Tear Jerker / Codex Equus

Due to being a more realistic kind of world compared to canon, Codex Equus can sometimes get into tragic places.

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Characters

A to C

Ardent Cadenza/Leastweasel

• Life has not been kind to Ardent. Between being slowly corrupted by a plague she healed ponies from, learning that she can't become an Alicorn like she wanted because she isn't "pure" enough, to accidentally beating her own husband to death in a fit of rage (and hallucinating him as Starswirl) to spending what felt like an eternity in a dungeon with mocking hallucinations of the Alicorn sisters for company, one would think she would get a break when the Storm King's forces discovered her. Nope, her healing abilities have been corrupted to bestow the plague on those she tried to heal and she found out that it was her destiny to be destroyed by the Elements of Harmony in order to wipe out the plague for good. Is it any wonder why she snapped and became the vengeful demon that wishes to plunge Equus into darkness.

Belyolen, the Radiant One

Despite being a pure, compassionate, and radiant stag, his life wasn't as easy as people would think...

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• Belyolen's entire life. 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 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.
  • The kicker that caused him to leave the Elternteil pantheon was overhearing his parents (and some of his siblings) arguing over if they should kill Temnobog or not. This made Belyolen so upset that, after receiving encouragement from the Alicorn goddess of Self-Love, Amour-De-Soi, he confronted his family during a meeting over what to do with Deerkind's future and called out everyone for their abusive hypocrisy, stating that they claimed to be benevolent yet they became no different than the evils they opposed by abusing Temnobog. What made more heartbreaking that Belyolen genuinely believed that even he was at fault for Temnobog's misery, going far as to shame himself for his supposed inaction (even though his family was responsible) and letting everyone influence his opinion on what is Good and Evil. His speech made his brothers and sisters regret their actions against Temnobog, and in the end they sided with Belyolen over their parents.
  • And even after all that, Temnobog still hated his brother and decided to go as far to try usurping Belyolen as leader of the newly-formed Bogolenya pantheon, because his family took great lengths to make him believe that he was unwanted. It took lots of terrible battles between each other, as well as a crisis that was threatening the entire Bogolenya pantheon, to make them learn that they were actually two halves of a whole and divine equals, because they were taught all their lives that what they embodied made them "superior/inferior" to each other. After that, Belyolen confessed everything to Temnobog and broke down crying in front of him, revealing years of stress, guilt, and trauma.
  • And despite successfully creating a healthy environment for everyone in the Bogolenya pantheon, including the non-Deer members and the hybrid children that sprung up from interracial romances, Belyolen worried that the Elternteil pantheon might drop a visit and ostracize them for both intermingling with divine Deer and merely existing. Even though he still loved his parents to some degree, he had to make it clear to his parents that their harmful attitudes are not welcome around the Bogolenya pantheon, and as long as they continued being hypocritical and treating Temnobog like garbage, they would be not allowed to visit their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

The Black Heron Corpse Investigation Team (BHCIT)

• Their Perpetual Poverty. Unlike the source material, which mostly plays it for hilarity, here the unsavory 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 gets them in trouble with some of the Shinseina deities, who are appalled and disapproving of their behavior.
  • A private conversation between Guiding Light and Empress Izanami-no-kami reveals that the BHCIT team was so blinded by their desire to earn money and get themselves out of poverty, that they didn't realize how divine realms worked in general, including the fact that a divine occupant can use Primordial Quintessence to create and shape their own home free of charge. Izanami points out that their greed is making them act foolish and if they don't watch themselves, they could end up leaving their mortal followers destitute and homeless, which she confirms with two simple questions. The first one (about losing his first apartment because he failed to pay rent) catches Guiding Light rather off-guard. But it is the second question (about assuming that the Shinseina deities were landlords who charged rent fees for anyone living in their divine realm) that momentarily causes him to break from his usual Brutal Honesty by shouting "NO!", before quickly backpedaling to say "yes".

