//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Flash Sentry Chronicles: Evil's Uprising 
// by Banshee531 
//------------------------------//

It was a peaceful Summer Day in Equestria, where everything was absolutely perfect. Since most ponies didn't know about the recent return and near invasion of jakhowls, many were enjoying the summer. Ever since the near lost of all magic, nothing else bad had happened. There weren't any monster attacks, returning villains from a thousand years ago, or even colts or fillies littering. It was as if somepony had told all the bad things in the world to take a break, and the ponies were enjoying every minute of it.

But as this happened, certain ponies had their peace end with the arrival of an urgent summons from Princess Celestia. And two of those ponies were racing through the countryside toward Canterlot. Flash and Twilight flew as fast as they could, Spike Pyro Dragon right behind them. The pair had been at a special meet and greet in another town, hence why they were currently flying to Canterlot instead of using their Rune Gate. The pair's bodies were straining to keep going, but they refused to stop.

And as they reached the outskirts of Canterlot, they saw the rest of the Mane Seven standing at the entryway. They quickly shot past them, the girls racing after them. "Oh!" Fluttershy spoke up, "Thank goodness. We're all here."

Twilight glanced back at the five, seeing they all looked as worried as she was. "So everypony got an urgent summons to the castle with no explanation?!"

"Yup!" Pinkie nodded, "I just love a good mysterious summons. What's it about? Do you think it's a surprise party? Hey! Why are we running?"

Flash rolled his eyes, as Twilight turned to her, "Because something could be terribly wrong! Somepony turned bad?! Another evil creature back for revenge?!"

"Don't you think you're bein' a little paranoid?" Applejack chimed in.

"I'm with Applejack," Flash added, "It hasn't even been three weeks since what happened with the jakhowls. I doubt anything that big is scheduled to happen."

"But then why would the princesses send scrolls in such a hurry?!" Twilight yelped.

"Good point," Rarity nodded, "They know better than to make us worry."

"Plus," Pinkie laughed, "I like it when you run so fast, the walls get all blurry!" She turned to stare at the zooming walls for a moment, then looked back to show her eyes were all swirly. "Wheeee!"

"Race ya!" Rainbow exclaimed before shooting forward so fast that Pinkie was knocked into a roll, but she still managed to keep moving forward. They all reached the castle in record time as the guards barely had a moment to realize who they were before they shot past them, heading straight to the throne room. They then burst in, Flash quickly drawing his sword as they all slid to a stop, most trying to catch their breath, only to be greeted to the sight of Celestia and Luna smiling at them.

"Excellent," Celestia declared, "Thank you all so much for coming."

"What's wrong?!" Twilight asked in panicked haste, "What can we do?!"

They braced themselves for whatever insanity they were gonna have to face, only to see Luna shine a big smile. "That's just it. Nothing's wrong! Everything's perfect!"

The eight shared a glance, Applejack asking what they were all thinking. "Did y'all call us down here just to tell us that?"

They nodded, Rarity stepping up next, "With all due respect, majesties, you might want to save your urgent summons for matters that are a bit more...well, urgent!"

This statement was met by a round of giggles from the Royal Sisters, "Well," Luna went on, "There is more to it. Equestria is currently enjoying its longest period of harmony in recent years."

"What are you talking about?!" Flash yelped, "It's barely been a month since we almost got invaded by a bunch of time-warped aura wielding canines!"

"True," Celestia nodded, "But you managed to stop it from escalating to a full-blown invasion. Now Springer is the new leader of the jakhowls, and will likely keep the peace with Equestria for years. Peace in Equestria looks to be unbreakable now and it's all thanks to you, Twilight." The purple alicorn blushed at this, only for Celestia to gesture to the rest, "And your friends, of course."

"Who, us?" Spike asked with a smug expression.

"Oh, pshaw." Rarity giggled as Rainbow crossed her hooves.

"It's about time you noticed!"

"Thank you!" Twilight bowed as Luna continued.

"Because of your efforts, there's been less and less for us to do."

