Prince Healing Song

"I may be blind, but that won't stop me from enjoying music, or helping people I care about."

- Prince Healing Song

Prince Healing Song (his entry here) is a member of the Church of the Stars, and a benevolent Alicorn musician who originated from the Second Age.

Appearance
Pre-Ascension, Healing Song was a mortal Earth Pony stallion with a green pelt and a blond mane and tail. His hair was quite voluminous in his youth and somewhat resembled a mullet, but when he got older, he cut his hair short. He often wore a brown bomber jacket with a black fur collar, or a black leather jacket. His Cutie Mark is a double-necked electric guitar adorned with beautiful flowers, representing his love/talent for music and kind personality. It has been noted that Healing Song's Cutie Mark is similar to Blue Suede Heartstrings'.

Because his eyes were surgically removed and replaced with prosthetic eyes to prevent spreading of the ocular cancer that struck him during infancy, Healing Song is blind, and his eyes are often closed. This stayed even after he Ascended to godhood.

Post-Ascension, Healing Song became an Alicorn god, which restored his youth and returned him to his physical prime. Typically for Alicorns, he has a long unicorn horn with great wings, and due to his "age", his wings have a magical gradient going from green to yellow. His mane and tail are now composed of rippling golden Psionic energy, which Healing Song admits surprised him as he expected his hair to be made of sound energy like Blue's, but he has accepted it. His true form as an Alicorn is a mishmash of traits from all mortal Pony tribes, but never manifests them and chooses not to because, in his words, "I see no difference." Because he's a "prodigy deity", his physical and magical growth is accelerated to abnormal degrees compared to "normal" deities.

In terms of attire, Healing Song prefers to wear his old brown bomber jacket, now tailored to accommodate his size and wings), making him the only deity of the Church of the Stars who does not wear divine barding at all. He does have divine barding in the form of ornate bronze armor/regalia inlaid with yellow imperial topaz gemstones, but he only wears it for formal occasions. His "throne" in the Church reflects this, being a rather simple musician's folding chair that he used as a seat of rest for music playing for much of his mortal life.

Many deities have tried getting him to wear his barding more so he could actually look like a refined and respectable Alicorn god, but he never listens, and his friends and fellow Church deities have defended him on this many times.

Personality
Healing Song is a kind and friendly musician who's always quite willing to interact with his fans before and after shows. Despite his talents and popularity, he never lets them go to his head, and he always made sure that even his own bandmates received the same public recognition and fame he believed they deserved. As a result, he is a recognizable name among music communities in both Caneighda, his native country, and Ponyland, with close connections to many great musicians and bands. His bandmates are also close friends with him, and they would remain in contact well into their old age.

Much like his mentor, Blue Suede Heartstrings, Healing Song is very humble and doesn't see his prodigy status as anything special; as far as he's concerned, he just picked up a guitar one day as a foal and decided he was going to play music. Because of this, he genuinely believes there are other musicians who are better than him, such as Blue (which Blue denies). He also gets uncomfortable whenever people praise him as a prodigy and/or put him on a pedestal. After Ascending to godhood, Healing Song was bothered with being given the royal title of "Prince", though he kept his title anyway so he wouldn't disappoint people. And like Blue, Healing Song became a professional musician to express himself through music, and genuinely enjoyed doing so.

Healing Song is also a very encouraging and supportive person. Under Blue's tutelage, he discovered his own love for teaching and took the chance to become a mentor for many aspiring musicians, helping them rise to fame and greatness themselves by cultivating their talents. Throughout the Ages, he would regularly check up on his former students who have left his tutelage to see how they're doing. Naturally, many of said former students are close friends with Healing Song. In Kerajaan Cahaya, he is very popular there among his students (and mortal followers) for being so approachable and down-to-earth.

Despite being blind, Healing Song never lets it embitter him as many would have in his situation, instead remaining cheerful and good-humored. He's quite willing to make jokes about himself as much as he teases his friends; because he Ascended on his deathbed, he sometimes jokes that he might end up Ascending again as a "super deity" when he dies a second time. While he sympathizes with those who are disabled like him, he believes all people, disabled or not, deserve to be given love, respect, and understanding. He hates the idea that disabled people have to compensate for their conditions in order to be something of worth, as it creates the toxic mindset that anyone who doesn't are automatically lazy and helpless invalids. In his eyes, people like him do have personal lives, and if a disabled person managed to Ascend like he did, then it happens and is in no way related to his disability, though it's still an achievement worthy of praise. As a teacher, this toxic mindset is anathema to him, and he is motivated to help his students learn how to succeed while acknowledging their own limits.

