-chapters are powerful demigod Princes, whose collective benevolence was influenced by how their father raised them. The Terran Empire also closely resembles the mini-empire of Ultramar, ruled by Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines, in that it's a utopia as was envisioned by the Emperor of Mankind in regards to what he had in mind for humanity in general.
• End of an Age:
  • Known History is divided into four distinct Ages (which, meta-wise, corresponds with the four MLP generations), and since this is the Fourth Age, the implication is obvious that the previous three Ages had ended at some point in the past, although it waits to be seen how it happened. And it is implied that many more Ages had come and gone before then.
  • Countless civilizations had rose and fell during these Ages, the collapse of each could be said to be this trope on at least a local level, or for a distinct historical era within the Four Ages. Causes vary, but it's usually due to a civilization's own flaws (selfishness, pride, hedonism, etc.) or an outside threat. Queen Dazzleglow and by extension, all members of the Church of the Stars, seeks to break the Cycle so civilizations can withstand the presence of Evil.
• Enemy Mine:
  • King Xestobium's 'Final Reset' plan forces one between the Spring and Summer Courts to stop him.
  • Dr. Toxikon proves such a threat to all Changeling Kind that Queen Zoraptera seeks out King Brachion and forms a temporary alliance with him to save their species from destruction, as the two are the only Changelings with enough knowledge of plagues to keep up with the rapidly coming strains of the Crucible Virus and if they do so alone he'll eventually wear them down (which is exactly what he wants). As Toxikon is actively hunting the two down for this exact reason, they also have to board with Captain Polistes, Brachion's Autumn Court brother who he naturally hates. Zoraptera is smart enough to make Brachion swear on Blackthorn's name not to betray either of them.
  • Queen Mab I, after completely falling into insanity, was such a threat that it allied the Fae with non-Fae during the second Great Fae War. Notably, the Changeling Progenitors worked together with Discord despite him being their sworn enemy.
  • During the Storm Crisis, Zecora of Everfree managed to convince King Aspen, who is otherwise a fanatical nature-lover that is distrustful of non-Alvslog Deer, to ally with the Ponies by informing him that the Storm King's methods were not very eco-friendly.
  • Blood Fang is willing to help his Eternal Foes, Gleaming Shield and Radiant Primrose, defeat other villains if their plans involve conquering Hyrule first and/or affecting Equus in such a way that it might damage/destroy the planet. A notable incident had Blood Fang manipulate one of the Storm King's generals into accepting him as an ally for conquest, then sabotaged him from behind the scenes so the general will be left utterly vulnerable to Gleaming Shield and Radiant Primrose's combined might.
  • The Shadowed Ones and their Ragnarok Cycle are such a big threat that it actually forces the three splintered Deer Pantheons to unite, largely because the Hoyklan Deer Pantheon contains loved ones of both groups. Of note is that the leaders of all three team up against the High King of the Shadowed Ones Ragnarøkkr, including Temnobog and his hated father, Irminsul.
• Enraged by Idiocy:
  • Emperor Blackthorn will not suffer fools in his presence, even if they are his sons. He cared little the morality and character of his Scions, but those who spectacularly fail his standards or display gross incompetence will be Condemned to the Winter Court. His sons frequently use that as an excuse to off their rivals on the grounds that their negligence threaten the survival/interests of the Summer Court as a whole. One theory suggested Blackthorn allowed 'the Fratricide' between his sons to continue as collective punishment for their internecine foolishness. Another theory suggested, on the contrary, he engineered it from its very beginning specifically to weed out the incompetent and foolish from his Court's ranks. Either way, it demonstrates just how much he detests idiocy.
    Emperor Blackthorn: We expect our sons to indulge in deceit and treachery... but we will not tolerate INCOMPETENT deceit and treachery.
  • One of Blackthorn's sons, King Lasius, doesn't fall far from the tree. Justified, in that after having to put up with his rich foster family's lazy incompetence and greed for years, Lasius eventually conspired to kill them all for being so worthless to society, and did just that on the day Blackthorn was visiting to check up on him. Golden Bell, Lasius's half-sister, had similar feelings towards his family and turned a blind eye while Lasius murdered them all. After inheriting the throne of his foster kingdom and creating his own hive, Lasius doesn't tolerate his subjects becoming lazy or incompetent, since it'll serve as a reminder of what kind of bastards his foster family was.
  • Blood Fang, being an experienced manipulator himself, had two incidents:
    • The incident where he discovered that Radiant Primrose magically regressed Gleaming Shield into a child so she could give him the childhood she believed he deserved was downplayed; Blood Fang was more shocked than angry, though he did call her action "the stupidest idea in the entire history of Equus". Radiant Primrose surprisingly agreed with him.
    • His opinion of King Sombra, however, plays it straight; upon hearing a pony mistake him for Sombra, Blood Fang was so annoyed that he went on a short angry rant where he called Sombra a "complete imbecile" who studied so much dark magic that he eventually lost his mind and body in the process.
• Entitled Bastard: Deconstructed.
  • Decepticolt, Zappityhoof, and Goldencap are this themselves, believing that their great power entitled them to the privilege of becoming Alicorns, to the point where they tried breaking into Canterlot's forbidden archives (which got them expelled from the School for Gifted Unicorns by a disappointed Celestia), and succeeded in stealing Rainbow Dash's wings until Twilight Sparkle teamed up with her to get them back. In a display of utter hypocrisy, the trio also sees those who are already Alicorns as entitled individuals who are keeping the secrets and power of Ascension to themselves, such as Twilight and the newly-Ascendant Crystal Prism. This enraged Crystal Prism, as he had gone through a lot of traumatic experiences before he Ascended in the first place, and had to adjust to his new form.
  • Ceres, the deceased Malrègnarian goddess of Agriculture, Harvest, and Plenty, originally wasn't this, but she slowly became entitled to rewards that she felt she deserved after centuries of providing for her mortal worshipers, which was largely thanks to the toxic influence of the 'Prideful King'. This led to Ceres working her own worshipers and subjects like slaves, making them grow bountiful produce to fill her quota while giving them so little of her own stock in return, even though she actually had little need of her own stocks. Iniquitous punished Ceres by turning the goddess into an emaciated, ravenous monstrosity that devoured everything and everyone in sight, including her own children, before she devoured Ceres in turn as a vermin swarm.
• The Epic: Invoked by deliberate design from the very beginning. Not only does the Codexverse seek to expand the world of Equus, it exaggerates every event, character and aspect of the setting.
• Epic Fail:
  • The "Queen Colossos" War in ancient times is a result of a series of this in communication and diplomacy between the Crystal Empire and Queen Colossos' Empire of Giants at First Contact, with tragic/disastrous consequences.
  • Epic failings and gross negligence in general is pretty much a death sentence in the Changeling Summer Court, which does not tolerate incompetence and idiocy.
  • While a peerless demigod warrior, leader and hero of renown, a recent drabble revealed that for some unexplained reasons, Prince Fanged Paw turned out to be a ridiculously terrible cook - he once accidentally summoned demons (which he quickly banished to the nether realms) and a storm inside the Terran Imperial Palace kitchens while trying to make toast, much to everyone's utter shock and confusion. This references what happens to Leman Russ/Lemon Rush from The Infinite Loops.
• Ethnicity Monarch: Most species are ruled by one or more Ethnic Gods such as Equestria's Princesses, the Changeling Progenitors, the dragon gods Bahamut and Tiamat, the breezie gods Sefyr and Mab, and so on.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Prince Dissonant Tune has a few parental figures in his life that he loves dearly.
  • Implied with his mothers. Dissonant hates both his birth father and his stepfather, but he doesn't feel the same way towards his birth mother, Dandelion Breeze, who protected him from his abusive stepfather, and his foster mother, who raised him after his birth mother's death. So it's very likely he loved both of his mothers.
  • A gender-inverted example is his adoptive father, Moon Ray Vaughoof. Dissonant idolized Moon Ray from the start despite knowing of the latter's flaws, and sees him as a model citizen due to the latter overcoming his drug addictions. And during a period of emotional upset following the 'Big Comeback Tour' and the 'Applewood Rescue' events, Moon Ray gave him honest advice about life that cheered him up. Learning that he's going to be adopted as Moon Ray's son moved Dissonant so much that he cried Tears of Joy, though he denies it.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Despite being the opposite of the benevolent Spring Court and an amoral Court in general, the Summer Court still set a bar that most are not willing to touch.
    • The Winter Court Changelings are reviled by the Summer Court Changelings, which speaks volumes of how far one had to fall in order to be treated with such contempt. To note, one of Blackthorn's First-Spawn sons, ex-King Rhyniognatha was banished/sealed away there after he tried killing all of his brothers for "stealing" his position as his father's favorite. It was noted by Blackthorn that he brought his fate upon himself.
    • Xestobium's Final Reset plan was so horrific that even his brothers thought it was insane and actually formed an Enemy Mine with the Spring Court and some of the Autumn Court to help stop it. Of course part of this was because their own lives were also in danger.
    • While creating many bioweapons and being among the Summer Kings, even King Brachion sees the Dyvaos (Expys of Gyaos) as too dangerous to exist and in a rare moment of humility admits that awakening them was a mistake.
    • Even if they did admire some of her past plots and strategies, the Summer Court treats Chrysalis as a "failure of a queen" whose pettiness and grand ambitions ultimately cost her everything. After her fall, they decided to protect the newly-ascended Thorax and his purified Changelings from Chrysalis-loyalists by installing hidden agents within his hive. Once they found one, they gave him to King Brachion.
  • Despite being an unapologetically evil god, Temnobog represents evil as a constructive, testing force and deep down, he's a pretty decent guy. While he's known for being a patron of various types of villains, he actually sees them as moral failures and divine pawns to test mortals' heroic resolve with. He is also very opposed to his ex-lover, the fallen goddess Ispita, and has a standing order for her among his divine children and servants that essentially amounts to "Kill on Sight".
    • This also applies to practitioners of Temnoism, both "Soft" and "Hard". Temnoists in general are bitter enemies of those who participate in "destructive/careless" Evil, as such a thing would potentially end Equus if left unchecked, so they try to sabotage them wherever they could be found. Of course, since they're "evil" themselves, they'll quite happily take their victims with them as they fall if they're caught, too.
  • Even Battryu, who is otherwise a genocidal Knight Templar that will not hesitate to kill off every single living creature on Equus to protect the planet, considers the similarly nature-loving King Aspen to be too fanatical and extreme for his tastes. This is because unlike the xenophobic Aspen, Battryu has genuinely grown fond of those who support nature, regardless of race.
  • Being a follower of 'constructive Evil', Prince Dissonant Tune naturally has standards to follow.
    • Like his birth father, War Rock, Dissonant is a musician-turned-villain. Unlike War Rock, he has certain lines that he wouldn't cross, such as the various things War Rock did in his quest for immortality and godhood.
    • Dissonant once led an early Third Age kingdom deep into corruption because he was greatly disgusted with how their unfettered obsession with beauty, fashion, and food made them abusive towards those who failed to meet their standards. This contributed to the rise of Queen Eclaira, who felt so miserable over being abused for her mediocre looks that she did everything she could to become the Fairest of Them All, including learning dark sorcery under Vondur and devouring Princess Praline to absorb her divinity (though Praline escaped unharmed).
• Even the Guys Want Him: This is common, especially among gods, whose immortality often gives them time and privilege to pursue multiple partners.
  • Many of Blue Suede Heartstrings' past partners were stallions, with his first coltfriend and husband being a Unicorn DJ named Record Beat. However, he was completely faithful and loving to all of his partners, and never forgot their faces and names long after they died. Presently, he is married to Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, a long-time friend of his whom he would gradually fall in love with while he recovered from a psychological breakdown. After becoming a Prince and joining the Equestrian Pantheon, he would marry Stoltur; despite their opposing natures, they're very Happily Married, with Stoltur boosting his self-esteem while he lowers Stoltur's pride.
  • Moon Ray Vaughoof got married twice to mares, and gained an admirer in Princess Hnignun following his re-Ascension. His friend, Prince Healing Song/Medela, was also attracted to him on account of being among those who helped him with his recovery.
• Everyone Has Standards: The Taurus Giant Pantheon(s) were so disgusted by Khakiston, the Giant god of Warmongers, Military Dictators, and Amoral Warriors, that they kicked him out of their ranks, with Terraton doing this to him quite literally out of the Taurus Peninsula. They might be domineering, aggressive and gluttonous at their worst, Terraton especially, but it seems even they can't stand the honorless brute that Khakiston is shown to be.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows:
  • Rainbow Ponies are a mutated sub-type of pony that are generally treated as heroes and mystical figures of legend. This is because, aside from their beautiful, prismatic appearance, they have the ability to control light, energy, and rainbows. The most famous Rainbow Pony is Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus and performer of the Sonic Rainboom, though she remains completely ignorant of her heritage.
  • It's averted with Lady Prismis, an evil Rainbow Pony sorceress who was known as "The Baleful Spectrum", but thankfully it wasn't enough to tarnish the Rainbow Ponies' overall reputation.