Celestia nodded. "So, after much consideration, my sister and I have decided it is time for us...to retire!"

The ponies all gasped at this, the group shocked into silence that Flash eventually broke as he rubbed his ears. "I'm sorry. I think I might have some wax or something in my ears. It almost sounded like you just said you were retiring."

"We are," Luna replied with a smirk.

And as she said this, a bright flash of light shined in the room. "Breaking news!" Discord exclaimed as he appeared in a reporter pony outfit. "The royal princesses retiring! I have so many questions!" He flew over to the pair. "Who'll take over? Who will run Equestria? Will it be someone tall, dark, and handsome? Or will it be the Lord of Chaos?" Several copies of his dragon claw appeared around him, all pointing at him, only for Celestia to give him a smirk before pointing at the true new ruler: Twilight. "Oh, fine. Go with the obvious choice."

Twilight let out a horrified noise, the others turning to her and sensing a freakout coming at any second. "You're retiring?!"

"Princesses can retire?" Spike asked, making Luna chuckle.

"Of course we can. I, for one, am looking forward to a little R&R. Maybe a trip to Silver Shoals."

"But what about all the stuff you two do?" Flash asked, "Raising and lowering the sun. Celestia's school. Luna, what about Trixie?"

The pair smiled back, "We've made arrangements for all of that. Cozy's little incident had several benefits, including forcing us to infuse an amulet with our abilities being one of them. That and my school has plenty of capable teachers that will be able to run it perfectly."

"As for Trixie," Luna continued, "She has well surpassed the point when she needs my help in learning what she wants to learn. Much like how Twilight was sent to Ponyville, she will need to start branching out on her own and forge a path for herself. Trust me, we have planned out our retirement perfectly."

"And you want me to take your place?!" Twilight asked, Celestia and Luna nodding and going 'mm-hmm!'

"With the help of your friends, of course!" Luna added, Twilight now shaking as her eyes showed a blue screen, Flash nudging up to her and patting her with his wing.

"We can't think of anypony more worthy." Celestia continued as she placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Over the years, we've watched you grow. You've faced task after task..."

"...challenge after challenge..." Luna walked over next while Discord floated past them.

"Countless adversities, yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it..."

"And you've always prevailed," Celestia finished.

"Thank you," Twilight replied while still looking terrified. "But that doesn't mean that I'm...that we're ready to do what you do!"

"Oh, of course you are." Celestia stepped back, "I realize this is a lot to take in, but-"

"Nope!" Rainbow interrupted, the pegasus mare smirking. "Makes perfect sense. We're awesome!" The others gathered around as Rainbow suddenly gasped. "Wait...does this mean we get all your powers?! Ooh, ooh! I call dibs on showing up in everypony's dreams!"

Celestia would have said something, but Twilight grabbed Rainbow and pulled her back. "You can't be ready to step into their horseshoes just like that!" The nervous alicorn stated.

"Well," Applejack shrugged, "If the princesses think it's time to retire, we're not a bad choice. We always have Equestria's best interests at heart."

"That's a fair point..." Twilight nodded before taking out a pad and quill. "Which should be taken into consideration when we have a round table discussion-"

"Well," Rarity butted in. "I'm in!" She then took out a measuring tape. "Darlings, we'll all need a complete wardrobe update!" She then smiled at the princesses, "And I would love to pick your brain about mane maintenance when you have a moment."

"Would I be allowed to help rule Equestria?" Flash asked, "I'm a Royal Knight. Aren't I supposed to be subservient to the ruler?"

"You will be," Celestia nodded, "Twilight will be the ruler and you'll act as her advisor, much like how Grand Hoof and Skybreaker have helped advise me from time to time. Nothing about your station will change." She gave him a cheeky smile, "Except the fact you'll be sharing a bed with the most powerful figure in Equestria."

Flash and Twilight blushed at this, as Fluttershy spoke up. "As long as we all have each other, I'm sure we can do it!"

