This story is a sequel to Flash Sentry Chronicles: Friendship Games
The Lost City of Faust, a place of great mystery. Flash has travelled far, seen much and survived untold situations in his quest to find it. And now, his destiny awaits him and the friends that stand by his side. But his is not the only destiny waiting there. An army of darkness draws near, lead by a pony Flash seems to know. New friends, new enemies and new challenges await, as a great war is about to begin. Who will win? Who will lose? And who will survive?
Edited by KingJoltik
Chapters (25)
Deadpool called. He wants his fourth wall-breaking powers back.
Awww, those poor children.
And now, my big boom senses are tingling.
Well, sounds like they already had quite the time getting to the city. I feel like there's something Fire Heart and Shining Soul are hiding, but hopefully the two of them will be okay, and are the two Flash and the others bring back to Equestria.
I was surprised by the army that the cult has at the end. Forget outnumbering Flash's team seven to six, they are throwing everything they have at them. This really is going to be a war.
Pretty good first entry into this adventure, the way magic works inside the city plus the new foal & filly introduced here has already made it very interesting. Plus it seems our band of heroes are gonna be very busy next chapter with that army that just came in, let the action begin!!!
And now for some highlights :
*hides a banana-cream pie behind his back* Hey Soarin, can you look over here a sec & close your eyes?
At least the damage will be contained inside the city for some upcoming big fights it seems!
Good to see Trixie breaking the ice around Cold for those kids, so to speak!
I'm curious about what happens inside there as well, hope we get to know later!
To be fair being the firm voice of reason for a neurotic alicorn princess it's a full-time job in itself!
Understatement of the century there Cold!
Looking forward to the next chapter Banshee, bring on the action!!!!
Good story but makes me wonder how many chapters are going to be in this one?
10134395
Everything but the kitchen sink! LOL
What a great way to begin this story! With a troublesome cliffhanger for the end of the chapter too.
Welp… it started
Let's see. Flash + Soarin + Trixie + Ruby + Cold + the 2 kids = 7. Also, Springer would make eight, but he's not a pony.
I see references to Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo and Captain America: Civil War. Also, man, that ending.
Why do I feel as if the two forces stepped into some kind of a game designed to determine the fate of the world? 
10145207 I can see the Teen Titans reference, unintentional, but what's the captain america one?
Oh boy, quite a few match-ups right out of the gate! That sudden twist that the power beneath the city pulled on both heroes & villains at the end there caught me unprepared, feels like quite a big chess set's been prepared!
Some highlights :
Hmmm nice nod to Naruto there, sweet!
Fallen Knight maybe?
lol yeah, get off your high mammoth there Shadow!
Hmmm interesting...............again!
High-stakes game of Risk incoming!!!!
Things are gonna heat up even more next chapter by the looks of it, can't wait!!!!
10145285
I believe it's the part where Falcon tells Spidey about not that much talking during a fight!
10145398 Oh yeah.
Huh, so the entire army was just Tempera's drawing brought to life. That's pretty clever. We finally have an official name for this mysterious cult, the Cult of Shadow.
The first clash between the cult and the heroes was pretty epic, and showed the heroes are going to have their work cut out for them. Though they aren't completely outclassed, as we saw with Flash using his Sacred Light to complete turn the tide and actually surprised Shadow for a moment.
The ending scene really surprised me though. Shadow Corrupted saw the city in a dream just like Flash huh? With that in mind, and how both sides were given castles, like home bases, it almost feels like something brought these two teams together on purpose to have them fight. Kinda like how the Beyonder brought a team of heroes and villains together on Battleworld in the Secret Wars. Though it seems whatever is going on, Heart and Soul are at the center of it, whether they know it or not.
I think you mean "birds"
You probably wanted that to be a period.
10145396
It might also be a nod to Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokeyo, or any villain that has the power to bring drawings and art to life.
10145398
Yeah I saw that too. That was an awesome reference.
… um lindworms are almost universally rendered as wingless and flightless...
Beyond that, well this is getting really intense. Love how Cold cut off the Kirin... goof heaven does Autumn Blaze run her mouth off. If I were to guess, Armalum sees to be some sort of remaking of Sombra by Shadow.
Not sure how much I can buy Wingill of being able to transform, as in the source matter the Seaponies could only return to their Hippogriff forms thanks to Queen Novo's pearl, so how can he transform back, let alone to transform between the two?
10145649 The winged serpent is a quetzalcoatl. The Lindworm is the spinning creature, based of my favourite Huntik titan.
10145652
I don't recall you mentioning a quetzalcoatl being summoned. That being said, it would only be called a coatl as Quetzalcoatl is a name.
But still how does Wingill transform, and how can the Kirin talk... unless he left the village before the stream of silence he must have had some blind dumb luck to find the Foal's Breath...
Unless you're going to say Shadow used his corrupting shadow magics to... the immortal works of Cpt. Picard "Make it so."
