History TearJerker / CodexEquus

[[folder:General (lore, nations, etc.)]]
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[[folder:Bolezn, the Master of Pestilence]]

[[folder:Blue Suede Heartstrings, the King of Music]]
* Sola Mors' entry reveals that Blue had a fear of being exploited by others. As a mortal, his decision to dabble in acting led to him being forced by his record manager to make movies solely for profit, much like how Music/ElvisPresley was forced to act in movies for much of his career instead of making music like he wanted thanks to [[TheSvengali "Colonel" Tom Parker]]. Because of this, even though he's a god of Performance ([[IronicFear which gives him shapeshifting abilities]]), he refuses to get into acting again because it reminds him of what he went through pre-Ascension. He does eventually get over it because Sola Mors made him [[FaceYourFears face his fears]] by having him act in a musical, which led to Blue being received with thunderous applause because he used his own traumas and fears as a basis for his own performance, and Blue realizing that acting didn't feel so bad after all.
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[[folder:Celestia, the Sunraiser]]
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[[folder:Cloudy Brush, the Mournful Artist]]
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!!!D to G
[[folder:Gladstone, the Steadfast Builder]]
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!!!H to J
[[folder:High King Bogolenya, the Dual Sovereign]]
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[[folder:Phykti, the Baroness of Torment]]

[[folder:Pokhot, the Damsel of Desire]]
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[[folder:Prince Bright Eyes, the Angel of Hope]]
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[[folder:Prince Crimson Star, the Red Scholar]]
* The experiences Crimson Star goes through after being [[EyeScream blinded]] in a carriage accident can be considered a TraumaCongaLine. At first, he tried getting his eyesight back by summoning a demon so he could [[DealWithTheDevil make a deal with him]], only for [[PapaWolf Golden Scepter]] to intervene by swiftly killing the demon. Then he [[JerkassRealization realized that he is now on the same level as those he once deemed beneath him]], which left him so depressed that he tried to atone by turning himself into a scapegoat for everyone he had wronged, fully knowing that he'll die from everyone physically venting their grievances on him, and letting it happen because he wants to die. This leads to him being put near death by three of his brothers, Fanged Paw, Death Shroud, and Red Blade, though fortunately both [[BigBrotherInstinct Blazing Hoof]] and Golden Scepter intervened before things went too far. The despair Crimson Star feels throughout the whole thing shows that while he did some pretty bad things, even he didn't really deserve the bad circumstances that were thrown at him, or the violent retribution he would receive from his own brothers.
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[[folder:Prince Fanged Paw, the Savage Wolf]]
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[[folder:Prince Red Blade, the Master of Wrath]]

[[folder:Prince Steel Barricade, the Unbreakable Architect]]

