YMMV / Codex Equus

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: One of Queen Olympia's objections regarding democracy - that it would almost inevitably evolve into oligarchy and/or autocracy, which led to her concluding it as the natural state of civilization - is based on a real if controversial theory or 'law' of political and historical development made by Italian sociologist (and later Italian Fascist Party member) Robert Michels, and she even cites its in-universe counterpart to back up her observations. It's name? The 'Iron Law of Oligarchy'.
• Awesome Ego: Overmare, like her inspiration, Doctor Doom, has proven herself worthy of the praise she has given herself. She's regarded as The Ace among supervillains, is one of the smartest Ponies of the Second Age, and took over the world multiple times for brief reigns, one of which lasted four whole months.
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Cry for the Devil: The villainous residents of Sunnytown have received this treatment. In the original game, the Sunnytowners had little personality as individuals beyond being fanatical zombies who killed a young filly for gaining a Cutie Mark, and nearly did the same to Apple Bloom. Their introduction into the Codexverse massively expanded on the Sunnytowners' backstories and personalities, humanizing them and turning them into otherwise sympathetic individuals who were influenced into doing bad things by an insane stallion. Each of their Codex entries also show how damaging fanaticism can be, depicting those who followed Grey Hoof as traumatized individuals who took a long time to recover from their experiences once they are freed from Sunnytown. Because of this, many readers have expressed sympathy for the Sunnytowners — up to BrutalityInc, the main author of Codex Equus himself — while at the same time expressing fear and disgust towards Grey Hoof's actions.
• Iron Woobie:
  • Crystal Prism was once a unicorn colt named Page Wheel until a chance encounter with Midnight Bell later got him kidnapped and experimented on by morally bankrupt individuals, who wanted to turn him into an Alicorn of Change and Rebirth. He became a rampaging, magic-eating monster instead, but ironically, he would become an Alicorn demigod thanks to the magic he devoured after being killed by Luminiferous and the Equestrian Alicorn Princesses. Understandably, Crystal Prism's experiences were so traumatic that his life afterward was a massive ordeal, and at one point, he felt resigned to being the herald of a "new age" for Ponykind because it's the only life he has left post-Ascension. But thanks to therapeutic help from Mentálne and the encouragement from individuals like Golden Scepter to forge his own destiny, Crystal Prism instead chose to dedicate his life to promoting Change and Rebirth by helping others and doing other heroic deeds even as he recovers from his trauma.
  • Golden Scepter is a very powerful and ancient Alicorn god with an utterly Dark and Troubled Past. He is a Shell-Shocked Veteran from the "Twilight of the Alicorns", a brutal civil war that took away many of his friends and loved ones. However, Golden Scepter's PTSD and other issues didn't become apparent until he founded the Imperium of Ponykind, where they brought out many of his worst traits and deeply affected his judgment so much that a slew of terrible mistakes ultimately got him sealed away, while his Imperium crumbled and collapsed. When Golden Scepter reemerged in the Second Age, he was essentially a broken stallion, but what prevented him from breaking completely was the influence of Luminiferous and Queen Dazzleglow and his desire to redeem himself for his sins and break free from his past. Even in the Fourth Age, after losing his mortal wife to old age and having to deal problems caused by the various flaws of his nineteen demi-divine sons, Golden Scepter still manages to be a highly beloved ruler and a good parent to his children because he desires to do right by those who love and care for him. Receiving therapeutic help from Mentálne helped as well.
  • Silver Bane was a mortal champion of the Poenan Pantheon, a divine group of fanatical Knight Templars who raised him since foalhood. Taught to suppress both his emotions and his vampiric side, Silver Bane believed he was "cursed" for years, and the only way to obtain inner peace is to smite 'evil' individuals. Unfortunately, the Poenans' harmful teachings ended up nearly killing him when, during a stressful period in his life, he fell into a coma that was caused by the mental manifestation of his suppressed vampiric side, which sought to control his body out of spite. However, his friends' efforts to save him led to Silver Bane reconciling with his vampiric side and letting it permanently transform him physically and mentally, as he learned he's actually a Dhampyr and not a 'turned' Pony as was assumed. While he feels incredibly guilty for both his past extremism and listening to the Poenans despite repeated warnings from merciful factions, he strives to atone for his sins and become a "true" upholder of justice, thanks to the influence of his friends and his young adoptive Griffon daughter, Friede.