Blacktip, the Seeker of Knowledge

• Blacktip spent much of his life trying to find out the truth behind the 'Burning of Amorea' and Dragonkind's role in it. He finally gets his wish after he becomes Prince Arcaniss' student, but was left completely devastated when he learns the Awful Truth: Dragonkind desolated and plundered a whole land and its civilizations out of nothing more than greed and cruelty, then twisted records of the event to make themselves look heroic. Blacktip was left for a time thinking that the Changelings were completely justified in their Fantastic Racism against Dragons after enduring their near-extinction because of the Burning and becoming a secretive and survival-obsessed race.
  Blacktip: Savages... we're nothing but savages...
• Then there's Blacktip's past - he's a very intelligent Dragon who is genuinely interested and passionate about learning, but that earned him nothing but scorn and bullying from reactionary Dragons who see him as 'fake', and disappointment from his parents for not following the ways of their people. In order to find acceptance among his people, he pretended to be haughty, domineering, and greedy just like them, but that only made him deeply miserable because that meant being unable to indulge in his intellectual pursuits.
  • What makes this even sadder is the fact that one of the gods Dragonkind reveres is Dragon King Bahamut, who embodies wisdom and encourages it among his people. The only thing that's stopping Dragonkind from becoming a truly enlightened race is the influence of Bahamut's wife, Dragon Queen Tiamat, who imparted bigoted and toxic lessons onto her divine/mortal children and turned them into a race of plundering brutes who only care about power and wealth. Blacktip never learns this, assuming Bahamut was in cahoots with Tiamat and the more arrogant, domineering, greedy, and reactionary mortal/divine Dragons, until he has a talk face-to-face with the Dragon King himself.
    Blacktip: Why are you telling me this, old lizard? I thought you wanted me to be strong like every-Dragon else!
    Dragon King Bahamut: ...No. I embody wisdom, and I encourage it. And yet... I have seen and experienced the consequences of ignorance, young drake, just as you have. If I can show at least one of my children that there is more to life than just strength, riches, and power, then the world at large will become a better place for it.
  • There's also how Blacktip behaved during the 'Convocation of Creatures' event. While he went there on Bahamut's encouragement, he believed that the people attending it will hate him by virtue of being a Dragon, so he retreated to the Hall of Unity's libraries, where he met other historians and like-minded individuals and proceeded to rub them off the wrong way with his prideful demeanor at first. It's not until he meets Princess Twilight/Amicitia that he participates in the Convocation, having been encouraged to show off his good sides and assured that not everyone sees Dragons as greedy, proud brutes.
• When Blacktip meets Urtica, a young New Changeling historian, at the Hall of Unity, she automatically expects him to hate her because he's a Dragon while she's a Changeling based on what she read. Blacktip quickly proceeds to correct her, showing his true colors.
  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.

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 Elvis Presley was forced to act in movies for much of his career instead of making music like he wanted thanks to "Colonel" Tom Parker. Because of this, even though he's a god of Performance (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 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.

Bossa Nova Heartstrings, the Laughing Musician

• A canonized Codexverse quote reveals that after Blue Suede Heartstrings finally confessed his lingering trauma over being exploited and mistreated by "Colonel" Hollow Note, Bossa Nova took it hard as he realized he had been ignorant of his twin brother's suffering for years, both due to knowing little of the consequences of emotional abuse and Blue hiding his pain extremely well despite their empathic twin bond. To make up for this, Bossa Nova apologized to Blue for not helping him in his time of need, and promised his brother that he'll try help him more from now on.
  Bossa Nova Heartstrings: (to Blue Suede Heartstrings) You've been hurting all this time... I thought it was 'cause of me or something else... or maybe I was just imagining things. I just didn't realize that it was my 'brother's instinct' telling me that something was seriously wrong! I'm really sorry for not helping you when you needed it, Blue. I thought things would be fine once that abusive bastard died and was dragged away to Tartarus in chains by Uncle. I didn't know things like that can still hurt... From now on, I'm going to help you as best as I can. If you need somebody to lean on or talk to, don't hesitate to come to me, okay?