"Yay!" Pinkie cheered before holding out her hoof. "Protectors of Equestria! On three! One... two..." The others all put their hooves in, leaving only Twilight, only for them all to stare at her, making her sigh.

"If you're all on board..." She gulped, "I guess I am too." She placed her hoof with the others and the eight of them all cried out in unison, "PROTECTORS OF EQUESTRIA!" They threw their hooves into the air and Twilight sighed again. "It'll be a bit of an adjustment. But I imagine the transfer of power will be a lengthy process, which will-"

"Actually," Celestia chimed in, "We just need a few days to put together a little ceremony." Twilight previous calm demeanor completely vanished as she nervously chuckled.

"A few DAYS?!" The others moaned, seeing their big speech had been rendered completely useless. "But that's so soon! Shouldn't there be some sort of training program that lasts weeks? No, months, if not YEARS?!"

The royal sisters chuckled, "Everything you've gone through over the years has been a training program."

"Wait," Flash held up a hoof, "Have you been grooming Twilight for this since the day you met her?"

"Of course not," Celestia shook her head, "I had smaller expectations when I first met her, but she just kept upping the ante. When she became a princess, I had hoped she would grow into somepony capable of taking my place. But even I did not expect her to grow into that role so quickly."

"Okay..." Twilight gulped, "But there's gotta be a guide or a rulebook!"

"Yes," Discord appeared next to her. "I have it right here." He did have a book of some kind, which he started flipping through, "How to Rule Equestria, by Nopony McPretendsmith." Had Twilight not been so frazzled by this whole situation, she probably would have realized Discord was joking with her. And before she could read even a sentence, he snapped it shut and puffed it away.

Luckily, Luna was there to comfort her. "The friendship journal you wrote yourselves is a better guide than any we could provide." She held up the book, which she floated over to Twilight. The alicorn held it to her chest, but then started hyperventilating.

"We have the utmost confidence in you," Celestia added.

Luna nodded, "And we hope you have the same in yourself." Twilight continued to pant while using her magic to pull a paper bag out of Pinkie's mane to try and control her breathing.

"Oh," Discord chuckled, "I'm absolutely certain she does."





"I am not confident about this at all!" Twilight cried, as she, Discord and the friendship council were now in the map room, all trying to calm the alicorn down.

"Well, that's what I thought," Discord proclaimed, "And I was being sarcastic before." He was using a fork to brush his beard and sprayed it as the others glared at him. "What? This is all so predictable. Now's the part where you all tell little Sparkle here that everything is going to be fine, but she won't believe you."

Flash opened his mouth to respond, only to sigh, "He's probably not wrong."

"No probably about it," Discord cackled, "Ugh. I don't need to be here for this."

He disappeared and everypony focused back on Twilight. "Just relax," Flash started, "Everything's going to be okay."

Twilight's facial expression said otherwise as Applejack pushed her over to her throne. "It's just...I know I said yes, but then they said 'in a few days,' and there's still so much to figure out! It's all happening so fast!" She grabbed the paper bag again and kept breathing into it. "I think I need some-" She didn't get to finish as Rarity floated a glass of water in front of her, the alicorn taking it and gulping it down. "Okay! I'll feel much better-"

"Once you make a plan?" Rarity asked as Spike flew down holding a quill and paper.

"Oh, wow. It's like you-"

"Knew you were going to react this way?" Spike interrupted, "We did."

Pinkie appeared from behind the throne, "Classic Twilight-ing."

"Twilight-ing?!" The princess yelped, "You...You made me a verb?!" Pinkie nodded as Twilight slouched against the table.

"Honestly," Flash smirked, "I wanted to go with 'going Twily-nanas. But, I was outvoted." The others laughed as Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"It's not a bad thing. We just know you have a...process."

The others nodded, as Rainbow flew up to her. "Stage one. You get big news and you're like Nooooo!," The others smirked at the horrified face Rainbow was making. "But then you pace, and you chart, you worry..."

"You keep me up at night as you pace, chart and worry," Flash added.

Fluttershy patted Twilight on the hoof. "It's okay. You go ahead and Twilight, and we'll be here for you."

