Chapter 5
The girls all screamed as they braced themselves, expecting Shroudheart's power to completely obliterate them. But the pain never came, making them open their eyes to see that Flash standing with a brilliant golden glow radiating off his body, taking shape and forming his Sacred Light armor. That light also formed a shield, which was blocking Shroudheart's attack.
"What?!" The evil version of Flash Sentry yelled, "How?!" Flash smirked at this, only for the armor to begin to fade, Shroudheart attacking again. The blow knocked Flash back, the armor dying out as light vanished before he slumped over.
"Flash!" Twilight gasped.
"Sorry, I'm still not at one hundred percent. That's all I had in me." Flash muttered out as he tried to stand up.
"No..." Twilight whispered, only for another voice to speak up.
"Listen to me," they turned to the still weakened Discord. "You don't need me. You don't need the princesses, and you certainly don't need the Elements or the Sacred Light." He let out a cough. "Fluttershy," he placed his hand on her cheek, "You will always be kind. Applejack, you will always be honest. Rarity, you'll always be generous." His breath became ragged, "And Rainbow Dash will be loyal as can be." The four ponies smiled at this sentiment. "Pinkie will always bring laughter wherever she goes," the earth pony shined a big grin at this. "Flash, your courage is what first forged your Element." Flash smirked, remembering how he stood up to Nightmare Moon when that happened. "And Twilight..." He let out another cough, "You are and always will be the embodiment of magic." The alicorn began to tear up at these kind words.
"I think I'm gonna gag," Shroudheart covered his mouth. "Does anypony have a bucket?"
The others didn't listen, too focused on Discord's words. "You lost sight of what's in front of you. You're here, together, willing to give everything you've got for Equestria. Nothing and nopony can ever take that away from you, because that's who you are."
The seven all smiled at these words, only for Shroudheart to moan out, "Oh, give me strength." They turned to the villain, seeing him roll his eyes, "Oh please. You may have each other, but what do you have that can actually hurt me? I've seen many different worlds in many different timelines. I've seen you succeed, and I've seen you fail. And I'll tell you, all the times you succeeded were only because of those things this fool tells you you don't need. Do yourselves a favor and accept that this is the end."
And then, Shroudheart began to laugh, darkness swirling around his whole body.
"You're lying!" Twilight yelled, "You might think you know everything that's going to happen, but you've got one major disadvantage. I know that face. And I know what it looks like when it's lying!" Shroudheart stopped laughing at this, "You've seen us win on our own. You won't tell us how, but you've seen it, and that's all I need to know." She turned to the others. "Discord's right. We've proven time and time again that the real magic is the seven of us working together!" They all stood in line, three on either side of the alicorn. "With my friends by my side, I'm not afraid of you! I'm not afraid of what you can do or how much power you have!"
Shroudheart just shook his head again, "So pathetic...you should fear me." Shroudheart fired a blast of dark magic at this, only for Twilight's horn to shine, creating a shield that cancelled the attack out instantly.
Twilight staggered back at the blow against the barrier, but she pushed herself tall a second later. "You may knock us down," the seven began walking forward. "But we're gonna get back up again!" Shroudheart fired another blast, Twilight blocking it, a slightly less stagger happening this time. "And again!" Shroudheart fired and this time, Twilight's horn glowed to form a blade of magic that cut the attack in half. "And again! As long as we're together, we will never stop trying to defeat you!"
"SHUT UP!" Shroudheart fired his magic at full force, but Twilight unleashed her own magical blast. The two beams struck, pushing against each other as it quickly knocked Twilight back, only for the alicorn to feel Fluttershy grab her hoof.
"For our friends!"
"For our families!" Rarity and Applejack grabbed their hooves as Pinkie and Rainbow placed their hooves on their backs.
"For our home!" Twilight smiled as Flash placed his hoof on her back and nodded at her.
"For Equestria!" They exclaimed together as the magic coming off of Twilight began to spread around them all. As it did this, Shroudheart's magic was completely cancelled out and he staggered back against his throne.
"That's not possible," he growled, "You have no power! I destroyed it at its very core!"
"That's where you're wrong," Flash replied, "The Elements might have helped channel our power, but they were never truly the source of it."
Twilight nodded, "You can't destroy our friendship!"
"And we keep telling bad guys," Rainbow added.
"But y'all just don't seem to remember," Applejack chuckled.
"FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!" They all yelled as the energy exploded off of them. Shroudheart fired another attack, but his magic simply bounced off the magical barrier.
"You fools!" he screeched, "You have no idea what you've done!" The field struck him, making him scream as his body began to burn away. "You'll come to regret this victory! All you've done is bring about an even greater threat!" Only his head remained at this as he focused all his attention on Flash. "Remember what I told you! You may win this battle, but winning the war will cost you EVERYTHING!" With that, his body completely vanished.