Crystal Prism, the Butterfly of Rebirth

• Crystal Prism was once a unicorn colt named "Page Wheel", who worked as a newspaper delivery boy in his hometown. Yet deep down, he wanted to become a stallion so he could care for his gravely ill mother. When he teased his neighbor, Midnight Bell, for being clumsy, he inadvertently set off his Trauma Conga Line - after Midnight lied about him and his magical capability, he was kidnapped and experimented on by two wanted criminals in an attempt to turn him into an Alicorn, yet he ended up devolving into a dangerous magic-eating monster that went on a rampage across the Grittish Isles. Then he was killed by Luminiferous and the Equestrian Princesses in order to stop him from attacking anyone else, despite being only a child (though to be fair, they didn't know who or what the monster was until it was too late). Luckily, Page Wheel survived when the leftover magic revived/Ascended him in a cocoon, but when he finally came out of it several days later, he was dazed, confused, and terrified. His trauma was so bad that it took lots of therapy sessions with Mentálne just to recover from the worst parts of his PTSD.
  • To make it worse, it's revealed that the unicorn trio Decepticolt, Zappityhoof, and Goldencap, played a direct role in Crystal Prism's monstrous transformation and Ascension, helping Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker in their well-meaning yet cruel attempts to mass-produce Alicorns. Instead of being rightly horrified and sympathetic to what had been done to him, the unicorn trio resented Crystal for becoming an Alicorn, even having the gall to accuse him of being an entitled person who wanted to keep the secrets of becoming an Alicorn to himself. Small wonder Crystal went into a "terrifying rage" after his Trauma Button was pushed...
  • It's later revealed that the two criminals who experimented on him, Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker, experimented on him because they wanted to create an Alicorn that embodied Rebirth and Change so they could serve as a symbol for a "new age" for Ponykind. And even after they were exposed, arrested, and punished for their crimes, Crystal Prism bitterly notes that they still got what they wanted in the end. And since he managed to Ascend, he has an obligation to fulfill the destiny they imposed on him, as his old life as Page Wheel is irrevocably ruined. Fortunately, Golden Scepter would assure him that it doesn't have to be.
    Crystal Prism: Well, I guess she still got what she wanted, in the end... I Ascended and became the Alicorn of Rebirth and Change, heralding a 'new age' and all that. I suppose it's my only destiny now... right?
    Emperor Golden Scepter: No... no, my little pony. It is not the only destiny you have... far from it, actually.
    Crystal Prism: What makes you say that, Emperor?
    Emperor Golden Scepter: I have the power to see the future of every pony on this planet. And yet, an old friend of mine taught me that 'nothing is truly set in stone'. Every person, divine and mortal, has the power to change and determine their fate, including you.
    Crystal Prism: But... how can I do that if... if...?
    Emperor Golden Scepter: You embody Change, do you not?"
    Crystal Prism: Er... yes?
    Emperor Golden Scepter: Then you have your answer. What that old mare and her crony did to you was wrong. However, you have more roads open to you now. What you will do with your life and your new divinity from this point on, is entirely up to you.
  • A canonized Codexverse drabble reveals that Crystal Prism also suffered from self-esteem issues, believing that since he's an Alicorn now, his parents wouldn't recognize or love him as their son anymore. After confiding in his mother, Ink Wheel, he learns that not only did his parents try so hard to have a foal many times in the past, they also had to deal with social stigma from their neighbors for their failure to have children, until Page Wheel was born. Then Ink Wheel fell sick, which she blamed herself for, and prayed every day for a cure so she would see her son grow up. Her prayers were finally answered when Page Wheel came home as Crystal Prism and healed her with his "cocoon-healing" ability, curing her sickness for good. As a result, his parents see him as a divine miracle, even though he doesn't look the same anymore.
    Ink Wheel: In our eyes, you were our miracle baby, in more ways than one.

D to J

Golden Scepter, the Radiant Emperor

Being based on the the Emperor of Mankind gave Golden Scepter a backstory that explained certain personality traits that the Emperor himself displayed... and most of it isn't pretty.

