Codex Equus / Tropes G to H

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:

G

• Gaia's Vengeance: This trope applies to any nature deity who gets pissed off by uncaring, destructive entities.
  • Battryu, being a Battra Expy and the embodiment of Nature's "Wrath" as opposed to his twin, Mothryu, who is Nature's "Mercy", is more or less the personification of this. Thankfully, with the exception of the incident that awakened him in modern day, he's not nearly as hard on modern Equus, due to them generally being good about caring for the environment.
  • A literal case in the Nature Giant goddess Gaea, who was so furious with Grogar's destruction of Equus's forests that she went on a destructive rampage. Grogar lost a majority of his forces and was forced to flee into the Shadow Realm.
• Gambit Pileup: Happens quite frequently in-universe, on account of the sizeable number of strategic geniuses and manipulative schemers in the setting which often run into or opposed each other.
  • This is essentially what happened when Dr. Toxikon decides to finally make his move and take his revenge against the Summer Court of Changelings - resulting in possibly one of the biggest game of Xanatos Speed Chess in all of Equus history with plans within plans within plans needed at the bare minimum to be able to keep up with all of this plotting and scheming. The whole pileup is even compared with that of an elaborate sword-fight by the duelists at night, each move and counter-move equivalent of sword blows clashing and sparking in the dark.
• Garden of Eden: In the Codexverse, some deities create 'Gardens' for the purpose of creating/evolving animal species into sapient races of their own design. These 'Gardens' are often isolated regions, specifically designed to serve as both protective sanctuaries and classrooms where the first sapients of certain races are tested on their developing morality.
  • Clara Equus, the firstborn of the Thirteen Empyreans, was born in one such 'Garden', the result of King Equus' efforts in uplifting Equuidkind into sapience.
  • Mzaziland was formerly a 'Garden' used to uplift Zebrakind into sapience until Queen Mzazi converted it into her own kingdom.
  • Both Peachy and her husband, Chestnut, were born the first Earthponies in a 'Garden' founded by Emperor Golden Scepter to create the modern Earthpony tribe, with their Secret Test of Character revolving around whether they're able to follow the rules and own up to their mistakes or not. Thanks to Morning Star's secret sabotage, Peachy and Chestnut disobeyed Golden Scepter's rules and ate fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, wanting to know how to become like their creator... but they ultimately realized what they did and took responsibility. This allowed them to pass the test and earn Golden Scepter's forgiveness. Unfortuantely, the story of Peachy and Chestnut's story would gradually be distorted over the Ages, with one version ending in their failure via blaming others, something that both demagogues and elites would use to demand unquestioning obedience and loyalty to divine authority as penance for their racial ancestors' 'Original Sin'.
• Gentleman and a Scholar:
  • Changelingkind in general, particularly the Royal Changelings, notably in direct contrast to the barbaric and simple Dragonkind, whom they and many others see as their antithesis. Both good or ill, Changelingkind emphasize heavily on intelligence, knowledge and culture when not obsessed with survival and secrecy, all of which are encouraged by their Progenitor parents. Notable examples of the trope include Changeling Queens Acanthosomatidae, Odonata and Ithomiini as well as their hives. Changeling King Lepid, Thomisus and Pholcidae from the Summer Court are more in the Wicked Cultured variety, although even their less flamboyant and more aggressive brothers are also quite sophisticated by most standards.
  • Toxikon learned to be this from the Changelings, being a civilized dragon and brilliant scientist. Unfortunately, the trauma of the Changelings attempting to commit genocide against his people, as well as the Dragons themselves refusing to change their Might Makes Right mentality, slowly turned him into a monster instead.
• Genius Bruiser:
  • Dr. Toxikon is a 5,000 year old dragon with multiple degrees and doctorates, being the world's only dragon scientist, and able to rival the Summer Court in cunning. This makes him every bit as deadly as that combination would imply, and he proves capable of taking all of Changeling Kind head on with a chance of actually winning.
  • Like her canon self, Ember uses a combination of intelligence, strength, and skill to overcome her opponents, unlike her fellow dragons who believe in using pure strength to dominate their foes. This is what partially allows her to defeat Dr. Toxikon when she teamed up with Thorax.
• Gentleman Thief:
  • King Asbolus Lyonesse is this, due to being raised by a Classy Cat-Burglar. He is definitely a master thief, but he's also a gentleman and affable by nature. He also has a moral compass and will never steal from someone who can't protect themselves.
  • Polistes Lyonesse as well. As stated above, he's a noble Sky Pirate. His Wild Card crew only steal or raid from those who can afford to lose the loot, and always avoid getting innocents involved in their exploits.
  • Miscreant Melody of both the Third and Fourth Age are this trope, owing to being a Noble Demon Anti-Villain who steals mostly for the challenge and follows an honourable code of conduct. He has the means to be a legitimately dangerous villain and threat on the world stage, but chose not to in the name of fairness and respect for his opponents, and even helps hammer down and humiliate those who earns his ire with their detestable conduct.
• Giant Foot of Stomping: The fate of anyone who antagonizes a Giant or Dragon, assuming they weren't eaten.
  • This was the fate of Golden Chalice, who charged at a Sauropodian Queen in a war chariot. His armies surrendered and left rather quickly.
  • The Jotunn love goddess Elske once confronted a group of Propagare cultists and their forces by crushing one army with her hooves, then sitting down on another while explaining Propagare's deceptions to two mortal Deer kingdoms. As for the cultists themselves, most of them were slowly crushed to death.
• Giant Spider:
  • Cuddle Spiders are the size of a medium-sized dog. They're also adorable, friendly, and make great pets sustained by their owner's affection and love. They're the domesticated version of a now long-extinct species of love-sucking, wolf-sized spiders that were far less friendly. Not surprisingly, they were inspired by Lucas the Spider.
  • More traditional ones live in the Giant Lands, where proportionally to giants they're the same size as normal ones are to ponies. When they somehow get out of the Giant Lands, however, they're a much bigger problem.
• Giver of Lame Names: The First Age Ponies are noted as having not been very creative in the naming department, thus why some pony subgroups are named "Happy Tail" and they called Cutie Marks "Rump Designs".
• The Glomp: Arlequin, Pakak's daughter and Discord's niece, found out her father was no longer Sealed Good in a Can. She exaggerates this trope by launching herself half way across Equestria and giving him the 'biggest hug tackle in history.' Literally, she set the world record.
• Glory Days: Generally deconstructed, as one of the themes covered by the Codexverse is looking back at the past with a Nostalgia Filter can be detrimental for everyone.
  • This forms the basis of Moon Ray Vaughoof's character development. He never really got over how his music career and life were cut short by a sudden helicopter accident, especially after becoming sober, and working as a Reaper reminded him of all the things he left behind. Moon Ray's strong nostalgia causes him to shirk his duties in favor of hanging around places he used to frequent in life, and during the 'Big Comeback Tour', he preferred to let the revived souls enjoy their second chance rather than take it away from them. But participating in the 'Applewood Rescue' makes Moon Ray realize the hard way that his yearning for the past nearly put him down the same dark path of depravity that his foalhood idol, Double Helix, took. He comes to term with this while visiting his own grave in Gallas, allowing him to Ascend to true godhood. Ironically, it's his letting go of his past and doing good deeds in the present that gradually turns Moon Ray into the Living Legend he originally wanted to be.
• Glory Hound:
  • Implied with Ematha of the old Orosian pantheon. As a war goddess, she embodies those who callously throw away the lives of their soldiers in order to achieve "beautiful" victories. This eventually disgusted Bellamos so much that he disowned her as his adoptive parent.
  • LITERALLY, in the form of the Glory Hounds species, which are winged canine emotivorous creatures which feeds on Pride and influences those whom they tethered upon to behave increasingly like this trope. While this could be dangerous as those the Glory Hounds feed on act recklessly, Glory Hounds could also be trained to become therapeutic pets helping to boost the confidence of those with self-esteem issues.
• Glowing Gem: Too many to count, often an indication of the gemstone's magical properties.
• God-Eating: A common occurrence in the Codexverse as it is in various Mythologies in RL, made possible thanks to the generally eldritch nature of the gods' forms. It is considered one of the four major ways one god can defeat another in a Divine Conflict and the second most popular after Sealing them away, because it gives the gods a lot of options with their adversaries, whether it be just imprisoning them in their belly, drain them slowly and steadily as a replenishing supply of extra divine power, or digest and absorbing them completely to take everything from them and safely dispose of them without causing a catastrophic meltdown of their dying forms. You have to be much stronger or weakened your enemy god enough however or they'll cut/blast their way out. If the god-eating is successful, however, the deity can acquire their eaten foe's power and perhaps even add their domains into their nature.
  • Giant Divines are VERY fond of doing this to non-Giant deities in their conflicts as a result of both Giantkinds' size, domineering instincts and natural hunger. And since the size-distortions that mark the Giants' lands and even their bodies are magnified by their Divine natures, they could end up with entire pantheons trapped in their guts, along with all the lands and civilizations they had consumed.
  • A famous Alvslog Deer legend has the Deer God of Evil Temnobog, the Dark One attempt to do this to his father High King Irminsul after de-powering him. When Narren, the Joyous Prince and Irminsul's grandson saw and confronted Temnobog about it, Temnobog ate him too to stop him from telling the rest of the Eltenteil Deer Pantheon. Of course, this was actually what Narren wanted him to do all along, as it allowed him to go deep into Temnobog's guts and rescue his grandfather.
  • High King Irminsul is not above doing this to others himself. In the Diamond Dog divine Scrappus' entry, he turned him into a worm and swallowed him after Scrappus' then annoying brat antics finally made the unflappable Deer divine lose his temper. Leads to a Heel Realization on Scrappus' part after spending a while in Irminsul's belly. It's also noted that Irminsul dealt with a lot of evil monsters, demons and gods that way as well.
  • Vicearch Iniquitous, among the most successful evil overlords and dark goddess to have ever risen to power, ascended to godhood by devouring her God of Evil patron (who admittedly had it coming), then achieved victory and cemented her supremacy by defeating and devouring the old Malregnarian pantheon and every other remaining god in the lands until only she remained, conquering it all while at it.
  • While his Shadowed Ones allies/co-conspirators/patron had consumed the Cervidian gods indirectly through the energies released from their Vicious Cycle of self-destructive conflicts they had usurped and manipulated, the Fallen Fire Jotunn Destroyer Deity Surtr himself indulges in this trope more directly, having consumed countless pantheons and thousands of gods both before and after he got involved with the Ragnarok Cycle. This is a nicer fate or a mercy compared to what he does to those he caught/defeated and don't immediately sought to eat/kill first.
• God-Emperor: Generally justified, as there are many benevolent deities (or not) of Equus who are also sovereigns of their own kingdoms.
  • The Changeling Progenitors, Blackrose Avalon and Blackthorn Lyonesse, are this, being respectively the Empress and Emperor of Changelingkind as well as their divine biological parents. However, they are not together, as Blackrose detests Blackthorn and sees him as an Abhorrent Admirer, and rule over separate Changeling courts.
  • The Equestrian Princesses are all immortal Alicorns who are capable of powerful feats of magic, even Cadence, though she's technically not part of Equestria due to ruling the Crystal Empire. They all rather prefer their subjects don't see them as gods.
  • Queen Dazzleglow and her sisters once ruled over the kingdom of Kerajaan Cahaya in the Second Age, and now have emerged from sleep to continue their job in the Fourth Age.
  • Golden Scepter is quite literally a very ancient and powerful God-Emperor, which isn't surprising since he's based on the Emperor of Mankind. While his origins are rather spotty, it is known that he was once mortal, and he was the supreme leader and judge of one of the most successful and advanced empires, until Morning Star became a Fallen god and betrayed his people, starting the "Twilight of the Alicorns" conflict that lasted for ten Ages. After that, Golden Scepter would help the survivors rebuild and founded the Imperium of Ponykind... but unfortunately his traumas from the war would catch up to him and deeply affect his judgement, to the point of becoming little more than a well-meaning yet hypocritical and ruthless Jerkass and a divine tyrant. Most notably, he wanted his mortal subjects to stop seeing him as a god and to stop treating him as such, to the point where he would destroy temples dedicated to the gods and even put an entire city to the torch for worshiping him. After he was gravely wounded by one of his own generals in the brutal "Aurum Apostasy", he would be sealed away until the Second Age, where he would be found and healed by Luminiferous and Dazzleglow. This would kick-start the long process of going through massive Character Development, eventually becoming much kinder. By the time the Fourth Age rolled around, he established the much smaller yet thriving Terran Empire, which is currently still ruled by him and his many Semi-Divine sons.