  • The true form of Tuzu, the Magic Primeval is generally described as a massive, rainbow-colored entity made of magic whose appearance constantly shifts on a whim. They're also The Leader of the Grand Primevals and the Big Good for all of Equus (and Equusian sapientkind) at large, being responsible for everything that happened over the course of history.
  • Averted with Silk Dawn, the Fallen goddess of Primordial Light, Fabric, and Beauty. She's a stunningly beautiful goddess, and both her mortal and Alicorn disguises have a rainbow-colored mane and tail... but she's also a horrifically abusive mother and narcissistic sociopath who sees herself as the pinnacle of perfection. Her ultimate goal was to assimilate the entire universe into herself to make it 'perfect' by her standards, which was thankfully foiled.
• Evil Colonialist: While there are pragmatic, reasonable and honourable conquerors throughout Known History, many imperialists are portrayed as little more than murderous despoilers of civilization who bullies those weaker than they are, conquering and plundering lands for resources and enslave and exploiting primitive natives out of chauvinistic sense of entitlement and superiority. In general, colonialism is portrayed as an evil thing, with the Second and Fourth Age 'Scramble of Zebrica' exemplifying this trope the most.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Subverted HARD. One of the biggest issues with Evil and villains in the Codexverse is its inherent volatility and systematic self-sabotaging tendencies. The pursuit of selfish, petty and destructive goals more often then not pits evil factions and villainous individuals against each other as they do against the forces of good, and even on rare occasions they unite into an alliance rarely get along or remain stable for long. The mere fact each individual and fact have autonomy from one another and would experience and think differently ensures like many political ideologies and religious doctrines in real life, various brands of evil inevitably develops, terrorizing the world in their own way but also at each others' throats as petty rivalries and mutually-exclusive ambitions, beliefs and goals clash.
  • Played Straight with the Lilithites in the First Age. Modern evil witchcraft originated from the antediluvian Lilith, the First Witch in the form of the Lilithnite Covens, but following Lilith's demise the cohesion between the witches, warlocks and worshippers of evil crumbled. Ultimately, a massive internecine conflict and schism called the 'Lilithnite Civil War' broke out, which irrevocably splintered the Covens and destroyed any chance of unity. Today, multiple tendencies of Lilith's original evil exists in the form of the Lilithian Cabals (notoriously elitist self-proclaimers of Lilith's original philosophy and power), the Hydianite Covens (named after the witch Hydia, who does evil for its own sake on the dubious 'ideal' of 'freedom from even morality'), the Ahrimane Acolytes (Evil knowledge-obsessed intellectuals), the Sable Sabbathites, the Diabolite Circles (Unapologetic demon summoners, pacters and worshippers seeking ascension through demonhood), the Pythoness Pacts and many other branches, all of them pursuing their own evil designs and at each others' throats.
  • Played straight with the Interregnum in the Second Age. Originally united in their goal to eliminate all magic and fantastical creatures to usher forth a new age of science, reason and progress, the secret Ancient Conspiracy descended into a civil war right after their Arch-Enemy Queen Dark Crystal was finally and definitively destroyed by the Virtuous Seven, between a 'Reformist' faction who want to reprioritize their mission to merely suppressing evil magic and fantastical creatures and a 'Traditionalist' faction who want to remain true to their mission without compromise. Even the latter group bringing back their founder Sir Shining Lance, the Eternal Knight failed to reunify the organization.
  • Subverted with Temnobog and his family, the Four Terrors [WIP]
• Evil Overlord:
  • As in canon, the Storm King is one. How he went from being a young Yeti nobody of a primitive barbarian band in his homeland to the warlord ruler of a powerful empire audacious enough to attack Equestria forms a major part of the Storm King Crisis entries.
  • The Changeling Summer Court is an entire civilization of shape-shifting conquerors and overlords, ruled by a family of (mostly) malevolent tyrants who are the demigod sons or grandsons of the ruthless, scheming Changeling Emperor. They are The Dreaded among Changeling-kind and are only rivaled and held in check by their (mostly) benevolent counterparts from the Spring Court. They are notable in that they managed all this while keeping their entire race hidden from the rest of the world prior to the fall of The Masquerade.
  • The Changeling Winter Court also has a number of Royal Changelings who fit this category, banished from both the Spring and Summer Courts, and they are evil and vile even by Summer Court standards. Ex-Queen Chrysalis is currently among their ranks.
  • Temnobog is a patron of these fellows among the Erobreseg Deer Herds, and as the Deers' deity of evil he pretty much embodies that role as well. Interestingly, those evil overlords all fail to realize Temnobog ultimately has no intention of letting any of them succeed, as they are merely pawns to Temnobog's designs to spread suffering that would test mortals and maintain the Balance Between Good and Evil by driving noble heroes and realms to oppose evil. Temnobog will collect and devour their wicked souls the moment they are defeated and slain for their sins.
• Evil Reactionary: Deconstructed. In the Codexverse, reactionaries of any form are almost consistently selfish, narrow-minded, petty, hateful, conceded, deluded, idiotic, hypocritical and otherwise unsympathetic, who had done nothing but hurt innocents and cause strife in their desire to hold back any form of advancement for any reason - a cause which in itself is always shown to be futile to begin with.
  • Reactionary Pegasi attacked Polistes and his mother on the night his True Nature as a Royal Changeling manifested for having the audacity of innovating flying machines in his backstory. Reactionary Pegasi also persecuted the inventor of the 'Vortex Engine'. In both cases, they see aviation technology as 'blasphemous' and a threat to their dominance of the sky, though they're fine with pegasi and other winged creatures pursuing the same career choices. Polistes eventually got his revenge by leaving the ones who attacked him and his mother to the mercy of the Summer Court, while his crew evacuated those who weren't involved.
  • 'Tribalist' organizations in Equestria and elsewhere are often this on top of being racists and xenophobes, implied by name to wanting to return Equestria to the time of the Three Tribes (with them being the dominant Tribe). Earth pony Tribalists are partly responsible for limiting introduction of other land transports.
  • The Autorists are also stated to be blatantly reactionary, joining in the persecution of the inventor of the Vortex Engine along with the reactionary Pegasi beyond Equestria by making her Persona Non Grata, and making it illegal to even discuss the new invention in their lands. Notably, even Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty and a famous pegasus mare, has condemned the cruel treatment of said inventor despite her personal feelings on the issue, and has expressed excitement towards the prospect of being able to race Vortex Engine-powered vehicles one day.
  • The reason the old Roedinian regimes were so poor and backwards was the ruling elites' refusal to embrace or permit any form of innovation that could had greatly improve their peoples' lives, fearing they may undermine their power. Given that reason and how deeply corrupt and tyrannical they were by the time they were overthrown, it comes to no surprise they are this. With that experience, the Clovenists who overthrew them views all reactionaries as this, and consequentially the Clovenist ideology embraced progress to almost unfettered extremes.
  • A huge majority of the Alvslog Deer Herds and Realms are stubborn reactionaries clinging to ancient traditions that mortal Deerkind held since the rise of its first civilizations/empires. This stems from the toxic influence of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, whose members never quite got over their traumas fighting Grogar or the fact that their glory days are behind them. It's deconstructed as their attitudes made them extremely intolerant of progress of any kind, causing them to fall further and further behind and ultimately hurting themselves in the process, compared to other non-Alvslog Deer Herds who modernized themselves after departing to lands elsewhere.
  • Many members of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon are extremely reactionary to anything that might "ruin" their way of life, and staunchly resist any attempt to make any significant changes to their ruling methods. This applies to Irminsul and Arvan especially, as they have successfully ruled over mortal Deerkind in the First Age since their rise to power. It's deconstructed in that the refusal to change ended up hurting many of Irminsul and Arvan's children and/or influencing them to become as bad as their parents. The Bogolenya, Hoyklan, and Caearnarian Deer Pantheons were born largely from some of said children's frustrations and anger with the reactionary behavior of both their family and mortal subjects, and even some previously loyal members later left the pantheon after getting sick of it themselves.
  • The attitudes promoted by Confusionism in Chineigha promoted Blind Obedience to authority figures, loyalty to tradition and rituals, and glorification of the past to unfettered degrees. While it was a good-intentioned response to the political turmoil Chineigha was going through at the time, Confusionism ultimately proved to be a bad idea in practice, as it created a bigoted, toxic environment that encouraged Blind Obedience, misogynistic treatment of women, and reactionism towards all forms of progress. The result was both Chineigh and the rest of the Far East suffering a Humiliation Conga so bad that it induced a Break the Haughty on a continental scale, forcing them to modernize themselves or be crushed by their imperialistic Western counterparts, who by contrast were technologically and socially advanced. The latest Oriental Pantheon that would rule over Qilina, Chineigha's Fourth Age counterpart, chose to let Confusionism die out after realizing their mistakes in encouraging such beliefs.
• Evil Versus Evil:
  • While The Changeling Kings in general are mostly amoral than outright evil, they spend a lot of time fighting each other for their father's favor and position in the court.
  • King Brachion ended up in a fight with Ahuizotl after the latter managed to trick him into releasing the Dyvaos. It ended in a tie when Gamarea showed up to fight the adult Dyvaos.
  • The Summer Court vs. Dr. Toxikon, as while Toxikon is a Tragic Villain, he's still attempting genocide on the Changeling species and trying to kill every dragon over a certain age (his own species he views as stagnant and feels will only change and grow if he forces them).
  • An interesting case with Temnobog. While he is the living embodiment of Deerkind's evils, he's actually a decent person who believes in evil as a constructive force, and is the founder of the Temnoism philosophy. He, his worshipers, and his loyal divine children oppose those who see evil as "freedom from restraints", and actively go after them since that kind of evil will lead to the destruction of Equus and possibly the universe. It's also for this reason that Temnobog hates his ex-girlfriend, Ispita, for becoming a Fallen goddess, and he wants her to suffer the same torment that she used to give to wicked souls in order to pay for her sins.
  • Similarly, while Blood Fang is an evil Alicorn demigod and one of the most feared villains in Hyrule, he does have a sense of honor that is either fueled by pragmatism or a hidden soft heart. He opposes other villains as much he opposes his Eternal Foes, especially if their plans involve conquering Hyrule and/or destroying Equus for various reasons, and will not hesitate to get rid of them to ensure their plans don't succeed. Notable victims include the evil usurper Malus Tenebris, and one of the Storm King's generals. It's because of his sense of honor that Temnobog hired him as his agent, knowing that Blood Fang is too principled to fall into "careless" Evil that the Deer god opposes.
• Evil Versus Oblivion:
  • On reason the members of the Summer Court help stop King Xestobium's Final Reset: it is an existential threat to them along with everyone else.
  • Temnobog, as well as his surviving loyal children, grandchildren, and his demonic followers, opposes destructive Evil because such a thing will eventually destroy Equus if left unchecked, much like how a wildfire will rage out of control until there's nothing left to burn.
  • Blood Fang, an evil Alicorn demigod and one of Temnobog's agents, also opposes destructive Evil, since his conquest of Hyrule will be rendered utterly meaningless if Equus is left vulnerable to other "careless" villains.
• Evil Will Fail: One of the central themes of the Codexverse is the inherent self-destructive nature of Evil, the kind classified as 'Destructive Evil' (To differentiate them from 'Constructive Evil'). No matter how successful or lucky Evil Overlords or despicable villains in general are in the short-run, the very nature of their heinous character or acts often makes any victory unsustainable in the long run. The biggest allies for the forces of Good against Evil, more often then not, are the villains themselves and time.
  • The Changeling Kings of the Summer Court are exemplary cases of Sanity Has Advantages: the more competent and effective Kings, whom their patriarch respects and values, also happens to be the more noble and reasonable Royals who doesn't indulge with tyranny, betrayal and fratricide that their other half-brothers do. The current favorite of Emperor Blackthorn and one of the rising stars in the Summer Court is King Metamorphosis, who's so kind and noble he's been dubbed 'Summer's Conscience'.
  • Temnobog, the God of Evil presiding over mortal Erobreseg Deerkind, noted this tendency of self-destruction as the reason why Evil must serve constructive purposes and exist in balance with Good. Temnoism preaches that left unchecked, Evil will act like a wildfire that will consume everything it touches - including ultimately itself. Temnoism also preaches the inversion, that Good will also inevitably fail as well if not constantly challenged by Evil, resulting in stagnation and complacency that will leave it vulnerable to destruction or corruption. It is for this reason that Temnobog works with his benevolent brother Belyolen while his children and followers fight 'Destructive Evil' factions as much as they oppose heroes and champions.
  • Lord Grimgard, the Latest in a long-lasting line of successful Evil Overlords, is noted to be much more effective and dangerous than his more evil rivals or puristic good opponents precisely because he practices Pragmatic Evil. Being a Noble Demon who never indulge in excess atrocity and depravity and even occasionally lending a heroic hoof won him the respect and loyalty of his minions and even his newly conquered subjects.