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• Before Known History, during a time when the Alicorns reigned supreme, Golden Scepter was a very beloved ruler and judge of his own empire, and his empire was regarded as one of the most advanced and successful empires even by the Alicorns' standards. Then Morning Star Fell and betrayed his people, kickstarting the "Twilight of the Alicorns" conflict. The wars took ten Ages before Morning Star was finally killed by his own "son", Luminiferous, but it was implied that it was so brutal that it left Equus devastated, with Golden Scepter, one of the survivors who personally fought Morning Star and rescued the innocent from his faction, having lost many loved ones, friends, and neighbors to the violence and depravity.
  • Golden Scepter would eventually found the Imperium of Ponykind, but his experiences gave him massive PTSD and other unresolved issues - notably, he was so traumatized by what Morning Star had done to his people that he would have nightmares and hallucinate images of his Arch-Enemy, even though Morning Star was long dead by this point. He became extremely protective of Ponykind in general and kickstarted military campaigns that were little more than xenophobic genocides, and even then he wasn't above manipulating his own allies, subordinates, and pony subjects because being the only god among mortals had left him feeling rather isolated, which slowly created a distrust that caused him to believe that only he knew better for his people. His entry also notes that he still wanted to raise his mortal subjects to greatness... but he only cared about the potential for greatness his subjects had as a collective force and didn't give a damn about them individually, implying that his trauma was so great that he even stopped caring for the people he once loved and protected. Essentially, he behaved similarly to the Emperor of Mankind because a long life of death and destruction had left him a severely Shell-Shocked Veteran, whose untreated traumas and flaws would ultimately led to the downfall of his Imperium, starting with the "Aurum Apostasy" when one of his generals led a coup against what he believed was a divine tyrant. Golden Scepter would kill Aurum, but not before sustaining grave wounds that required him to be put in magical stasis. Except everyone gradually forgot about him, as without its leader, the Imperium would become a Wretched Hive that would use Golden Scepter as justification for their heinous actions and as an excuse to commit atrocities in his name, which warranted its destruction at the hands of more benevolent forces of that Age.
  • Then after he was unearthed, revived, and healed by Luminiferous and Dazzleglow in the Second Age, Golden Scepter was severely frightened, hostile, and distrustful of everything and everyone, especially Luminiferous, who looked exactly like Morning Star, his old enemy. However, once he was taken to the ruins of his Imperium, he remembered the last thing that happened before he was put in stasis and fell into despair, realizing that he became not so different Morning Star, or his people who let their successes influence them into becoming arrogant and complacent. Fortunately, Luminiferous would motivate him to redeem himself, which he successfully does by the time the Fourth Age began.
• Golden Scepter's entry includes a conversation with Temnobog that took place during the former's temporary stay in the Bogolenya Deer pantheon. In it, Golden Scepter reveals that he knew the Alicorns were slowly becoming stagnant and complacent from their victories and achievements, but no matter how hard he tried to fight it, even he was ignorant of just how far the corruption went until Morning Star's Fall and betrayal happened. The heartbreaking part about it is his admission that the fall of the Alicorn Civilization, no matter how much trauma it inflicted upon him, turned out to be the best thing that ever 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.
• While Golden Scepter grossing out his sons with his stories of the Alicorn Civilization's Free-Love Future and his own sex life was hilarious, Written Word's Codex entry would throw in a Cerebus Retcon - Golden Scepter saw later how he badly he affected his sons with the information when a traumatized Written Word privately approached him, and apologized for it. Then he would confirm to Written Word that he really did sleep with both mares and stallions in the past, but despite his attempts to keep himself "honest" and give all of his romantic partners the love and respect they deserved, he couldn't stop himself from participating in the Alicorns' increasing hedonism and other depravities. He deeply regrets this even to this day, and it's implied that what he saw and did ultimately influenced him to settle down with only a mortal pegasus mare, Blessed Skies, and stayed faithful to his wife long after her death.
  Emperor Golden Scepter: (to his son, Written Word) Sometimes I would think about what happened, and I would wonder where we had all gone wrong.

K to N

Lady Cinder I, the Obsidian Queen

• One story has Fluttershy wander off from a diplomatic meeting, following a weird sensation. She finds Cinder I off by herself...crying her eyes out. As it turns out, today was the anniversary of the day Stormswirl corrupted a large number of her children and forced Aeon to banish them to another realm. By the end of recounting this to Fluttershy, she's broken down crying to the point she can't speak.

Midnight Bell

• Midnight Bell is the bastard Earth Pony daughter of a noble unicorn mare and a "common" stallion, secretly shipped off to the Grittish Isles by her mother, Diamond Bell, to protect her from being abused by her pro-unicorn tribalist relatives. But while her great-aunt Scarlet Bell loved her like a daughter, being an Earth pony in a mostly unicorn town created an inferiority complex that led to Midnight overcompensating for it by helping her neighbors, to no avail. Page Wheel laughing at her for being clumsy motivated Midnight to wish upon a shooting star to become a unicorn, even for a day, and her subsequent attempts to use unicorn magic led to her town suffering extensive damage. When she was sent to a magic school to receive proper training, she was hailed as a prodigy, causing Midnight to lie to keep up appearances until she broke and admitted the truth. This caused people to contemptuously refer to Midnight as an "imposter unicorn", and when Midnight lied about Page Wheel being the real prodigy to save her own skin, two disgraced teachers, Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker, kidnapped the colt for their experiments, but ended up turning him into a monster. Then Midnight had to distract her monstrous neighbor so he could be stopped, despite knowing she'll be killed in her attempt, but didn't know that Luminiferous and the Equestrian Princesses arrived to fight Page Wheel with the intent to kill him. Midnight was so traumatized that she blamed herself for everything, including ruining Page Wheel's life.