That being said, Healing Song is not to be trifled with. While usually kind and polite, he can be critical of people's flaws and will not hesitate to bring said flaws to attention if needed. He has what is jokingly called "nerves of steel" by his friends, as he is seemingly unfazed by anything no matter how dire the situation is. Like Blue, he despises tribalism and racism, as his blindness means he truly sees no differences between sapient races, and hates musicians who either behave badly towards others and/or use music for evil and/or amoral purposes, like War Rock. And being a teacher himself, Healing Song is genuinely enraged by those who exploit their position to abuse their students in some way, like Noble Grace, Bubbling Beaker, or Trench Bull.

Healing Song also has flaws. One of his most prominent flaws is that he feared dying one day, as it means he'll never be able to do the things he wanted to do, and that people will potentially look at him differently post-mortem. At first, Healing Song tried to keep his fears a secret, but eventually he caved and confessed them to his friends, who helped him overcome his fears and accept his mortality. While this allowed him to endure tragic situations better than most, he was still affected when he ended up outliving his adoptive family and most of his friends after Ascending to godhood, something that required support from his divine friends to help him cope. Healing Song can also be rather blunt at times, and his tendency to state something as it is has caused him and others no end of embarrassment. By his own admission, he has acknowledged this flaw and has been trying to improve on it.

As he is blind, Healing Song is sometimes annoyed with people who assume that he constantly needs help, though he does acknowledge that he needs help from time to time, and is grateful when help is genuinely offered. However, he can get rather sarcastic whenever people insult his disability, and will physically retaliate if they take it too far with him and/or other disabled people.

Despite being mainly a musician, Healing Song loves roleplaying games and was a regular player of  Castles & Cavaliers  from the Second Age. Healing Song was also an avid vintage record collector and amassed a massive collection over the years. His records are all preserved with divine magic, but after joining the Church of the Stars, he has donated all of them to the Church to introduce early musical technology from the Second Age.

Unnamed Adoptive Parents
Healing Song loves his adoptive parents and treats them like his biological parents; as far as he's concerned, they're his real family. Despite being devastated with their son's blindness, Healing Song's adoptive parents still tried to raise him and accommodate his disability as best as they could. This would later a large impact on his general personality and outlook. They would maintain a close relationship for years, and after Healing Song became terminally ill with cancer in his middle-age years, they would attend his last moments, only to be surprised and overjoyed when Healing Song managed to Ascend to godhood on his deathbed instead.

In a role-reversal, Healing Song would end up outliving his adoptive parents due to his divine immortality, and he would be devastated by it. Fortunately, he had Blue Suede Heartstrings and many other friends to help him go through his grief and recover from it.

Unnamed Biological Parents
Healing Song doesn't know who his biological parents are, as he was put up for adoption by them when he was just a baby. Despite this, he isn't too concerned about it, as his adoptive parents were very loving and treated him as their own son.

Blue Suede Heartstrings
Healing Song and Blue Suede Heartstrings are very good friends. Despite his blindness, Healing Song managed to attract Blue's attention with his humility and great potential, which impressed Blue so much that he took him in as his student. By his own admission, Healing Song panicked after realizing that Blue is the "King of Music" himself, and felt incredibly nervous around him because he didn't know how to properly behave in front of a "legendary rock god" (in his words). However, Healing Song would get over this once he learned to look past Blue's divinity and see him as another fellow musician, allowing him to know his mentor better and become comfortable around Blue.

Bossa Nova Heartstrings
Healing Song met Bossa Nova through Blue after Healing Song confessed his fears of dying to him. Being a Death god of the Trimortidae and thus is experienced in helping people accept their mortality, Bossa Nova was able to help Healing Song overcome his fears by teaching him that there is nothing to worry about about Death; what truly matters is how Healing Song lived his life, not how long he lived. This helped Healing Song immensely, so when he became terminally ill with cancer later in his life, he was fully prepared to die and be ushered into the appropriate Heaven-Realm by Bossa Nova, content with all the things he did in life. However, to everyone's surprise, he ended up Ascending to godhood on his deathbed instead.