  • Chrysalis is an example of this even if her status either as an evil genius or incompetent maverick is debatable: her abrasively narcissistic selfishness and atrocities while as Queen alienated her from her siblings and parent, who ultimately banished her to the Winter Court after crossing too many lines. Her cruel treatment of her own subjects, from deliberately starving them to keep them dependent and too weak to turn on her, lying about their origins, kill any Changeling who deviates from her authority or beliefs, disproportionately punishing his minions for the slightest failures and being a horrible ruler in general eventually caused her subjects to turn on her the moment they realize they could. And of course, being a racial supremacist who wish to Take Over the World (Even the Changeling Courts and overthrow her mother) and reduce all other sapient races into cattle doesn't win her any friends or sympathy from other races. Ultimately, Chrysalis' defeat is as much the result of her own dastardly evil as it is by the heroic Equestrians and Thorax.
  • The mysterious and dreaded conqueror and sovereign known as Iniquitous, the Vicearch of Malrègnar is a notable exception to this rule, being written specifically as a Reconstruction of the The Bad Guy Wins trope by showing how even in a universe where Evil Will Fail is in effect a villain can still win and maintain that victory. In-universe, she is widely considered one of the most successful and long-lasting Evil Overlord and God of Evil in existence, having won a war of domination in her lands long ago, crushing all opposition and then rebuild it in her image and reigned supreme for millennia ever since at the head of a (very steadily) ascendant evil empire. Her triumph was the result of a golden combination of pragmatism, opportunism, ruthless manipulations, sheer audacity, squeezing every single advantage of her enemies'/rivals' weaknesses for all they are worth and just enough luck. Her continued success had led to her being widely admired/resented by malevolent and evil factions and villains, while benevolent and good groups and heroes rightfully feared her for not only what she is capable of, but also what she may represent...
• Evolutionary Levels: Zigzagged. On one hand/hoof, it's lampshaded in-universe multiple times that Biological Evolution in the Codexverse does not actually work in levels as prescribed in this trope, having no defined direction and would not inevitably evolve towards 'higher' levels or greater complexity, just like in Real Life. On the other hand/hoof, there are certain phenomena in the Codexverse which could influence biological evolution such that it behaves like this trope, and enough in-universe characters believe or perceive evolution to be this way as part of the beliefs and worldview.
  • The mysterious Shinka Rays, an exotic form of Metamagnetic/Magical energy of outer space origins, seems to induce this selectively in living organisms exposed to their radiance - enhancing and accelerating the evolution of certain species that are seemingly more 'fit' to evolve into higher, more complex forms, while harming other species that shows no such evolutionary potential - in a seemingly condensed form of Darwinian natural selection. It was theorized by the famous Dr. Silversmith, the World's Smartest Pony in the Second Age that given Metamagnetism is a grand-unifying fundamental force of the universe connected and affected by/affecting all natural processes and forces, Shinka Rays is the metamagnetic incarnation the entirety of the evolutionary process, from the genetic mutations, physiological changes, natural competition, environmental influences to even the temporal-causal sequence involved, reflected in the Background Metamagnetic Field from the physical universe as agitated 'Coagulated Metamagnetic Phenomena', generating from life-bearing worlds where intense evolutionary activity is occurring and radiating outwards across the cosmos.
• The Exile:
  • The Winter Court of the Changelings is composed of these, consisting of those who were banished from all the hives for various unforgivable offenses. Naturally, Ex-Queen Chrysalis is currently considered one of them, due to her long list of heinous crimes. That being said, it is possible for Winter Changelings to redeem themselves, as shown with the Nameless Queen, though she hasn't asked Blackrose for a repeal because she feels that she wouldn't return home until she has performed one last good deed and checked off her last tally.
  • The Cyclops civilization deals with its worst members by exile, since they don't believe in harsher punishments like execution. The idea behind this is since the ones being exiled had rejected their own people's civilized ways, Cyclops civilization in turn rejects them. One of these exiles is depicted in the Minotaur epic poem "Journey of Metis", which tainted the wider world's views of Cyclops, much to their discontent. This practice of exile is heavily similar to the real-life Greek practice of ostracism, where people are banished for a number of years for being a threat to society.
  • Invoked with Golden Scepter; one way he can punish lawbreakers for especially bad crimes is by banishing them from the Terran Empire. As the Alicorn god of Judgement, Golden Scepter's final word is absolute, as those who become exiles are forbidden from coming back on pain of death, and no one could overturn it. The only way to overturn it is if Golden Scepter gives his explicit permission for someone to end the punishment, or the exile(s) in question has atoned for their actions and achieved a level of Character Development that is deemed acceptable in the Emperor's eyes.
    • This is what happened to Prince Fanged Paw, his second-oldest son. After Fanged Paw continued bullying and tormenting Crimson Star as payback for being an Insufferable Genius, even after the latter was blinded in a carriage accident and suffered an emotional breakdown following his Jerkass Realization, Golden Scepter psychically showed him the torment Crimson Star was going through and exiled Fanged Paw from the Terran Empire for his actions. It was noted that Fanged Paw felt so guilty towards his actions at this point that he accepted his punishment without complaint.
    • Prince Steel Barricade, his eleventh son, would also be exiled. While dealing with political matters with a national ally of the Terran Empire, Golden Scepter received word from two of his sons, Prince Bright Eyes and Prince Night Shade, that Steel Barricade got into a fight with his older brother, Clear Voice, that quickly got out of hand. When he came home and found that a portion of his empire had been destroyed by his sons' petty conflict, Golden Scepter was so furious that he gave Clear Voice and Steel Barricade a vicious dressing-down; Steel Barricade received much of the brunt of his father's anger and disappointment since he clearly didn't learn anything despite repeated attempts to discipline him. As punishment, he would be exiled from the Terran Empire, and in front of everyone, too, since he was an Insufferable Genius who was also an Attention Whore.
• Expy: A lot, since Codex Equus incorporates elements from many outside franchises and adapts them into the world of Equus.
  • The Kaiju population of Neighpon come from the Godzilla franchise, with beings like Dracozilla, Mothryu, Roedan, Battryu, and Gamarea. The "Imperfect Orochi" summoned by Orochi-worshiping cultists is also a dead-ringer for King Ghidorah, as both had three heads.
  • Jegina, the Abyssinian cat god of courage and heroism, was inspired by Lion-O of the Thundercats. His battle cry is also heavily similar to Lion-O's.
  • The members of the old Orosian pantheon were based on the Greek gods, in that both of them acted like irresponsible, petty, spoiled children who caused disasters in their homelands with their squabbles. Specifically, Ouratheros is based on Zeus, Machis is based on Ares, and Ematha is based on Athena.
  • There's quite a few characters inspired by The Legend of Zelda series.
    • Gleaming Shield, Radiant Primrose, and Blood Fang are inspired by Link, Zelda, and Ganon/Ganondorf, respectively. They still follow a cycle of reincarnation, except here, Blood Fang is a demigod unlike Ganondorf, a mortal sorcerer empowered by the Triforce of Power.
    • The antediluvian Alicorn Queen, Hylia the Wise, Radiant Primrose's divine ancestor, and Blood Feather, Blood Fang's mortal "ancestor", are based on the goddess Hylia and Groose, respectively.
    • Queen Onyx Flare, an ally of Gleaming Shield who seeks to reclaim her throne from an evil usurper, Malus Tenebris, are both based on Midna and Zant.
  • Wind Runner, also known as "C-009, the Cyborg Hurricane", was based on the titular character of Cyborg 009. His fellow cyborgs, as well as his Arch-Enemy, Black Ghost, are also based on characters from there, too.
  • Prince Vultus IV is based on Prince Vulcan, who was played by BRIAN BLESSED. Both are proud yet heroic Warrior Princes and Large Hams extraordinaire, who helped participate in wars against a great villain.
  • Night Terror is based on fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger, as both of them were killed by being burned alive by grieving parents of their victims, and would become utter menaces of the dream world after death (though in Night Terror's case, it was because of a Deal with the Devil).
  • Quite a few characters from the Erobreseg Deer kingdom of Bitaniya were inspired by characters from Code Geass.
    • King Strazha and Queen Vesna, sibling rulers of the Erobreseg Deer kingdom of Bitaniya, are expies of Lelouch and Nunnally, respectively, with Strazha being the scheming, well-intentioned brother while Vesna is Strazha's very kind sister who was blinded and crippled when she was young, until she was healed by Belyolen and allowed to walk again.
    • Strahza and Vesna's parents and relatives, King Rovnyy, Queen-Consort Milyala, and Prince Pobeda are expies of Charles, Marianne, and V.V. respectively, in that they still tried to make a world without lies, but with a few differences - Pobeda, unlike V.V., did not betray and kill his sister-in-law out of jealousy, instead treating her as an ally; and Strazha killed his parents and uncle himself instead of commanding "God" to do it with his Geass like Lelouch did.
    • Princess Laska, Strazha and Vesna's half-sister, is based on Euphemia, being pink-haired princesses who are compassionate to all peoples and staunch pacifists. However, Laska didn't commit the genocidal massacre that Euphemia did because the writer removed Lelouch's Geass "accident", and was instead rescued from being Geassed by Deer Autorists by her brother instead.
    • Falling Leaves, a Kirin who is Princess Laska's knight and fiance, is based on Suzaku, being Neighponese/Japanese allies of a prince and love interests of a princess. However, because Laska didn't die, unlike Euphemia, Falling Leaves never became Strazha's enemy, allowing him to eventually court Laska and get engaged to her as her fiance, with Strazha's blessing.
  • Prince Sparkling Wing's family members are based on the Butterfly family, with his mother Queen Silver Clock being based on Skywynne Butterfly, his father King-Consort Cardinal Feather being based on Skywynne's husband Gem-robin, his sister Queen Rising Sun being based on Solaria Butterfly, and his niece Queen Obsidian Star being based on Eclipsa Butterfly.
  • It's mentioned in Prince Sparkling Wing's backstory that two ponies he helped out were Lady Sweet Song and Lord Cerulean Heart, who are based on Juliet and Romeo, respectively, in that they were heirs of two feuding noble Houses who fell in love with each other despite their families' grudge. However, things ended differently - Sparkling Wing exposed the root of the noble Houses' petty grudge against each other, saving Sweet Song and Cerulean Heart from running away and committing suicide together just to escape their families' hatred, and uniting the noble Houses as their parents each couldn't bear the thought of losing their beloved children.
  • Golden Scepter was inspired by the Emperor of Mankind. Much like his character inspiration, Golden Scepter is an Emperor of godlike power and unmatched intellect, and is beloved by his subjects as a protector of a certain species, but also had raging flaws that ultimately spelled the stagnation and doom of one of his empires, the Imperium of Ponykind. However, unlike Emps, whose slew of terrible mistakes ultimately led to him getting gravely wounded by Horus Lupercal and put on the Golden Throne, where he was left to rot until he was a corpse kept barely alive by human sacrifices and sheer force of will, Golden Scepter would ultimately survive thanks to the kindness of benevolent deities, realize the error of his ways, and become The Atoner until he truly became a benevolent protector and ruler of Ponykind, and the loving father of many demi-divine sons. Golden Scepter would even state that if t hadn't been for Luminiferous and Dazzleglow, he would have rotted away a long time ago.
  • Prince Crimson Star, Golden Scepter's eighth son, is based on Primarch Magnus the Red, though according to one of the Codexverse writers, he's based on TTS!Magnus as well. Much like Magnus, he's a red-skinned/haired individual who's taller than most of his brothers, and is an extremely powerful mage/psychic who dedicated himself to higher learning. Even his folder quote is an altered version of Magnus's "light of Chaos" quote. However, unlike Magnus, who was very much an Insufferable Genius who deflected blame for his own mistakes off of himself, and who turned traitor during the Horus Heresy largely thanks to the Emperor's actions as well as the Chaos gods' manipulations, Crimson Star had the fortune of having a loving divine parent who continued to support him after he was blinded in an accident, and helped him become a much better person. During the "Temptation Unbound" conflict, he would prevent a potential catastrophe that was engineered by a group of Fallen divines and their worshipers by warning Golden Scepter about a bad vision he had. This would save his family from being permanently torn apart, while exposing the culprits responsible.
    • And as pointed out by one Codexverse reader, Crimson Star's also based on Rezo the Red Priest, though it was stated to be completely unintentional as the writer never watched Slayers at all. Much like Rezo, Crimson Star is a highly respected and skilled, yet blind sorcerer who was disfigured at some point in his life, and tried researching ways to cure his disability. However, unlike Rezo, who was a Villain with Good Publicity yet callously destroyed people's lives in order to cure his blindness, Crimson Star, who had been an Insufferable Genius prior to this point, was quickly stopped in his research and attempts to summon demonic and eldritch forces in exchange for sight by his father, Golden Scepter. This would ultimately allow him to properly redeem himself for his previous arrogant behavior and become a kinder stallion.
  • Prince Fanged Paw, Golden Scepter's second son, is based on Primarch Leman Russ. Like Leman Russ, he has a wolf motif as well as an extremely strained relationship with his magically-inclined brother, Crimson Star, the Expy of Magnus the Red, though here it's out of resentment-turned-hatred rather than distrust towards psychics in general. However, unlike Russ, Fanged Paw would later go through Character Development after he took his hatred of his brother too far and was exiled as punishment, resulting in him forgiving Crimson Star and reconciling with him after sharing a mutual apology.