The magic then exploded outward, destroying the crystals filling the throne room before extending out into the rest of the castle. As it hit every pony, the mind control they were under completely vanished. It then spread throughout the rest of Canterlot, freeing the ponies, then to Ponyville where the crystals filling it completely vanished.
And when the light faded from the throne room, the seven ponies fell to the ground, gasping as they saw everything was back to normal, with even the stain glass windows restored. They all sighed in relief, then started laughing at their victory.
"WE DID IT!" Pinkie cheered, the others smiling as they hugged one another.
But as they began to celebrate, a tiny wisp of black smoke came out of the floor where Shroudheart had been standing. The black smoke rose up, soon flying up to the ceiling and out one of the few holes the magical blast hadn't fixed.
An hour later, Celestia and Luna returned to the castle as the magical shockwave had blasted much of the Everfree Forest back away from Ponyville. This had allowed Starswirl to remake an old ward he had used in the old days to keep the forest from going out of control, though he would need to return every now and then to recharge it. And when the sisters arrived in the throne room, they were surprised to see all but Flash tending to Discord.
The Spirit of Chaos was currently laying on a bed of pillows, the girls doing their best to keep him comfortable. "Aw..." Fluttershy asked, "Do you want more juice?" Discord thought about this while Grand, Lightning, Iron, Heart, Soul, Spike, Starlight, Soarin, Wild and Rogue arrived in the throne room.
"Only if it's not too much trouble," he told her weakly. "And it's red. And it has one of those little umbrellas. And two cherries. No, no, actually, make it three. And maybe, uh...some donuts?" Fluttershy smiled at this.
"I see you've made yourselves at home," Celestia laughed as the others turned to them. Flash was especially glad that Heart and Soul were okay, also hoping Scootaloo and everyone else was fine while the rest of the Mane Seven's significant other rushed over to embrace them.
Twilight was the only one who didn't seem to be happy as she moved over to the Royal Sisters. "What's wrong with Twilight?" Soul asked Flash, but Flash had a feeling they were about to find out.
"Celestia! Luna!" Twilight looked down in shame. "I know what you're going to say. I should have called on you as soon as I knew how dangerous it was. A good leader knows when to ask for help, and I didn't. And because of me, the Tree of Harmony was destroyed. Equestria deserves somepony much better than me as its leader."
Everypony frowned at this, only for Celestia to speak up, "You're right." Everypony went wide-eyed at this, only for Celestia to add, "About one thing." She placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "A good leader knows when to ask for help, but a great leader has the courage to admit when they've made a mistake and the strength to make it right. Today, you've proven to me beyond any doubt that you will be a great leader."
Twilight teared up at this, "W-w-will be?"
Celestia and Luna shared a glance, then smiled back at her. "Luna and I have decided it may have been a bit unfair to thrust this upon you without giving you the time you need to prepare."
Twilight sighed in relief, "Thank goodness! I really wasn't ready!"
"Not ready?!" They all spun around to see Discord jump to his feet, the draconequus marching up to them. "So, Twilight's not taking over?! This was all for nothing?! I pretended to be very hurt and gave one of the most convincing speeches of my-"
"PRETENDED?!" Flash, Twilight and Fluttershy screeched.
"Of course!" He nodded, "You don't think some two-bit Flash ripoff could actually hurt the Lord of Chaos, do you?"
"Seriously?!" Flash yelped, "Do you have any idea how hard it was to summon my Sacred Light back there?! It almost felt like my brain exploded!"
"Oh, you're fine. Anyway, as I was saying, I pretended to be very hurt to convince you that you didn't need anything but yourself to be the incredible leader I know you can be." He turned to Celestia, "And now it's not happening?!"
"It will," Celestia nodded. "But when she's ready." Discord slithered back.
"How can she not be ready?!" He walked up to one of the windows. "What a waste of a perfectly wonderful speech!" He slid the stain glass window up...somehow, and stepped through it. "Ugh! Honestly, I don't know why I even bother." He slid the window back down as the others looked one another over.
"Ugh! So, he could have ended the whole Shroudheart thing whenever he wanted?"
Fluttershy giggled at this, "But he didn't, because he cares."
"Maybe," Iron growled, "But what would have happened if you all didn't...figure out whatever the heck you did to beat him?"
"I'm sure he would have jumped up to save us," Flash scratched his head, "At least, I'm pretty sure he would have."
"That's Discord for ya," Rainbow shrugged.
"He sure has a weird way of bein' supportive," Applejack added.
"Super odd dude," Pinkie giggled before Discord appeared in one of the window images.
"I heard that!" He yelled before disappearing, everypony turning to one another before laughing.
"Also," Luna then spoke up. "Truth be told, Celestia and I had fun today fighting side-by-side with Starswirl for our home. It's been years since we've gotten to do what you girls do. You all make it look so easy."