Bossa Nova would become Healing Song's friend afterwards and has frequently served as a source of emotional support for the blind Alicorn. When Healing Song suffered from the trauma of gradually outliving his mortal family and friends, as well as suddenly losing everything during the " Void Aeon " event, Bossa Nova was among those who comforted him and helped Healing Song recover from his losses.

Moon Ray Vaughoof
To be added...

Steel String
At some point in his youth, Healing Song would meet bassist Steel String, who would become one of his closest friends. Having grown up without a sibling, Steel String quickly latched on to him and began treating him like his "little brother". The feeling is mutual, as Healing Song supported Steel String as much as the latter did for him. Early in their career as a band, he was aware of the jealousy that Steel String started to harbor towards him for being a more popular musician, and made it clear to his bandmates that he will not let them be ignored by the public. According to Healing Song, the only reason why their band is called "The Healing String Groove Band" is because he didn't want to make his bassist feel like he's being excluded from the group.

Healing Song's close friendship with Steel String caused their fans to see them as a romantic couple instead. Healing Song found this highly amusing, though he had to explain to his fans that he only loves Steel String platonically and sees him as his brother.

"Hehe, I love Steel String, I really do... but not in THAT way. See, we're like brothers, and if y'all have any siblings, you'll know that's a different kind of love. That being said, HUGE respect to the stallions out there who love each other like lovers do. Mares, too."

- Prince Healing Song during a public interview, in response to a young fan asking if he and Steel String were dating.

Healing Song appreciates Steel String's protectiveness, and sometimes jokes that he actually brought him into the band as a bodyguard, but sometimes he also gets annoyed whenever his bassist starts coddling him. By his own admission, Steel String got snarked at a few times when he started worrying about Healing Song's capabilities due to his blindness. After Healing Song became terminally ill with cancer later in life, Steel String tried taking care of his basic needs himself. Healing Song eventually got fed up with this, causing a huge argument to erupt between them until Steel String finally revealed his guilt over his inability to protect him from War Rock, and his fears of losing his "little brother". Healing Song sympathized with Steel String based on their shared fears of death, which allowed them to reconcile and Steel String to come to terms with Healing Song's impending death. Steel String was among the many people who would visit Healing Song in the hospital and attend what was supposed to be his final moments. Fortunately, Healing Song would suddenly Ascend to godhood while on his deathbed, and he would help both Steel String and Tempo Groove awaken their inner magic once he learned how to do so with his own magic under Blue's tutelage.

In a tragic irony, Healing Song's divinity meant that he would outlive many of his mortal friends, including Steel String. However, Steel String would refuse to obtain godhood himself after he gave him the option, having grown content with knowing Healing Song and how his life turned out. He would maintain their friendship throughout the rest of Steel String's life, and visited his vintage record shop frequently after the bassist retired from music entirely, due to being an avid vintage record collector. While on his own deathbed, Steel String encouraged Healing Song to keep playing music long after he and Tempo Groove were gone, knowing that Healing Song loved music more than anything and didn't want him to get bogged down by grief.

"...It was fun touring with you, Healey. I had the time of my life. Keep on playing music, bro..."

- An aging Steel String's last words to Prince Healing Song

While Healing Song was devastated to lose one of his closest friends, he had friends to help him cope with his grief, such as Blue Suede Heartstrings and his twin brother, Bossa Nova, who taught him that death was nothing to be afraid of. During Steel String's funeral, he would speak fondly of the stallion who was a constant positive influence in his life, and he would follow Steel String's request well into the Fourth Age. He was also highly amused when some of his fans took to depicting Steel String posthumously as a stoic, godlike hero who fights his enemies with music and other supernatural powers.

Tempo Groove
As is the case with Steel String, Healing Song would meet drummer Tempo Groove at some point in his youth. After getting together with bassist Steel String and signing under a record label in Ponyland, they would form a musical trio called The Healing String Groove Band. Despite his popularity, Healing Song always made sure that both Steel String and Tempo Groove received public recognition for their contributions to the band. This would lead to them becoming close friends, which would last well into Tempo Groove's elderly years.