  • Prince Blazing Hoof, Golden Scepter's firstborn son, is based on Primarch Horus Lupercal. Much like Horus, he's the first son of a divine Emperor, and he serves as his father's second-in-command in both military and political duties. However, Golden Scepter becoming a kinder and more benevolent person would later influence his parenting methods when he decided to settle down and have a family, in turn influencing Blazing Hoof into becoming someone entirely different than the reviled traitor Horus was.
  • Prince Steel Barricade, Golden Scepter's eleventh son, is based on Primarch Perturabo. Much like Perturabo, he is an incredibly talented war-strategist and engineer who specializes in siege warfare and the building/inventing/repairing of technology. His entry notes that he styled his mane and tail into dreadlocks, which often got mistaken for mechanical wires and tubes, which is reminiscent of the wires covering Perturabo's head and face.
  • Prince Written Word, Golden Scepter's thirteenth son, is based on Primarch Lorgar Aurelian. Like Lorgar, Written Word idolized his divine father to the point of worshiping him, and became a priest to preach to his subjects his father's virtues and benevolence. His religious activities were eventually exposed, leading to his father disciplining him. However, the similarities would stop there - because Golden Scepter was more gentle in explaining the folly of promoting public worship of him and his family, Written Word never turned evil. Instead, he would realize the true value of faith by inspiring the residents of a backwater Pony kingdom to have faith and trust in each other, triggering his Ascension to demi-godhood. His staunch opposition of religious and moral corruption due to witnessing the horrors of both actually makes him more similar to Lorgar from the The Roboutian Heresy.
  • Prince Sparkling Wing, an Alicorn member of the Church of the Stars, is based on Jushtin Butterfly, being royal Princes who had potential to become great heroes and beloved Kings, but were rejected by their own people because they didn't want to break matriarchal tradition by accepting a male on the throne. Sparkling Wing also has Jushtin's foppish tastes in fashion and his talent in diplomacy, except here, he eventually became an Alicorn god because he had people who continued to believe in him and cultivate his potential, rather than let him fade into obscurity. As a result, Sparkling Wing became powerful in both magic and physical combat than Jushtin ever was.
  • The members of the Black Heron Corpse Investigation Team (BHCIT for short) are based on the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service team. Collectively, they are both teams of five university students who have the black heron as their call-sign, are regarded as creepy and eccentric weirdos who aren't used to them or their line of work, behave in a cynical, sarcastic, and morbid manner, and are very opportunistic and greedy because of their floundering businesses and generally poor financial situations. They even rely on a former homicide detective-turned-social services agent for expenses and dead "clients" in return for doing odd jobs for him. However, they are also both compassionate people who are very unwilling to turn down a dead and living person in need, even at the cost of earning more money for themselves. For bonus points, their team names are heavily similar, with "Kurosagi" meaning "black heron" in Japanese. However, what would make them different from their character inspirations is that after they became Alicorn demigods, their nastier personality traits would actually be taken into account and curbed by more experienced deities in the Shinseina pantheon, as they want the Black Heron group to become benevolent and proper deities by doing away with unsavory behaviors that would eventually spell not only their doom, but Equus's doom as well.
    • Individually, each member of the BHCIT are based on each member of the Kurosagi crew: Whispered Winds is based on Kuro Karatsu, Guiding Light is based on Makoto Numata, Lovely Bones is based on Ao Sasaki, Felt Actor is based on Yuji Yata, and Violet Peony is based on Keiko Makino.
  • Belyolen is based on Belobog, an ancient Slavic god of Light and Good who is often portrayed in tandem with his evil divine counterpart, Chernobog as part of a duality of Light and Darkness, Good and Evil. It's noted that during feasts, the Slavic peoples would dedicate all good and fortunate things to Belobog, while all evil and adverse things were dedicated to Chernobog. Belyolen, being inspired by him, is attributed to all forms of Good and Contentment, as they keep Evil in check and provide relief and mercy to those affected by Evil, though they in turn must be kept in check by Evil to make sure they don't stagnate. His beliefs regarding morality in general came from living with the Elternteil Deer pantheon, whose members became stagnant and corrupted to the point they became morally puristic and abused his younger twin brother, Temnobog, for being born evil. Encouraged by the Alicorn goddess of Self-Love, Amour-De-Soi, Belyolen would confront and shame his family for their arrogant and hypocritical mistreatment of Temnobog, and leave with his brother in tow so he could form his own opinions on Good and Evil and give Temnobog the love and respect he believed he deserved.
  • On the other hand, Temnobog, Belyolen's younger twin brother, is based on Chernobog, an ancient Slavic god of Evil and Darkness who is often portrayed in tandem with his good divine counterpart, Belobog as part of a duality of Light and Darkness, Good and Evil. It's noted that during feasts, the Slavic peoples would dedicate all good and fortunate things to Belobog, while all evil and adverse things were dedicated to Chernobog. Temnobog, being inspired by him, is attributed to all forms of Evil and Suffering, but the Erobreseg Deer herds see this as a good thing as the presence of Evil is what motivates people to be Good and strong, as their lands are often harsh and unforgiving. However, what makes him different from his character inspiration is that in Slavic mythology, Chernobog is constantly fighting with Belobog, as his evil nature clashes with Belobog's good nature. Here, Temnobog became evil after a lifetime of emotional abuse from his family for merely existing, and would torment and antagonize Belyolen for being the favorite of their parents, but would reconcile with his brother after he learned the truth of his and his brother's existences.
  • Crystal Prism/Page Wheel and his neighbor/wing-pal/filly-friend, Midnight Bell, are respectively based on Peter and Mary from Mary and The Witch's Flower, except they serve as a deconstruction of various things in the movie, such as how Peter would react to being experimented on and turned into a magic-eating monster, how Mary would feel knowing she endangered another person with her lies, and how each of them would try to cope with everything that has happened after returning to normal life.
  • Silver Bane is based on Donovan Baine. Silver Bane's name, appearance, and magical/psychic/combat skills are heavily similar to Donovan's, especially after leaving the Poenan Pantheon, where he starts donning monk robes that follow the red, blue, and yellow color scheme as Donovan's outfit. He even wielded the same large sword (at first) that Donovan uses as a weapon. They're also both dhampirs, though how they reacted to it differed - Donovan was a Knight Templar who ruthlessly hunted down the Darkstalkers in hopes that he could purge his "cursed" blood from himself, only to fail and become a vampire anyway. Furthermore, it's implied that Donovan had to be put down by Anita, a young psychic girl he adopted, in order to end his misery. Silver Bane was taught to suppress his vampiric side by the Poenan Pantheon, as the other option consisted of being put down to prevent him from becoming a monster. This would give him quite a bit of self-loathing, and made him believe that he could only obtain inner peace by smiting Evil and those he called the "Dark Ones". However, he would ultimately be spared Donovan's fate when, after falling into a coma, the efforts of his friends and adoptive daughter to redeem/save him influenced Silver Bane to accept and reconcile with the mental manifestation of his vampiric heritage instead. This not only caused him to physically transform into a true dhampir, but also saved his life, as he and his vampiric side are one and the same.
  • Mercy, a sentient divine Poenan sword, is based on Dhylec, a huge sword wielded by Donovan Baine. While Mercy heavily resembles Dhylec in appearance, she is vastly different than her character inspiration. Notably, after Silver Bane accepted his vampiric heritage and gave her away to Golden Scepter and his sons, she became a heroic and benevolent sword who fights for "true" Justice. This contrasts Dhylec, who eventually became a corrupted weapon after Donovan Baine gave in to his vampiric side and transformed into Dee, who becomes a bonus boss in Darkstalkers 3/Vampire Savior.

F

• Face of a Thug: Luminiferous was created by his father Morning Star after his fall, and thus from his corrupted divine core. As a result, Luminiferous has traits of a Nightmareified pony - draconic eyes, demonic wings, and a King Sombra-like horn, on top of being the exact physical copy of a very infamous and loathed Fallen deity. Despite this, he's the Anti-Anti-Christ and a Big Good who seeks to bring out the potential in others.
• The Fair Folk: The Changelings inspired this trope on Equus. The Spring Court and the Autumn Court are known as the Seelie Fae, and the Summer Court and the Winter Court the Unseelie Fae. Furthering the similarity, Blackrose and Blackthorn's middle names are Titania and Oberon respectively. Later entries revealed other Faekinds exists and the Changelings are merely the preeminent ones, many of them being secretive like the Changelings are and are in possession of both mysterious supernatural powers and strange, alien morality.
  • The Breezies from canon are officially Fae, being part of the 'Fae Accords' along with the Changelings and other prominent Faekinds.
  • Fae Unicorns predate actual Unicorns among the Sapient Equids, and despite looking like Unicorns are not related in both biology and morality. Modern Unicorns owed their very existence to Queen Amarelthea, who collaborated with King Equus to create them after experiencing mortality with mortal Equids.
  • In the backstory of Terran Prince Forging Scales, the Hammer of Peace, the lands of Promethea and other places nearby are often terrorized Old Fae remnants which had survive the purges following the 'Great Fae War'. Dubbed the 'Dusk Wraiths' by the Prometheans, these Unseelie Fae raid lands near their haunts in Draconia (where they hid to avoid the Changelings, who hate the Dragons with a passion), killing, torturing and abducting victims such as the Ponies and Kirin of the Promethean tribes to be used as slaves or other nefarious purposes. This went on for generations in Promethea, with the Tribes unable to do anything about them other than to hide and hope they don't get caught, until Forging Scales decided to fight the Dusk Wraiths to protect the Prometheans and rally the other Prometheans tribals to drive them away.
  • The Fae Griffons are the Fae counterparts of the Griffons, and like the Unicorns while resembling them diverges considerably from normal Griffonkind in various ways, such as only being able to eat food on Equinoxes and only either an actual being untainted by moral evil (being considered 'worth eating' is a sincere compliment of one's moral character in their eyes) or prepared by one.
  • The infamous psychotically-homicidal Redcaps who ambushes unfortunate people and dip their caps in their victims' blood are mentioned, with at least one monster-hunters recommending the best way to deal with them is to "Burn those murderous little gremlin-things out of their lairs!"
  • It is left ambiguous as to whether all or merely some of Dolphinkind of Equus are actually this, but at least according to Adagio Dazzle, far from cute and friendly creatures, Dolphins can be best described as capricious, sadistic and murderous sociopaths who would help you on a whim one day, then kidnap, torture and murder you for fun on another day. Disturbingly, this is actually not too dissimilar from how Dolphins really behave in real life.
• Fake Memories:
  • Censura, the God of Censorship and Conspiracies, can erase and rewrite short-term memories. However, how well he can do so is directly dependent on how long ago the memory he's trying to rewrite was. He also needs to make direct eye contact to do so, and the memories can be broken if the victim realizes they don't make sense.
  • King Rovnyy, being an Expy of Emperor Charles Britannia, has the telepathic ability to erase and alter memories so things are not what people remembered. This was used to punish then-Prince Strazha for his rebellion by altering his memories to make his son think he's a loyal soldier of Bitaniya. Strazha got out of it thanks to his willpower, his grudge towards his father, and the help of an anonymous doe (who requested that her name be kept hidden for privacy, which Strazha respected) who's an expert in Geass magic.
• Fallen Hero:
  • Nightmare Moon, like her canon incarnation, was this - she was the result of Luna giving in to her own bitterness and resentment towards Celestia's ignorance and their subjects shunning her night in favor of her sister's day, which corrupted Luna and turned her into a demonic Alicorn.
  • King Xestobium was a noble knight before learning his true nature as a Changeling King, and even after that became one of the very few noble and benign members of the Summer Court, even actively fighting evil dragons and feeding his court by saving people. However, his hatred towards the dragons and eventually his own kind would eventually consume him to the point he became a genocidal maniac himself and an existential threat to the world.
  • It's implied that Morning Star, Luminiferous's father, was this, being the Alicorn equivalent of Satan. For crimes unknown, he was banished from his people's society and vowed to get revenge. During their final clash, Luminiferous discovered that Morning Star was tired of his revenge quest and just wanted to go back home. Unfortunately, being a very prideful being meant that he didn't want to accept the better part of himself, forcing Luminiferous to kill his own father.
  • Princess Stitching Time became Final Epoch from grief over the destruction of the Second Age, and Dazzleglow and Ourophion supposedly treating the problem lightly and forbidding her from reversing time. She was eventually redeemed when, after pulling off a complicated gambit to bypass her time powers, Dazzleglow enlisted the help of the Elements of Harmony to defeat her.
  • It's mentioned in Lord Grimgard the Latest's entry that in one incident, he fought and killed a pony champion who fell to lust and hedonism, and consorted with all sorts of demons while letting his city-state fall to plague and undeath. Said pony champion ended up dying a demon.
• Fantastic Nuke:
  • The Clovenist-invented Mana Bomb is basically a wild magic nuke. The weapon's effect is described similar to that of the atomic bomb as originally imagined by H.G. Wells.