  • Iniquitous and Fairytale, the Vicearch of Malregnar and the Virtuecrat of Vertusia respectively are both this, as do the yet unnamed sovereign who embody the 'Neutrality Between Them'. The interesting thing about the two are that both of them either started out mortal, or originated from mortals - the former once an ordinary but brilliant mare who rose to power through meticulous preparations, daring audacity, unparalleled ruthlessness, undaunted resolve and just enough luck, all to gain the means to bring her once disparate and destitute lands to greatness (and horrifically punish those who she felt responsible for their pitiful states), remade into a reflection of her own dark glory; while the latter were The fusion of seven legendary empowered mortal heroines which embodied their combined virtuous traits, and upon being resummoned back into the world Ages later as an independent being dedicated herself to building a kingdom/world that would make her 'mothers' proud.
• A God I Am Not:
  • Golden Scepter was extremely uncomfortable with being worshiped as a god, as he believed that religious faith can hamper one's true potential and bring them to ruin. He would deal with this in various ways.
    • During the Imperium era, he took the extreme route and tried destroying Ponykind's faith in gods, even destroying temples made in his name. However, the fact that Golden Scepter demanded total obedience from his followers rendered this moot. Notably, this led to an incident where he torched a prosperous city down to its very foundations simply because its people praised him as a god, and harshly rebuked and humiliated the founder/builder of said city, who was then one of his most ardent followers, for promoting religious faith. He would later call the incident "one of the worst mistakes in the infinitely long list of failures I have created during my incredibly long life".
    • While he has mellowed out significantly in the Fourth Age, he still wants his mortal subjects to think for themselves, which resulted in public worship of him and his family being officially banned in the Terran Empire. When he learned that one of his sons, Written Word had secretly joined the priesthood, he would set him straight by deconstructing his motives and explaining to Written Word why his attempts to help their mortal subjects wouldn't work in the long run. This would lead to Written Word accepting his folly and realizing the true value of faith, warranting his Ascension.
  • The Alicorn Princesses don't particularly like being outright worshiped, despite their genuine divinity. How much they're this trope varies though. It is noted that even when they were in their home realm, Celestia, Luna, and their parents were merely 'common' Alicorns, whereas they would be rightly seen as gods and sovereigns by mortals anywhere else.
    • While all Alicorn Princesses hate being worshiped, Celestia is the only one who's prominently shown to this dislike. She doesn't hate religion per se, seeing it as a necessity that helps guide her subjects in bettering themselves, but otherwise being treated as a goddess makes her uncomfortable. It's implied that her feelings partially stem from the Nightmare Moon incident, where a combination of her own pride/ignorance and her allowance of her subjects shunning Luna's night led to the birth of Nightmare Moon.
  • Justified, deconstructed, and reconstructed with Blue Suede Heartstrings.
    • He grew up a faithful devotee of the "King in Heaven" (speculated to be the god Equus), and years of witnessing people become Jerkasses or evil out of pride - and being abused by said people - made him vow never to become as prideful as them. However, his various traumas and issues slowly turned his humility into an inferiority complex, and deep down, he hated himself for not following the "King in Heaven"'s example or practicing what he preached. In addition, he tried repressing his 'bad' emotions and flaws so he wouldn't burden people with his problems. Eventually, his repressed issues would catch up to him in the Fourth Age, and being confronted on the matter by concerned friends and family led to a spectacular breakdown where he nearly turned into a Fallen Alicorn and fell into an Angst Coma.
    • Once his friends rescued him from his Angst Coma by helping him confront/kill 'The Colonel', the living embodiment of his flaws and traumas, he would receive both therapy and emotional support from everyone he helped over the Ages. This helped him accept that it's okay to feel pride in yourself, which led to him becoming more comfortable with appearing as an Alicorn in public. After being crowned as Prince Caerulus Melodia Equestria and joining the Equestrian Pantheon, he's now okay with having mortal followers, but encourages them to approach him directly and see him as a friend so they wouldn't blindly put him on a pedestal.
• God in Human Form: One ability that the divines of Equus have. It's usually out of necessity, as their true forms can have serious effects on mortals just through mere presence, but sometimes the divines often take mortal forms to connect with their worshipers/subjects.
  • Justified with Blue Suede Heartstrings. Blue Suede often appears as a mortal from various races because he's quite humble, and doesn't want to be treated any differently than he does his friends/fans. And as the Alicorn god of Performance, he's quite capable of changing his appearance, voice, and masking his own Primordial Quintessence, allowing him to pull this off easily. Many gods and goddesses have tried getting Blue Suede to look, dress, and act accordingly to his divine station upon learning what his true form is, but Blue Suede's humility means that he always refuses them. The other reason behind his refusal is that he doesn't want to wear royal regalia that turn out to be uncomfortable and itchy. It's later downplayed - while he still appears in his mortal form, he does it occasionally. He has grown comfortable with being in his true Alicorn form more often because he has learned and accepted that it's okay to feel prideful at times, just in moderation.
  • Played with Golden Scepter in regards to his Alicorn form. His entry mentions that he has a "default" form, one that resembles a normal Alicorn stallion with twinkling black hair. His "true" form is much more eldritch - an extremely ancient, six-winged Alicorn with black spatial energy for hair and feathers made of holy fire. Presumably, he uses his default form often when around mortals, though being a "normal" Alicorn still means he's already considered a god to mortals. In the Second Age, however, he played it straight by appearing as a mortal Earth pony stallion. This is so that no one would suspect his true race or his royal Emperor status while he observed all of Ponykind's deeds and accomplishments during his quest for atonement.
• God Is Evil: There are many examples of deities in the Codexverse who are amoral at best, and wicked and depraved at worst.
  • Emperor Blackthorn of the Changeling Summer Court doesn't go out of his way to cause evil (and views himself Above Good and Evil), but is still an extremely amoral chessmaster who had manipulated entire civilizations and even pantheons of gods over throughout history to advance his own inscrutable agendas, caring little for anyone else other than his female counterpart, Empress Blackrose, and sees everyone who doesn't have his respect to be little more than pawns for his schemes. Most of his own Royal Changeling demigod sons are also ruthless schemers, conquerors and tyrants to a fault. He's also responsible for seducing and raping Blackrose while she was under the influence of the Love Poison (though he was affected as well) and siring the fabled Zeroth Spawns through her. However, it's implied that he is deeply ashamed by what he had done, but he keeps it buried underneath all his masks.
• God Is Good: Several noble deities are mentioned besides the Alicorn Princesses. Most of the deities of Equus are of this disposition.
  • Belyolen, co-Top God of the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, is a true paragon and the living embodiment of all of Deerkind's positive traits. Unlike his family and former peers in the Elternteil Deer Pantheon, who are Jerkass Gods that painted themselves as benevolent, Belyolen is genuinely compassionate and noble; he was rightly disgusted with their abuse of his younger twin brother, the God of Evil Temnobog, and left to form his own pantheon to get Temnobog away from them. He was also willing to forgive and reconcile with Temnobog even though his brother did terrible things to spite him, because he already accepted him as his blood sibling.
  • Also from the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, Lestnamatya (Mother Deer) personally goes out of her way to check up on her and her fellow deities' mortal followers while the others are busy elsewhere.
  • Pakak the Trickster, Draconequu Spirit of Mischief and Karma, fought against his elder brother Discord during his reign to protect mortals and sealed away Ispita, the Fallen Draconequu of Temptation.
  • Queen Mab II the Floral Queen, mother deity of the Breezies with powers over flowers, acts as Team Mom for the Cosmic Council and is kind and compassionate. Just don't threaten her people or call her small and weak. She also is the Superior Successor to her own mother, Queen Mab I, a Primeval-ranked Fae goddess who went completely insane due to a personal familial tragedy and never recovered from it.
  • Mier the Peacemaker is a member of the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon and Belyolen's oldest daughter, whose entire portfolio is spreading peace, love and unity to mortals and gods, and despite being an Actual Pacifist will put herself in harm's way to stop wars. Her songs can calm the bloodlust of combatants in battles, while her shields can tank all but the strongest divine attacks. She's famous In-Universe for doing what was supposed to be impossible; namely, breaking the Draconequu God of War Válka out of his Berserker rage and calming him down, which eventually leading to both of them fall in love and marry, saving Válka from descending into evil like his brother and sister did in the process.
  • Despite his flaws, Moon Ray Vaughoof/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya is a humble, merciful, and kind god who loves playing music, seeks to help others overcome trauma and/or addiction, and is a loving father and husband. He is also a benevolent Death god. Even after becoming an Empyrean-level eldritch Alicorn, Moon Ray/Canticum still remains his core self and defies the standard amoral Blue-and-Orange Morality despite perceiving things differently now.
• God of Evil: Several are described in detail, with varying levels of evilness.
  • Grogar, the ancient tyrant of Tambelon from the First Age is a Fallen Deity of Dark Magic, a Control Freak who believe mortals are too incompetent to rule themselves and thus seek to take over and control the world, starting by taking over Tambelon whilst still a mortal necromancer. A consummate master of Dark Magic with powers themed after the Seven Deadly Sins. He has not been seen since the First Age and is believed to had been defeated or destroyed, but time will tell...
  • Temnobog, the infernal co-ruler of the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, is the Deer god of Evil, Darkness, and Suffering. It's subverted as while he's unapologetically evil and revels in what he does, he believes in using his depraved nature for constructive purposes. This belief, combined with his magical bond with his twin brother and good half, Belyolen, laid the foundations of Temnoism. And unlike many villains who want to Take Over the World out of power-lust, he simply wishes to spread 'Constructive Evil' on a global scale so everyone will follow it. The Erobreseg Deer Herds both fear and respect Temnobog, though the Alvslog Deer Herds portray him as a cackling villain with no redeeming traits. Interestingly, he wasn't supposed to exist, but was born thanks to Irminsul selfishly trying to rid his unborn son of his flaws, and a lifetime of unwarranted abuse led to Temnobog hating his father to murderous levels.
  • The Four Terrors, Temnobog's surviving children, embody Depravity, Misery, Excess, Violence, Evil, with each of them embodying specific aspects of their collective portfolio. While they take after their father in evil and depravity, it's subverted as they also spread evil to test heroic mortals and respect those who manage to expose/defeat them. Despite their bad reputation, many of their family members and fellow gods tolerate and even respect them for the roles they play.
  • Orochi, the eight-headed Dragon god of Evil, Tyranny, and Darkness takes the cake. He broke with his Parents after being refused a Dragon Lord title (Reserved for mortal dragons), descended upon Neighpon (Right after the Warring States period), and apart from being briefly driven away by a mortal samurai, Neighgi, wielding a magic sword, proceeded to conquer the Eight Great Islands and plunge it into a time of suffering and tyranny. He demanded sacrifices in form of innocent daughters that he would devour just For the Evulz, have armies of evil mortals and yokai terrorize and rule the place in his name, allied himself with other Fallen Deities like Rabia, and generally made life in Neighpon miserable for everyone. It took the combined might of Princess Celestia (who disguised herself as Amaterasu), the Neighgi's descendant Susaneigho wielding his ancestor's sword, the Neighponese deities and their followers, and even Nightmare Moon indirectly helping to finally see his defeat and destruction.
  • Zkáza, one of Ispita's brothers, is a Fallen Draconequu of Pollution, Decay and Destruction who once served a constructive role like his sister, but came to love spreading destruction and ruin for its own sake. He especially loved tricking mortals into destroying themselves and feeding upon the results. During Discord's reign, he followed Ispita to join Discord's side, though was forced to rein in his desires to bring down all civilizations as Discord wanted them around to toy with. Like Ispita, he was eventually sealed away by Pakak with the help of the Deer Pantheons and other trickster deities, being sealed inside a great tree where he remains to this day. Word of God is that he is basically a mix of Hexxus of FernGully: The Last Rainforest with Zarm from Captain Planet.
  • Rabia in this universe is an ancient Fallen goddess of Primordial Darkness, and is completely unlike her completely benevolent and peaceful twin sister, Skotádi.
  • The Tyrannos Pantheon is composed of young gods representing various aspects of tyrannical regimes, such as Propaganda, Censorship, Military Dictatorships, and Corruption. They also want to Take Over the World through means like igniting a global war so they can remake it In Their Own Image - a global dictatorship that's also their personal playground, where they are free to torture and dominate their subjects however they pleased.
  • Prince Dissonant Tune of the Kerajaan Pantheon is an Alicorn god who embodies Vice and Corruption, as well as the wicked/unfettered aspects of Music and Revelry. His entry describes him as The Quincy Punk who acts like a loud, wild, and rebellious Jerkass to people, and is unapologetically evil. However, it's subverted as he is a follower of 'constructive Evil', and much of his behavior is a front he puts up to test/motivate heroes. He did indulge in 'destructive Evil' for a time, but it was thanks to being wrongly judged and mistreated by many people for being a musical prodigy and one of War Rock's illegitimate children, which convinced him that he might as well be evil if his parentage made him such. What pushed him into 'constructive Evil' was meeting Luminiferous, which made him aware of other, better paths he could take, and learning of Moon Ray Vaughoof's life story and struggles with drug/alcohol addiction. When not playing the villain, he's actually much nicer, empathetic, and loving than he initially appears, albeit still rough around the edges.