  • Moon Ray Vaughoof's life is filled with tragedies and hardships — among them are being abused/scarred by his bad-tempered, alcoholic father, falling into addiction, dying early before his music career could really take off, losing everything to Age-ending crises, and discovering the various people he looked up to in his youth to turned out to be wicked, or at least extremely flawed. As Moon Ray later admitted, dying traumatized him so much that it "brought the worst" out of him, turning him into an angry, bitter, resentful, and depressed stallion who yearned to go back to the past and continue living the life he felt was cruelly taken away from him. But what finally allowed him to heal was being adopted by Gavisus Manes, who was everything his birth father wasn't, and seeing the consequences of his flaws and learning the importance of Forgiveness. This not only freed him from essentially three Ages worth of pain and fear, but triggered his Ascension twice and unlocked his long-repressed Prophecy domain.
  • Princess Winter Opera is an illegitimate daughter of War Rock, which earned her nothing but scorn for much of her life. Almost everyone (including some superheroes) expected her to follow in her father's hoofsteps due to her relations, and as she told a horrified and disgusted Queen Eclaira millennia later, her beauty got her painted as a Succubus that seduced colts and stallions alike. When she discovered her true parentage, she felt so angry and bitter that she ran away from home. Fortunately, she would meet caring people who helped her achieve her dream of becoming a musician, but even then she still suffered, including having a bucket of blood dumped on her mid-concert for an extremely cruel prank, fending off villains who wanted to recruit her for her skill in dark magic, and facing accusations of wanting to be worshiped forever after becoming an Alicorn. And on top of that, she nearly lost one of her beloved mentors, Blue Suede Heartstrings, who snapped from three Ages worth of abuse and trauma and nearly became a corrupted Alicorn.
  • Mitta has a truly horrifying backstory. Born in Sunnytown, she was one of the lucky few to survive a deadly bout of Cutie Pox with her entire family intact. But when Mitta's younger sister, Ruby Heart, earned her Cutie Mark by helping a neighbor find a misplaced gift, Grey Hoof formed a lynch mob and burned the filly to death in her family's own fireplace. Mitta and her parents tried to save Ruby Heart, but they were talked into letting it happen by Grey Hoof. Then Pakak happened to be there, and what he saw enraged him into cursing all of Sunnytown with zombification, including Mitta. Since then, Mitta was made a prisoner and psychologically abused by her neighbors for centuries, all to keep her from interfering while they hunt down innocent Ponies with Cutie Marks. Then young Apple Bloom is targeted, forcing Mitta to acknowledge her mistakes while empowering her to finally retaliate against her abusers by unleashing her 'Special Talent' — the ability to control plants. Mitta has come a long way since then, but she still has a lot of baggage from her experiences that many benevolent deities are helping her recover from.
  • Scarlet Bell was just a young filly when she noticed that many of her friends/classmates had gone missing, and a personal investigation revealed that the missing foals were experimented on by her beloved teachers, Noble Grace and Professor Bubbling Beaker, to uncover the secrets of divine Ascension. She managed to defeat her teachers in a fight despite being outnumbered and being vastly weaker magically, and saved as many foals as she could from the ensuing fires, but the experience left her literally and figuratively scarred, and she moved to the Grittish Isles. Unfortunately, history would repeat itself years later when a young colt named Page Wheel was kidnapped, and Scarlet Bell's grandniece, Midnight Bell, ran off by herself to go rescue him. This kicks off a series of events that leads to Page Wheel's death and resurrection/Ascension as Crystal Prism, while Scarlet Bell discovers that Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker had also fled to the Grittish Isles by sheer coincidence, confirming her worst fears. She finally gains some level of catharsis/closure by confronting her former teachers one last time and punching Noble Grace in the face for all the horrible things she did.