10145662 All will be explained, in time. Though you might want to go back and read their into scene in S5
10145664
I find what was offered back in their intro in Season Five severally lacking in a explanation that should justify (in my perspective) buying into the premise of the hippogriff/hippocampus transformation at whim without a piece of the pearl, which was not broken apart until the start of season 8 and the ability of a kirin to speak like a chatty-katty without having lost it due to the Spring of Silence and the astronomical odds of finding Foal's Breath after as present, or (in your perspective) suspending my want of disbelief.
And that doesn't address that this takes away from the uniqueness of Skystar and Silverstream (with regards to Wingill) and Autumn Blaze (with regards to the Kirin...)
10145683
I read over the intro also. Winggull was wearing something that sounds eerily similar to Silverstream's pearl fragment. It may or may not be a pearl fragment, but I have a feeling that it's going to be plot relevant.
10146126
That only raises more questions and compromises the explanations offered thus far all the more.
10146562
Just let Banshee play with his toys. I'm sure the pieces will come together eventually.
The only question I have is "Why?" Why a game? This kinda sounds like something Discord would do if he wasn't reformed.
Oh boy, looks like in this game you play for keeps!!!!
With what we just saw I sadly believe some of our heroes may experience Salix's fate, gotta wonder where he went though cause there's no way he could be really gone!
Think I have more questions than answers at this point, we'll see how this goes from here on out!
And now, show me the highlights!!!
Well sorry *Mr jerkface* you don't get to decide this time around!
lol yeah, 'nuff said!
Now that's handy!
Hmmm so no ancient power from both sides, interesting!
Okay that was shocking, not sure how I'm gonna handle it when it's one of our heroes in the same situation cause you know it's gonna happen!
Let's see what the next chapter will bring, still hoping that the ones that disappear from this game are somehow safe!
Wow, that was epic! Something is playing a "game" with the heroes and villains, but the question is for what? It would have been a lot easier if the teams were told rules or something for these "matches" but I guess they'll need to figure that out as they go. That weird orb Soarin found won his team the match, so I guess that's the key to winning instead of just fighting aimlessly. Now they just need to figure out what the orb is for.
Interesting that Flash can't use the Sacred Light, and Shadow can't use his own powers, I'm guessing he has the Corrupting Shadow. I wonder what happened to Salix though? Reduced to dust Infinity War style is not a pretty way to go. But is he really dead or just eliminated from this game? Admirably, it was kinda sweet that his teammates were shown to still care for him despite being annoyed by him. Even Shadow seemed a bit shocked at his fate.
I have a feeling that this was only round one...
10156987
That is a good question. Though I personally am also curious who or what is doing this, and how they are strong enough to restrain Flash and Shadow’s powers.
You're keeping a lot of info a secret from us readers. I mean, you've slowly been revealing these secrets in bits and pieces, but you're doing it in such a way that produces more questions than answers. Also, I don't know about the other readers, but I'm personally having a hard time seeing how all these bits and pieces fit together. At the rate you're revealing everything, just how long is this story supposed to be?
10168754 24 chapters
Called it, Armalum is a reconstructed Sombra.
And now I am calling it, Armalum will betray Shadow during this.
Actually yes, I did. I feel cheated now because it makes me feel like a chump for an emotional reaction to Cold's death... only to find out he's in a tube.
I can get a post game mass resurrection, but after each round... well there goes about 90% of the tension you established in this story thus far and since we know Flash is gonna help human Flash and there's the cliff hanger at the end or the Season 5 finale... so we know Flash and his team is gonna win, so there goes about 50% of the remaining tension, by the skin of their teeth, which left the how... so now there's like 5% of the tension you've established remaining... I hope that that 5% can carry the rest of the way... but I fear it will be like spreading butter over too much bread.
10168767
… nani?
10168767
I find it extraordinarily improbable that you can starch this out another 18 chapters before you warp it all up and truly maintain interest, because at some point the novelty of who squares off against who is gonna wear off, when we know that during the last round Flash is gonna go toe-to-toe with Shadow and will have learned much about what Shadow can do (devoid of his Corrupting Shadow powers)…
10168863 Yes, but Shadow's not the only opponent our heroes will have. Don't forget the other six creatures, who all have their own stories for us to find out about.
10168863
10168886
I'm honestly surprised he only has 18 chapters left. Between each villain's backstory, the reveal and possibly backstory of whoever is behind the game, and whatever the kids are hiding and their backstory, the story feels like he's working on a volume of The Lord of the Rings or something, especially since all that info is being revealed so slowly.
Well color me surprised! I had a feeling that anyone who "died" would be brought back but I was expecting it more towards the end of the story. At least now they know for sure there is no need to hold anything back.
However, I am a bit confused on what the spheres are necessary for. If they are just steel then what is the point in collecting them? I thought getting one would reveal a secret to the winning team, or maybe open a new area in their castle or something but it doesn't seem to do anything at all. I guess that is another question to be answered later. Now the heroes and villains have one win and one loss each, and they can see how powerful Shadow is if he was able to beat Cold. I wonder what got Ruby so surprised when she fought Armalum? Maybe he is a suit of armor brought to life or something? That's my best guess at the moment.