Twilight glanced back up at this as she exclaimed, "But...but...how are you all acting so calm?! This is a big deal! What do we do if something big happens and the princesses aren't there to help?!"

They all shared glances before Rainbow replied, "Um, if you think about it, they literally almost never help."

"Huh," Applejack scratched her head.

"Well," Flash added as he put a hoof to his chin, "The first few big events needed the Elements of Harmony to take down, so Celestia and Luna couldn't exactly help in any way. And by then, Celestia trusted us enough to leave the remaining issues to us."

"And we still always win!" Pinkie cheered. "Like when Sombra almost took back the Crystal Empire, or when Chrysalis pretended to be Cadance, or when Tirek came back and absorbed all the magic, or the other time Chrysalis tried to take over, or with Cozy Glow and the school!" She took a deep breath, "Am I missing anything?"

"Pony of Shadows," Flash pointed out.

"Lightning and the Alicorn Amulet," Rarity continued.

"Starlight when she was evil," Spike reminded.

"Discord when he was evil," Fluttershy added.

"Do Flim and Flam count?" Applejack asked.

"Plus Shadow Corrupter, Malafear, the Storm King, Shadow Corrupter when he became Void, all those times Shade showed up, not to mention all the insane missions me and the rest of the Royal Knights were sent on...which also had Shade." Flash finished with a slight sigh.

"See?" Rainbow laughed, "We've almost always done things without the princesses' help! Which makes sense now because it was all just training for you to take over!"

"And it worked!" Spike chimed in, "I mean, if you think about it, there hasn't been a single villain that we couldn't defeat."

"Phew!" Twilight sighed in relief, "I guess you're right. We do have a pretty good track record. Together, the eight of us should be able to keep Equestria safe."

"Not just the eight of us," Flash added, "Like I said, the Royal Knights have stopped just as many crazy evils. You'll have me, Grand, and all the other knights to help you deal with whatever you need."

Twilight smiled at him, but as Flash glanced away, his smile vanished. Despite how optimistic he was being, his mind flashed back to when he was at Aurarora. The vision that Clair had shown him. The destroyed Ponyville and the image of the ponies he saw, though he still had no idea who it was that had been the cause, or even if they were the cause. He had been on edge ever since seeing that vision, being extra cautious on patrol, but so far nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

He had recently been considering mentioning this to Twilight and the others, but now was the absolute worst time to do it. If Twilight heard Ponyville was destroyed, she would of course jump to the conclusion that her becoming the new ruler was responsible. Flash hated to keep a secret from her, but she had enough on her plate without worrying about another possible disaster on the horizon. So until he knew more, he would keep this information to himself.

And in that moment, the doors of the thrones room opened up. "Hey!" Soul's voice called out, making them turn to see her and Heart enter the room. "You all get called by the map or something? We couldn't find any of you all over town!"

"Nope!" Pinkie chimed in, "We got called by the princesses."

"Why?" Heart asked, "Is something happening? Is somepony attacking us again?"

"Not this time," Flash replied, seeing the fierce glare about to appear on the colt's face. He wasn't as moody as he had been, but he was far from the peppy colt he was supposed to be. Ace and Mira no longer being around didn't exactly help either. "Long story short, Twilight's gonna be the next ruler of Equestria."

The twins stared at them for a moment, both blinking in unison, then shot across the room and got right in Twilight's face. "WHAT!?" Twilight covered her ears at this as the others laughed, Flash's thoughts about the ominous future he saw slowly being forgotten as Twilight slowly explained everything.

For now, they would focus on the good things that were happening and not dwell on the possible issues that may or may not happen. For now, everything was peaceful.





In a dark forest, the queen of the changelings was standing in a circle of trees. The trees had slime around them, turning it into a comfortable enough nest for her to live in.

"One day!" She exclaimed, "One day you'll see! I will defeat Twilight Sparkle and her friends!" She let out a cackle, "And they will pay for stealing my kingdom!" She was making this grand declaration to a log which currently had the image of an unreformed changeling burned into it.