[[folder:Prince Touha, the Prince of Lust]]
* Prince Touha's early life is heartwrenching. As a young fawn, he had a good relationship with his father, who taught him how to play the violin. But as Touha grew and his demi-divine heritage became apparent, causing his aging father to become wicked out of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]]. Touha refuses to believe that his father is now evil, until his mother, [[LoveGoddess Pokhot]], shows him evidence of the atrocities his father committed to make himself immortal. During a '[[SoiledCityOnAHill Calling the Terrors]]' event, Touha confronts and kills his demon-empowered father for his crimes, but the act traumatizes him so much that he sinks into [[IRejectYourReality full-blown denial]]. Isolating himself in his room, he [[RealityWarper creates illusionary fantasies]] where his father redeemed himself and still loves him. When Pokhot tries intervening out of concern, Touha violently resists, and the ensuing fight causes his equally concerned siblings to rush in and restrain him, leaving him helpless as Pokhot dispells his fantasies to snap him out of his denial.
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[[folder:Prince Vladimir Polaris Blueblood]]
* Blueblood's foalhood was ''terrible''. His parents were emotionally abusive, forcing him to live up to their standards of an ideal unicorn as a blood descendant of Princess Platinum, and forbade him from playing with other non-unicorn noble children, even trying making him develop [[FantasticRacism tribalism]] towards non-unicorns in general. And when he got his compass rose Cutie Mark, his parents quickly tried stifling his "foalish" dreams of being a navigator, seeing it as unbecoming for a Scion of House Platinum. This resulted in Blueblood feeling so miserable that Princess Celestia took notice of him during a day in her court, and a personal session of talking and cookies caused Blueblood to bawl in front of Celestia, having never experienced such parental love before. Then it turns to Awesome and Heartwarming when [[MamaBear Celestia]] quickly adopted Blueblood and declared House Platinum PersonaNonGrata in her court, making it clear that she will ''not'' tolerate foal abuse under her roof, and even had Blueblood's parents escorted out by her Day guards.
* Blueblood's reasons for his [[PrinceCharmless canon characterization]] in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E26TheBestNightEver The Best Night Ever]]" is this, too. He was once a very idealistic and compassionate stallion who wanted to help Equestria. But no matter what he did or how hard he tried, he would always be hindered and blocked by corrupt, reactionary, incompetent, and arrogant nobles who saw him as a threat to their status quo. Not only that, the few romantic relationships he got into ended ''horribly'' because the mares who dated him turned out to be gold-digging, ambitious socialites who only wanted his titles and wealth, only to dump him and leave him to clean up their messes when they found he wasn't exactly the stallion they wanted. The sheer heartbreak and frustration he would experience eventually influenced Blueblood into putting up [[HiddenHeartOfGold facades]] and pretend to act like Canterlot's genuinely useless nobles so he'll be able to get around them and pass his reforms without raising too much suspicion, and keep mares away from him [[NeverBeHurtAgain so they wouldn't break his heart again]]. Unfortunately, this came at the cost of Blueblood's subjects lumping him with the nobles he hated based on what they saw of him in public, and his attempts to turn Rarity away during the Grand Galloping Gala backfired because he assumed she was another gold-digging mare and didn't realize her affections were genuine until much later.
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[[folder:Prince Written Word, the Messenger of Faith]]
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[[folder:Prince Varázsló, the Sorcerer of Knowledge]]

[[folder:Queen Dazzleglow, the Shining Queen of Kerajaan Cahaya]]

[[folder:Queen Eclaira, the Voracious Shadow]]

[[folder:Queen Hylia, the Wise]]
* According to legend, Hylia fell in love with a mortal, Gleaming Shield, who originally became her knight, then evolved to being her lover. What turned them into StarCrossedLovers is when Gleaming Shield died at the hands of demons during a war with them, causing a grief-stricken Hylia to pray that they'll always find each other no matter what form they took before she died. It's also implied that when she was alive, Hylia was known as "The Wise", and falling in love with a mortal was seen by her fellow Alicorns as the one mistake she made in her lifetime.
** There's also the fact that Hylia's mortal reincarnation, the first Radiant Primrose, horribly misconstrued the Alicorn Queen's actions with the assumption that she was actually a ManipulativeBastard who used the original Gleaming Shield as her UnwittingPawn, and had both him and herself reincarnated as part of a complicated plot to defeat the demons. It was so bad that Radiant Primrose even saw herself as guilty [[SinsOfOurFathers for being Hylia's "descendant"]], making her childhood friend, the second Gleaming Shield, comfort and assure her that how she acted as a person is different than how Hylia acted.