  • Cloudy Brush was born in a time when War Rock's legacy still had an impact on Ponyland. When she was a teenager, a friend of hers was killed in a car accident, and her classmates went behind her back to celebrate because her deceased friend listened to War Rock's music. Cloudy Brush was furious and called out her classmates for their disrespect of the dead... only to be viciously bullied because people saw her as a 'War Rock sympathizer. Her torment and inability to grieve drove her to try commit suicide, but thankfully, Moon Ray Vaughoof intervened and helped her get the closure she needed. Things turned up for her afterwards, and she became an Alicorn of the Trimortidae after death. Then the Third Age ended in part thanks to the Oceanaiads' imperialistic cruelty, leaving Cloudy Brush devastated to where she would have turned into a racist bigot if her friends didn't make her realize what she was becoming.
  • Kúzelník was born an Elternteil Deer god of Sorcery, and it was clear he had talent. However, Irminsul and Arvan taught him to use only White Magic so he wouldn't become an Evil Sorcerer, and imparted many other toxic and hypocritical lessons that, to Kúzelník's shame, led to him and his siblings bullying Temnobog for being 'evil', despite doing nothing to warrant it. A series of awful truths regarding his parents, including their role in creating Temnobog and his twin brother Belyolen, left Kúzelník shaken, but what finally convinced him to leave was when, following the failed trial of Blue Suede Heartstrings, Irminsul accidentally blurted out during an argument that he has no qualms over 'purifying' his children of their own flaws if they fell below his standards. Kúzelník ran away from home in sheer terror, and since then, he developed a fear of being found and dragged back home by his father, while struggling to reconcile the good aspects of Sorcery with the bad ones that he was taught to avoid in light of his parents' hypocrisy. Fortunately, he found people who are much more tolerant, and he would be adopted by Golden Scepter much later.
  • High King Bogolenya probably has it worst of all his siblings. He was killed when his father, High King Irminsul, tried purifying him of his inner evil so Bogolenya would become a perfect, flawless ruler and god. While still in-utero. This split Bogolenya up into Belyolen and Temnobog, and through his divine halves, he was mistreated in different ways — Belyolen is automatically lavished with love and praise just for being born good and pure, while Temnobog is automatically shunned and abused for being born evil and corrupt regardless of what he did. And thanks to Irminsul's bigoted teachings, Belyolen and Temnobog hated and clashed with each other for a long time until they learned the truth of their existence and reconciled. Despite the trauma his halves went through, Bogolenya nonetheless finds love and support in the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, and even helps out in the 'Final Ragnarok' arc after Belyolen and Temnobog fuse to save an ally from the Shadowed Ones... but not before giving Irminsul a well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech for how selfishly and vicariously he treated him and his older/younger siblings.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Prince Blueblood appears a boorish Jerkass on the outside... but on the inside, he suffered much since foalhood. His parents, both Canterlot unicorn nobles from House Platinum, were emotionally and mentally abusive, and did everything they could to mold him into the perfect unicorn scion they wanted. Things turned up for him when Celestia adopted and raised him after learning of his abuse. But his idealism and desire to help his Equestrian subjects was later worn down by both reactionary Canterlot nobles, and mares who were either gold-digging socialites or shallowly treated him as a romantic ideal (such as Rarity from "The Best Night Ever"). As a result, he relied on public masks to protect himself and provide a way to help his subjects without getting sabotaged, which worked, but left him feeling he had no choice but to act like an asshole to others because otherwise, he wouldn't get anything done.
  • Queen Eclaira is an Alicorn goddess of the Shadowpact Pantheon, the Queen of her own kingdom, and a Vain Sorceress whose huge appetite brought ruin to many kingdoms and realms. What led to her becoming the way she is currently was her completely miserable foalhood in a kingdom that was obsessed with beauty, fashion, and food — because she was born mediocre-looking in a royal family famed for its members' beauty, she was treated as if she was born extremely ugly, with her parents and siblings abusing her for it while doing nothing when their subjects did the same. Little Eclaira resorted to eating to alleviate her misery, but that gave her tormenters another excuse to bully her. Eventually, she became so ambitious to become the 'fairest of them all' that she ran to Overlord Vondur, who adopted her and gave her the tools/knowledge she needed to exact revenge on the kingdom that treated her like an outcast based on how she looked. While viewed as a horrifying villain in her time, her backstory has drawn sympathy from a few heroes, including Princess Winter Opera, who suffered the same as her but for completely different reasons.