"Easy?!" Flash asked, "Trust me, none of what we do is easy." He turned to Twilight, "How many times have we almost died since moving to Ponyville?"
Twilight rolled her eyes, "You're the one that mostly takes up that list."
Everypony laughed as Grand stepped up to them, "Luna's right though. You seven have done some amazing things. Even when everything seemed hopeless, you all pulled through and did the impossible."
Most of the girls blushed at this while Rainbow flew down next to Twilight. "Well, we are kind of an awesome team."
"Every adventure is heart-pounding, but so rewarding." Fluttershy added.
"I'm up for anything," Pinkie bounced up beside her, "As long as it's with all of you!"
Rarity giggled at this, "Life certainly hasn't been dull since we met."
"Nowhere else I'd rather be," Applejack chuckled.
"Yup," Flash nodded, "We just gotta learn not to be so cocky. That's what let Shroudheart get the upper hoof on us before."
Twilight nodded as well, "We are pretty incredible together. And we would do anything for Equestria. I guess I know that when the time comes, as long as we're together, we probably-" Her friends all cleared their throats, "We definitely got this." The others pulled Twilight into a hug, everypony else smiling at the heroes that had once again saved Equestria.
"Well," Grand sighed, "We'd better make sure everything's back to normal. That magic wave got rid of the dark magic and crystals, but Canterlot and Ponyville probably has some damage we'll need to fix."
The others all nodded and began to walk out of the throne room, Flash being the last one to do so. And as he did this, he thought back on his fight with Shroudheart, the pony's words echoing in his mind. "Just watch. Beat me and you will be forced to face the one who hates you the most. And that hatred will fuel them into becoming the greatest threat this world will ever see. And in order to defeat him, you will have to give up everything that's precious to you. You'll give everything up to save this world and make your friends feel despair like they've never felt before."
Flash held up his hoof at this, "The greatest threat..." he whispered. Something was coming. Something powerful...and dangerous. The pegasi shook his head at this, "No. I won't let that happen."
Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom...
Cozy Glow had Tirek, Chrysalis and herself in a circle holding hooves...and hands.
"Now," she explained to the annoyed pair, "I'll say something nice about centaurs. Tirek, you say something nice about changelings. And Chrysalis, you say something nice about ponies!" This statement got a look of disgust from the former queen.
"NEVER!" She shrieked, pulling her hoof out of Tirek's hand. She would have pulled herself free of Cozy, but the filly had quite the grip on her despite her size.
But before she could yell anything else, though, hoofsteps made them turn to see Grogar step into the room. "Let us hope the three of you will be enough for my plans."
Chrysalis finally freed herself from Cozy, "And what of this Shroudheart?"
"Did he succeed?" Tirek asked, only for Grogar to let out a quick laugh.
He stepped up to his crystal ball, which activated and showed the scene where Shroudheart was obliterated by the Mane Seven. "I'd say he gambled...and lost! But at least he can serve as a warning to those who doubt continuing with my plans." He got up onto the table and glared down at them, "Unless any of you have doubts."
"Uh," Tirek gulped, "Not I."
"Nope!" Chrysalis shook her head.
"I'm good!" Cozy finished.
"Then we shall join forces and work together to bring Equestria to its knees!" He laughed, the three all joining in but not being as enthusiastic as Grogar. After a few moments of this, the goat stopped laughing, the three doing the same, "Now, our first objective should be to acquire more power. I'm not as strong as I once was, and if we intend to defeat these ponies, we'll need to increase our strength."
"How do we do that?" Cozy asked.
"I'll find the solution in time. Until then, you three continue to work on your teamwork. We'll need to be a well-oiled machine if we wish to be victorious." Cozy smiled while Tirek and Chrysalis glared at him.
Cozy then scratched her head, "I'm still curious. At what point did this Shroudheart go off plan?" The others turned to her, "He said his plan was originally Sombra's from another timeline. But when did he go off the plan? Did Sombra not return and destroy the Elements? Or was Shroudheart planning something else?"
"Huh," Tirek stroked his beard, "Good question. That's the problem with time related plans. You never know when or where something is different. I guess we'll never know."
"I'm sure his plan was to simply destroy the Elements," Grogar added, "If he set anything else up, I don't see what it could be. He's gone now, and we'll have to focus on stopping those ponies without him."
The Flash clone huffed as he continued to dig in the dirt. As he did this, he glanced around at the area he was in: A giant valley with large mountains on one side and a stream running through it. In the middle of this valley was the stump of a giant tree, the rest leaning against one of the mountains.
He had been digging for who knows how long, the clone terrified of what might happen if he didn't find what he had been sent for. As such, the area was full of holes he had dug. Shroudheart had told him the object he seeked shouldn't be too far buried, so he had opted to keep making new holes whenever he dug deeper than his shovel was long.