Moon Ray Vaughoof, the King of Blues/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya, the Sovereign of Cycles

• Much like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Moon Ray Vaughoof grew up with an abusive father. A bad-tempered, alcoholic, Shell-Shocked Veteran from the Second Great War, Sunny Mane Vaughoof frequently terrorized Moon Ray and his older brother, Sunny Field Vaughoof, as colts. This caused Moon Ray to become terrified and quick to hide whenever his father started getting violent or even raised his voice. Moon Ray's mother, Pepper Cook tried her best to protect her sons and called the police whenever Sunny Mane went too far, causing Moon Ray and Sunny Field to hear police sirens almost weekly. Despite growing up fearing his father, Moon Ray nonetheless picked up the same alcoholism that afflicted Sunny Mane, drinking as early as six years old.
  • 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 beat him black and blue for it. Moon Ray was taken to the hospital and healed, but the incident left a permanent scar on the left side of his head that has since grown over, but is now covered by his 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:
    Queen Krásná Tradice: Did it- did it stop hurting? Your head wound?
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Yeah. Doctors patched me up real good. But rememberin' how it got there? (shakes his head) ...No, it never does.

O to R

Prince Crimson Star, the Red Scholar

• The experiences Crimson Star goes through after being blinded in a carriage accident can be considered a Trauma Conga Line. At first, he tried getting his eyesight back by summoning a demon so he could make a deal with him, only for Golden Scepter to intervene by swiftly killing the demon. Then he 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 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.

Prince Healing Song, the Divine Teacher

• Unlike War Rock, Healing Song's reasons for developing a Mortality Phobia are much more understandable - he feared dying because he wouldn't be able to do the things he planned to do, and worried about how people would see him after death. He also feared dying because he didn't want to cause his family and friends so much pain. Thankfully, Healing Song received help from his friends in overcoming his fears, especially Bossa Nova, but nonetheless his fears can hit home for those who fear dying for the same reasons.
  • His Ascension to godhood is kinda sad, too. While being immortal means he can do everything he wanted to do now, it came at the cost of watching everyone he loved die off one by one. This also means that he's the Sole Survivor of all the bands he founded, including the Healing String Groove Band, which hits especially hard since he's close friends with his bandmates like Steel String and Tempo Groove. It doesn't help that the "Void Aeon" event happened at the end of the Second Age, destroying everything he grew up with and associated with it. You can't blame him for wanting to mourn after that.
• In the Fourth Age, Healing Song would constantly face harassment from older and/or traditionalist deities, who tried pressuring him into ditching his favorite bomber jacket in favor of wearing Alicorn barding like a "proper deity". At one point, he almost left the Church of the Stars because the pressure became too much for him to bear, only for him to be talked out of it by Golden Scepter and Arcaniss. While he does have friends in the Church who don't care about what he's wearing and are willing to defend him from these deities, it's sad to see Healing Song being harassed and pressured just for wearing something that's seen as not befitting for a deity.
• Upon learning that he inspired Professor Bubbling Beaker to experiment on foals just by Ascending on his deathbed, Healing Song took it rather hard, blaming himself for the tragedies and even telling Blue Suede Heartstrings that he wished he died from cancer instead of Ascending. What he remembers as the happiest day of his life would be used years later as an incentive by someone to do horrible things in a bid to unlock the secrets of godhood. While Healing Song eventually recovered thanks to his friends, you can't blame him for reacting the way he did.
  Prince Healing Song: This is my fault, Blue! All my fault! I should've died instead!
  Blue Suede Heartstrings: Healey, that's fool's talk! Ya had nothin' t' do with that mad-stallion an' ya know it!
  Prince Healing Song: But it's true! If I hadn't become an Alicorn in the hospital that day, I wouldn't have inspired that Professor! Now all those young Ponies are crippled or worse because of me!
• At one point, Healing Song lost his good friend, Moon Ray Vaughoof (who's based on legendary blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughan), in a helicopter accident that was caused by bad weather and low visibility. Moon Ray's death understandably devastated Healing Song, so when he reunited with his old friend in the Fourth Age, Healing Song was so overwhelmed that he "cried like a foal" in Moon Ray's forelegs. It gets even sadder once Healing Song reveals that he still remembered where and how Moon Ray died after tens of thousands of years, implying that while he accepted his own mortality, Moon Ray's death still had a profound effect on him.
  Prince Healing Song: ...Moony? That you?
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Yes, Healey, it's me.
  Prince Healing Song: B-By Mag'ne... you died, Moony! You DIED!
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: I know.
  Prince Healing Song: I still remember where you crashed! We walked there one night and the next day, I heard...! You...! YOU...!
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: C'mere, kid.
  • Even worse, Moon Ray's entry reveals that he didn't visit Healing Song after his own death until the Fourth Age because he didn't want to make his friend believe he came Back from the Dead, only to have his hopes crushed later on. Thus, Healing Song freaks out when he finally reunites with his old friend, though things get better once he learns why Moon Ray never visited, allowing them to reconcile.