  • Blacktip, a young scribe from the IDW comics, is a haughty, domineering, and greedy Dragon... except he really isn't, as that is just a mask he put up in order to be accepted by his own kind, because otherwise he would face bullying and scorn from reactionary Dragons who see him as 'fake'. Without that mask, he's a Nice Guy who's genuinely interested and passionate about learning, something that many Dragons look down on due to it not fitting their standards of what a 'real' Dragon is. He spent almost his entire life searching for the truth behind the 'Burning of Amorea' event, so when he finally learns from Prince Arcaniss that the Dragons caused it out of greed and cruelty and twisted records of it to make themselves look more heroic, he is devastated to the point where he believes that Changelingkind is completely justified in their obsession with survival and hatred of his people. Thanks to advice from friendly Dragons like Ember and help from Moon Ray Vaughoof, Blacktip comes to terms with everything and forgives his people, upon which he Ascends to demi-godhood. He is now determined to help Dragonkind break free of its toxic mindset, even though he knows he'll face even more scorn and rejection for it.
  • King Aspen (also from the IDW comics) is a divine Deer King who is a loving father and good ruler to the kingdom of Thicket, but is also an extremely haughty, puristic, and xenophobic person who was painted in a more heroic light by fanatic supporters as a form of propaganda. He hampered and mistreated the Ponies who tried to help rescue his son Bramble during the 'Well-To-Do Crisis', and willingly took part in (nearly) convicting Blue Suede Heartstrings of false crimes after the latter was wrongfully imprisoned and abused by the Elternteil Deer Pantheon. However, much of his current behavior is rooted in his past — he lost his parents and many of his sisters to a brutal invasion by Hydianite Covens as a fawn, and subsequently became associated with well-meaning yet deeply flawed individuals like High King Irminsul, who imparted hypocritical, toxic, and bigoted lessons onto him.
  • Much like King Aspen, High King Irminsul is a deeply unpleasant person whose arrogance and hypocrisy led to him either influencing his children to become as bad as he is, or abusing them for not fitting his twisted standards of a 'good' divine sovereign. He was once a genuinely good ruler, but fighting Grogar I and losing much of his family and people to his Arch-Enemy left him a broken shell of his former self. He is so haunted by both real and perceived failures that he started believing only a pure and flawless ruler could rule over mortal Deerkind, which drove him to 'purify' his unborn son of his evil in-utero after foreseeing him leading Deerkind into a golden age. Unfortunately, his selfishness defiled/killed his son, the incident being the starting point for his family becoming extremely dysfunctional and toxic. Many of his children abandoned him in droves after learning the truth (and getting sick of his behavior in general), while many benevolent Deer and non-Deer deities/mortals furiously condemned him for what he had done. And while he knows he's suffering and desperately needs help, he is too proud to admit it, dooming himself to even more disgrace and condemnation.
  • Temnobog is the Bogolenya Deer god of Darkness, Evil, and Suffering, and is unapologetic about his evil nature... however, his origins were terrible. He was born the living embodiment of the flawed, evil side of Irminsul's unborn son, and for that he was physically and emotionally abused by his own family regardless of what he actually did. Belyolen was among those who truly cared for Temnobog, but years of psychological manipulation and harmful teachings caused Temnobog to assume even Belyolen didn't care for him. Out of spite, bitterness, and anger, he became genuinely evil and antagonized his family, especially Belyolen, which continued long after his brother called out their abusive family and left to form his own pantheon. He finally finds some happiness after learning the truth of his existence and reconciling with Belyolen, and even finds love in Ispita... only for Ispita to become a Fallen goddess and betray Temnobog by breaking his family apart and turning four of his children, the Eight Terrors, to destructive Evil.