She turned to another log and picked it up, using her magic to burn another changeling face into it. But before she could start talking to it, a black shadow enveloped her and she completely vanished while the logs fell to the ground.





Deep below the earth in the ancient prison that was Tartarus, two of its most important prisoners were still trapped. The figure inside the larger cage scratched another line into a tally chart, another of hundreds of days that he had been stuck in the accursed prison. Things couldn't be any worse. "Psst, Tirek!" Tirek thought too soon, the de-powered centaur turning to the filly in the smaller cage.

"It is Lord Tirek," he growled, "And what is it now?"

Cozy Glow smiled at him. "I just wanna make sure you can see my best friends rock sculpture from over there!" She pointed to a spot between their cages, where a bunch of rocks were stacked together to show Tirek carrying Cozy on his shoulder.

The centaur stared at it, then at the tallies before letting out a groan of frustration. If he didn't get out of there soon, he would go even more insane.

And as if the universe was answering him, a whiff of black smoke suddenly engulfed him and he vanished. Cozy's eyes went wide, only for another whiff to take her as well, causing the statue to completely fall apart. As such, Cerberus wouldn't notice for hours that its two most important prisoners were gone.





In another underground area, a figure hidden in the darkness stared down at the ground before using a stick to draw a circle in the ground, which glowed green as runic symbols appeared inside it. They then drew a line through it, followed by a figure eight. The light spread to this marking as it began to spin, the symbol in the middle switching between an eight and the infinity sign.

The mark continued to spin until the light shot off, swirling into a tornado of green energy.

The figure walked away as the tornado slowly began to mix with another tornado. This one was made of black smoke, which appeared within the green vortex and soon overtook it. And within the fused tornado, a pair of eyes appeared. A pair of red eyes with green whites that were surrounded by purple smoke.





Tirek and Cozy materialized within a chamber of stone and wood. They glanced around first, seeing the place was round in shape with a stone floor and multiple wooden ramps and staircases around the edge. Stone spikes stuck out of the ground and in the middle of the chamber, a stone table sat with a crystal atop it.

They were standing atop one of the staircases and before either could say anything, another whiff of smoke dropped Chrysalis off atop a ramp top. She spun around at this and gasped, "Lord Tirek?!"

"A changeling?" Tirek raised an eyebrow before turning to Cozy Glow. "See? She gets it."

Cozy rolled her eyes, as Chrysalis marched down the ramp. "Chrysalis, queen of the changelings! Or at least I will be when I'm restored to my rightful place!" She leapt off the ramp, landing at the foot of the stairs the two were scaling. "Why did you summon me?" She charged up her horn, "What do you want?!"

This made Cozy yelp, the filly leaping behind Tirek.

"Oh, golly! We didn't bring you! I thought you freed us from Tartarus!" She gave her the cutest look she could as Chrysalis flinched.

"Tartarus? Whoever pulled you from there must have been somepony very powerful indeed."

"More powerful than you can possibly imagine." The three leapt at the voice that now echoed throughout the chamber. Then, atop a walkway overlooking the stone table, a tornado of shadow appeared. It swirled with great power as a figure appeared within it. A figure that they all recognized.

"SENTRY!" They roared as the pegasi appeared from the darkness, but it didn't look exactly like the one they all knew. His coat was bleached gray, his mane and tail were short, and his face was covered in scars. But the most noticeable difference were his eyes, which were glowing like a certain formerly evil unicorn. He stood there, dark blue cloak covering his body while a pair of shadowy wings flowed out of his real ones.

The three growled, Cozy tilting her head at the differences. "You," Tirek snarled, "Did you bring us here to finally finish us off?! Well, I won't go down so easily!" Chrysalis nodded and charged up a blast as Tirek summoned what little power he had.

Flash smirked at this, only for Cozy flew between them. "Wait!" The two stopped before she glanced back at them, "I don't think this is the Flash Sentry we know."

"What?!" Chrysalis yelped, "But that's clearly-"

"She's right." Flash interrupted, the three now looking back at the pegasi.