[[folder:Scarlet Bell, the Whistleblower]]
* Mixed with NightmareFuel, Scarlet Bell's life had been pure horror since she was a filly.
** In her school days, she noticed that several classmates of hers kept disappearing one by one, and after no one did anything, she decided to go investigate herself. She made the horrific discovery that two of her teachers, Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker, were not only responsible for the disappearances, they did so because their goals of replicating the Ascension process and bringing a "[[DeityOfHumanOrigin new age]]" for Ponykind required experimenting on those with great potential and talent, which meant [[WouldHurtAChild their own students]]. Scarlet Bell ended up opposing the two ponies she trusted [[CowardlyLion despite her own fears of getting killed or crippled]], and when a misfired spell caused a great fire, she would narrowly succeed in getting herself and her missing classmates out, at the cost of horribly burning and scarring herself in the process. The public would laud her as a hero for her actions, but this made Scarlet Bell fear the possibility of Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker retaliating against her for her interference. As soon as she was able, she quietly moved from Pferdia to the Grittish Isles, where she lived in hiding and settled down to a simple life in Hornbridge, a mostly unicorn town.
*** It's also mentioned by her entry that because of her foalhood experiences, she was traumatized, frightened, and rather distrusting of adults, and suffered nightmares for a while. Furthermore, she wondered if adults ''can'' be trusted when sometimes all they do is exploit and betray those who trusted them. Fortunately, she would get better thanks to those who loved her.

[[folder:Queen Krásná Tradice, the Dutiful Queen]]

!!!S to V
[[folder:Silver Bane, the Dark Hunter]]

[[folder:Sola Mors, the Courageous Performer]]