  • Zigzagged with the Deti Uzhasov, the children of the Four Terrors. Like the Four Terrors themselves, many of the Deti Uzhasov are Noble Demons, but are also unapologetically depraved and evil. However, some like Queen Krásná Tradice and Prince Lenost are more moderate in their evil than their infernal siblings/relatives. And then there's others like Prince Stækka who are born with domains like Life and Fertility, which are 'good' in concept but can be used to commit evil when pursued to unfettered extremes.
  • The Dark Purveyors are infernal deities who either embody the unfettered/wicked aspects of Music itself, or embody concepts that are related to the genre of music they each specialize in. For example, Prince Dühroham Erobreseg embodies the unfettered aspects of music, technology, strength, and fury, while Princess Voľná Láska embodies the unfettered aspects of the Hippie movement like addiction, nature, love, and enlightenment. Unlike many of their adoptive siblings, however, they weren't born inherently evil; they were good yet extremely traumatized individuals who ultimately chose to punish sinful mortals, influenced by those who helped them recover.
• God of Good: Several are described in detail, with varying levels of goodness.
  • Post Eldritch Transformation, Moon Ray Vaughoof (now Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya) becomes a god who embodies Life, Renewal, Creation, Hope, and Beginnings during the Silicon cycle, though he has stated that the beginnings he predicts are not all good. He's also a benevolent eldritch deity who defies the standard amoral Blue-and-Orange Morality by keeping much of his core personality.
  • Princess Amicitia/Twilight Sparkle is an Alicorn goddess who embodies Friendship, Magic, and Happy Endings. Furthermore, they're the same domains possessed by Twilight Sparkle from the Pony POV Series after she Ascends as Princess Amicitia and replaces the original Amicitia.
• God of the Dead: The Codexverse has Death gods and goddesses of all species, either tasked with ferrying souls of the deceased into their respective afterlives or judging/punishing them. Because of their domain, they're automatically very powerful, but they're bound by a set of rules: They cannot interfere with the affairs of the living with their Death domain unless the situation warrants it. They also must be fair, understanding, merciful so souls wouldn't end up in the wrong afterlife, while repentant souls are given the chance to atone for their sins so they can either move on to the Heaven-Realms, be reborn, or come back to life.
  • All members of the Trimortidae are Death deities whose duties involve ushering in the dead to their respective afterlives (though it depends on whether they had been good or bad in life), protecting them from malicious entities that prey on souls. They're both adoptive and biological children of the Three Deaths, though there are differences between each family depending on the adopter:
    • Gavisus Manes' family focuses on bringing peace and joy to the dying so they could pass on easily, and are generally happy and friendly sorts. Many of them either died premature deaths or came from abusive homes, which necessitated their adoption by Gavisus since he knows how to best help them recover from the situations that killed them. Examples include Bossa Nova Heartstrings/Prince Rubeus Stella Equestria, Sola Mors, Moon Ray Vaughoof/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya, and Prince Knight Shade.
    • Audens Manes' family contains those who end up in the Hall of the Honoured Dead for doing some Heroic Sacrifice in their final moments, or were heroes when they were alive. Like their mother, Trimortidae raised by Audens generally help others do heroic deeds and take them to the Hall of the Honoured Dead to reward them for their actions, no matter how small. Examples include Blue Goldstone/Prince Hyacinthum Lapis Equestria, ALICE/Adelais, Sir Curtain Call, and Bronze Gear.
    • Malus Manes' family either are punishers and torturers of wicked souls, or atoners who help the wicked repent for their sins so they could become good. They generally reside in Malus Manes' Hell-Realms, where wicked souls are held depending on their crimes in life.
  • Moon Ray Vaughoof (now Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya) started out as an Alicorn god of Death, which got him adopted into the Trimortidae. But after re-Ascending as an eldritch deity, he gained three forms that are determined by the cycles he goes through. One of them is his Alpine form, which embodies not only Death, but also Destruction and Endings. It's a case of Bad Powers, Good People as despite having those domains, he also embodies the inevitability of death and coming to terms with it, as other domains include Forgiveness and Closure. Moon Ray's Equus form can also be considered a Death god in the sense that he embodies Reincarnation and Cycles during the Equus cycle, with the power to reincarnate/repair souls (or prevent them from reincarnating) and break harmful cycles.
  • An In-Universe example: Moon Ray once played as a Necromancer during a Ogres & Oubliettes session, which revolved around stopping the main villain from committing global deicide so he wouldn't end up destroying the universe without the necessary Concepts to keep it in place. To help repair the universe, Moon Ray's character avatar took on the mantle of a Death god, who was one of the main villain's victims. Moon Ray admits his character avatar's fate was based on his experiences as a Trimortidae member.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • Dracozilla and Dracozilla Jr. were once terrible threats to Neighpon. But the threat poised by other kaijus - most notably the demonic kaiju spawns of Orochi, a Fallen Ryujin - often led to both Dracozillas becoming critical in saving the Eight Great Islands numerous times despite the damages kaiju fights cause, especially after the second Dracozilla become more heroic and less antagonistic.
  • During 'Queen Colossos' War', as the Giants continue to attack and ravage the rest of the Crystal Empire, it is alleged that some the Crystal Pony nobles seriously considered letting Rabia and the Umbrum out of their magical prison beneath the Crystal Empire capital, either hoping they could bargain with her and her ilk to help them for whatever price they demand, or simply in hopes that they could take the Giants with them when all hope is lost. Crystal Empress Coronam flatly refused to even consider such an option, possibly because the means of breaking the seal was long lost, partly because it would sully their founder's legacy, and partly because she considers letting something as evil as Rabia out for any reason to be too horrible even in the face of the Giants' onslaught.
  • The 'Calling the Terrors' sanction, used against corrupt Erobreseg kingdoms. The sanction is treated as a last resort by the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon for a very good reason - it involves sending the the Four Terrors and their infernal forces after the corrupt kingdom in question, resulting in it becoming nothing but charred wastelands. Because of this, the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon only use the 'Calling the Terrors' sanction against kingdoms that have become so wicked and vile that all attempts to make the local populace repent completely fail. Any innocent and repentant person they find in such places are evacuated before the destruction commences.
  • Toxikon poses such an existential threat to Changelingkind that Zoraptera actually proposes an Enemy Mine with King Brachion, as the two of them are the only ones capable of keeping up with Toxikon's Crucible Virus in its countless forms.
  • During the 'Third Great War' of 1972-3 in the 'Great Wars Era' of the 'Second Age', Hooviet/Combloc forces were on the verge of securing Mareris, and if the co-capital of the Pranco-Bitish Commonwealth (the other being Londoneighum) falls, the Comitern would overrun/liberate the rest of Marerope like they already did to Bitaly, Fleece, Horstria, the divided states of Germaney and the Low Countries. Realizing this, the Commonwealth General made an unthinkable decision to halt the Hooviet advance: Namely, level all of Mareris with orbital weapons while an entire Hooviet army sent to take Mareris was still in the city fighting the remaining defenders as they made their bitter Last Stand. It worked, marking the turning point of the war, but at the cost of the lives of the Commonwealth General and every last soldier left under his command.
• The Good Kingdom: Sauropoda and Kerajaan Cahaya are portrayed this way, being successful and relatively peaceful realms that are ruled by benevolent monarchs. The Terran Empire is also one despite being named... well, an empire, as its ruler, Golden Scepter, made it smaller than its fallen predecessors and encouraged both racial harmony and independent thinking among his mortal subjects.
• Good Parents: For every case of Abusive Parents, there's always someone who raises their children with love, biological or adoptive.
  • Despite being his adoptive Aunt, Celestia is Blueblood's ever-loving and supportive mother in all but name. It got to the point where Blueblood regarded her as his "true" parent rather than his emotionally abusive and controlling birth parents. When ponies raised a stink about Blueblood being royalty despite not being an Alicorn, Celestia responded in a press conference that Alicorn or not, she'll always love her "darling Bluey". Her good parenting would pay off when Blueblood became one of the first few who cheered her on during her fight with the "False Deity" tulpa Tyrantlestia, which gave Celestia the strength to verbally break her enemy and obliterate her with sun magic.
  • Played realistically with Golden Scepter. While he is still far from perfect, he's a good father to his many Semi-Divine sons and loves them all, but is also willing to call them out for unsavory behavior and discipline them when necessary. This is largely thanks to the benevolent influence of those he befriended as well as his deceased mortal wife and Empress-Consort, Blessed Skies, who taught him to always treasure the memories and friendships he made with others. It's also a stark contrast to his character inspiration, the Emperor of Mankind, who at best was a well-meaning yet neglectful and manipulative parent.
    • In regards to Prince Crimson Star, he still loved his son even after the latter was blinded saving a classmate in a carriage accident, and has praised his intellectual and magical achievements on several occasions, as he encouraged the intellectual Ascension of Ponykind. But he was also willing to call his son out for unsavory behavior and discipline him when necessary. Notably, after Crimson Star let himself be beaten up by his hateful brother, Fanged Paw, out of depression and guilt towards his previously arrogant behavior, Golden Scepter made it clear that he will not stand by and watch his son forsake his own life and torture himself excessively for the sake of atonement, and pointed out that there are better ways for Crimson Star to achieve redemption than turning himself into a scapegoat. In addition, after his son was blinded, Golden Scepter made sure that Crimson Star would still have a future to look forward to by teaching him how to use his magic/psychic abilities to "see", and hiring specialists to help him craft books, texts, and scrolls that only his son can still read. It was thanks to his influence that Crimson Star was able to properly redeem himself and make amends with those he had wronged, becoming an Alicorn in the end.
    • His relationship with Written Word is also loving, regardless of the things the latter had done. After invoking Parental Sexuality Squick in his sons with his stories of both the Alicorns' Free-Love Future and his own sex life, he would later apologize to Written Word for traumatizing him and his brothers. When he learned that Written Word went behind his back and broke the law banning public worship of the Terran royal family by becoming a priest, Golden Scepter set his son straight by gently deconstructing his motives and explaining why his attempts to help won't work, as well as telepathically showing Written Word his own memories regarding religion. This would lead to Written Word doing some soul-searching, which would eventually land him in a backwater Pony kingdom that he ended up liberating from demons and the corrupt religion they created. Golden Scepter was noted to have become "proud beyond measure" after learning that Written Word became an Alicorn and personally saw the results of his son's adventures for himself, which told him that his son finally matured and saw the truth in what he was trying to teach him.
    • From what was seen in his interactions with his oldest son, Blazing Hoof, Golden Scepter is quite patient and is willing to teach Blazing Hoof important lessons if he thinks he needs them.
  • Silver Clock, a unicorn queen from the Third Age, was a very loving mother and adored both of her two kids - she wanted her son, Sparkling Wing, to be a great ruler, and tried bringing out his potential by encouraging him to learn magic and making him her official heir to the throne. However, her subjects didn't want to accept a male ruler on the throne, due to the kingdom being matriarchal, and heavily pressured her into having a daughter, which resulted in the birth of Rising Sun. And even then, she tried raising Rising Sun as best as a mother could manage, despite tradition dictating that she favor her daughter over her own son. She also reportedly sobbed out of joy when she learned through a letter that Sparkling Wing became an Alicorn during his travels with Luminiferous.
  • Kaldr, High King of the Hoyklan Deer pantheon, became a good father for both Flœrð, a divine Jotunn stag, and Mjolna, the Alicorn goddess of Thunder. Flœrð especially applies since he was prophesied to bring about Ragnarok for the Hoyklan pantheon out of bitterness and envy, but Kaldr refuses to kill or mistreat a child because of fate and decided to raise the trickster god with love and care instead, resulting in Flœrð becoming heroic and well-adjusted. He even tries to protect Flœrð from those who want to kill him because of said prophecy, noting that it'll not only perpetuate the Vicious Cycle associated with Ragnarok, but also make him similar to Irminsul, who claimed to be "benevolent" yet abused Temnobog just for being born "evil" despite having not done anything to warrant it at the time.
  • Prince Healing Song's adoptive parents were this in life. Despite being infertile, Healing Song's adoptive parents loved him like their own son. They were devastated when Healing Song had to have his eyes removed to prevent the spreading of ocular cancer in his infancy, but they still tried to support their son and accommodate his needs as best as they could. They also encouraged his musical pursuits when he showed talent for playing the guitar, setting up his rise as a musician and, eventually, an Alicorn god. Healing Song isn't too worried about not knowing his birth parents; as far as he is concerned, his adoptive parents are his family.