Well at least there's a reset button in this city after everyone is defeated.
Glad that we got some answers in this chapter, course it gave us some more questions to deal with. I still wanna know how these orbs that the 2 forces are fighting to obtain fit into the bigger picture that is this game. Glad that at least the ones eliminated aren't really gone (one less thing to worry about) Also just saw how big this story will go for!
...........................*grabs a glass of water & does a spit-take* SAY WHAT?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's gonna be a long couple of months!
And now mare & colts, have some highlights! :
Oh boy, seen enough Gundam anime to know you don't wanna temp fate like that!
Seriously, there's more to these 2 foals that meet the eye!
Ohhhhh struck a nerve there eh Shadow?
Doggone it, why you do this to me Banshee!!!
Called it, drat!!!!
That's the understatement of the century Salix!
*whew* at least that's one less thing to worry about, wonder if there's a limit at how many times you can heal someone in these things?
A very informative chapter, looking forward to the next one!
Keep up the great work & stay safe out there Banshee!
10168886
I didn't forget about the others... not even Heart and Soul and the force keeping them there
I am not sure how to feel about Storm being older than Cold... but let's see.
I still find the explanation given for why and how Wingill can go from hippogryph to hippocampus and back very lacking.
Also it's starting to feel like Terror Card is broken, her cards are starting to make her too powerful, now unless her cards started to negatively effect her, I just don't find it as something I can suspense my disbelief over.
As for the whole 'team work Vs chain of command thing'.... well Team Shadow got the orb and Team Flash is still as disconnected as before. Also as some that has been on teams... a chain of command is critical to make it run properly. This isn't a day off game of buckball, this is a 'war' over the city that onced housed the alicorns, there's considerably more on the line...
I really do hope that Cold chew's ear out for this lack of a chain of command, because if Flash did establish an order, then Cold could have been give the authorty to delegate and go from there.
I get some of Flash's idealism, but he needs a really really hard smack from reality.
10169052
Sadly, Autobots they are not.
This chapter sure left a sour taste in my mouth by how one-sided that fight was, not to mention making my blood boil at what happened to Trixie. Sure hope our team of heroes learn from this & turn things around next fight cause they sure went nowhere here, except for a late bit of teamwork at the end there.
As for highlights :
Hmmm foreshadowing much???
You do know that doesn't make it any better right Springer?
Yeah, can't see this going badly!
Really hope she gets her sorry flank handed down to her on a future chapter!
Other than that it was a painful chapter to go though, hoping things look up better for Team Flash from here on out!
Well that was certainly something. On one hand, nice to see Cold open up a little more to others, but on the other hand the villains now lead the heroes 2-1. Flash's team need to find some way of both working together and searching for the spheres at the same time.
There were a few interesting things in this chapter. The idea that Queen Novo put some kind of lock on the shards for the pearl is an interesting concept. Maybe that's why in the show the hippogriffs only ever used their shards to turn back and forth into sea ponies and their default forms, even though in theory they could change into anything they wanted. We also got another hint at Storm's past. If he knows who Cold is, then that might mean the idea that he was trained by Grand isn't a complete lie like Cold thought it was.
Terror Card however really made me frustrated. Everything that she said to Trixie and how she was just toying with her. It kinda feels like she is establishing herself as Trixie's main rival among the cultists, or even her arch-enemy. I hope Trixie gets a chance to redeem herself later, and get revenge on Terror.
Well she is certainly lustful, even when Shadow isn't around. Somehow I doubt that Shadow is the "rewarding type" though, and even if he was I doubt its the reward she has in mind.
10180425
Only if they are both talking about frequency, but from what has been shown, it's more akin to an average
10180495
Still doesn't explain how Wingill got a shard of the pearl when the thing is in tack during the movie.
10180613 Maybe in the canon universe, but this isn't the canon universe.
10180619
still find the explanations you have provided thus far to why Wingill can transform and the Kirin able to speak something extremely lacking, to the point that I can't( using your point of view) suspend my want to disbelief over it, or (as I would say) a premise you have failed to sell me on.
10180625
Oh my god do you do anything besides whine? Obviously Banshee is making changes from canon. It would be boring if everything was exactly the same. But all you ever seem to do is point out what you don’t like and how you either prefer canon or your own versions. You haven’t gotten off Banshee’s back about the Hippogriffs and Kirin ever sense Wingill and Salix were introduced. It’s called patience, try having some.
10180641
I'll let Lady Rarity explain this
10180643
I know what I said. You “whine” you don’t “complain”.
10180641
Not true, go through all my comments of all his works.
I am sorry that you hold Banshee to such low standards, when he's shown he can so easily surpass them.
I'm 1) electing to reply to you and 2) electing to continue reading this story, I do believe that shows patience.