  • It is heavily implied that what A.K. Yearling and her associate Antiguo found in the belly of a Second Age Ponyland strategic bomber recently dug up is none other than an actual nuclear weapon, which naturally horrifies them. Given the Second Age, despite being an analogue of Earth's Information Era, is implicitly described as divergent in many ways, there's no telling what sort of 'fantastical' modifications and enhancements Second Age nukes possess which would classify them as this
• Fantastic Racism: Deconstructed. Equus is by no means perfect, and several races have been known to have biases against other races either because of justified reasons, or because they see themselves as superior. Either way, it's still rather harmful, as rampant hatred leads to the birth of monsters. BrutalityInc confirms that there would be entries specifically on the subject of racism later down the line.
  • Changelings and Dragons do not like each other, at all. This is due to the fact that according the Changeling mythology/history, hordes of dragons were responsible for burning down their homeland out of greed for their riches, indirectly contributing to the suffering they endured at the dawn of their existence. This comes to a head with Xestobium, who takes this to insane lengths by Summer Court standards and nearly triggers a mass extinction event attempting to wipe the dragons out. Queen Acherontia and Dragon Lord Vulcan's love for each other and resulting hybrid child was met with both courts and dragonflights descending on their hive in disgusted rage and the two being sealed away by Empress Blackrose. This came back to bite them when said hybrid daughter returns, now justifiably furious and all grown up. The "Time of Broken Scales" and Xestobium's rampage both caused Toxikon to despise the Changelings and eventually snap and try to wipe them out.
  • Relating to above, Apertus was shunned and horribly mistreated for being a Dragon-Changeling hybrid, which resulted in her descent into villainy. Blackrose, who previously opted to ignore her granddaughter's existence, was forced to have her killed by her own parents to save Changelingkind and then enlisted the help of several deities to reincarnate Apertus back into a newly-hatched egg so she could make up for what she did. Queen Odonata, who is half-Kirin, looked draconic enough that she was viciously bullied by some of her more racist sisters, which would have turned her into another Apertus had Blackrose and other benevolent family members hadn't intervened.
  • Many Giants individuals and races look down upon the smaller races, often referring them as 'Tinies' and think nothing of crushing, eating, toying or otherwise dominating them. Likewise, the smaller races fear and revile Giants for being hungry, violent and otherwise monstrous brutes. That is by no means universal, as benevolent Giants who protect smaller races and nurtures their civilizations are said to be just as common, if less well-remembered. Supia, a gigantic Royal Changeling Kaiju Queen, avoids using 'Tinies' to refer to her subjects and the people she protects, because it's a clear indicator of a superiority complex.
  • Relating to the point above, Nature Giants are extremely pessimistic and distrustful of "Tinies" because long ago, Grogar wrecked a large part of Equus's ecosystem in order to Take Over the World, enraging the nature goddess Gaea to the point where Grogar had to flee back to the Shadow Realm when the Nature Giants went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against his empire. They see themselves as the proper caretakers of nature because in their eyes, the "Tinies" are selfish, destructive, uncaring beings who only look out for themselves. Anyone who argues otherwise is either suppressed, or permanently exiled from home to prevent societal upheaval.
  • The Autorists movement mention is explicitly racist and promotes racial supremacy, with one of their leaders, King Gunther, being the griffon version of Adolf Hitler. While it is confined to Northern Griffons of Griffonnia so far, time will tell whether if this ideological movement would be picked up by other races and nations.
  • Subverted by the Clovenists of Roedinia. While they are xenophobic and distrustful of outsiders (and that's only because of cultural inertia of attitudes Roedinans already has from pre-Revolutionary times and foreign intervention during the Roedinan Civil War), they are not explicitly racists. A Belomaneian Pegasi officer serves as a liaison to Neighpon from the Clovenists demonstrates this, as does their efforts to spread their revolution to the Diamond Dogs of Diamondia in hopes of helping them achieve Clovenism. They turn on Admiral Cloven the moment he joins the genocidal Dr. Toxikon to make the younger generations more open to Clovenism after he killed off all the adults, and ultimately drag him back home in chains to be prosecuted for his crimes, for this very reason.
  • Defied by Queen Dazzleglow, who believes this trope is what partially perpetuates "The Cycle" - when one lets bigotry, pride, and hatred color their perceptions of others, they are doomed to failure. This is why she donated a large sum of money to the School of Friendship, applauding Twilight Sparkle for establishing a place where friendship and unity can be taught to the younger generations.
  • The Scions of Hurricane group consist of pro-pegasi tribalists who revere Commander Hurricane and look down on the unicorns and Earth ponies for being hedonistic, petty, and cruel animals. Their end goal is to take over Equestria, overthrow the Equestrian Alicorns, referred to as the "False Princesses" and "freaks of nature", and establish pegasi as rulers and the master race of Ponykind in general.
  • As mentioned in Prince Blueblood's entry, there's also a pro-unicorn faction called the "Children of Platinum", who true to stereotypes vie for unicorn supremacy and likewise want to overthrow the Alicorns so they could establish unicorns as rulers and the master race of Ponykind. One such member, who was one of Blueblood's surviving relatives, was involved in the failed assassination of Princess Twilight Sparkle, which Blueblood also foiled. She and her cohorts also ended up getting sentenced by Blueblood himself.
  • Midnight Bell suffered this in her backstory - she was born in Equestria, but was sent to the Grittish Isles to live with great-aunt Scarlet Bell so Midnight's mother, Diamond Bell, could protect her from her maternal relatives, all unicorns and pro-unicorn tribalists. Ironically, she was still subjected to racism after word got out that she used a wish to temporarily transform herself into a unicorn, causing people to contemptuously refer to her as an "imposter unicorn." This created an inferiority complex that Midnight gradually got over thanks to Mentálne's therapy, along with the divine hind teaching her to live a good life so she could expose her tormenters as being petty and pathetic. Noble Grace, the originator of the "imposter unicorn" insult, would later regret letting her anger influence her to the point of throwing tribalist insults at a filly; she would admit that had she known of the potential of Earth pony and pegasus magics, she would have gladly let Midnight attend her school.
  • Averted with the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon. The deities there are quite welcoming of non-Deer divines, and as such, divine Draconequui such as Válka, Ispita (before she turned evil), and later Cosmos had been known to have lived among their Deer compatriots. They also include Deer hybrids such as Válka and Mier's children and Temnobog's children, the Four Terrors, and Alicorns such as Blood Fang, Amour-De-Soi, and Golden Scepter. It's due to this tolerance that Belyolen wants to protect the Bogolenya pantheon from those with harmful attitudes, especially the Elternteil pantheon - if they emotionally abused and ostracized Temnobog for being born "evil", they would surely do the same to the non-Deer and hybrids for merely existing.
  • Due to various psychological issues such as PTSD and loneliness that went untreated for Ages, Emperor Golden Scepter became an Absolute Xenophobe during non-Pony races during the Imperium era, and committed countless acts of genocide against anyone he believed were hurting his mortal Pony subjects. This became one of the factors of the 'Aurum Apostasy' that nearly killed him and led to his sealing. He also really doesn't like Synthetic Automatons (known in the Second Age as "robots") because of a brutal rebellion that destroyed one of the most successful civilizations that succeeded the Alicorn Civilization, and he staunchly believes that A.I. Is a Crapshoot. Those who managed to earn his respect, like the original Corona, are deemed 'credits to their kind'. While he vastly improved compared to his Imperium era days, he's still a Noble Bigot, and would find his beliefs constantly challenged during and after the 'Exosus Conflict', especially in light of the reveal that many of Exosus' robotic minions were actually innocents sapients who were forcibly enslaved. His peers in the Church of the Stars are currently working on helping him overcoming his bigoted beliefs completely so he'll avoid going down a dark path like Exosus did.
• Fantastic Religious Weirdness: Religion in the Codexverse is obviously effected by the fact the existence of gods is a scientifically established fact and most people have at least some way to directly speak to their deity in person. As the existence of deities beyond one's own pantheon is also an establish fact, many people worship deities from multiple pantheons for example, such as Edel who worships both the Draconic Pantheons, the Angel (Angel Vale's patron goddess), and the King in Heaven (as he created Ponykind who in turn created her species' ancestors).
• Fantastic Slurs:
  • There's "Tinies", which is popularly used by the Giants and other large races such as the Jotunn Deer and Nature Giants (though they use the "smallfolk" variant instead). Even the more benevolent Giants tend to use this, which makes them Innocently Insensitive. Queen Supia, a gigantic Royal Changeling Kaiju, doesn't like using them because it indicates that the person in question has a superiority complex towards smaller and "inferior" races.
  • Among Ponykind, there's "Mud-Hooves" (Earth ponies) and "Horn-Freaks" (unicorns), used by the Scions of Hurricane. There's also "imposter unicorn", which was used as an insult to refer to Midnight Bell, an Earth pony filly, after word got out that she used a wish to transform herself into a unicorn temporarily. Noble Grace, the source of the insult, would later regret letting her anger influence her into using tribalist slurs to scold a filly, and has admitted that had she known about the potential of Earth pony and pegasi magics, she would have gladly let Midnight Bell into her magic school nevertheless.
  • A canonized Codexverse drabble reveals that "ass" is a derogatory term that refers to donkeys. This ends up discussed between Mercy and her adoptive uncle, Prince Crimson Star.
    Mercy: 'Bad-flank' sounds weird. Why can't we say 'badass' instead?
    Prince Crimson Star: Because 'ass' is a racial slur that refers to donkeys. It's as offensive to them as 'mud-hooves', 'horn-freaks' and such are offensive to us. That's why 'bad-flank' is more accepted because it's less racially-charged and as it suggests, only refers to an Equine's behind... Just don't say it around Red Blade or Father. They'll have a fit if they catch you swearing.
    Mercy: Awwww...
• Fantasy Conflict Counterpart:
  • The rise of the 'People's Empire of the Cloven' takes cues from the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, but with considerable differences - among them, the "The Reason You Suck" Speech Lesnamatya gave to the corrupt ruling dynasties at the time was the final straw that led to Roedina and other Erobreseg Deer Realms exploding into outright revolution. Before the Retcon that had the Clovenists replace the Hooviets, the Hooviet's 'Roedinan Revolution' was much closer to their real-life counterparts.
  • Queen Colossos' War is based on the Mongol Invasion of Khwarezmia in real life. Unlike Khwarezmia, the Crystal Empire would survive the war. The Giants in that conflict are also partly inspired by the Huns as much as the Mongols.
  • The 'Tournament of Crowns' - A geopolitical struggle/competition between the three major successor states of the classical Equestrian Empire that had fallen, to claim the legacy of the old empire. There were three major players: The Crystal Empire, the Principalities of Equestria and the Empire of Trot (mentioned in the IDW Fiendship Is Magic comics), and also a number of smaller states in between that were gradually absorbed by the three big kids on the block. It lasted around 1,000 years, with intrigues and even wars major and minor, and although it started out ironically the WEAKEST of the three major players, the Principalities of Equestria outlasted her other two competitors as they went into their respective declines and fall, and the remnants were eventually annexed into Equestria. It was the Equestrian equivalent of RL Earth's 'Tournament of Shadows' cloak-and-dagger between the Russian Empire and The British Empire for influence in Central Asia, which is better known in the West as the 'The Great Game'.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
  • Neighpon, with its population of kaiju such as Mothryu, Battryu, Dracozilla and his son Dracozilla, Jr., is reminiscent of Japan. It also had a feudal period, going by the history of Orochi and his battle with Celestia/Amaterasu and her allies.
  • The Jotunn Deer take cues from the ancient Vikings, being a proud race of gigantic warriors. Their homelands, Jotunheim, is based off of Norse society.
  • The Tauren Peninsula, its pantheon, and its inhabitants are all based on ancient Greece. The Cyclopean civilization embodies this the most, as many facets of architecture, art, law, and literature seen in other parts of the world were inspired by the Cyclops.
  • From what was implied, Helga Greywing's film "Bitalian Holiday" seemingly took place in the pony equivalent of Rome, Italy's capital. Furthering the connection is an incident Prince Sparkling Wing resolved in Bitaly, where two noble Bitalian Houses hated each other so much that it nearly made their young heirs (who were also lovers) run away and commit suicide together.
  • The Grittish Isles that both Crystal Prism and Midnight Bell hail from is implied to be based on Britain, since the two aforementioned characters were based on Peter and Mary, both who are British protagonists.
  • King Baarish, a divine Elephant, rules over Elephantkind in the country of Hind, which, according to BrutalityInc, is the Codexverse equivalent of India.
  • Meridia, with its Death World aspects, is one for Australia. Interestingly, its name during the Second Age was called "Horstralia".
  • The Kulesian-Mazlander Commonwealth is one to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, complete with a literal version of the Winged Hussars comprised of elite Pegasi and Griffon warriors.
  • Ponyland from the Second Age is based on The United States, its history more or less a parallel to what happened in real life, save for several differences. For example, the Sandwich Islands are based on the Hawaiian Islands as they are both annexed Ponyland/American territory, with influence from Lilo & Stitch as one of its residents is an orphaned pegasus filly living with her older sister and a rehabilitated Maretians weapon experiment, whom the pegasus filly named "Stitch".