[[folder:Star Flower, the Last Flutter Pony/Queen Star Flower Rosedust, the Mother of All Flutter Ponies]]
* After years of adventuring while stranded in deep space, Star Flower finally managed to return home to Equus. Having set out on a STL spacecraft, she was prepared for the possibility that she would come back to find everyone she love and care for long dead, which turned out to be correct (if a little exaggerated). However, the worst news she received was in her absence, during the intervening Ages, the Flutter Ponies Tribe had gone ''[[EverybodysDeadDave extinct]]''. Star Flower had returned home to find herself not just the last of her family or kingdom, but quite literally the '''''[[LastOfHisKind very last Flutter Pony left alive]]'''''. She did not take it well.
--> '''Doctor Stable:''' Miss Star Flower [[FreakOut screamed for a full ten minutes]] before we [[BizarreAlienBiology figured out]] the best way to [[InstantSedation sedate her]].
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[[folder:Temnobog, the Dark One]]
Temnobog shows that even "evil" people can be decent individuals, only becoming the villains they are through the people around them and circumstances beyond their control.
----
* Temnobog wasn't supposed to be born, because Irminsul wanted to get rid of his then-unborn son's inner evil by purifying him in the womb so he could become perfect and completely flawless. However, this effectively killed Irminsul's son and the evil would end up forming another baby in the womb, causing Temnobog's mother, High Queen Arvan, to give birth to identical divine twins, one bright and pure, the other dark and tainted. Temnobog being born the living embodiment of Evil and Suffering disgusted the Elternteil deities, who grew so complacent and arrogant from their successes and their worshipers' praise that they saw fit to emotionally abuse him for existing, fearing that his mere presence would taint the pantheon, when Temnobog didn't even do anything to truly warrant it. Meanwhile, his radiant brother, Belyolen, received the love and praise Temnobog craved just for being born radiant and pure. Understandably, Temnobog eventually snapped from the mistreatment and targeted his compassionate twin out of hatred and resentment, sabotaging every good deed Belyolen had done for Deerkind by raining curses and suffering on his brother's worshipers.
** Even worse? Temnobog ''assumed'' that Belyolen was a BigBrotherBully who didn't care about him, which was why he initially hated him so much. The truth was that Belyolen loved him for ''who he was'', and had tried multiple times to reach out to him and protect him, but [[PoorCommunicationKills he would always be blocked by their abusive family]] out of fear that Temnobog would "corrupt" him. The only thing Belyolen hated was Temnobog's wicked actions. In fact, when Belyolen overheard his parents and some of his siblings considering [[OffingTheOffspring killing Temnobog]], he was so upset that he proceeded to [[CallingTheOldManOut call out the entire family]] for their petty, abusive hypocrisy, shaming them by explaining that by claiming to benevolent and then turning around and abusing Temnobog for being born, they became no different than the very evils they opposed. Temnobog was unaware of this because once again, his family prevented him from going near Belyolen.
** Even after reconciling with Belyolen and becoming his equal in leadership, Temnobog still had unresolved issues due to his miserable childhood and the toxic environment he grew up in, to the point where Amour-De-Soi, the Alicorn goddess of Self-Love, was allowed to stay in the Bogolenya pantheon and essentially had to serve as Temnobog's therapist for eons, trying to encourage him to feel better about himself and ignore what people say or think about him. Innate evilness aside, this shows that Temnobog was mostly at heart a person who suffered from a severe inferiority complex because of his messed-up childhood. No one deserved that, even for a being that is MadeOfEvil.
---> '''Temnobog:''' ''(to Mentálne)'' ...[Irminsul] treated me like garbage. Like my brother's 'cast-off'. And I have done nothing to deserved it. Even if I did - even if I do REVEL in them - it is only what he made ME to be. What I will do when I ever get my hooves on that senile old stag; even a thousand deaths a day for the rest of eternity will still be too good...
* While humorous, his mistaking identical twins for being [[TheDividual the living bifurcated parts of the original person they're supposed to be]] is also sad when you consider how he and Belyolen were created. Understandably, Blue Suede Heartstrings and Bossa Nova Heartstrings were horrified and disgusted when they learned the truth, while Princes Star Cut and Alpine Butterfly agree that Temnobog's father, High King Irminsul, is a complete jerk.
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[[folder:Urtica, the Young Historian]]
* Urtica from the IDW comics is given a backstory, but it's [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade kinda sad]]. Since grubhood, she idolized Princess Twilight/Amicitia for being a heroine despite her bookish personality, and was an avid reader who loved history. However, because Changelingkind is generally [[MysteriousPast secretive about their past]], this made her an 'oddball' among her people, and this (along with her shyness and [[SpeechImpediment chronic stutter]]) got her bullied by other Changeling children in Hive Thorax. She did receive support from her parents and [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Thorax]], but she still became a ShrinkingViolet because of her bullying.
** When Urtica attends the 'Convocation of the Creatures' event, she's so uncomfortable with socializing that she retreats to the Hall of Unity's libraries, where she meets other historians and like-minded individuals of similar professions, such as Glenda, Blacktip, and Professor Horwitz. It shows that her grubhood bullying still had a lingering effect on her.
** Urtica meeting with Princess Twilight/Amicitia also has sad undertones. While it's heartwarming due to Urtica's [[{{Squee}} sheer excitement]] over meeting her idol, Twilight encourages her to participate in the 'Convocation of the Creatures' event because she sensed that Urtica's reluctance to socialize were traits that she herself had before Celestia sent her to Ponyville. It's likely that Twilight saw in Urtica what Celestia saw in her - the potential to become a reclusive shut-in who frittered away her life on books while avoiding everyone around her.
* Urtica's first meeting with Blacktip, a young Dragon scribe ([[YoungerThanTheyLook by Dragon standards]]), has her assume that he would hate her because he's a Dragon and they're supposed to [[FantasticRacism hate Changelings]]... until Blacktip [[WhatYouAreInTheDark corrects her and expresses disgust for the racism he grew up with]]. It's really saddening to see how their respective peoples not only encouraged such toxic believes, they made it an unofficial requirement due to some ancient crime that happened between them years before either Urtica or Blacktip were born.
--> '''Urtica:''' ...You-You don't hate me? But... I thought... I read that-that all Dragons-\\
'''Blacktip:''' Correction: Not ALL Dragons. I came here with a Dragon envoy led by Ember, and trust me, if I hated the Changelings, I wouldn't have come. Besides, for some-Dragon like me, all that 'Dragons are better' rhetoric I keep hearing at home gets tiring REALLY fast.
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!!!W to Z
[[folder:Yarost, the Prince of Murder]]
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!!Events
[[folder:The Revenge of Apertus]]
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[[folder:Dr. Toxikon Crisis]]
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[[folder:The Storm King Crisis]]
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[[folder:The Dark Crystal Conflict]]

* Queen Dark Crystal kills the Tales Seven and reveals that fact to the world, resulting in scenes of their loved ones breaking down at the realization of it, and that [[TheBadGuyWins with them gone the Grand Matron is about to destroy the world]]. While the Tales Seven manages to bring themselves BackFromTheDead, it was certainly the DarkestHour.