Cozy put her hoof to her mouth, "Are you...are you the evil Flash Sentry that Princess Twilight and her friends fought before? The one from another timeline?"

Flash slowly nodded with a grin, "Indeed. You're clearly well studied. No wonder you were able to almost drain Equestria of its magic."

"You know about that?"

"Who is this?" Chrysalis hissed, "You said he wasn't the Flash we knew. Who is he then?"

"A Flash Sentry from another timeline, like she said." Flash replied, "In my universe, I realized helping others only ever ended in pain and misery. So, I chose to strike out on my own and discovered the secret to incredible power." He showed off his shadowy claws, "And you can see how well that turned out."

Tirek laughed at this, "Finally! A Flash Sentry I can get behind!"

This statement caused Flash to glare at him, "Don't call me that name. The name Sentry no longer has meaning. From now on, call me...Shroudheart."

Tirek and Chrysalis shrugged while Cozy tilted her head at him, "But...I thought you were lost in time. Twilight said you were thrown through time and lost to who knows when."

"I wasn't thrown through time. I was thrown out of it." The three raised an eyebrow, "I was thrown outside of time and space. Falling into a void where existence is just is."

"I'm confused," Cozy replied, the other two nodding.

"Basically, I existed outside of time. I didn't age, didn't grow hungry, tired or anything else. I don't know how long it's been since Twilight met me, but for me, it's been several millennia."

"Millennia?!" Cozy yelped, "What were you doing all that time?!"

"Watching," he replied. "Simply watching. Despite being outside of time, I could look into it and watch as different timelines played out around me. I couldn't interact or change anything about these timelines, so all I could do was watch. And I did. My oh my, the things I have seen. I've watched multiple universes come into existence and die out. I've seen how different certain things played out, seeing timelines split into new ones with every decision made."

"You saw all that?" Tirek asked.

"Oh yes. Let me tell you, things got weird sometimes. I saw a universe of Equestria that's completely different from our own." He shuddered, "That song is still stuck in my head. I'll never be able to rollerblade again." He shook his head, "I also looked into worlds similar to this one. There's one universe where Flash Sentry never became friends with Twilight, which also didn't have the Royal Knights or even jakhowls. Strange world that one. Almost everything else played out the same, but missing a few bits. I even saw what's happening now play out, only instead of me, a still evil Sombra was in my place."

"You've seen other versions of us in this situation?" Chrysalis asked, Shroudheart nodding.

"Yup," he then looked past them, "And I know who brought us here."

The others followed his gaze and turned to the entrance to the chamber as a shadowy figure appeared. It was a blue ram-like creature, with white hair and a tail. It had long curved horns on his head, and a red collar covered in bells.

"It was I," he stated as he walked passt them and around the table. "You may call me...Grogar." This got a gasp from Chrysalis and Tirek while Cozy looked confused and Shroudheart shadow-travelled down beside them.

"The Grogar?" Chrysalis gasped.

"I thought that you were a legend!" Tirek added while Cozy still looked confused.

"Who?"

"Grogar," Shroudheart told her, "I got to watch him in his hayday. He was quite a sight until his bewitching bell was stolen by Gusty the Great." He chuckled, "Boy was your face red." Grogar was about to speak, but the evil Flash copy mimicked his voice. "You have all been brought here as part of my plan to rid Equestria of Twilight Sparkle and her friends once and for all. Evil chuckle." They all turned to him, "That's what he said to us in the other timelines. And I'm guessing it's what he planned to tell us now."

Grogar growled at him, "You're quite well informed."

Shroudheart smirked and looked him in the eye. "I've seen everything that happens in all timelines. I know everything there is to know about this situation." His grin grew at this, "Everything." Grogar frowned at this while Shroundheart pulled away. "But if you want, I won't step on your hooves anymore." He made a zipping motion with his lips while the others turned back to Grogar. All three were wondering what he had brought them there for and what he planned to do in order to get rid of Twilight and her friends. But only time would tell.