Tempo Groove was among those who attended Healing Song's last moments after he became terminally ill with cancer, but like everyone else, they were surprised when Healing Song managed to Ascend to godhood on his deathbed instead. In a role-reversal, Healing Song gradually outlived his friends due to being immortal, and he would be devastated by it. Fortunately, he had Blue Suede Heartstrings and many other surviving friends to help him go through his grief and recover from it.

War Rock
Healing Song shares a mutual animosity with War Rock. Part of this is due to them being almost complete opposites - War Rock is an egotistical and sociopathic musician who, despite his genuine talent and intellect, is also a perfectionist who feels that his accomplishments automatically makes him entitled to fame and glory. Healing Song, meanwhile, was raised by loving parents who instilled in him a stronger moral compass, and despite being blind, he became a popular musician and is known for his kindness and humility.

However, the main reason behind their animosity is Healing Song's friendship with Blue Suede Heartstrings, whom War Rock sees as his archrival and later enemy. In their first meeting, after discovering that Healing Song is blind, War Rock was shocked that Blue would take in a disabled Pony as his student, and insults Healing Song on the assumption that his blindness prevented him from playing music. In response, Healing Song snarked back at War Rock and threatened him to get out, which War Rock had no choice but to comply after Healing Song's friends showed up to protect him.

"Yeah. And I got one more thing to say to you, War Rock. You ain't the greatest, and you'll never be at this rate. If you ain't got any respect to show around here, then get out, and take that out-of-tune guitar with you. Otherwise... you're gonna end up having a bad time."

- A then-mortal Healing Song to War Rock

The incident led to War Rock breaking into his house and attacking him both out of revenge and to spite Blue later on, but Healing Song refused to back down and gave War Rock a scathing dressing-down that both unnerved and enraged the latter, distracting War Rock long enough Blue to arrive and drive him away.

While Healing Song acknowledges War Rock's musical talent and genius, he is disgusted with War Rock's behavior and points out that such things are rendered moot if he keeps treating people like trash. This eventually came true, as War Rock would eventually be killed by Ace and Melody while trying to gain immortality for himself, while War Rock's fans contributed to the destruction of his legacy by leaving him for Blue in disgust. Many musicians who knew War Rock see Healing Song as "everything War Rock SHOULD have been", as Healing Song displayed many virtuous traits and harbored potential that War Rock squandered in his arrogance. And while both feared dying, Healing Song eventually overcame his fears and accepted his mortality thanks to his friends, while War Rock let his fears consume him to the point of becoming a villain just to gain eternal youth. In the end, Healing Song would Ascend to godhood on his deathbed as a reward for his good deeds, while War Rock was dragged to an afterlife of eternal damnation by Malus Manes for his crimes.

Emperor Golden Scepter
Healing Song is good friends with Golden Scepter. Golden Scepter is rather fond of Healing Song, as the latter reminds him of Prince Crimson Star, his eighth son, leading to Healing Song developing a surrogate son-father relationship with the Radiant Emperor. When Healing Song nearly considered leaving the Church of the Stars because of the constant pressure he faced from older and/or traditionalist deities to act like a respectable Alicorn god, Golden Scepter talked him out of it, assuring him that he is no obligation to follow every demand. Golden Scepter would then imply that those who continue to bother Healing Song would end up facing the Church's collective wrath, as Queen Dazzleglow made it quite clear that anyone caught harassing her mortal subjects or divine peers in Kerajaan Cahaya will be dealt with.

"Again, you are in no obligation to follow their every demand, young Prince. You cannot please everyone. And if they continue to bother you about your jacket... well, it would be a shame if they decide to do that while we are present, would it not?"

- Emperor Golden Scepter to Prince Healing Song

Prince Arcaniss
To be added...

Prince Star Cut
To be added...

Church of the Stars
Healing Song has very good relationships with all of the Church's deities, who all warmly welcomed him into their pantheon and were excited to be joined by a god of Teaching. Healing Song connected with his peers over being fellow teachers, including studious deities like Princess Merula and Princess Twilight Sparkle, despite his casual demeanor making them total opposites. In turn, all deities of the Church are very supportive and protective of him, and they have defended him many times from older and/or traditionalist deities who tried pressuring him into acting and looking like a "proper" deity. When Healing Song considered leaving the Church due to this pressure and nearly did so, everyone talked him out of it.