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[[folder:Angel Vale Time Loop]]

* The [[BadFuture original timeline]] in a nutshell: Shining Dove makes friends with the rest of his group...[[TraumaCongaLine then has to witness them die one by one in gruesome fashion]], except Sakit, who he never even finds out the fate of. With each death, he becomes more and more warn down until he starts sobbing after Edel's death. Even after killing Razorbill, he just breaks down crying. Thankfully, Ourophion offers him the chance to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, but it's no wonder he took it.

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[[folder:Angel Vale Retcons]]

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[[folder:The Darkest Hour Crisis]]

* The complete sense of despair coming at the end of the first [[CurbstompBattle 'fight' with the Darkness]]: the Skylanders are left in shock, stripped of their powers, having failed to save the Core of Light or meaningfully harm the Darkness, and only able to watch it spread over Skylands. The worst part is when the Core is destroyed, Guiding Light begins to scream and writhe in agony before going into a coma while her best friend Nightfall begs her not to leave him.

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!!Stories
[[folder: Codex Quest(s)]]

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Due to being a more [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome realistic kind of world]] compared to canon, ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'' can sometimes get into tragic places.

* Their PerpetualPoverty. Unlike the [[Manga/TheKurosagiCorpseDeliveryService source material]], which mostly plays it for hilarity, here the SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome aspect of the trope is played very seriously. Being in a floundering corpse-related business, combined with their constantly poor financial situation in general, has forced the team to take up various odd jobs just to get by, even with the help of friends. Naturally, this led to them developing an opportunistic greed that motivates them to do ''anything'' to earn some cash, including accepting yen as gifts from their followers post-Ascension... but it also [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome gets them in trouble with some of the Shinseina deities, who are appalled and disapproving of their behavior]].

** Winter was also so beautiful that other fillies, jealous and resentful for her looks, spread vicious rumors about her being a '[[HornyDevils Succubus]]' who seduced both colts and stallions alike. It got to the point where she [[IJustWantToBeNormal wished she was ugly for a time]] so the bullying could stop. [[https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/857186861/4878935018 Queen Eclaira]], a VainSorceress who was bullied for being mediocre-looking by even her own family, was ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards horrified]]'' when she heard of this.

** It's revealed in Queen Krásná Tradice's entry that Sunny Mane once caught a then-young Moon Ray drinking from one of his bottles, and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat him black and blue]] for it. Moon Ray was taken to the hospital and healed, but the incident left a [[ScarsAreForever permanent scar]] on the left side of his head that has since grown over, but is now [[ClothingConcealedInjury covered]] by his [[NiceHat black gaucho hat]]. Three Ages later, when Moon Ray shows it to Krásná, she is understandably horrified and saddened. What cinches it is Moon Ray's answer to Krásná's question:

* Belyolen's life had been pure AdultFear even before he was born. He was the unexpected result of High King Irminsul's attempt to purge his then-unborn son's inner evil so he would become a pure and benevolent god, only for it to backfire when his wife, Arvan, gave birth to divine twins instead - one radiant and pure, and the other dark and tainted. From childhood, Belyolen was praised and loved by his family and peers for what he embodied, but he also had to watch those same people emotionally abuse his brother, Temnobog, for being born "evil" despite not having done anything to warrant it. Every time Belyolen tried reaching out to his dark brother and/or protecting him, he would always be blocked by his family, who feared that Temnobog's presence would corrupt him. This caused the utterly miserable fawn to believe that [[BigBrotherBully even Belyolen hated him]], and began attacking and sabotaging him out of spite. Even worse, it's noted that his family was ''delighted'' to see Belyolen attacking his brother and even encouraged it, since they assumed the radiant stag was finally seeing Temnobog as a dark abomination that must be opposed for the good of Deerkind.

* Mixed with NightmareFuel, Scarlet Bell's life had been pure AdultFear since she was a filly.