"Is it even here?" He asked as he thrusted his shovel into the dirt. But as he did it this time, he felt it hit something that wasn't soil, rock or even a root. This caused his eyes to go wide and pulled the shovel out, instead getting down on his knees and digging away at the last of the dirt with his hooves. And when he did, he found what he had been looking for.
It was a mask. A black mask with red trim on the sides and red eyes.
As he picked it up, he could feel the dark power coming off of it. "Is this really supposed to be the instrument of Sentry's destruction? How?" But as he said that, something flew down from the sky. The black shadowy smoke.
The clone saw it for a split second, only for the mist to fly into the mask. He gasped and dropped the item, which fell to the ground as the dark energy within it began to pulse. The clone backpedaled, only for it to start floating into the air.
"What?" The mask floated until it was level with his face, the red eyes beginning to glow. He expected it to start talking, but instead...tendrils of black shadow exploded out of it, the pegasi gasping as he tried to run. But before he could do anything, the tendrils wrapped around his neck, legs, wings and even his tail, completely binding him in place.
"AHHHH!" He screamed as the tendrils began to retract and pull him toward the mask. "NO!" But it was no use. He couldn't even move, "Please...don't do this!" The mask began to turn around, the clone's face getting closer as he tried to squirm, "NOOOOOOOOOO!"
An explosion of black smoke completely engulfed him at this, only for it to instantly fade. And what now stood there was a pony in black armor, with holes in the back that looked like a pair of wings should stick out through. Its face was that of the mask, but with a long red horn sticking out of its forehead. Its legs were black, but turned red at the hoof while red fur could be seen around its neck and chest. And instead of a tail, it had a bunch of black chords with red blades at the tips.
Smoke exploded out of the holes at this, the fog morphing into different shapes. One moment they were a pair of black wings with three red metal spikes sticking out of them, then they transformed into three fingered claws with the spikes on the tips. They changed several more times before reverting back into the wing shapes as the eyes began to glow. The figure looked itself over as memories began to form in his mind. Memories of his master, of merging with him in an attempt to save him. Of being defeated by that fire child and his master promising his rage would never die.
New memories then appeared, memories of being born from a tree and living in constant fear. Of being trapped out of time and watching multiple universes play out. Of being pulled out of time and recruited to destroy Equestria. Of being destroyed by the power of friendship
Throughout these memories, one thing was apparent. Hatred. Hatred for a pony and a thirst to destroy them. And he would. "Flash Sentry," he growled. "I will take away everything you love."
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Very interesting and unexpected ending.
I am rather surprised Grogar or Discord chose to not recruit guys like Doom Raizer, Storm Blade, Big Score, Banshee, Shake Shocker etc since they are Flash's greatest enemies (okay, maybe not Big Score but you get my point)
Here's highlights
Well, that was rather anti-climax to be honest with you.
Huh… I thought he said… oh no…
Oh no…
NOT HIM!!!!!
Aw… great!
It's the return of Deluded One's pet! Armalum! 
so does that mean the clone is no more just taken over?
our heroes and villains all in danger
This is quite the heart stopping moment.
Will you also be able to continue with "Flash Sentry's EQG chronicles?"
Wow, nice ending! I believe Doctor Strange put it best:
So heading into the final season, we not only have the Legion of Doom to deal with, but now Shroudheart has somehow resurrected Armalum! I guess that's why he needed Mean Flash's help; to dig up Armalum's mask and serve as his new body. What happened to him was pretty freaky though. That's practically a fate worse than death.
I wonder what Armalum will have planned for the future? Will he try to get revenge on his own, create his own villain team-up, or try to somehow bring his master back to life?
Quite the cliffhanger for the final season here with Junkpile's return (seriously can't he just stay dead???!!!
) Also I had a feeling mean Flash was gonna be cannon fodder by Faker regarding digging out that damn mask & sadly I was right! 
Can't wait to see how wild S9 will turn from here on out Banshee! 
For final Highlights! :
Oh don't worry Faker, you will be failure-gagging in a few!
Oh ho ho hooooo.......Bookhorse called you out on your bullcrap Faker!!!
Oh heck no!
And here's Junkpile!!!!
Looking forward to what happens from here on out, great work Banshee!!!
It kinda disgusts me that she basically said what I've been saying this whole time.
Wait. So, Shroudheart's consciousness merged with that of Armalum and those of his previous hosts? Gee, that's not creepy.
Great story. I’ve spent the previous weeks/month rereading the previous entries and I cant wait to see what happens in season 9
I am looking forward to Season 9. I just have one question: are you going to do an upgrade on the canon "Sweet and Smokey" episode? Because I swear that was the worst of that entire season. At least I don't like it. And I'm sure you can make a version a hundred times better. I just hope you plan on making one. If not, it doesn't matter. It is your story and you decide. Great job and best of luck.