Prince Crimson Star
Healing Song and Crimson Star are good friends. When they first met, they connected with each other over being blind Alicorns.

Spike (Fourth Age)
Due to being a regular player of  Castles & Cavaliers , Healing Song was excited to hear it survived into the Fourth Age as  Ogres & Oubliettes , which led to him meeting and befriending Spike. They have since started playing campaigns regularly, which Princess Twilight Sparkle has approved of and appreciates.

Button Mash
As is with the case with Spike, Healing Song befriended Button Mash after visiting Ponyville, and started learning how to play video games from the young colt. Because he is blind, Button Mash had to describe to him what was going on. Healing Song noted the experience was "difficult, but fun".

Trench Bull
Due to his hatred of abusive teachers, Healing Song was genuinely enraged with Trench Bull for sadistically and cruelly tormenting her own students. Thus, he was glad when Terran Princes Crimson Star and Night Shade finally arrested her and brought her to justice.

Alicorn Ascendancy
Healing Song highly disapproves of the Alicorn Ascendancy (and most of its splinter factions), and sees their methods and behavior as not too different from his own students when trying to cheat on their homework. He is also genuinely enraged with the Ascendancy's members for performing cruel experiments on children and teenagers, especially Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker, who are former teachers who abused their position to manipulate their students' trust so they could use them as test subjects to unlock the secrets of Ascension. Healing Song also took it rather hard when he learned that he and other Ascendant (demi-)deities inspired Bubbling Beaker to perform his experiments in the first place, though fortunately, he had friends to help him recover from this discovery.

Powers and Abilities
Alicorn Magic: Healing Song has the combined magics of all mortal Pony tribes, including Musical Ponies and Sea Ponies. After Ascending, he would learn from Blue and other Alicorns how to use additional magic from each tribe.


 * Earth Pony Magic: Healing Song can use Earth Pony magic. As a mortal, he initially didn't have this because at the time, like many Earth Ponies like him, he was unaware that he bore magic pertaining to his tribe. Becoming Blue's student led to Healing Song awakening his magic, enhancing his natural strength, stamina, and endurance immensely.
 * Seismic Sense: After awakening his Earth Pony magic under Blue's tutelage, Healing Song gained the ability to sense vibrations through the ground. Though aware of its offensive potential, Healing Song is mostly content with just using it to help himself walk through busy streets.


 * Pegasus Magic: After Ascending, Healing Song developed the weather-attuned senses of a Pegasus. This allows him to detect weather-based hazards, especially after learning how to fly.
 * Unicorn Magic: After Ascending, Healing Song developed the arcane "sight" of Unicorns, allowing him to sense and see magic.

Music Magic: As the Alicorn god of Music, Healing Song has similar abilities as Blue and many other Music-based deities. While Healing Song is aware of his domain's offensive potential, he mostly focuses on the healing/supportive aspects of it.


 * Musical Healing: True to his name, Healing Song can heal allies with music, to the point where he specializes in it.
 * Music Empowerment: Healing Song can empower allies with music, to the point where he specializes in it.
 * Fear/Hatred Repulsion: Much like Blue, Healing Song can use music to dispel effects caused by spells that operate purely on fear and hatred.
 * Sound Manipulation: In relation to his Music domain, Healing Song can manipulate sound itself, since music is derived from sound.
 * Sleep Inducement: Healing Song has a beautiful singing voice that allows him to lull his targets to sleep.
 * Peace Inducement: Healing Song has a beautiful singing voice that allows him to calm agitated listeners.
 * Sound Nullification: Healing Song can nullify sound indefinitely for stealth.
 * Sound Amplification: Healing Song can amplify existing sounds to distract his enemies.
 * Sound Alteration: Healing Song can alter existing sounds to distract his enemies.

Potential Magic: As the Alicorn god of Potential, Healing Song has unique abilities pertaining to Potential as a concept.


 * Precognition: Healing Song has precognitive powers that gives him visions of a person's potential and what they could become if they make certain choices. His foresight is enhanced by his Psionics domain, increasing its accuracy and reach.


 * Potential Empowerment: Like Luminiferous, Healing Song can empower people temporarily by giving them the power of their potential future selves. While many people think it only pertains to godhood, Potential isn't limited to just that, as the power of people's future selves can cover everything, from a police officer and a Royal Guard, to a famous musician. This means he can also make villains see the potential for good they have squandered in his attempts to help them redeem themselves and become better, though he isn't always successful.