• Fantasy Gun Control: Because of the Alternate Techline nature of various Ages, there were eras where guns were never developed, while in others they were. The nature of the Codexverse setting as well as technological, magical and cultural factors often affect how prevalent these powerful weapons were or even how differently they operate.
  • In effect in the Fourth Age, thanks to alchemy producing a high explosive in the form of Blastfire instead of the deflagerating 'low explosive' that is gunpowder. Thanks to Blastfire's 'arcanic resonance' properties, which prevents scaling down and actually becomes more powerful (and volatile) the more you pack into a barrel, cannons and bombs only got bigger instead of smaller. Small-arms meanwhile are still predominated by crossbows, especially Repeating Crossbows, while newly-developed 'Spring-Launchers' and 'Pneumatic-Catapults' are starting to proliferate. Interestingly, melee weapons and combat, which remain relevant in Fourth Age conflicts, are seeing a synthesis with ranged weapons and combat with the creation of 'Combination Weapons' where ranged weapons are incorporated into melee weapons, allowing fighters to do both in battle.
  • Subverted with the 'Second Age', the least magical and most technological of the Known Ages, which were equal to the Atomic/Information Era (and implied beyond) in terms of technical advancement. Firearms of the 'Great Wars Era' are considered in-universe to be fabled legends, and their dreadful, destructive power are partly what led to many in later Ages to consider the technological civilizations of the time 'the Lords of War'.
  • Also Subverted during the 'Final Ragnarok' Arc in a Godzilla Threshold manner. The threat of the Shadowed Ones are such that Queen Dazzleglow, who stashed enormous amounts of 'Second Age' firepower in her returned kingdom for both posterity and security, opened up the vaults for the Hoyklan Deer Pantheon to borrow, enchant and use in their battle against their true adversaries. High King Kaldr ended up wielding a minigun to mow down wave after wave of enemy minions, and other Hoyklan gods and their champions ended up doing the same with their own choice of firearms.
• Fantasy Metals: Primordium and Quintessium. They were once ordinary metals that underwent transmutation due to saturation by Primordial Quintessence. It's noted that unless Primordial Quintessence involved, the objects made from these metals are usually indestructible by mortal means due to being forged under divine standards, as one of Princess Celestia's old golden horseshoes can tank a Mana Bomb's point-blank city-busting blast virtually without a scratch. However, the usage differs between the two alloys:
  • Primordium is less malleable for artistic or sorcerous purposes, but compensates with its high durability and resistance to damage, making it best suited for Divine weapons and armour for actual, intense combat-use, or hardy and durable tools for coarse, forceful, non-delicate works. It is also less enchantable than Quintessium, allowing less complex enchantments, but its durability allows more volatile and destructive energies to be held within, making it best suited for divine offensive spells. Examples of Primordium-based Divine artifacts include mighty Mjolna, Goddess of Thunder’s now famous hammer Mjölnir, Bellamos, the Divine Stratego’s spear Axia and his adopted father Machis’ sword Kratos.
  • Quintessium, by contrast, is known to be more malleable and brittle in comparison to Quintessium, but make up for it by being more divine-magically conductive of the two, allowing for more sophisticated enchantments, tools for more delicate and precise works and resplendent metallurgical designs, making it best suited for jewelry like rings, bracelets and crowns, or ‘common’ divine sorcerous artifacts such as mage staffs, amulets, wands and such, although in alloy form it could be made stronger to create weapons and armour, usually of more ceremonial, decorative or auxiliary role. Examples of Quintessium-based Divine artifact includes the earliest sets of Princess Celestia’s regalia (Although her later sets use different alloys), Flœrð’s Staff of Sorcery and the golden-colour statuette of Boreas’ Idol of Boreas.
• Fantasy Pantheon: Several are mentioned. An important note is that the gods and pantheons of Equus are not monolithic entities, prone to disagreements and divisions that could result in any one mortal race/species having up to several pantheons of gods to worship from. Not unlike the mortal races/species themselves being similarly divided into different nations and cultures.
  • The deities that reside in Equestria as its rulers/protectors are counted as a pantheon in their own right, due to their divinity and encompassing benevolence. However, the Alicorn half of this "pantheon" don't like being treated as gods and discourage worship of them, since they believe that even gods are capable of being flawed as mortals. After the Storm King Crisis and the Tyrantlesia debacle, Prince Léon, a male Alicorn godling/toddler and adoptive son of Prince Blueblood, became its newest addition.
  • The Draconic Pantheon includes the Parent Deities of Dragonkind and all other Dragon gods, Tiamat the Dragon Queen and her consort, King Bahamut together with their children Yin and Yang. Orochi the Dragon god of evil was once a member prior to his fall and eventual destruction.
  • The Deer pantheon, once united into a large group, has now splintered into three sub-groups.
    • The Elternteil Deer Pantheon is led by High King Irminsul and his wife, High Queen Arvan, and was constantly praised by their mortal worshipers for being wise and benevolent. Unfortunately, this swelled their ego so much that they became incredibly biased, arrogant, and patronizing, and when the dark Temnobog was born as the result of Irminsul's attempt to turn his then-unborn son into a perfect God of Good by purging his inner evil, they abused him for existing. This ultimately led to their divine children leaving them to form different pantheons when arguments arose over the direction their mortal children are (and should be) taking with their civilizations, and the emotional mistreatment of one of their own gods, the Deer God of Evil Temnobog. The Elternteil pantheon oversees the Alvslog Deer herds, who reside in forested areas and are just as morally puristic, haughty, and close-minded like their divine patrons.
    • The Bogolenya Deer Pantheon is the first sub-pantheon of Deer to form from the divine schism, led by twin brothers Belyolen and Temnobog. This pantheon was formed after Belyolen, after overhearing his family consider killing Temnobog for being born "evil", called out his entire family for their abusive hypocrisy and left home, taking with him both Temnobog and several other siblings who were shamed by Belyolen's speech. The Bogolenya pantheon oversees the Erobreseg Deer herds and is known for their incredible tolerance, letting both non-Deer and supposedly "evil" divines, such as Temnobog and his hybrid children, the Four Terrors, live among them in harmony. It also promotes the idea of Good Needs Evil, since without Evil to test and motivate it, Good will become stagnant and corrupt out of boredom and complacency, and has followers who devote themselves to Evil to ensure the thriving of both Good and Evil.
    • The Hoyklan Deer Pantheon is the second sub-pantheon of Deer to form from the divine schism. Unlike the first two Deer pantheons, the Hoyklan Deer are led by the divine moose, High King Kaldr, when it turned out that no one among them was capable of leadership or standing their ground against Irminsul, who had been pressuring his divine children into reuniting with the Elternteil pantheon. They oversee the Nordskelt Deer herds, who live in a warrior-like society.
    • The Caearnarian Deer Pantheon is the third sub-pantheon of Deer to form, led by siblings Phoenix King Naur and his younger sister, Everqueen Naneth. This pantheon was formed when Naur, through a series of events, grew extremely disillusioned, angry, and bitter with his haughty and puristic family and their Alvslog subjects, and left home to succeed where the Elternteil Deer Pantheon failed. While the Caearnarian Deer deities watch over a verdant and lush island paradise where their mortal followers had settled down, they encourage the Caearnarian Deer Herds to be more open and tolerant, and have taken measures to ensure that they won't become as bad as their former Alvslog kindred.
  • The Griffon gods are divided into four pantheons, each representing a cardinal wind/direction. Boreas, of the Idol of Boreas fame, is the head of the Northern Griffon Pantheon alongside the Griffon goddess Astra. Notus of the Southern Griffon Pantheon is mentioned by a Griffon character in a Daring Do story set in the Codexverse.
  • Mampfen, the Diamond Dog Deity of Mining is a major god of the Diamond Dog Pantheon, but neither rules it or their mortal children as he firmly believes that it's not his job.
  • The Changeling pantheon consists of two Parent Deities, the Changeling Progenitors, their many, many demigod Royal Changeling children, and the newly ascendant King Thorax. Depending on the reader's interpretation over the status of demigods, that makes them among either among the smallest pantheons or among the largest on Equus.
  • The Cosmic Council, mentioned briefly in the G4 illustrated storybook "Under the Sparkling Seas", is mentioned frequently as the global alliance/organization under which many major pantheons and deities of Equus are members of, tasked with maintaining world order and peace between the gods.
  • The Novellus Pantheon is a pantheon formed by gods representing new concepts such as industry, sanitation, popular culture, and espionage. Their intention is to lead advancement in a measured capacity for the benefit of everypony.
  • The Tyrannos Pantheon is another pantheon of new gods, and Psycho Rangers for the Novellus. Led by Propagare, they are in essence the representation of tyrannical regimes, embodying such concepts as Propaganda, Censorship, and War Profiteering.
  • The Abyssinian Pantheon also exists, consisting primarily of divine cats, though they were previously run by Jerkass Gods until the benevolent ones (led by Jegina) overthrew them.
  • The Old Orosian Gods were basically the Greek Pantheon and held dominion over the Taurus Peninsula. Their Jerkass God attitudes towards their mortal followers ultimately got them killed, and the benevolent gods that survived reforming as the much nicer Pramanthan Pantheon.
  • The Church of the Stars is an interracial divine pantheon that rules over the kingdom of Kerajaan Cahaya and, by extension, the Glimmering Isles. As a whole, they believe in breaking "The Cycle" by promoting friendship, humility,and unity, as they effectively counter the flaws of pride, racism, hatred, and others that eventually lead to the destruction of great kingdoms, civilizations, and even species.
  • The members of the Shinseina pantheon are based on the deities of Japanese Mythology, with Emperor Izanagi-no-kami and his wife, Empress Izanami-no-kami, serving as co-rulers. They have also "promoted" the members of the Black Heron Corpse Investigation Team to demigod status, and adopted them into their pantheon as minor death gods as a reward for their good deeds.
  • The Terran royal family, consisting of Emperor Golden Scepter and his nineteen demi-Alicorn sons, are depicted by some people as part of an unofficial "pantheon" that would rule over the Terran Empire for eternity and ensure its prosperity over the lands, with Golden Scepter himself as the "pantheon"'s Top God. It's noted in Written Word's entry that depicting Golden Scepter and his sons as such, or publicly worshiping them, is officially banned in the Terran Empire, but that didn't stop some civilians from doing both.
• Fate Worse than Death: It's mentioned in Guiding Light's entry that blindness (or at least sight-impairment) is seen as this trope in general by many pegasi, who rely on sight to navigate the skies as they fly. Even Guiding Light himself didn't believe that he could fly due to being born blind, despite becoming an Alicorn demigod. Fortunately, the deities of the Shinseina pantheon are teaching Guiding Light how to use pegasus magic as an "inner compass", so he could avoid weather hazards like storms.
• Fermi Paradox: Does not exist in-universe, with alien life being abundant on other worlds beyond Equus, to the point that in the 'Great Wars Era' of the Second Age Equus (Then called Tellus) experienced dozens of alien invasions within a single century from Mares and other worlds.
• Fictional United Nations: The Convocation of Creatures for Equus in the Fourth Age - Their headquarters is in Mount Metazoa/Mesozoic. In the Second Age we have an Expy each for the League of Nations and its successor the United Nations in the form of the Concord of Nations and the Assembly of Nations, the latter of which grew powerful enough to develop its own Space Force.
• Fight Dracula: As there are a large number of Count Dracoltas, many characters have ended up fighting him. In fact, it's expected that most heroes will end up fighting one at some point in their career.
• Final Solution:
  • The Summer Court attempted this on the Dragons in the "Time of Broken Scales" event, and nearly succeeded, though ultimately failed. The Dragons attempted it on them first, however, making this a Cycle of Revenge.
  • King Xestobium makes his own attempt with his Dragon Extinction Operation... a plan so destructive and potentially cataclysmic that even the Summer Court considers him mad, in no small part because it's also revealed to be an attempted genocide on them as well. And potentially everyone else.
  • Xestobium's attempt would also cause Dr. Toxikon, a "Time of Broken Scales" survivor to snap and attempt it on the Changelings in return... furthering the Cycle of Revenge. He also intends to kill off all dragons above a certain age as he views them as stagnant and refusing to learn even as the world is marching by them, wanting to force them to learn from the world around them now that they'll have no choice. It eventually turns out, however, that he intended to spare the New Changelings in a Pet the Dog moment.
• First Contact: One of these went horribly wrong due to misunderstanding and mistakes on both sides triggered a war between the Crystal Empire with a realm of Giants 1,500 years ago. It ends badly for both sides - more so for the Crystal Empire due to the sheer size and power of the Giants.
• Fling a Light into the Future:
  • Gamarea and the Guardian Monsters of Neighpon were created by a precursor race to protect a future civilization. It worked, since they proved very invaluable in fighting off a few of Orochi's Eight Demon Heads that attacked Neighpon.