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 jealousy. Touha refuses to believe that his father is now evil, until his mother, Pokhot, shows him evidence of the atrocities his father committed to make himself immortal. During a '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 full-blown denial. Isolating himself in his room, he 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.

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 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 Celestia quickly adopted Blueblood and declared House Platinum Persona Non Grata 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 canon characterization in "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 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 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.

Princess Winter Opera, the Defiant Symphony

• Winter's Dark and Troubled Past is just sad: She is one of many illegitimate daughters of War Rock, who sired hundreds of foals from the height of his career up until the end of his life. However, Winter was unaware of this until she became a teenager, where her great beauty and interest/talent in Heavy Metal created an uncomfortable reminder of her father in the eyes of many Ponylanders, who suffered both directly and indirectly thanks to War Rock's actions. For the crime of being War Rock's daughter, Winter was shunned and bullied by both foals and adults alike, with even some puristic superheroes expecting her to follow in her villainous father's hoofsteps. When avoiding music didn't stop the bullying, an increasingly angry Winter turned to dark magic to make her tormentors' lives hell, which only served to validate her tormentors' beliefs about her. When she decided to take a DNA test following an argument with her loving adoptive parents, she discovered that War Rock really is her father. Bitter over being 'damned' the moment she was born, Winter ran away from home to make sense of her life... which led to her meeting Luminiferous.
  • Winter's first meeting with Luminiferous is sad, too. At first, Winter assumes that Luminiferous' sympathies are shallow and yells at him for claiming to understand her when he actually doesn't. Then Luminiferous reveals that he does understand her - like Winter, he was born to a villain who killed many people out of extreme arrogance and whose actions caused him to be ostracized and abused just for looking like his father. Winter realizes the hypocrisy of her assumptions and breaks down tearfully apologizing out of guilt, but Luminiferous forgives her by hugging her.
    "How do YOU know?!" Winter Opera yelled bitterly at the Neighponese unicorn, as they both stood over War Rock's 'grave', a simple, easily forgettable plaque on the ground with no body underneath. All around them, the rain poured, soaking both ponies to the bone. "You weren't born to some flankhole who killed Ponies and turned himself into a vampire so he could be worshiped forever!"
    
    What came next surprised her.
    
    "...You’re right," the Neighponese unicorn admitted. "My father didn't turn himself into a vampire for power... but he was still a flankhole who killed a lot of Ponies, all so he could become the 'ultimate lifeform' and be worshiped forever by mortal sapientkind. And he created multiple children as part of his selfish goals, including me."
    
    He surrounded himself in a cocoon of light, forcing Winter Opera to shield her eyes. When she looked again, she gasped - standing in front of her now was a tall Fallen Alicorn with radiant golden fur, a fiery red mane and tail, draconic eyes, and a curved, misshapen horn. His wings were large and completely leathery, like a bat's. Despite the rain, his mane and tail continued to flare as if in defiance of the bad weather. His Cutie Mark, though hard to see, depicted a single drop of blood breaking through what looked like a strand.
    
    "My name is Luminiferous, and I am known as 'The Devil's Child'," Luminiferous introduced himself, sorrow shining in his eyes. "For several millennia, I had to deal with creatures shunning me and opposing me simply for looking like my father, Morning Star, who you know in this Age as 'The Devil'. I try not to let it get to me, but sometimes, when I'm alone, I feel the hurt that comes with being judged based on appearances."
    
    Winter Opera now looked horrified. In front of her was someone who understood her pain, and she judged him like those Ponies did her, thinking he was ignorant to her suffering. With shaking legs, she finally let her emotions flow, sobbing as she blubbered apologies to Luminiferous for assuming wrongly of him.
    