  • Temnobog's older brother, Phoenix King Naur, didn't fare any better. Though the beloved divine ruler/founder of the Caearnarian Deer Realms, he suffers from issues like an inferiority complex and serious anger problems. This stems from his upbringing — while not to Temnobog's extent, Naur was abused by his own family for being born a Fire god, with Irminsul and Arvan discouraging him from using his fire magic so he wouldn't burn down the forests they protected. He treated Temnobog coldly, yet ended up sympathizing with his younger brother and secretly tried to protect him. After centuries of observing his family's stubborn pride and hypocrisy, Naur snaps when an Alvslog Deer Realm was destroyed thanks to his family's negligence, causing him to get in a literally heated argument with Irminsul (destroying much of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon's divine realm in the process) and leave home, taking yet another portion of his family with him. But despite getting away from his parents and his best efforts to succeed where they failed, it's implied he still runs the risk of following Irminsul's hoofsteps because of his abuse.
  • Prince Dissonant Tune is a loud, rebellious, and wild punk who acts like an obnoxious Jerkass to everyone so he can get off from their rage. While this is mostly an act he puts up, behind his public facade is a deeply traumatized Alicorn who suffers from anger issues and other insecurities thanks to living with Abusive Parents, as well as being wrongfully judged/mistreated just for being War Rock's son. He finds it hard to believe that Abusive Parents can change for the better, and avoided seeking psychiatric help for three Ages because he genuinely believed no one would want to help the son of the most hated supervillain/musician of the Second Age. He also suffered an existential crisis regarding his place in the world, and has questioned whether he deserved to be born at all. A Codexverse drabble implies that he's glad the Second Age ended, because that meant people would start forgetting exactly who his birth father is.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • For many readers, Ivory Towers crossed this by killing her own parents as sacrifices in order to summon the Greed Demon, Don'yoku, all for the sake of selling her soul for power.
  • Starfall Dusk, a Mad Scientist whose goals and methods sickened even the Alicorn Ascendency enough for them to expel her from the organization, crosses this line both in-universe and out-universe for betraying her (genuine) friends by capturing, horrifically torturing/experimenting on them and then murdering them to figure out the 'essence' of Harmony and Friendship, then bind their writhing souls to hers so she could usurp the Elements of Harmony with the aim of becoming not just an Alicorn, but achieve Abstract Apotheosis and become 'Harmony Incarnate', all for the twisted goal of 'bringing harmony to the world and beyond' (partly by wiping out anyone and anything not up to standards). Not only does Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil apply in this case, but her action of binding the souls of her friends to herself is a gross violation of the Primeval Laws — which earns her a one-way ticket to the worst Hells possible courtesy of Nekelmu, the Evil Primeval after she was defeated by a furious Princess Amicitia/Mana Equus.
  • While War Rock has committed numerous crimes in his pursuit of godhood, by far the most horrific thing he had ever done was his kidnapping and raping of Healing Song. It's made even worse by the fact that Healing Song is blind, meaning War Rock raped a disabled stallion out of narcissistic spite. In-Universe, this was the moment where even the likes of the Virtuous Seven and Blue Suede Heartstrings, who otherwise didn't like killing, unanimously decided that War Rock needed to die in order to protect everyone else.
• Nightmare Fuel: Has its own page here.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • This fanfic's version of Cosmos is considered by many readers to be a vast improvement over her comic counterpart, due to having a far more unique character, not taking away from Discord, and having an understanding, somewhat sympathetic backstory.
  • Likewise, the Codexverse version of Prince Blueblood is made much more competent and badass, being the supreme Commander of one of Equestria's three military branches as well as a skilled water mage. He's also given legitimate reasons as to why he behaved like a Jerkass to Rarity during the Grand Galloping Gala — he was once a compassionate Wide-Eyed Idealist who believed he could use his power and position to help Equestria. But years of dealing with an arrogant, complacent, greedy, tribalist, and obstructive nobility that would block his reforms at every turn, combined with being the target of gold-digging socialites who only wanted him for his wealth and titles and getting into messy breakups and scandals because of them, wore away at his idealism until he decided to become just like the nobles he despised in order to get stuff done and keep selfish mares away from him... even though he's deeply hurt by the public's bad opinions of him and wishes there was another way. Fortunately, the birth/Ascension of his "son", Prince Léon, seems to be working on getting his old self back.