  • Queen Dazzleglow sealed herself away 20,000 years ago after the end of the Second Age, allegedly to save the future from what she calls "The Cycle" of society-killing vices, as well as a similar disaster that destroyed her kingdom. She reawakened in the modern day while Daring Do was trying to protect her from Ahuizotl, who was trying to kill her and wipe away what remained of the Queen out of the nihilistic desire to see everything destroyed.
• Fluffy the Terrible: The denizens of Sauropoda are dragon-sized sauropods with Earth pony magic and every bit as powerful as that name would suggest. Their common name is "Cutesaurus".
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Implied to be the case with the Divines, who all seem to have a 'pure' form that is far more eldritch and otherworldly than the normal form. They normally remain in their default both to better interact with their worshipers, and because the mere presence of their true forms can be incredibly destructive.
• Forever War: Wars and conflicts which raged for years, decades - even centuries, millennia and more - are possible on Equus and had happened both during and before the 'Ages of Known History'. They are often as horrific as can be expected of bloodshed on such scales, causing the downfall of civilizations and often leave behind shocking and terrible legacies that still haunts the present, for good or ill.
  • Aeons ago the 'Twilight of the Alicorns', caused by the Fallen Alicorn Morning Star's twisted ambition to remake the world/universe in his 'perfect' image, led to the widespread death and destruction for both the Alicorn Civilization and everyone/everything caught in the crossfire. The conflict lasted for ten Ages, which in the Codexverse chalks up to roughly 100,000 years. It only truly ended when Luminiferous put his father down for good, and the conflict is the main reason why Alicornkind is no longer around on Equus in significant numbers (save for those who managed to remain and survive in the outside world) as most of the remnants retreated into Sanctuary Realms to recover and replenish their numbers.
  • The Changeling-Dragon blood-feud had spanned eons, with countless generations of the two races fighting each other on-and-off in an endless Cycle of Revenge over respective wrongs they had done to each other; the 'Burning of Amorea' at the claws of the Dragons which nearly drove Changelingkind to extinction, and for the Dragons in particular the 'Time of Broken Scales' when the Changeling Summer Court eventually retaliated with an attempted genocide. It's ultimately deconstructed in that both races' conflict and enmity for each other are ultimately only damaging themselves for little gain, as well as those who had completely nothing to do with the conflict, creating villains such as Princess Apertus, King Xestobium and Dr Toxikon. And by the Fourth Age, it's becoming a Hopeless War that threatens to wipe out both sides and take the whole world with them.
  • In the Second Age of Known History, the Maretian-Tellusian Wars between Mares and Tellus/Equus raged on-and-off for many generations, as various Maretian races, civilizations and factions launched multiple invasions to conquer Tellus/Equus and subjugate/exterminate Ponykind, partly out of desperation (Their planet was dying) but also partly out of militant, expansionistic imperialism born from their sense of entitled superiority. Ultimately though, Tellusian/Equusian Ponykind caught up with them and turned the tide, finally defeating them in an all-out counter-invasion of their own planet after around 120 years of conflict.
• Forgiveness: One of the Central Themes of Codex Equus is forgiveness, which is essential to breaking many Vicious Cycles.
  • Moon Ray Vaughoof would realize the the importance of forgiveness when, after nearly attacking an abusive mare for killing her own foal, he was sent to learn about fairness and mercy towards the dead under Malus Manes. Taking the advice to heart, he proceeds to forgive everyone who wronged him in life, including his first ex-wife and his alcoholic father. This not only leads to Moon Ray Ascending as a god of Forgiveness, but also preaching the lesson of forgiveness to others, setting off a chain of events that would reward him greatly every time he lets go of something that was either troubling him or holding him back. While he does acknowledge that some people can't be forgiven, he believes that forgiveness must be unconditional, and clinging to hatred will make people just as bad as the one(s) who wronged them. He hates those who either demean others for showing forgiveness, or force people to atone by withholding forgiveness from them until they 'earn' it by their standards.
  • Following the defeat of Dr. Toxikon and the end of the 'Crucible Crisis', Thorax and Ember get so fed up with the Dragon-Changeling blood feuds that instead of perpetuating the violence, they choose to forgive both the Changeling Progeniters and the Dragon Elders for their role in the crisis and other horrible things caused by their grudge. This leads to a positive karmic backlash that creates an infant Changeling-Dragon hybrid goddess, Princess Lampyridae/Firewing, who not only embodies Forgiveness, Spiritual Healing, Making Amends, but also sees Thorax and Ember as her 'parents' (which they technically are, since she's the direct result of their actions).
• For the Evulz: Usually averted. As a rule of thumb, a majority of villains and/or criminals in the setting have some sort of motive or justification that makes sense, at least to themselves. Those who pursue senseless, banal evil for its own sake are generally seen as particularly abhorrent, and usually deconstructed as being mad, dysfunctional or just plain idiotic.
  • Temnobog Cultists and Hydianites both revere and commit Evil for its own sake out of ideological/religious reasons, though takes it in opposite directions: the former sees Evil as (and should be) serving a necessary, constructive role in the world and that both Good and Evil must exist in balance. The latter group, by contrast, are selfish and destructive villains who worships Evil as freedom from all restraints, including morality - which is essentially For the Evulz. Naturally, Temnoists are Hydianites are very bitter enemies and oppose each other at every opportunity.
  • Deconstructed with Valefor, an enemy of then-future Dragon Lord Pyro II. Valefor's ultimate goal called for awakening and unleashing an ancient primordial demon to ravage the world. And yet, his exact reasons for carrying out said goal turned out to be so nonsensical and lacking that even Pyro II himself was confused. However, Cinder I, Valefor's adoptive Tyke-Bomb daughter who would become Pyro II's wife, believes that Valefor had become 'so bitter, so twisted, and so fixated' on his lust for power that he literally can't find enjoyment in anything else, and actually sympathized with him on that point, as she had found something else more fulfilling to care for: friendship and love with Pyro and later her family with him.
• For Want Of A Nail: In the Codexverse, most events that have transpired the way they did would have happened quite differently if certain things have played out, for better and for worse.
  • Had Irminsul let his son live instead magically purging him of his inner flaws in-utero, High King Bogolenya would have become The Good King and led mortal Deerkind into a golden age as his father foresaw. Many people speculate In-Universe that Bogolenya would have become "the bestest of friends" with Emperor Golden Scepter as well, since they're both divine royalty who embody a certain race and have similar divine portfolios. Bogolenya himself acknowledges that Irminsul killed him in the womb trying to make him 'perfect' and 'flawless', so when they meet during the 'Final Ragnarok' arc via Symvíosi fusing Belyolen and Temnobog together, Bogolenya rips into Irminsul with a short yet effective "The Reason You Suck" Speech for killing him with his vicarious ambitions.
  • Golden Scepter would admit to Temnobog that the "Twilight of the Alicorns" conflict was the best thing that happened to him and his people. If it hadn't happened, he wouldn't have become a much better person down the line, or see the Alicorns' behavior and their fallen civilization what it truly was: A breeding ground of stagnation and corruption that promoted toxic, self-righteous, and high-hoofed attitudes due to the Alicorns' overwhelming successes and power.
  • If Luminiferous had not found him in time, Blue Suede Heartstrings would have succeeded in quitting music altogether and presumably become a recluse out of depression and grief. His entry notes that meeting Luminiferous "changed the course of history", as the pep-talk he received and the epiphany he had influenced Blue to continue performing on his own terms after quitting his job as a career musician. Eventually, he would end up Ascending to godhood after traveling the world and amassing a list of good deeds. On the other hand, Blue having a food-fueled nightmare about becoming fat in his old age motivated him to cut down on his Big Eater habits significantly, allowing him to remain in his prime by the time he Ascended to godhood, whereas his character inspiration, Elvis Presley, got really fat in the last years of his life due to not developing the same restraint.
• Freudian Excuse: All over the place. Many characters in the Codexverse have reasons for why they ended up developing certain behaviors. However, this trope is usually deconstructed in that while their reasons are certainly sympathetic, they usually don't justify horrific actions, as people have opportunities to move past their traumas and become better individuals.
  • Grey Hoof is extremely focused on "protecting" ponies from getting Cutie Marks because he was born during a time when Sunnytown was ravaged by Cutie Pox, taking with it half the population as well as his parents. However, he's so far gone in the head that he's willing to use his experiences as an excuse to commit more atrocities against Ponykind, and has influenced his most ardent followers into behaving exactly like him. Pakak himself states that while Grey Hoof's fear is legitimate, he still let that fear motivate him into doing cruel and hateful things in the name of preventing that fear.
  • The members of the Black Heron Corpse Investigation Team are collectively cynical and borderline morbid in both humor and perception due to suffering horrific and/or personal tragedies, to the point where they would unnerve people by cracking jokes and conversing during battles as if it's just another day of work. And because of their floundering corpse business and poor financial situations, they're opportunistic and greedy, being willing to do anything to earn extra cash like accepting yen from their followers as gifts. However, this behavior would get them in trouble with benevolent authorities such as the Shinseina Pantheon, whose members genuinely want to see them grow into their potential and succeed, yet greatly disapprove of their crass and snarky behavior. In a canonized Codexverse drabble, Guiding Light would admit to Empress Izanami-no-kami in a private conversation that he and his friends were so driven to get by that they thought living in a divine realm would be no different than living in Neighpon, rent and all, and they all just wanted to stop worrying about living expenses for once.
    Guiding Light: ...I- I guess we were so focused on earning a living that we didn't realize... When we first got here, I thought living in this place would be no different than living at home. After losing my first home because I didn't get enough for rent and pay it on time, I... we all just wanted to stop worrying about expenses for once.
    Izanami-no-kami: ...Guiding Light, I assure you, you and your friends don't have to worry about that here. Not anymore. My husband and I, as well as my children and peers, will make sure of that. But... if we catch you and your friends acting foolishly again, then we won't hesitate to discipline you as we see fit.
    Guiding Light: ...Yes, ma'am.
  • Deconstructed with Princess Winter Opera. As a teenager, she was angry, bitter, and vindictive, and initially used dark magic to give people hell for bullying her. This came from being constantly bullied by other foals and being looked down upon by both adults and puristic superheroes who believed that she'll someday turn out just like War Rock on account of being his daughter. While her Codex entry does place blame on the public for wrongly judging her based on War Rock's actions, it points out that regardless of her heritage, some of her actions do end up validating people's concerns, such as her use of dark magic as a tool for revenge. She also has the choice to separate herself from her father's legacy and do good things instead; all she needed was just the right push in the right direction.
  • Many of Prince Dissonant Tune's flaws stem from his past experiences as a mortal, though it's deconstructed as those same flaws influenced him to act in unsavory ways, regardless of his reasons Thankfully, he's receiving some much-needed psychiatric help in dealing with his issues from young Mentálne, and being adopted by Moon Ray Vaughoof has helped him control his worst impulses.
    • Due to his traumatic foalhood experiences with his stepfather, and War Rock being completely absent and indifferent to him and his half-siblings, Dissonant utterly despises Abusive Parents. By his own admission, he initially had a hard time believing or accepting that abusive parents can change their ways, since both of his fathers died wicked and unrepentant.
    • He suffers from anger and trust issues due to being wrongly mistreated for his birth father's crimes, especially by authority figures and superheroes who thought badly of him because of his parentage. This may be part of the reason why he acts like a rebellious Punk.
    • His Inferiority Superiority Complex also came from being wrongly judged and mistreated by people in his time for resembling War Rock (especially his vampiric traits) and being a musical prodigy like his birth father. His attempts to be a Card-Carrying Villain like War Rock left him utterly miserable and nearly killed him when he was hospitalized for a drug overdose. He gets better after that, but while he has grown comfortable with his role as a constructive villain and even enjoys it, he still questions his place in the world at times and can be hard on himself whenever he thinks he failed.
  • A lot of High King Irminsul's unpleasant traits stemmed from unresolved psychological issues that originated in traumatic or unsavory events which he had experienced throughout his existence. However, it's deconstructed in that while his reasons for behaving the way he does are understandable, they still don't excuse the horrible actions he took to make himself appear as the benevolent and wise ruler he believes himself to be.
    • While they were loving and truly meant well, Irminsul's adoptive parents were also very stern and strict in his upbringing, and held very high standards for Irminsul that he constantly had to fulfill. As a result, when he succeeded them as High King of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon after their deaths, Irminsul was left constantly wondering if he could ever match their standards, which developed into self-doubt and eventually, a desperate determination to atone for both perceived and real mistakes that unfortunately led to him making even more mistakes.
    • Irminsul's puristic hatred for anything 'dark' and 'evil' stems from his horrific experiences with Grogar I, who in his conquest of Equus cut down large regions of Equus' forests, and massacred/corrupted/enslaved both Irminsul's divine children and mortal subjects. Despite Irminsul's attempts to stop Grogar, the latter ultimately escaped punishment by fleeing to the Shadow Realm once backed into a corner by him and his allies. This haunted Irminsul for millennia and caused him to be extremely abusive to his own children, such as Temnobog and Naur, for not embodying his standards as benevolent and pure divine Deer sovereigns. While sympathetic, Irminsul ended up harming his family and subjects with his toxic mindsets, which either led to them becoming as bad as he is, or alienated them to the point of outright abandoning him in disgust, frustration, and anger. It also caused Irminsul to be hated by many non-Deer mortals and divines, regardless of his reasons for his behavior.