  • Princess Winter Opera's adoptive parents, Tone Passion and Gentle String were likewise loving as well. They encouraged Winter's talent for music at a young age, but unlike War Rock's parents, who constantly pushed their son to succeed and then spoiled him rotten to reward him for his successes, Tone Passion and Gentle String allowed her to take breaks and indulge in other things. This would have a profound effect on her approach to music later on, as she would play music because she genuinely wanted to instead for fame and glory like War Rock did. They did enter a 'rough patch' in their relationship when they discovered she was using dark magic to Pay Evil unto Evil against her bullies, but after Winter discovered she's one of War Rock's (many) illegitimate daughters, Tone Passion and Gentle String still loved her regardless of her parentage and assured her of it. Winter loved her adoptive parents deeply and was devastated when she ended up outliving them along with many of her mortal half-siblings, though Bossa Nova Heartstrings helped her come to terms with it and allowed her to visit her parents' spirits in the Heaven-Realms.
• Good Powers, Bad People:
  • Fik’iri, the Abyssinian Goddess of Love and War, has powers similar to Cadence's. She's also a horrible person who uses those powers to torment her followers for cruel and spiteful reasons by making the ones they love fall in love with others, or to make people have sex with her and often without their consent. It got to the point where her own worshipers had to hide their faces with veils whenever they pray to her so they wouldn't gain unwanted attention with their looks.
  • The Elternteil Deer Pantheon as a whole are mostly populated with Earth, Nature, and/or Animal deities, though other 'good' domains like Justice, Prophecy, Art, and Protection aren't unheard of. Unfortunately, the majority of the pantheon are haughty, puristic, and xenophobic assholes. Irminsul and Arvan in particular are well-meaning yet Abusive Parents whose behavior directly led to many of their children abandoning them in droves.
    • High King Irminsul's Purification domain allows him to effectively counter various poisons and corruptive forms of dark magic, as well as heavily damage infernal beings like demons and Fallen deities. However, while he's on the side of 'good', he is a horrible Jerkass to everyone not of Deerkind and is a well-meaning yet abusive, toxic parent to his own children. He notably misused his Purification domain to make his unborn son, High King Bogolenya, of his inner evil in his selfish desire to have a 'perfect' and flawless heir succeed him as High King of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon. This not only disgusted and enraged many benevolent deities and mortals, it also drove away many of his own children once they learned the truth.
    • King Aspen is a god of Nature, but he used it to 'reclaim' parts of Ponyville as Thicket territory to make up for the Everfree Forests being cut down by Well-To-Do's workers, and is strongly suspected In-Universe to have been responsible for the rise of Eco-Terrorist groups. He's also a god of Justice, but his xenophobic and puristic beliefs pushed him to try convict an innocent Blue Suede Heartstrings for crimes he didn't commit, and did nothing while some of his fellow Elternteil Deer deities wrongfully imprisoned and abused Blue Suede.
• Good Is Not Soft: Justified; given how perilous Equus tends to get, even good people had to develop amoral, cunning, and ruthless methods to survive and deal with the many threats that plague their world. Otherwise, they tend to get destroyed by hostile individuals, factions, and even civilizations if they can't back up their compassion.
  • Despite being a genuinely peaceful and enlightened alien race, the Presenters likely developed ways to help their race and civilization survive, despite living in a universe that would very likely exploit their benevolent nature and destroy/subjugate them. Part of the reason why some academics refuse to believe in the Presenters' long-lasting existence is because they struggle to understand how a peaceful race such as them managed to survive countless Ages for that long.
    Prof. Natural Order: "The universe is a 'Dark Forest', a place of constant peril and deprivation. Against the monumental and undeniable necessities of survival, any rational race or civilization would place their own survival before everyone else, while even the most benevolent and friendly creature on Equus possess a level of intelligence, vigilance, aggression and ruthlessness needed to prevail in the unimaginably hostile environment of the so-called 'habitable planet' which we call our home - in some cases, just to survive for more than 60 seconds.
    
    Most evidence suggests while it is perfectly fine, even evolutionarily-advantageous to be nice, that 'niceness' must be tempered and balanced with almost equal levels of 'meanness' for any sapient or non-sapient species to be effective survivors. It is therefore highly questionable how any race like these 'Presenters' could be THIS overwhelmingly nice without eventually inviting destruction by more greedy, paranoid and otherwise hostile neighbours if they ever draw their attention. Our history is filled with cases of those who, being too benevolent and nice, were slaughtered to a being by those who are not. The awful fate of the Luv Cats by the late marauding rogue Changeling Queen Chrysalis is merely a recent, glaring example of this pattern - our modern world stood upon the graves of hundreds, hundreds more who suffered the same fate.
  • Tellusian Ponykind as a whole was this in the Second Age. The Second Age is famously known for being the Age of superheroes, and many benevolent Alicorn deities originated from this era. However, because of all the threats they had to face within, without and beyond during the 'Great Wars Era', the 'Martian-Tellusian Wars', and other events, Tellusian Ponykind had to resort to methods and create weapons/technology that would outright horrify both deities and mortals of later Ages. This includes using nuclear weapons as opening shots in major conflicts, and being willing to ship children on one-way trips to penal colonies in the depths of space for bullying (to cut down on the number of potential supervillains such abuse could create). Tellusian Ponykind's sheer tenacity, adaptability, and capability in causing death and destruction would earn them the dreaded reputation as "Lords of War". Consequently, this led to many benevolent deities trying to discourage mortal sapientkind from progressing in the same route in the Fourth Age, which others like Yarost see as well-meaning yet ultimately futile.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Zigzagged; many sapient winged creatures have different types of wings depending on their race, but they're not necessarily indicative of one's morality, as multiple individuals have been shown to be genuinely heroic (or anti-heroic) despite having "evil"-looking wings. However, wings are also used as an indicator of the supernatural and/or divinity; Archangels have eight wings to differentiate them from their normal counterparts, while wing gradients and an increased number of wings are just two among many eldritch traits Alicorns develop as they get older. Among the oldest Alicorns, there's the Thirteen Empyreans, Equinekind's first pantheon, whose members all have ten wings.
• Götterdämmerung: There are several instances where even entire divine pantheons have been wiped out, though it's usually because they acted like Jerkass Gods towards their worshipers and thus had karma bite them in the collective ass, sometimes fatally.
  • The "Twilight of the Alicorns" event was a very brutal, enduring, and bloody civil war that lasted for ten Ages. It has been stated in Golden Scepter's entry that the Alicorns gradually became so arrogant, complacent, and high-hoofed from their successes that they in turn became blind to their own corruption, giving birth to the treacherously evil Alicorn, Morning Star. The result was the Alicorn Civilization being irreparably damaged, and a massive chunk of the Alicorn population being killed off, with the survivors going into complete seclusion from the outside world to replenish their numbers. Golden Scepter was one of those few who refused to go with them, which set him on the path of breaking free from his people's mistakes and going through Character Development to become a genuinely benevolent ruler as the Alicorns saw themselves as. He would even admit to Temnobog years later that both Morning Star's betrayal and the fall of the Alicorn Civilization were perhaps the best things that happened to him and his people.
    Temnobog: A divine utopia of complete benevolence and fairness, with nothing but success to truly motivate them? No wonder your people fell. They've been sitting on their laurels for so long that they eventually became blind to their own corruption... until one of them snapped, that is.
    Emperor Golden Scepter: ...I suppose you are right, Dark One. Even I was blind to it, as hard as I tried... Perhaps... perhaps Morning Star's betrayal and the destruction of my home were the best things that ever happened to the Alicorns, and me as well.
  • The Old Orosian pantheon that watched over the Tauren Peninsula was nothing more than a group of arrogant, hypocritical, petty, and spoiled children who often bickered among themselves, had extreme responses towards even perceived insults and disobedience, and callously used their powers to do whatever they wanted, often making their own mortal worshipers their pawns in their petty squabbles. The result was the "Twilight of the Orosians", where it was implied that they were eventually killed by mortals who got fed up with the cruel treatment and actively opposed them. Bellamos, who was created from the violence of their senseless wars, let it happen as he correctly believed that the pantheon brought it upon themselves, while those who managed to survive were the few benevolent Orosian deities who would go on and make a new pantheon to replace their predecessors.
• Guns Are Worthless: Subverted HARD. Whether purely technological versions like the smokeless-powder Firearms and electromagnetic-accelerated slugthrowers in the Second Age or the Steampunk Pneumatic-Catapaults of the Fourth Age, EVERY time Firearms appeared, they as they did in Real Life completely altered the face of warfare, proving to be absolutely devastating so long as they are used correctly. While magic reduced some of their advantages and allowed melee combat to remain relevant, guns whether as smallarms or artillery remain pivotal in deciding the outcome of conflicts, and some are enhanced even further by magic.
  • The subversion is BRUTALLY demonstrated in the 'Battle of Spire Cliffs'. Rumours that the Equestrian Dragonflight, modernizing under Dragon Lord Ember, are getting some advanced weapons and armour from the Mountain Dogs led to a militaristic but traditionalist Dragonflight deciding to attack them in a preemptive strike to 'teach those upstarts how TRUE Dragons fight'. Trouble is, in the month that Dragonflight spent preparing and mustering for it, the Equestrian Dragonflight did get those advanced weapons they were trying to get, in the form of 'Blastfire Harquebuses' that they spent the weeks before the conflict drilling and training to use to perfection. When the warriors of the enemy Dragonflight arrived, the whole army was lured into a prepared three-way killzone at Spire Cliffs where they were exposed to volley after disciplined volley of fire. Within the hour, the Equestrian Dragonflight and their allies OBLITERATED the entire invasion force, ending that Dragonflight's very existence as a military power.
• Greaser Delinquents: Greasers have appeared in the Codexverse, most of them written by one of the authors, Randomfan11. This is because she has a certain fondness for them.
  • Subverted with Blue Suede Heartstrings. Being based on Elvis Presley, Blue Suede is an Alicorn god of Music whose mortal form is a Unicorn Greaser, with a black leather jacket, sunglassess, and pompadour. His appearance and popularity birthed the Greaser movement during the Second Age, and its revival in the Fourth Age. However, it's subverted as Blue Suede is a devout follower of King Equus and is a humble, All-Loving Hero. He initially preferred to appear as this out of humility, but it turns out he had deeper reasons for it. After overcoming his psychological issues, however, he appears as a Greaser less often and starts wearing divine regalia due to his duties as a Prince and, later, a King. That being said, Blue Suede still does revert to his old attire whenever he appears in his mortal form.
  • Floral Forte, the oldest member of the Dazzling Divas group, is a straighter example. She prefers to dress like a Greaser, and this has transferred onto her "Magical Filly" outfit, which has a mix of Greaser attire and Scottish/Trottish-style clothing. Her entry notes that her outfit has led to a bit of joking between her and Blue Suede Heartstrings, who became the Dazzling Divas' patron deity and mentor figure. Personality-wise, she is also a Jerk with a Heart of Gold as typical for Greasers - she can be rather hot-tempered, confrontation, rude, and rebellious, which contrasts with the kind and motherly side she shows around her friends, and has often gotten in trouble at school for getting into fights with bullies. Despite this, she's a good person at heart and always tries to help others even when her own life is at risk.
  • Subverted with Blue Goldstone. While he's an Alicorn god, his most preferred form is a tall and lanky Earth pony stallion with a golden-haired pompadour and a gold leather jacket. His entry notes that his Greaser getup was part of his attempts to emulate Blue Suede Heartstrings, who birthed the Greaser movement in the Second Age. However, personality-wise, he's generally humble, shy, and mild-mannered, with his worst flaws being only his inability to see Blue, his idol, as less than perfect until he learned to grow past it. The fact that he often appears as a Greaser makes his death rather ironic, as he was killed trying to save a high school classmate from being harassed by a gang of actual Greaser delinquents. His entry notes that many older gods and goddesses have tried making him look and dress appropriately to his age and divine station, but he always refuses due to feeling rather uncomfortable with wearing royal Alicorn barding/regalia.
  • Subverted with Bossa Nova Heartstrings. Like Blue, his younger identical twin brother, he appears as a Greaser whenever he takes the form of a mortal unicorn stallion, wearing a black leather jacket and styling his mane into a pompadour. However, he's an Alicorn god of Death, and being raised by Gavisus influenced him to become as cheerful and benevolent as his adoptive father. His entry also notes that despite his divinity, he generally prefers to look more casual so the deceased and dying could accept and trust him more.
  • Prince Dühroham Erobreseg, one of the Dark Purveyors, usually dresses up like a Greaser in emulation of his mentor, Blue Suede Heartstrings, sporting a pompadour and wearing a black leather jacket. According to his entry, he became one as part of his plan to invoke the image of himself being an Evil Counterpart to various musicians like Blue Suede, and also represent the ultimate fate of musicians who became unrepentantly wicked.
  • The gang of Greaser delinquents responsible for Blue Goldstone's early death plays this trope straight. They harassed one of Blue Goldstone's high school classmates for being rich and pretty, and despite his apathy at the time, Blue Goldstone ultimately chose to save her and buy her time to escape while he held off the Greasers alone. He was ushered to Audens Manes' Heaven-Realms afterwards as what he did counted as heroism.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Owing to the Morality Kitchen Sink nature of the setting, some conflicts have no clearly-defined good guys or bad guys, nor do all parties/factions/groups involved have entirely legitimate or unwarranted reasons for fighting.