Psionic Magic: As the Alicorn god of Psionics, Healing Song has great psychic abilities, though he is dwarfed by Golden Scepter and Prince Crimson Star, who also embody Psionics.


 * Telepathy: Healing Song has telepathic powers that allow him to sense and read people's thoughts. Under Crimson Star's tutelage, Healing Song gained the ability to form psychic links with people to "see" through them, though he mostly uses his telepathy for long-range communication.
 * Psionic Telekinesis: Healing Song has great telekinetic abilities that allow him to manipulate the environment around him with his mind.
 * Empathy: Healing Song has empathic powers that allow him to sense and read people's emotions.
 * Astral Projection: Healing Song can psychically produce an astral form of himself, though this leaves him vulnerable to certain spiritual and supernatural threats. He learned this ability under Crimson Star's tutelage, but due to his martial pacifism, Healing Song mostly uses astral projection to teach and help more people.
 * Electricity Manipulation: Under Crimson Star's tutelage, Healing Song gained the ability to wield psychic lightning. However, due to his martial pacifism, Healing Song has recognized the potential dangers of such an ability and only uses it when necessary.

Enhanced Senses: Healing Song has better natural hearing, smell, and touch compared to the average sapient. During the Second Age, because he was unaware of his Earth Pony magic at the time, Healing Song compensated for this by honing his senses to a degree that allowed him to simply navigate through daily life. After Healing Song Ascended to godhood, his hearing increased to phenomenal degrees thanks to his domain of Music, with the natural resistance to protect him from going deaf.

Musical Expertise: Healing Song is a very intelligent and talented musical prodigy who learned how to play music from when he was three years old. His main instrument is the guitar, which he adapted to by positioning his guitar flat on his lap and playing it like a piano. He is also an accomplished songwriter who was able to write his own songs with a special Second-Age writing system, Braille, and he was able to make a smooth transition from blues to jazz. According to Healing Song, he also learned how to play the trumpet at one point, but has gotten rusty after playing the guitar for so long.

Combat Expertise: Despite being blind, Healing Song is a competent fighter who uses his powers to strike critical weak spots, while using his magical/psychic senses to detect enemy locations and avoid attacks. However, he is a "martial pacifist" who prefers to heal and support his allies, despite his divinity and great power. When forced to fight, he tries to end things quickly and decisively.

Equipment
Staff: To be added...

Background
Healing Song was born in Caneighda, as the country was called in the Second Age. When he was still a baby, his biological parents put him up for adoption, and he was subsequently taken in by a childless couple, who were unable to have a foal of their own. Despite not knowing who his biological parents are, Healing Song wasn't too worried about it; as far as he was concerned, his adoptive parents are his family.

Before he reached his first birthday, Healing Song was struck with retinoblastoma, a rare type of cancer that infected his eyes. The doctors had to remove his eyes to prevent the cancer's spread, and though he received prosthetic eyes as a replacement, Healing Song would remain blind for the rest of his life. His adoptive parents were understandably devastated, but they both tried to accommodate their son's disability as best as they could. However, Healing Song would show signs of great musical talent at the tender age of three, when he started playing the guitar by putting it flat on his lap and playing it almost like a piano. At age nine, when he appeared for an interview on the Caneighdian children's programme  Cucumber , Healing Song would impress his interviewers with his musical talents. He started his own band, Blue Direction, when he was fifteen, and they would play in various local clubs and bars. One of Blue Direction's co-founders was a classmate of Healing Song's.

in his spare time, Healing Song would collect vintage records. As a college student, he would play various records from his massive collection for a blues and jazz show he hosted on a radio station owned by his university. Healing Song was also a regular player of  Castles & Cavaliers , a fantasy roleplaying game from the Second Age. This would influence the naming of another band, the Jazz Wizards, which he founded several years later.

[WIP]

Trivia

 * Prince Healing Song is based on Jeff Healey, a Canadian-born jazz/blues musician. Like Jeff Healey, Healing Song was born in Canada (or the Codexverse equivalent of it) and was blinded when he got infected with retinoblastoma, but made up for it by becoming a guitar virtuoso who played his guitars on his lap, creating a richer and more fluid sound.