• Stoic Woobie: Gladstone is a stoic and quiet stallion of few words, but deep down he harbors incredible psychological trauma. Born in Sunnytown, he was a much cheerful colt who wanted to be a construction worker, but losing his parents to Cutie Pox forced him to look after Roneo by himself, turning him into an overprotective Knight Templar Big Brother. Despite his efforts, Gladstone could not prevent Roneo from being influenced by Grey Hoof, which played a part in Ruby Heart's horrific death and Pakak's cursing of Sunnytown. He then spent centuries trying to shield Roneo from killing innocent Ponies, but that annoyed Grey Hoof into forcing Roneo to kill by threatening his loved ones, which made Mitta's intervention all the more fortunate. Despite breaking free from Sunnytown later on, Gladstone was essentially broken and suicidal, which he covered up with a stoic facade so he wouldn't worry others. It's not until Blue Suede Heartstrings tried convincing him to let Roneo make his own decisions that Gladstone's stoic facade breaks and he starts crying over the prospect of losing the only family he has left.
• Tear Jerker: Has its own page here.
• The Woobie:
  • Glittering Coin is a young Earth pony filly who idolizes Rarity and wants to become a fashion designer just like her. Unfortunately, she was born with a hereditary genetic disease that makes her own magical core destroy her body from the inside, causing her terrible pain. Her wealthy parents seeks out the Striga Family's services, and Glittering Coin is saved from certain death, making it seem like she might have a happy future after all... until it's discovered that Glittering Coin wasn't 'saved', but had her spirit transferred into the body of another filly whose spirit is helplessly trapped within her own body to make room for another. When confronted with the truth, Glittering Coin runs off crying, unable to understand the horror of her situation or accept her coming fate. However, once Bossa Nova Heartstrings and Blue Goldstone find her and take her to Rarity, she ends her life on a positive note by performing a Heroic Sacrifice so the original owner of her host body can live, which rewards her with a place in a Heaven-Realm and the chance to live the life that was taken away from her.
  • Rosy Dreams is another young Earth pony filly who had a rough life. Her father was emotionally abusive and controlling, and when Rosy's mother tried escaping, he arranged for her to be crippled in an accident, which led to his wife essentially committing suicide by diving deep into her own dreams. Then Rosy's father started molesting her to turn her into the obedient wife he wanted, even creating a dream world for his daughter so he could continue abusing her unawares. When Rosy's uncle, maid, and tutor found out, her father murdered them all to keep them from squealing. Rosy eventually became defiant enough to try escape herself, causing her father to create a nightmarish entity called 'The Chaser' to keep her imprisoned within her own mind. Fortunately, Rosy would be rescued from her father's clutches by Prince Bright Eyes and Prince Written Word, who both helped her kill the Chaser for good, but the abuse she endured was so horrible that she took a long time to recover from it even after she was adopted by Prince Bright Eyes.
  • Lucky Shot is an Earth Pony colt who dreamed of becoming a Buckball player, until one day Tribalists bombed the store he was shopping at, killing his parents and leaving him scarred. His grandparents, both unicorn nobles, took Lucky Shot away and had the Striga Family put his soul into the body of a unicorn colt. Now "Regal Pillar", Lucky Shot was abused by his grandparents, who tried molding him into the ideal Canterlot scion. A burglary led to the robbers kidnapping Lucky Shot out of pity, which later led the reveal that Lucky Shot's grandparents ordered the tribalist bombing — they wanted Lucky Shot's mother dead so they could bring their son, Lucky Shot's father, back into high society. Lucky Shot's grandparents were arrested for their crimes, yet he broke down because he couldn't be returned to his original body, or that his parents couldn't be revived. Thankfully, it would be Moon Ray Vaughoof who befriended Lucky Shot, and he comforted the colt in his last moments before Lucky Shot was exorcised from his host body, allowing him to reunite with his dead parents.