  • "Queen Colossos' War" - the ancient conflict between an empire of Giants and the Crystal Empire 1,500 years ago is portrayed as this. Its outbreak was caused by a chain of unfortunate misunderstandings, which was in turn caused by bad luck, cultural attitudes and mortal failings that spiraled out of control. Neither side are portrayed as completely saints or sinners, completely at fault nor completely blameless, and in-universe it is ultimately considered to be "A disaster of monumental proportions" for everyone involved.
  • The Changeling-Dragon racial blood feud, which had raged for eons, stems from the atrocities both races had committed against each other. Dragonkind began the feud when packs/flights/clans of Dragons, taking advantage of weakness and chaos gripping the Amorean civilizations during 'The Fall' which created the Changeling race, swept in to burn the lands to the ground and plunder its charred ruins, nearly driving Changelingkind to extinction and filling them with a terrible resolve. Changelingkind subsequently spent ages and generations fighting/warring against Dragons on-and-off in many conflicts, most notably attempting to return the favour eons after the 'Burning of Amorea' with the 'Time of Broken Scales', a Guilt-Free Extermination War launched by the much-dreaded Summer Court which decimated Dragonkind and nearly brought them down, making the feelings mutual. In the end, the whole conflict is one enormous tragedy brought about by the greed and grudges of both races which by the Fourth Age threatens to destroy both side and take the whole world down with them.
• Gruesome Grandparent: Lucky Shot's paternal grandparents, both Unicorn nobles, were incredibly emotionally and mentally abusive as well as unrepentant bigots. Their parenting spurred their son, Lucky Shot's father, to run away from Canterlot and marry a common mare, who would become Lucky Shot's mother. To get their son back, they arranged for Tribalists to kill Lucky Shot's mother... but it backfired when the Tribalists instigated a bombing, killing both Lucky Shot's mother and his father while heavily scarring him. Lucky Shot's grandparents then took him in, hired the Striga family to transfer his soul into the body of a Unicorn colt to 'fix' his Earth pony genes, gave him a name he absolutely hated, and tried molding him into the 'ideal' Unicorn noble scion. Lucky Shot was so miserable that when robbers broke into his home, he begged them to take him away, setting up a chain of events that led to Lucky Shot's grandparents' crimes being exposed and them being arrested by Princess Twilight/Amicitia Sparkle. However, they also ruined Lucky Shot's life in such a way that death was inevitable... but luckily, he would gain a friend and "Uncle" in Moon Ray Vaughoof.

H

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Many characters are blond and/or have yellow fur, though it's generally played with as the morality of individuals can vary despite their hair and fur colors.
  • Double-subverted with Prince Fanged Paw, Golden Scepter's second-oldest son. He initially resented Crimson Star so much for being an Insufferable Genius that he eventually let his own hatred influence him into leaving his younger brother near death with a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, resulting in him getting exiled from the Terran Empire. After achieving Character Development and becoming an Alicorn, he would forgive his brother and apologize for his actions, and become a truly benevolent Prince.
  • Double-subverted with Prince Blueblood. He's a blond unicorn stallion who acts like a boorish fop and an entitled noble in public, but it's just a facade to keep the genuinely useless nobles cowed and unsuspecting of him. Beneath the facade is a stallion who is a loving family man that wants to help Equestria and its people.
  • Prince Léon's hair is multi-colored, and part of it is the same blond color as Blueblood's. He's also a very trusting Cheerful Child and an Alicorn toddler who embodies Innocence and Altruism.
  • Prince Healing Song is described as having a blond mane and tail, with his mane somewhat resembling a mullet that he later cut short after he got older. After he Ascended to godhood, his hair turned into rippling golden Psionic energy (which he admits surprised him as he was expecting it to be made of sound energy like Blue's hair is). Much like his divine mentor, he's a very humble, compassionate, and friendly stallion who is a talented musical prodigy and a very good teacher to his students. He is also a Big Good for Equus overall due to being a member of the Church of the Stars.
  • Blue Goldstone of the Trimortidae described as having a golden-yellow mane (and tail) that he styles into a pompadour as part of his Greaser getup, though after he Ascended, both his mane and tail turned into rippling Courage energy. He also has golden markings all over his pelt. He's a mild-mannered, shy, and humble Alicorn who helps those who died heroically pass on, and though he has flaws, he is accepting of them and works to improve himself because of his flaws.
  • Crystal Prism has radiant gold hair. Even as a mortal unicorn colt, he still had blond hair, though it was a dirty yellow color. He's also a heroic Alicorn demigod, albeit still recovering from the severe trauma he went through. His blond hair color is later revealed to be something that he inherited from his divine ancestor, Prince Crystal Clear.
  • Prince Crystal Clear has a golden mane and tail, something that his Fourth Age descendant, Crystal Prism, would inherit from him. After becoming an Alicorn, his hair became composed of magical sound energy. It's double-subverted in that he was quite a spiteful and rebellious teenage colt in his mortal days, briefly teaming up with War Rock out of resentment towards Blue Suede Heartstrings and the expectations to follow in his adoptive father's hoofsteps. He quickly saw how monstrous War Rock is and betrayed the villain (though his life was seriously endangered in the process), and spent much of his life atoning for his crimes, eventually Ascending to godhood through his good deeds.
• Half-Breed Discrimination: As hybrids are very common, unfortunately this is also present, with many treating hybrids cruelly or viewing them as abominations.
  • Queen Odonata is a Kirin/Changeling hybrid, though much like Apertus, she has enough draconic traits that caused some of her more racist sisters to shun, bully, and abuse her. Fortunately, she was prevented from following Apertus with the intervention of benevolent family members, especially her older brother Puck, who ultimately inspired her in taking up weapon-smithing.
  • All Royal Changelings are racial hybrids, due to being sired by a Changeling Progenitor and a member of a mortal species. This makes their racist mistreatment of Princess Apertus and Queen Odonata extremely hypocritical, as they're both hybrids just like their relatives.
• Handicapped Badass: Being a World of Badass, the Codexverse has some disabled characters kick ass by getting around their own disabilities.
  • After getting into a carriage accident, Prince Crimson Star was blinded, and it became permanent due to various factors rendering it incurable. Despite this, he was still able to learn physical combat and use long-ranged magitek weapons. His psychic potential and capabilities haven't diminished at all, either, as he gained more abilities after being blinded to make up for his disability. What also led to him earning demi-godhood was protecting a group of students from an extremely dangerous ritual, absorbing a lot of power and knowledge in the process. In battles, he would team up with Fanged Paw, with their respective strengths/skills complimenting each other and making both of them devastating in the field.
  • Prince Healing Song became blind as a baby after his eyes were removed to prevent the spreading of retinoblastoma. He's also a music prodigy and an Alicorn god with incredible power, allowing him to make up for his blindness and kick lots of ass. That being said, he's still limited by his blindness, and his Martial Pacifist beliefs has kept him from fighting effectively at times... which he eventually overcame by dealing with his fear of becoming like War Rock and forgiving the latter. On the flipside, he hates the Inspirationally Disadvantaged mentality because it promotes the idea that a disabled person is lazy and unable to look after themselves if they don't become a Handicapped Badass.
  • Spell Cyclone of the Nightmare Breakers is a twelve-year-old paraplegic living in Meridia, but despite this, she's a powerful Magical Filly who specializes in ranged magical combat. Because of this, she is essentially the Nightmare Breakers' sniper. That being said, she became badass because she wanted to survive living in Meridia, and hates the idea of compensating for her inability to walk in order to be seen/treated like an actual person.
  • While not completely blind like his friend, Prince Healing Song, Gagal's albinism makes him visually photosensitive, requiring him to wear sunglasses for protection. He's also a god and competent fighter who has turned his natural klutziness into Confusion Fu.
  • Despite being born mute, Muet of the Great Skunk Pantheon an expert actress and an adept and agile parkour artist. As the embodiment of Pantomime, she can create invisible props such as boxes and walls to "perform" on, making her an unpredictable opponent. She's also good at sneaking around, due to embodying Silence, and can cancel all sound in her area of influence. And as a Great Skunk goddess, she's also capable of spraying a foul odor, though it's not as potent as her father, Moufette.
  • Deconstructed with Moon Ray Vaughoof/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya. After overcoming and letting go of all his flaws and traumas, Moon Ray/Canticum suddenly manifested his Prophecy domain in full. This granted him incredible precognitive power, but also left him in a coma for several days to physically/magically adjust to the change. It also made him prone to falling asleep because he never had time to grow into it naturally, so using his power will make him more tired than usual. Eventually, Moon Ray/Canticum's tiredness takes such a toll on him that he is driven to take desperate measures to get well again... which only backfires horribly and leaves him in even worse shape at the end.
• Happily Adopted: There's many cases of this in the Codexverse.
  • Prince Healing Song was given up for adoption by his birth parents and was taken in by a childless couple who were biologically unable to have children. Healing Song's adoptive parents raised him like their own son and, while devastated when he became blind during infancy, loved him and encouraged his musical talents, influencing him to become who he is today. Despite not knowing who his birth parents are, he isn't too worried about it, because his adoptive parents are his family in his eyes.
  • Kúzelník and Phoenix King Naur were both taught by their parents to suppress certain traits that were undesirable to Alvslog Deer society, such as Kúzelník's natural talent for dark sorcery and Naur's Fire domain. Naturally, their upbringing messed them up in different ways and required psychological therapy to overcome. Later on, both Kúzelník and Naur end up adopted by Emperor Golden Scepter, who sympathizes with each of their plights and has treated each of them far better than Irminsul or Arvan ever had. Naur's situation is made even more fortunate by the fact that Golden Scepter has a few fire-wielding sons of his own.
  • This happens twice to Princess Winter Opera.
    • Winter Opera's first adoptive parents, opera singer Tone Passion and violinist Gentle String, were far better parents than her birth father, War Rock, would've been, which led to Winter Opera becoming emotionally and morally stable. They also serve as contrasts to War Rock's parents, as while they also encouraged Winter Opera's musical talents/pursuits, they never constantly pushed their daughter to succeed and instead let her take breaks and do whatever she wanted in the meantime.
    • Later in the Fourth Age, Winter Opera would be adopted again, this time by both Luminiferous and Blue Suede/Caerulus Melodia following the latter's crowning. While teaching her, both Luminiferous and Blue Suede/Caerulus came to see Winter Opera as their own daughter, but while they each wanted her in their respective families, the Luminiferi and Caerulidae, they loved her too much to make her choose sides. They ultimately decided to Take a Third Option by adopting Winter Opera as their "joint-daughter", much like how she's a joint-member of different pantheons. Her joint-adoption also led to her getting a third father in Blue Suede/Caerulus' husband, Prince Stoltur Skjöldur. Despite this, she has accepted the adoption wholeheartedly, and loves her new adoptive siblings (who love her back).
  • Prince Crystal Clear was adopted as a baby by Blue Suede Heartstrings and his first husband, Record Beat, making him the oldest of Blue Suede's children by default. Although being an adoptive son of "colt-cuddlers" and one of the greatest musicians alive has created problems in their relationship, even a temporary falling-out thanks to War Rock's manipulations, Crystal still regards Blue Suede and Record Beat as the best parents he ever had. As he revealed to Blue Suede in the Fourth Age, he prayed to the King in Heaven every night to thank him for being adopted by such good parents.
    Prince Crystal Clear: Even though I got angry with you a lot, lashed out at you even, yer still the best Pa I ever had in the whole goddamned planet, and nothing will ever change that. I never told you this, but... every night, I'd pray to the King in Heaven. And I'd tell 'im, that I’m thankful that you and Ma adopted me. If I got taken in by some-creature else, I would've been dead all those years ago. So uh... Thank you, Pa. For ev'rything.
  • Cudnost, the Draconequus goddess of Virtue and the only child of Ispita who's completely benevolent, was viciously abused and treated as a plaything by her mother and evil siblings for her very nature. She was eventually rescued by Temnobog, but was given to Belyolen instead because of Cudnost's virtuous character/portfolio aligning better with him and Temnobog knowing that his brother will be a far better parent for her in general. As a result, Cudnost is very close and loving towards Belyolen, though she's equally close to Uncle Temnobog.
  • This is the Elder Quintumvirate's current relationship with the eldritch goddess Dr. Endless Dreams. After outliving their original families, who died either from their battles with the Angels, old age, or in Star Shield's parents' case, being killed to end the False Utopia they created out of good intentions, they would be taken by Dr. Endless Dreams. At first she was only their mentor, but she later took on the role as their surrogate mother. This helped curb the worst aspects of the Elder Quintumvirate's collective PTSD enormously until they could get proper therapy from Mentálne.