    • During the Second Age, the retreat of magic forced the Deer pantheon and their people to retreat into seclusion into parallel magical realms to ride out the era. Irminsul would observe the developments of mortal Ponykind, the only race that could survive on a nearly magic-less planet, and was so horrified and disgusted from seeing the damage to nature that the Second Age's technological and heavily-industrialized civilizations that he developed a deep distrust for progress and change in general, believing that such concepts will only lead to mortal Deerkind's self-destruction. Unfortunately, this led the Alvslog Deer Herds becoming prideful, self-righteous, and borderline reactionary just like their divine "father", which is increasingly putting them at risk of being destroyed and overtaken by those who see their customs as obsolete and advocate for progress.
    • His extremely vicarious treatment of his children stems from self-loathing over his own flaws. After years of success as a ruler, the wars with Grogar I, the depletion of magic at the end of the First Age, and seeing only the worst aspects of the Second Age made him believe that his own flaws were preventing him from truly ruling well, and desired for a perfect, flawless heir to succeed him. This contributed to his abusive upraising of his own children - he horrifically abused Temnobog for being born 'evil' and encouraged his family to do the same, and was forever disappointed in Naur for being born a Fire god despite Naur's attempts to prove his worthiness as his son. He also influenced his other children to become as bad as he is by imparting his toxic mindset onto them, believing it'll make them as 'pure' as he is. Ironically, the one child who did embody all that Irminsul wanted in his heir, High King Bogolenya, didn't get to live because Irminsul tried purifying him of his inner flaws in-utero based on a prophetic dream he had, which mutilated and killed his son in the process.
  • A lot of King Aspen's worst traits had been the result of an innocent youth being irrevocably scarred by the loss of his parents and many of his sisters, and the ravaging of his homeland to marauding witches and minions of Hydianite Covens. Much of it is also due the influence of his mentor High King Irminsul who he looked up to as a replacement father-figure, which made him susceptible to being influenced by the Eltenteil Deer Pantheon's toxic mindsets regarding goodness, nature and other races/gods. Of course, while it made him understandable and even sympathetic as a character, none of it justifies or excuses his own unsavory mindset and actions.
• Friendly Neighborhood Spider: Cuddle Spiders are the size of a medium-sized dog, but very friendly, affectionate, and make good pets that are, true to their name, primarily fed by their owners' cuddling and affections. They were originally primarily in the Changelings' possession, but after the Masquerade fell, they became a popular export. According to the one who introduced them to the Codexverse, they're inspired by Lucas the Spider.
• Friend to All Children:
  • Elske the Jotunn Love goddess. She loves children and always tries to protect them from harm. Whenever she comes across a sinful realm, she has her worshipers evacuate the children before she eats everything, and then makes up for their loss of family members and homes by becoming their adoptive mother. Her divine realm, where her adoptive children live, makes them immune to all forms of harm (though she'll get angry anyway if people try going after them).
  • Crystal Prism, the young Alicorn of Change and Rebirth, is also one. Having been a former unicorn colt who was transformed into a monster by well-intentioned yet unscrupulous people, and experienced an equally traumatizing resurrection/Ascension after he was killed, Crystal Prism heavily sympathizes with those who undergo stressful changes themselves. This applies especially to children, whose fragile mental states often leave them overwhelmed in the face of changed.
  • Prince Fanged Paw, Golden Scepter's second-oldest son, is noted in his entry to be quite fond of children; when he isn't fighting or partying, he's telling them stories of his adventures.
  • Blue Suede Heartstrings is generally very fond of children and is known to act as an older brother figure for them. Some of his friends are young foals, such as an orphaned pegasus filly who lived in the Sandwich Islands with her older sister and "Stitch", a rehabilitated Maretian weapons experiment, and the Dazzling Divas, whom he aided in their fight with Ivory Towers and her demonic forces. It's believed In-Universe that his fondness for children came from losing his older identical twin brother at birth... which ironically turned out to be false, as said older twin brother, Bossa Nova Heartstrings, is still around serving as a psychopomp-turned-Death god.
  • Despite his evil nature, Prince Dissonant Tune is very fond of young children and serves as a big brother figure for them. His entry notes that it's not a good idea to harm a child in his presence.
• From Nobody to Nightmare:
  • Dread was a member of a species considered household pests by most, but due to being a mutant he became the Dread Emperor, one of the first real threats Equestria faced.
  • A few Changeling Kings from the dreaded Summer Court have humble beginnings. The hardships they endure in their youth often shape them into the ruthless tyrants and conquerors they become after their Errance.
  • The Storm King and his army is shown to be this in their origin story: both the Yetis and the Monkey-Bears start out as a collection of primitive mountain tribes in the Parvata region of Equus (Codexverse-expy of Nepal), living in the ruins of their precursors' civilization. Yet decades later, they would be storming the gates of Canterlot and begin what history would remember as the Storm King Crisis.
  • An interesting case with Temnobog. He was once an innocent fawn who was both physically and emotionally abused by his hypocritical, self-righteous family for being 'evil', but later became a dark Deer god who spreads evil and suffering through the Erobreseg Deer Realms. However, the first time he devoted himself to spreading evil was just to spite Belyolen and usurp his brother's place as leader of the then-newly-formed Bogolenya Deer pantheon. But learning the truth of being the living bisected halves of High King Bogolenya, combined with Belyolen revealing that he always loved him and pleading for him to stop fighting, moved Temnobog to finally bury the hatchet. While he is still feared for what he does, he's also respected by his mortal subjects, the Erobreseg Deer Herds, since he uses evil for constructive purposes and to motivate mortals into becoming stronger to oppose evil.
  • Blood Fang was speculated In-Universe to have become the feared conqueror he is today out of the altruistic desire to give his nomadic family a home by taking over places with fertile lands like Hyrule. However, if one would go further back, it would be revealed that he was once a mortal Earth pony named Blood Feather, a Reformed Bully who became a steadfast ally of Gleaming Shield and Radiant Primrose in one of their early incarnations. However, he was possessed by the spirit of Demise, a greater demon, and committed suicide with Gleaming Shield's sword so he'll free himself and save his friends. A few gods reincarnated him out of pity, but it turned out that a portion of Demise's evil stayed with him, ultimately giving rise to Blood Fang.
  • Prince Dissonant Tune was once an innocent and sweethearted colt who idolized his increasingly abusive stepfather, and took up music just to please him. Now, he's an evil Alicorn god of Music, Vice, Corruption, and Revelry, though he plays the villain for constructive purposes.
  • While a few of them came from elite backgrounds (Dühroham was the son of nobles, and Voľná Láska was essentially the Princess of her Neo-Alvslog Deer community), all of the Dark Purveyors were originally mortals who were horrifically abused by parental figures. Then they encountered deities who helped them recover from their trauma, inspiring them to become the divine punishers they are today.
• From Zero to Hero: One of the Central Themes of Codex Equus is having the potential to become a hero and, if possible, a god. This is also actively encouraged by many benevolent individuals In-Universe as people have the power to choose whether to be good or evil.
  • Crystal Prism was once a mortal unicorn colt named Page Wheel, but after Midnight Bell lied about him, he was kidnapped by Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker, who proceeded to experiment on him to replicate the Alicorns' Ascension process. While the experiments did corrupt Page Wheel and turned him into a magic-eating monster, it wasn't until after he was defeated and killed by Luminiferous and the Equestrian Princesses that he became the Alicorn he is now, having been revived by the very magic he devoured. Nowadays he helps promote Change and Rebirth, as he embodies it, by helping people and even befriending "evil" deities like Katastrofa, instead of symbolizing a "new age" like Noble Grace intended, thanks to benevolent individuals encouraging him to forge a new path for himself.
  • Thorax was once a Common Changeling drone of Chrysalis's hive that was trained from birth to fight and die in the name of his Queen. A series of events, including his request for asylum in Equestria and his confrontation with Chrysalis, resulted in Thorax turning into a Royal Changeling and becoming a 'Progenitor' of a new breed of purified Changelings. Thorax is currently regarded as a near-legendary heroic figure by Changelingkind, calling him the "Sanctified One" and seeing him as their greatest hope in curing their racial Curse.
  • In his mortal youth, Prince Mana Weaver was a Unicorn with half-Earth Pony heritage who was mercilessly and cruelly discriminated against by 'pure' Unicorns for existing, and was strongly discouraged from learning magic under the assumption that his mixed blood made his magic weak and therefore inferior. However, thanks to one of the Starswrils, he would become a wizard strong enough to completely wipe the floor with other 'pure' Unicorn mages after years of hard work. Becoming Golden Scepter's student later led to him Ascended to godhood as an Alicorn who specialized in helping people break past limits and humbling arrogant Jerkasses.
  • Over the course of three Ages, Moon Ray Vaughoof went from an abused colt to one of the greatest Blues musicians of the Second Age. Following his early death, he went from a traumatized, angry, and bitter spirit to an Alicorn prodigy who became famous for his efforts in helping addicts and abuse victims. Then a huge mistake on his part caused him to realize the cyclic nature of all things, including failure, turning him into an eldritch deity who has the potential to replace High King Ragnarøkkr as god of Cycles and a constructive force of nature.
  • Like in canon, Twilight Sparkle went from a bookish, introverted Insufferable Genius who thought she was better off without friends, to a renowned Equestrian heroine and, following her Ascension to demi-godhood, one of the official ruling Princesses of Equestria. Then following the 'League of Domination Crisis', she becomes a true goddess, the Reincarnation of Mana Equus, one of the Thirteen Empyreans, and replaces both Celestia and Luna as the sole ruler of Equestria. Both deities and mortals also recognize and acknolwedge her as possibly one of the most powerful Alicorn mages on the planet.
• Fusion Dance:
  • Spring Changeling Queens and twin sisters, Mara and Bunta, have this ability - they can merge together to form Queen Marabunta, whose personality is a rounded combination of both twins, is physically taller and stronger, and has more magic/love reserves. They can also fuse with their Changeling subjects if the situation demands it. This is unsurprising, considering how they're mostly based on Ruby and Sapphire.
  • The Changelings of Spring Hive Marabunta can also merge together to become a new being with enhanced physical capabilities and power, a la Steven Universe. While they can merge with each other, they can also merge with either one or both Queens if the situation requires it. Merged Changelings with extremely close bonds run the risk of becoming "permafusions".
  • Silver Bane, a former follower of the Poenan Pantheon, is a mental variant that combines "Composite" and "Power Booster". After accepting his vampiric heritage and making peace with his "dark half", he mentally fused with it, which not only gave him a more stable, healthier mindset, but also transformed him in the real world as his long-suppressed heritage finally manifested itself, giving him traits like tufted ears, feathered bat wings, and sharp upper fangs. He also permanently gained enhanced physical abilities and greater magic, making him more powerful than he was before.
  • Fairytale, the Goddess of Virtue, is the Tales Seven merged into one by Symvíosi to defeat Queen Dark Crystal. She was later revived in the Fourth Age as her own person, though she acknowledges the Tales/Virtuous Seven as her 'mothers' (which they technically are).
  • While traditional Reincarnation does exist, a form exists where someone manages to regenerate some spark of themselves that contains the essence of another, usually a deity, and results in the soul of that person merging with theirs. This results in the two individuals co-existing, but also existing as one soul, able to channel their full being under certain circumstances. So far, this has happened to Tranquil Harbor with Promes Amicitia/Twilight with Mana Equus, and Diamond Tiara/Queen Elpis with Diamond Glow.
  • Rose Regalia, the Light of Healing and several deities invent Fusion Regalia, which allows the wearer to fuse with someone else wearing their own version, resulting in fusions becoming somewhat more common.
  • A special variety of fusion is a Walpurgisnacht, a magical merger of witches. The most powerful known one was Queen Dark Crystal.
• Future Badass: By the Fifth Age, everyone we know of has Ascended to godhood thanks to the Church of the Stars and other benevolent factions, and Equusian civilization have advanced enough that they are finally able to reach the stars. Together with the rest of the Galaxy they're also able to defeat and kill the Void Sovereign, a god who is implied to be billions of years old, thanks to their combined divine, technological, and military might.
• The Future Will Be Better: The Fifth Age is depicted as this in Codex Galactica entries. Thanks to the Church of the Stars finally coming clean about the Void Sovereign and what happened during the first 'Void Aeon', every prominent character we know of was able to Ascend to godhood and Equusian civilization was able to make huge magical/technological progress necessary to reach the stars. Once that happens, the Void Sovereign breaks free from his prison and tries to destroy Equus for good, but everyone has become so powerful by this point that the battle is tipped in their favor this time, with Diamond Tiara/Queen Elpis serving as their vanguard as the Bearer of Hope. They defeat and kill the Void Sovereign, saving the galaxy from his threat, and are able to expand to and/or colonize other worlds afterward.

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