    Luminiferous forgave Winter by approaching her and hugging her with his wings, as they both stood together in the rain.
  • Before meeting Luminiferous, Winter finds War Rock's 'grave' at one point. According to her, she proceeded to curse her father's name with "every single word in the book" she could remember.
  • Even Blue Suede Heartstrings' own fans hated Winter for being War Rock's daughter, to the point of either joining in persecuting her or stood by and condoned Winter's mistreatment. Being the Nice Guy he is, Blue Suede was enraged by this and vowed to protect Winter from anyone who tries to harm her.
    Pony fan 1: What are you doing with that Devil's Spawn, Blue?!
    Blue Suede Heartstrings: Keepin' 'er away from you!
    Pony fan 2: But-! She's nothing but evil! That witch will become just like her father and corrupt innocent Ponies if we don’t do something!
    Blue Suede Heartstrings: Well, yer all just a bunch a' yellow-bellied hound dogs cryin' over some filly who did ya no wrong! Ah don't like War Rock either, but that don’t mean y'all have the right to judge his kids, too! Ya don't like what Ah’m doin'?! Then get outta here! Get out! Yer no friends of mine!
  • Winter was also so beautiful that other fillies, jealous and resentful for her looks, spread vicious rumors about her being a 'Succubus' who seduced both colts and stallions alike. It got to the point where she wished she was ugly for a time so the bullying could stop. Queen Eclaira, a Vain Sorceress who was bullied for being mediocre-looking by even her own family, was horrified when she heard of this.
• Thanks to the support of her mentors Luminiferous and Blue Suede Heartstrings, Winter finally became a beloved and famous musician who revolutionized the then-niche Symphonic Metal genre. Unfortunately, some still hated her enough that a group of detractors pulled an extremely cruel prank on her by dumping a bucket of blood on her mid-concert, drenching her with the 'blood' of War Rock's victims. Naturally, both Winter's mentors and friends were furious... but then Winter turned it into a Moment of Awesome by improvising on the spot and playing a song that paid tribute to War Rock's victims and praised those who killed her father. She received a standing ovation for her performance, while her prankers were humiliated.
• After years of good deeds, Winter Ascended to godhood, becoming a Princess. While it finally convinced people that she's definitely not her father, Winter quickly found that divine immortality and power are not what they're cracked up to be - people started worshiping her, making it very easy for her to exploit their faithful devotion. She ended up outliving most of her mortal family and friends, including many of her half-siblings she became close to. And there were some who still weren't convinced of her genuine benevolence and had the gall to accuse her of becoming a goddess so she could be worshiped forever like her father once did. All that made her wish she could find a way to revoke her immortality.
  Princess Winter Opera: I finally got the immortality that Father wanted... I wish there was a way for me to give it back.

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 Star-Crossed Lovers 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 Manipulative Bastard who used the original Gleaming Shield as her Unwitting Pawn, 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 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.

Scarlet Bell, the Whistleblower

• Mixed with Nightmare Fuel, 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 "new age" for Ponykind required experimenting on those with great potential and talent, which meant their own students. Scarlet Bell ended up opposing the two ponies she trusted 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.

S to Z

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 extinct. Star Flower had returned home to find herself not just the last of her family or kingdom, but quite literally the very last Flutter Pony left alive. She did not take it well.
  Doctor Stable: Miss Star Flower screamed for a full ten minutes before we figured out the best way to sedate her.

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.

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• 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 Big Brother Bully 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 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 killing Temnobog, he was so upset that he proceeded to 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 Made of Evil.
    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 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.

Urtica, the Young Historian

• Urtica from the IDW comics is given a backstory, but it's 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 secretive about their past, this made her an 'oddball' among her people, and this (along with her shyness and chronic stutter) got her bullied by other Changeling children in Hive Thorax. She did receive support from her parents and Thorax, but she still became a Shrinking Violet 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 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 (by Dragon standards), has her assume that he would hate her because he's a Dragon and they're supposed to hate Changelings... until Blacktip 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.

Events

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 with them gone the Grand Matron is about to destroy the world. While the Tales Seven manages to bring themselves Back from the Dead, it was certainly the Darkest Hour.

Angel Vale Time Loop

• The original timeline in a nutshell: Shining Dove makes friends with the rest of his group...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 Set Right What Once Went Wrong, but it's no wonder he took it.

The Darkest Hour Crisis

• The complete sense of despair coming at the end of the first '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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