  • This is the case with the Terran Princes' adoptive children. All of them either lost their parents, were raised in terrible circumstances, or both - Mercy was originally created as a divine weapon for the Poenan Pantheon to use in their zealous crusades; Rosy Dreams was subjected to extreme sexual and mental abuse with her dream world being nothing more than a form of Mind Rape; Gliding Butterfly was a victim of Autorist philosophy and originally joined a pro-psyker supremacist offshoot of the Abominable Alignment; and Solar Shield lost both of his parents to King Exosus' hateful genocide and the Terran Empire's imperial armies. After the Terran Princes adopted them, the children have been leading much happier lives.
  • This happens to Prince Dissonant Tune twice in his life.
    • After losing his mother and stepfather to a Murder-Suicide as a colt (his stepfather initially intended to kill him, too, but their neighbors calling the police drove his stepfather to kill himself instead), Dissonant would be placed in a more stable and loving foster family by Social Services. This helped him with his foalhood trauma, though it's noted it still took a while for him to recover.
    • In the Fourth Age, three Ages after outliving his foster family, Dissonant would be adopted by Moon Ray Vaughoof, his idol and hero. He was so happy with the news that he apparently cried, according to Moon Ray, though Dissonant denies it. It got to the point where he disowns War Rock as his father upon meeting him in-person in the Fourth Age, as he now regards Moon Ray as his 'true' father.
  • Queen Krásná Tradice would be adopted by Blue Suede Heartstrings after he made a full psychological recovery and joined the Equestrian Pantheon as 'Prince Caerulus Melodia Equestria'. Life for her improved after that, but what makes their relationship somewhat awkward is that one of her younger half-brothers, Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, is now Caerulus' husband, which she admits she finds a little weird. To Blue Suede/Caerulus' credit, he acknowledged this and initially didn't want to adopt Krásná because of it, but adopted Krásná anyway because he felt she deserved a much better father-figure in her life. It speaks of how monstrous Krásná's birth father, an Alvslog Deer King, was in life that nobody, including her, objected to the adoption itself.
  • Many members of the Trimortidae were adopted by either one of the Three Deaths after death and deliverance into the afterlife. In the case of Gavisus Manes, adoption occurs usually at infancy or a young age, whether through a violent death or stillbirth like what happened with Bossa Nova Heaertstrings. However, this can also apply to those who grew up with Abusive Parents, such as Moon Ray Vaughoof or ALICE/Adelais. Being benevolent Death deities, the Three Deaths would raise their adoptive children with as much love and care they would show their biological children, which played a long way in their sons and daughters' Ascensions later on.
  • Ruya Clearfeather, a teenage Northern Griffoness, would be adopted by her mentor, Moon Ray/Canticum, following a Heroic BSoD she experienced after learning of her parents and grandfather's deaths from Golden Scepter. While it still wasn't without its rough spots, Ruya's life has become much happier compared to how it was when she lived as a criminal and fugitive. Moon Ray/Canticum, for his part, genuinely loves Ruya and wants to see her grow up into a good person, and has been taking steps to ensure she does.
  • As shown with Breaking Dawn and her friends, some of the Lights of Potential were adopted by benevolent deities who both want to nurture their potential and raise them right. While they were resistant at first, being adopted helped ease the Lights' issues significantly, allowing them to Ascend to godhood (or demi-godhood).
• Hates Baths: Queen Pentatomidae really hates bathes, to the point she made it a part of her hive's rules that no one has to take bathes if they don't want to, and rarely (if ever) takes one herself. As a result, her entire hive is The Pig-Pen. Blackrose affectionately calls Pentatomidae 'her Stinkbug'. She apparently smells so horrid even Moufette, a Top God for the Skunk pantheon, can't stand to be around her. Strangely enough, the goddess of Hygiene is best friends with Pentatomidae, though she wishes the Queen and her hive would bathe more often.
• Hate Sink: Much like his real-life inspiration, "Colonel" Hollow Note is an unfettered sociopath whose life was entirely defined by his greed and paranoia. Almost everything he did to his star client, Blue Suede Heartstrings, including exploiting him and psychologically abusing him, was so he can keep an iron hoof on his Meal Ticket and suppress any information about his origins (as well as his status as an illegal immigrant). He was also a racist homophobe who publicly outed Blue Suede as a gay Unicorn as punishment for resisting his Blackmail and then forced him into a marriage he didn't want under the pretense of salvaging his reputation. He finally gets his comeuppance when he is beaten within an inch of his life by an enraged Blue Suede, and the chain of events that follows turns him into a social pariah who is roundly hated and mocked by everyone, even in death. Even those who are only remotely connected to Blue Suede don't have anything nice to say about him.
• Healing Hands: Since Equus is a borderline Death World, sapient creatures with healing powers have become a necessity in order to recover from various disasters.
  • Crystal Prism has an ability called "cocoon healing", in which he encases the wounded in magical cocoons that heals injuries and eliminates most curses. How long it takes depends on the severity of their condition, with reviving the dead taking several days or longer.
  • Medik, appropriate to his name and epithet as "The Healing Warrior", is the Bogolenya Deer god of Combat Medics and Healing, so naturally he possesses the power to heal. However, he can't restore lost limbs or bring back the dead. He often applies his healing magic actively by flying directly into war zones with his angels and heal wounded soldiers.
  • It's mentioned in Belyolen's entry that he has healing powers, which is appropriate as he embodies Contentment. This comes in handy when he heals Queen Vesna Svetilo on the day of her coronation, allowing her to walk for the first time in several years after she was crippled from the waist down by assassins who killed her mother.
  • After she ascended the Bitaniyan throne together with her older brother Strazha, following their parents and uncle's deaths, Queen Vesna was blessed by Belyolen and gained the power of healing to counteract Straza's magical curses.
  • Golden Scepter, a surviving antediluvian Alicorn Emperor from the ruined Alicorn Civilization, has both psionic healing and the power to heal people through holy fire, using the latter to burn away impurities and accelerate natural healing with warmth.
  • Princess Laska, the younger royal Bitaniyan half-sister of King Strazha, has healing magic that comes from being a devout worshiper of Mier, the Bogolenya Deer goddess of Peace, which suits her pacifistic personality.
  • Golden Scepter's thirteenth son, Prince Written Word, can do this to a degree with his wind magic by forcefully closing wounds, and gently delivering breathable air to those whose injuries make breathing difficult. Meanwhile, his Faith domain gives him proper healing magic, though its potency and effectiveness depends on how much faith and trust he has in himself and his allies, and vice-versa.
  • Saint Sweetheart possessed this power as her unique ability from the Shield of Love. Due to her learning holy magic, the two mixed to make this power ingrained in her genetics to the point even returning the Shield didn't make her lose it. It was then passed on down her bloodline and her descendants still have it today.
  • Princess Soleia's domain of Rest comes with the ability to heal people who are resting and recovering from injury. This includes speeding up the healing of dormant deities.
• Heroic Lineage:
  • The Starswirls is actually a long line of heroic sorcerers whom had served and protected Equestria for countless generations. The fellow founder of Equestria, Starswirl the First, is a distant ancestor of the Starswirl who would become a member of the Pillars of Equestria. It's later revealed that the Starswirl line of sorcerers was named after the Third Age heroine and sorceress Starswirl, who died saving the world from a malicious entity called Destrudo, with one of her students naming himself Starswirl the First as tribute to his late mentor (said student's twin brother, however, would found the equally powerful Stormswirl lineage, becoming Stormswirl the First).
  • Flash Lightning is the distant ancestor of Flash Magnus from around the Founding Era, having fought alongside Commander Hurricane against Dread. It seems Flash Magnus had heroic material from the get-go...
  • Princess Stitching Time is the immortal daughter of Dame Patch, who was originally a G1 pony from the Second Age and a member of the heroic Tales Seven. She briefly fell into evil as Final Epoch over grief towards the Second Age's destruction, but she became good again after her mother talked with her and she was purified by the Elements of Harmony.
  • All nineteen Princes of the Terran Empire are biological sons of Golden Scepter, an extremely ancient Alicorn god who is essentially a prodigy by the standards of Alicornkind, being an incredibly powerful psychic, a peerless genius and warrior, and a very competent leader who founded three empires in his lifetime. In addition, he's regarded as a legendary war hero even among the Alicorns, who were all saved from complete extinction thanks to his efforts. His sons don't fall very far from the tree, as each of them have become beloved and respected heroes in their own way after doing something that involves what they each embody. Furthermore, it's believed in-universe that all of Golden Scepter's sons represent some facet of him, such as his Psychic Powers, his ruthlessness, his wrath, his idealism/hope, or his conviction.
  • House Twilight is a noble family that contains blood descendants of two First Age heroes: Twilight the Wisher and Twilight of Paradise Estate. It's noted that members of House Twilight tend to have strong magic in their blood, as their ancestors were powerful mages themselves. Twilight Velvet and her two children, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle, are of this House.
  • Prince Blueblood is descended from Princess Platinum, a unicorn ruler and one of three "Founders of Equestria. Ironically, Blueblood is the White Sheep of his family because, despite his boorish public facades, he is a truly heroic and benevolent Prince who wants to help Equestria. The other members of House Platinum, including his birth parents, were implied to follow Platinum's ideals before she changed her ways, as his birth parents were emotionally abusive and tried to encourage tribalism in him, and one of his surviving relatives was mentioned to have joined the Children of Platinum tribalist faction before she was exposed and arrested by Blueblood himself.
  • Prince Léon, a divine Alicorn toddler, is technically Blueblood's "biological" son, as he was born from the magical karmic backlash that came from an increasing number of his father's good deeds.
• Heroic Sacrifice: This happens twice In-Universe in a session of Ogres & Oubliettes hosted by Spike. During the adventuring party's battle against the session's Big Bad, a villainous god who tried killing off all the gods (save for himself) to give mortal sapientkind the freedom to change the world however they saw fit, Princess Bright Eyes (who played a Bladesinger) died while dealing the final blow. Moon Ray Vaughoof (who played a Necromancer) shortly had to take up the mantle of a murdered Death god to help restore the balance, since the Big Bad's actions robbed the universe of many Concepts that kept it stable and thriving.
• Hero of Another Story: While characters from canon have their adventures, elsewhere on Equus there are many other heroes having their own adventures:
  • The Sisterhood of Magical Fillies is a global organization of Magical Fillies who fight demonic beasts and monsters. One group among the Sisterhood is the Dazzling Divas, a group of musical themed heroines living on the island nation of Corporatum who had to save it from the evil Elephant Witch, Ivory Towers, and her demonic backer, Don'yoku.
  • All three Spyro the Dragon iterations have also happened over in Avalar with different names, with the three versions of Spyro adapted as three individuals of the same bloodline. The Skylanders also presently exist there.
• Higher-Tech Species: The 'Visitors' are this according to accounts, something Firestorm outright addresses following his sighting. However, they're at least benevolent towards Equus, as it's pointed out that had they meant Equestria harm, they could have conquered it long ago. Visitors have gone on Roaring Rampage of Rescue to protect Sparkle Ponies, who seem to be hybrids, and singlehandedly managed to rescue them from the Cloven Empire and Hive Brachion, showing they're far above what Equus is currently capable of.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: Many historical figures in real life become badass once they're adapted into the Codexverse.
  • Blue Suede Heartstrings is based on Elvis Presley, one of the most famous rockstars of his time. Both were former soldiers, but whereas Elvis served a two-year draft term during World War II and came back a private, Blue Suede became a war hero and a feared sniper known as "The Blue Death" from the Second Maretian-Tellusian War. And while Elvis is remembered as an influential figure in the growth of bo rock-and-roll and modern rock, he's also remembered for his degrading career and obesity in his later years, and his rather Undignified Death. By contrast, Blue Suede would meet Luminiferous during a very low point in his life while he was still relatively young. The pep-talk he received motivated Blue Suede to quit being a career musician and travel around the world, doing good deeds until he became the Alicorn god of Music and Humility (which he sees as ironic due to his religious background). Later, after overcoming his abuse-related traumas and issues, he would become an even more powerful god while learning under various deities, and he would become an Alicorn Prince afterwards.
  • Bossa Nova Heartstrings, Blue's older identical twin brother, is based on Jesse Garon Presley, Elvis Presley's older identical twin brother who came out stillborn. While he came out stillborn like his character inspiration, Bossa Nova was adopted by the Three Deaths, giving him a (rather large) surrogate family of his own. His noble upbringing influenced him to eventually become something great - an Alicorn god - despite being dead, and being a Death god means he's still rather powerful despite not being a "prodigy" deity like his younger brother.
  • President Theddeus Moosepelt is based on Theodore Roosevelt, who is venerated for his reforms and was something of a Renaissance Man when he was alive. Here, he served five consecutive terms (Franklin D. Roosevelt served four terms as President), and was responsible for various reforms, including the federal income tax, workers' rights, monopoly/trust-busting, electoral reform, prohibition of alcohol, universal suffrage, desegregation of the Federal Government, and greater civil rights for minorities. It's noted that many of his reforms had been met with mixed or considerable success.
• Historical Beauty Update: While he initially had the same huge appetite as Elvis Presley did, Blue Suede Heartstrings would cut down it significantly after having a food-fueled nightmare about becoming grossly fat in his old age, resulting in him retaining his handsomeness by the time he Ascended to godhood. By stark contrast, Elvis didn't develop the same restraint, and he grew really fat in the last years of his life.
• Historical Domain Superperson:
  • Elvis Presley is a musical icon who changed the face of music forever, yet is also derided as a joke who got fat and destroyed his own legacy. Blue Suede Heartstrings (now King Caerulus Melodia Equestria-Corporatum) is essentially the Codexverse's Ponified version of Elvis who, as a result of changes in circumstances and choices, became a 'prodigy' Alicorn god of Music, Humility, Performance, and Love instead. Eventually, through certain choices made on his part, Blue Suede grows as a stallion and eventually re-Ascends as a reincarnation of Mana Equus, one of the Thirteen Empyreans, turning him into an Alicorn god of Musical Magic, Self-Respect, Performance, Love, and Mana.
  • The Trimortidae contains multiple examples as several members are based on various real-life people who died, whether way back in the past or in recent years. All of them are incredibly ancient and powerful Death deities due to Ascending to godhood post-mortem.
    • James Dean is a young actor who codified the Greaser Delinquents trope, and managed to retain popularity long after his tragic death. Here, as Bronze Gear, he later became the Alicorn god of Death, Defiance, Freedom, and Technology post-mortem after helping the Trimortidae during the 'Applewood Rescue'.
    • Bossa Nova Hearstrings, Blue Suede's older identical twin brother, is based on Jesse Garon Presley, Elvis Presley's stillborn older twin brother. Here, he becomes first an Angel of Death working under his adoptive father, Gavisus Manes, then later an Alicorn god of Death after overcoming his resentment and obsession over his early death and what could've been. Later, during the "Dark Ages Crisis", he would re-Ascend as a divine reincarnation 'clone' of Mana Equus, the Empyrean Magician, turning him into the Alicorn god of Death, Musical Magic, Joy, Understanding, and Mana.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: In-universe.
  • This is often the case with Irminsul, father of Temnobog and Belyolen, and High King of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon. The morally pursitic Alvslog Deer herds portray him as a benevolent divine stag who loved his mortal and divine children, and was absolutely justified in shunning and mistreating Temnobog... but in actuality, Irminsul is a well-meaning, yet deeply flawed person with a multitude of issues, as he emotionally abused Temnobog for simply being born "evil" and encouraged toxic behaviors in his other "benevolent" children.
  • This often occurs with Gleaming Shield as well, with many sapient races depicting him as a completely noble and righeous paragon of heroism while removing any unsavory traits he may have had, such as his money-grubbing and thieving tendencies.
  • Belyolen, Irminsul's radiant son, is often depicted a pure and righteous individual who acts as Temnobog's superior and treats his brother as nothing more than a wicked servant that must be kept in line. In reality, he deeply loves Temnobog despite his innate Evil nature, since they were born divine equals and two halves of the person they could've been, and they share co-leadership of the Bogolenya pantheon.
• Historical Relationship Upgrade: Elvis Presley married Priscilla both to fulfill a promise he made to Priscilla's father, and because Tom Parker believed it wouldn't be good PR if a bachelor like Elvis lived together with a fourteen-year-old girl. Their marriage deteriorated due to Elvis' philandering, drug abuse, and abusive behavior, and they ultimately divorced. Here, Blue Suede Heartstrings' relationship with Venerable Grace is much more amicable and pleasant, if a bit rocky due to the circumstances involved — Blue Suede was publicly outed as gay by Hollow Note as punishment for resisting his Blackmail and married Venerable Grace for PR reasons. While he loved Venerable Grace, he didn't love her romantically and deeply regretted this. For her part, Venerable Grace sympathized with Blue Suede and wholeheartedly supported him knowing he was being abused by Hollow Note. They still divorced, but it's because Venerable Grace wanted Blue Suede to be happy with his male lover even if that meant she would never find love for herself.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: In-Universe, this is often the case with Temnobog among the Alvslog Deer herds. While he is a God of Evil and acts unapologetically about it, he works side by side with his twin brother, Belyolen, as chief ruler of the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon's Hell-Realms and punisher of the wicked. Temnobog's animosity towards his father, High King Irminsul, stemmed from being an unwanted consequence of the latter's attempt to purify his unborn son of his inner evil in-utero, and being horribly abused by Irminsul for existing. However, the Alvslog Deer often portray Temnobog in their folklore as a purely evil villain who is a "lesser servant" of Belyolen and whose childhood mistreatment was rightfully earned, which are among the many details they get wrong. This is because the very idea of 'evil' co-existing with 'good' and playing by the rules is blasphemous to them.
• Holier Than Thou: Deconstructed. A common problem with many great races/civilizations/deities of Equus is that because of their power, competence, and influence in the world at large, they believe that they have the moral high ground and everyone should submit or agree with them, or else.
  • Many of the Royal Changelings have this attitude, including the Queens of the Spring Court. Because they're all children of a Changeling deity, the Royal Changelings feel they're automatically entitled for the right to rule. And because they're bigger, stronger, and more powerful, they believe that only they know what's best for their subjects. They hate dissension because they think the perpetrators are being "ungrateful" for rejecting their ruler's love and protection, and because it undermines their royal legitimacy. This, combined with Fantastic Racism towards Dragonkind, creates a toxic Vicious Cycle that only creates more harm than good. Fortunately, the only Royal Changeling who averts this trope is Thorax, whose former background as a lowly drone played in his favor as he was able to make multiple interracial friendships, and form his own hive of purified Changelings.
  • The Nature Giants carry a pessimistic, distrustful view of mortals because of what Grogar had done to Equus's ecosystem to fulfill his desire to take over the world. They believe that all "smallfolk" are inherently destructive, short-sighted, and indifferent to nature, only caring about themselves. Therefore, only the Nature Giants are capable of preserving nature. Anyone who says otherwise are suppressed or permanently exiled to prevent societal upheaval (if a Nature Giant decides to leave home).
  • Deconstructed with the Elternteil Deer Pantheon. Many members see themselves as benevolent and 'pure' due to a combination of the destruction of nature by non-Deer individuals/races, a long and successful reign as divine sovereigns of mortal Deerkind, and years of praise from their mortal worshipers going to their heads. This led to them abusing a few of their own children, like Temnobog and Naur, for not fitting their high standards, despite not doing anything to deserve it. Eventually, the pantheon's puristic haughtiness became a main factor in the pantheon splintering into three sub-pantheons, as the genuinely benevolent Elternteil deities grew disgusted with this behavior and left to guide their own mortal Deer Herds without the toxic influence of their leaders. Their actions also led to both mortal and divine non-Deer individuals hating the Elternteil Deer Pantheon in general thanks to the efforts of Codex Equus researchers in recording their history, with King Strazha in particular referring to them as deluded extremists who use noble goals to justify selfish desires. It's rather telling that many people see it as a sign of redemption whenever someone decides to leave the pantheon.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Literal versions of them exists in various forms throughout Known History and even before it. And yes, the entries and drabbles of them are full of Monty Python and Worms references.
• Hollywood Tactics: Subverted hard. Virtually every military conflict depicted in the Codexverse thus far features application of tactics in battles and strategies in the wars themselves by the combatants. Every instance of a failure in military tactics is pointed out in the entries with virtually no known exceptions. This is best exemplified by the 'Notable Events' entries of Queen Colossos' War, where the Giants of Queen Colossos' Empire, subverting the fantasy stereotype of Giants being stupid, over-sized brutes, pulled off masterstrokes of military strategy that practically annihilated the then mighty Crystal Empire's powerful armies in a single week and overran 2/3 of their holdings in the continent they were fighting on.
• Holy Burns Evil: Many dangerous entities can be hurt by purification magic, whether it is held by mortals or divines, especially those who embody Purification.
• Holy Hand Grenade: Many mortals and deities possess purification magic, which is very effective against demons, Fallen deities, and other corrupted beings.
  • Crystal Prism has the ability to produce magical cocoons that both heal and purge people/objects of mundane curses and dark magic.
  • Prince Léon is noted to have some degree of divine purification, as he unknowingly purified a cursed hoof mirror that stokes the vanity of its user just by touching it. By the time a worried Blueblood and Raven Inkwell found him, Léon was nibbling on the now powerless hoof mirror as if nothing happened.
  • Belyolen, the "Good" half of the Bogolenya pantheon's leadership, also possesses divine purification, which helps counter Temnobog's magical curses.
  • The Sword of Hylia, popularly known as the "Master Sword", was said to have been forged by the antediluvian Alicorn Queen, Hylia the Wise. It can purify corrupted areas just by sticking the blade into the ground, and cleave through hordes of demons like tissue paper, earning another epithet as the "Demon's Bane". It is owned by Gleaming Shield and his various mortal incarnations.
  • Similarly, the Bow of Hylia can fire light arrows that purify and incapacitate even greater demons. It is currently owned by Radiant Primrose and her various mortal incarnations.
  • Radiant Primrose herself also wields light magic that is capable of purifying corruption, as she is the mortal reincarnation of Hylia the Wise. She is noted to have the ability to temporarily imbue weapons so they can do the same thing.
  • Golden Scepter, a surviving antediluvian Alicorn Emperor, has the power to use holy fire, which allows him to purge corrupt influences from his targets. This is what allowed him to protect people from being used as hosts for the Void Traveler, and also rescue those who fell under the thrall of Ispita the Deceiver and her various children/allies.
  • Written Word, Golden Scepter's thirteenth son, inherited his power of purification from him, but unlike his father, whose powers manifest as holy fire, Written Word's powers manifest as light. While it, too, burns away corrupt influences, which makes him a nightmare against demonic and other fell individuals, it can also eliminate certain poisons from an afflicted target(s)' body. It's noted that as he continues experimenting with his powers, Written Word has since weaponized them in a few ways to differentiate himself from his father, such as throwing "shards" of purifying light from a distance, or manifesting it as other weapons such as spears, staffs, and maces.
  • Due to his Water domain being symbolically tied to his past addictions, Moon Ray Vaughoof possesses a unique ability in water healing, which involves some degree of purification - he can remove and eliminate poisons from the afflicted as well as most forms of pollution. This allowed him to befriend and work together in Munditia, the Novellus Minotaur goddess of Hygiene and Sanitation.
  • As a god of Purification, High King Irminsul is a master of holy magic, and can use it to burn away impurities such as certain poisons, free people from possession by demons, and purify dark magic. One of his favorite techniques consists of him manifesting his holy magic as chains to both restrain and hurt evil and foul entities. In addition, he can channel his holy magic through his own body so he could purify through touch, making him an extremely dangerous foe if confronted in physical combat one-on-one. However, given his warped and puristic morality, he has misused his domain in a few incidents, such as attempting to purify his unborn son of his inner evil so he could become a purely benevolent, flawless, and heroic ruler.
  • As a mortal, Prince Golden Ash possessed druidic magic, which included purification powers. Becoming a demigod of Renewal increased his powers, allowing him to counter and erase corruption caused by dark magic on much wider scales. This allows him to cleanse and restore desolated environments. However, being a demigod means that his purification powers won't be as effective on dark magic spells wielded by older, full-blooded deities. Irminsul used to teach him regarding this, but after he left the Alvslog Deer Realms, both Emperor Golden Scepter and his thirteenth son, Prince Written Word, became his teachers instead.
• Hopeless War: Many wars depicted in the series ultimately becomes this, with disastrous consequences even for the victors, which goes with the overall theme of the folly and futility of conflict. The worst part is that more often than not, the conflicting sides are often depicted such that they could both achieve so much had they worked together as allies instead of enemies.
  • The aeons-long, generation-spanning Changeling-Dragon blood-feud is fast becoming this by the Fourth Age, with villains and forces unleashed as a result of the toxic enmity between the two implacably-opposed races threatening to wipe out both sides and take the whole world with them. It's noted to be so bloody, vicious, and long that when Thorax and Ember forgave the other's species and elders for their actions that spawned the conflict, it created a magical karmic backlash that birthed the Dragon/Changeling hybrid goddess, Princess Lampyridae/Firewing, who embodies Forgiveness and Spiritual Healing as concepts. Various benevolent individuals, such as Luminiferous, Thorax and Ember, and even more moderate Changelings and Dragons hope that Lampyridae/Firewing will finally end the blood-feud and bury the hatchet for good.
  • 'Queen Colossos' War' - a conflict between the Crystal Empire and an empire of Giants, ultimately devolved into this, with the Crystal Empire nearly destroyed and even the empire of Giants coming out of it scarred and its rise stillborn.
• Humans Are Bastards: One of the central themes and questions of the setting is whether or not Ponies and other peoples could ever truly get along, or are they doomed to forever fighting and killing each other over conflicting differences and desires. This seemingly incorrigible aspect of sapient nature is lampshaded by many in-universe.
  Peaceful Mountain: It is the gods who weep. They see us killing each other over and over since time began. They can't save us from ourselves.
• Humans Are Warriors: In the Codexverse, mortal Ponykind has been shown to grow and adapt to whatever deadly and catastrophic situation had been thrown at them. And the other races of Equus aren't slouches in the war department either.
  • 'Second Age' Ponykind was apparently so good at it, later Ages nicknamed them as 'the Lords of War'. The weapons they left behind are far more advanced and destructive than most weapons produced in the 'Fourth Age' up until the 'Final Ragnarok' Arc, the sheer variety and effectiveness unnerved even the War Gods of the present Age. The most prominently featured time period of the Second Age was known as the 'Great Wars Era', which saw multiple global conflicts between various superpowers and against hostile outside forces.
  • Even before the Second Age Ponykind had shown a capacity for conflict and conquest. One example would be the Golden Imperium that predated the Known Ages, having sprung up from the ashes left behind by the ruined Alicorn Civilization and other civilizations that came after it. Led by Emperor Golden Scepter, it became one of the most militant and military powerful civilizations on Equus, with historians debating whether it covered the entire world or Ascended to the stars. This isn't too surprising, considering how the Golden Imperium is based on the 40K Imperium of Man, one of the most militant and militarily powerful factions (by necessity) to ever exist in fiction.
• Humanity on Trial: As it turns out, the Dark Crystal Crisis was this in a fashion. After the many, many wars of the Second Age (called the Great Wars Era for good reason) end up creating enough sin and evil to give Dark Crystal a way to escape her prison, the Grand Primevals watch vigilantly to see if sapientkind's virtue can stand against its sins that both liberated Dark Crystal and which she herself embodies, and thus refuse to interfere as she prepares to destroy the world. This is noted as being because sapientkind both created Dark Crystal to begin with and were the ones to collectively reawaken her, therefore to stop her would be to let sapientkind shirk the consequences of their actions. The Tales Seven's refusal to give up and managing to resurrect themselves by sheer Heroic Resolve as well as a great many heroes and villains uniting to help stop her causes them to decide sapientkind has passed, and give the Seven the power to defeat Dark Crystal as a reward.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: A common theme in Codex Equus that great evils are often the result of mortal failings, which then get blamed on some external cause to cover up said failings. This contributes to the Vicious Cycles that kept Equuskind down as so long as no one takes up responsibility for their crimes, they are doomed to never learn and repeat their sins and failings.
  • The Dracozillas caused much death and destruction in Neighpon (though Dracozilla Jr. got better), but ultimately the Clovenists were responsible for their births when their Mana Bomb tests irrevocably mutated much of Equus's ocean life. The Clovenists had refused to take responsibility for both incidents and even denied approving the Mana Bomb tests in the first place.
  • This heavily applies to Tulpas, since they are Made of Magic and birthed through the collective thoughts, emotions, and actions of mortals. Prominent examples include Father Deer, who was created by the Clovenists in an attempt to make a god completely loyal to their cause except it backfired; and Tyrantlestia, who was born from the Equestrians' belief that the real Celestia is a tyrant, fueled by rumors and propaganda surrounding the Equestrian Princesses' supposed "inaction" during the Storm King Crisis.
  • The enigmatic Medicine Seller is of this opinion. While dangerous and/or evil Tulpas need to be stopped for the good of Equus, they're ultimately created by the depraved and cruel acts of mortals. This is largely why he has low sympathy for anyone even as he protects them.
  • The ACTUAL Humans themselves, when they showed up, partially subverts this. It is NOT in that they haven't committed their own share of horrible actions whether as individuals or as a whole, but rather when compared to other races and what they did they are actually not much more or less evil than any other species. To note, even Poena and many of her followers recognises this, pointing out some of the other races surpasses them on sapient evils such as greed, aggression, duplicity and other things on average and should only be judged as individuals rather than as a whole for the evils they commit.
• Humble Hero: There are many individuals of this type in the Codexverse, despite the setting being a World of Badass.
  • As stated by her folder entry quote and Codexverse entry, Scarlet Bell, known as "the Whistleblower", is rather humble and only sees herself as an ordinary pony who did the right thing. In fact, it's partially because of this that she moved to the Grittish Isles and lived a quiet life in Hornbridge, wanting to get away from the public attention she received for her actions as a filly. Furthermore, she serves as a living example of the potential for people to do good in the Codexverse, regardless if they're legendary heroes or not.
  • Inverted with Princess Hnignun. While an 'evil' goddess of Death and Decay, and a skilled scientist and chemist who often helps Bolezn in creating deadly plagues, she inherited much of her father's modest and shy personality. Despite having no material wealth in her hell-fief, she's content with what she has. And whenever she's praised for something, she'll blush and nervously shuffle her legs. Her humility sometimes makes it hard to accept praise when it's due, but thankfully her family is helping her overcome this.
  • Urtica, a young New Changeling demigoddess, sees her act of saving Equestria from revanchist Griffon Autorists as 'doing the right thing', and doesn't want to rule a Hive like other Royal Changelings, instead pursuing a Humble Goal like becoming a historian, archivist, or possibly a History Professor.
  • Justified with Blue Suede Heartstrings. A religious yet loving upbringing influenced him to become humble to the point it became one of his defining traits. After Ascending to godhood, he gained Humility as one of his domains. It's later deconstructed in that three Ages worth of trauma and abuse gave Blue Suede various issues that went untreated for a long time, and while he is beloved for his humility, it also made Blue Suede subject to unrealistic expectations that threw him into a downward spiral of self-loathing and resentment. Eventually, he snaps and suffers a mental breakdown, nearly corrupting himself in the process, before falling into an Angst Coma from the sheer stress. Then it's reconstructed when everyone he knows pays him back for all the good things he did by helping him recover. Blue Suede learns the true meaning of humility and realizes that his Chronic Hero Syndrome contributed to his breakdown, which influences him to join the Equestrian Pantheon and become Prince Caerulus Melodia. He also falls in love with long-time friend, Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, the Deer-Draconequus god of Pride, whom he marries sometimes after joining the Equestrian Pantheon.
  • Blue Suede/Caerulus' oldest adoptive son, Prince Crystal Clear, is humble like his father, but he doesn't let it go to extremes like Blue Suede/Caerulus did and naturally takes pride in what he does. This is what prevented Crystal from going down the same dark path Blue Suede/Caerulus took despite suffering almost as much as him, giving him a much more balanced and healthier state of mind.
• Humongous Mecha:
  • Crazy Ant made one called 'Colossus' to act as Machina's guardian. When not protecting Machina, Colossus is used to stomp holes into the laboratories of those who participate in unethically cruel experiments, and that's the best punishment that can be done. Silver Screw, Crazy Ant's Vice-Engineer and Deadpan Snarker extraordinaire, also has the privilege to use Colossus and has occasionally done so in situations that got personal. Mass production versions were later invented as well.
  • Toxikon's final weapon, God Slayer, is this by normal size standards, though for an adult dragon it's closer to a Mini-Mecha. It was made Changeling-proof, but coordinated teamwork between Ember and Thorax (and a power-up from Luminiferous) allowed them to destroy it.
  • Other mecha referencing various series have also been introduced, including the Megazords, 'Shinka' Robos, Deus Excellion, Yuusha-Oh and Mobile Suits.
  • The Third Age had Crystal Titans, magical crystal golems filling roughly the same role as Mobile Suits did in the Second Age. However, where those were Real Robot Genre styled, the Crystal Titans are Super Robot Genre inspired. While most were destroyed, it turns out Kimono/Kouyou either rebuilt or repaired hers, Amethyst Serenity. The Kamili Empire managed to find one named Topaz Unity with its armor and framework mostly intact, and rebuilt it with Forth Age technology to serves as their trump card.
• Hunter of Monsters:
  • The enigmatic Medicine Seller always claims that he's just that - a simple medicine seller - but his real profession is being a Tulpa exorcist, hunting down Tulpas that are evil and/or dangerous to society and Equus at large. In one notable incident, he was hired by a general of the former kingdom Frater to take down the Tulpa Queen Fantasia, and even nearly killed her in their ensuing fight, but he stopped his attacks once Fantasia revealed her Reasoning.
  • Lysets Far, the hybrid demigod son of Astrid Titanna, often accompanies his mother on her monster hunts when he came of age. He would continue doing so well after he went on to found the 'Light Garrison', which has fighting monsters as part of their portfolio.
• Hybrid All Along: It is believed by Emperor Golden Scepter that believes that all sapient creatures on Equus, whether mortal or divine, are actually hybrids, including Alicorns like himself since they're divine representations of all Pony tribes. Because of this, it is completely impossible for a Pony or a member of some other race to make claims of racial 'purity' because everyone has been deeply interbred by this point, perhaps as a method of survival created in response to the various dangers that populate Equus. Therefore, the only way to get rid of all 'impurities' is to destroy all life in the universe, which is something no one wants to happen.
• Hypocrite: Generally deconstructed, as it is seen a sign of moral failure that undermines certain characters' actions and beliefs.
  • Granted, part of his reason for becoming a priest was to answer a question he long wanted to answer, but Written Word genuinely (and naively) wanted to help his subjects by preaching to them his father's divinity and virtue, believing that mortals could only prosper when guided by benevolent deities. This is despite being someone who likes philosophy because it encourages people to think deeply and ask questions that everyone is afraid to ask. Fortunately, Written Word would get better after he was set straight by Golden Scepter, which would lead to him realizing the true value of faith and inspiring his makeshift armies to have faith in each other while they fought a demon horde to liberate a backwater Pony kingdom from its corrupt religion. The result was Written Word turning into a demi-Alicorn god.
  • Noble Grace, a criminal and disgraced teacher, is also one, which is what makes the inherent mental/moral bankruptcy in all that she does and believes in all the more striking once exposed. She encouraged her students to think for themselves, when she persuaded them to participate in her well-intentioned yet cruel experiments by making them believe that ultimately, her actions would result in something good in the end. She also wanted her students, as well as Ponykind in general, to tap into their inner potential and rise above their current capabilities, but her experiments are implied to have injured and even killed many foals and teenagers who took part in them, dashing their potential before they had the chance to fulfill it.
  • This was a very prominent trait of Golden Scepter's during the Imperium era, where he would end up contradicting his words and beliefs with his own actions due to his traumas and loneliness bringing out his worst traits and deeply affecting his judgement. This would ultimately cause the downfall and ruination of the Imperium of Ponykind, as well as him being put in magical stasis for an extremely long time after he was gravely wounded in a coup led by own of his own generals. Fortunately, he would stop this behavior after he reemerged in the Second Age and underwent Character Development.
    • He became extremely protective of Ponykind, and advocated for their supremacy by killing and conquering anything and anyone that might pose a threat to his Pony subjects, including "holy creatures, conquerors, predators, and tyrants". However, the victims of his genocidal military campaigns targeted even innocent people who did nothing to Ponykind, making him no better than those he went after, and had no problem manipulating his own subjects whenever and however he pleased for what he saw as benevolent and noble goals. This would disgust and anger even his closest allies, including one Ultra-Marerine Commander who would call him out on his hypocrisy. It's through Luminiferous's benevolent influence that Golden Scepter came to love Ponykind both collectively and individually, allowing him to become a proper ruler of what he embodied.
    • He fervently believed that Belief Makes You Stupid, and wanted to completely dissuade his mortal Pony subjects from treating him as a god by eradicating the concept of divine faith and destroying temples built in his name. However, he demanded total obedience and loyalty from his subjects, and had no problem using his psychic empathy to Emotion Bomb them into submission. He would mellow out significantly by the Fourth Age, opting to simply ban public religious worship of him and his family in the Terran Empire, and explain to his subjects the folly of what they are doing if they're caught, such as what he had done with his son, Written Word.
    • However, it's subverted with his ties to the Church of the Stars. Despite it being a religion, the Church of the Stars is mainly about encouraging people to follow the values and examples of the deities they worship and improve themselves, even to the point of eventually reaching Ascension themselves. This is something that Golden Scepter wholeheartedly supports, as he had been doing the same thing with his mortal subjects since even before the Alicorn Civilization's fall.
  • Belyolen, co-Top God of the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, is often accused of being one by many people, especially morally puristic individuals, since he let his "evil" brother be his co-ruler as well as constantly consorting with criminals, sinners, and other lowlifes despite his innate benevolence and holiness. Belyolen would explain to them that since he's the "Good" half of the person he would've been, he's supposed to work together with Temnobog, as Equus benefits best if Good and Evil are constantly cycling to prevent the planet from stagnating. If one concept existed without the other, the consequences would potentially be more devastating than if they existed together.

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