Characters / The Cult of Shadow (The Flash Sentry Chronicles)

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The Cult of Shadow is a mysterious group that gets revealed late in the series and has many plot twists tied to its members, all spoilers on this page will be unmarked, including twists in War of the Lost City and The Movie. You Have Been Warned!

The Cult of Shadow

A Cult who have been hiding in the shadows for some time, and come out of hiding in War for the Lost City.

General

A mysterious organization that Cold Steel had been investigating for some time.

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• Breeding Cult: Shadow’s parents, along who knows how many other members of the cult, spent centuries conceiving children in the hopes that a child will be born on the right date, at the right time, so that they could perform a sacrificial ritual on the child so that they would serve as the vessel for the Corrupted Shadow.
• Cult: They are called "the Cult of Shadow", the same cult Cold Steel has been investigating.
• Establishing Character Moment: Each member gets one at the end of "The Lost City", with the exception of Gold Hoof who by that point is dead, where they all hunt down a Canterlot Royal Guard that accidentally discovered their base. Each one gets a moment to demonstrate their personality and powers while sadistically torturing the guard. This is downplayed with the members who had appeared before this point, Shadow Corrupter, Tempera and Armalum, but they still get the chance to demonstrate their abilities just like the others.
• Foregone Conclusion: Since Flash and his team return to the Canterlot Gardens at the ending of A Flash of Darkness, it means that their defeat is inevitable.
• Greater-Scope Villain: They’ve been hiding in the shadows for a good while. They’re mentioned earlier in the series, and don’t make a proper appearance until season 5.
• Heel–Face Turn: Tempera, Wingill, Terror Card and Salix fully cemented their redemption in "Lingering Shadows", when even after they have their memories restored, they realize what a monster Shadow was and are ashamed of what they did while serving him, preferring their lives in their village.
• I Hate Past Me: After Tempera, Wingill, Terror Card and Salix find out about their past with the cult and serving Shadow Corrupter, and have their memories restored, they are all horrified at what they had done for that insane pony thanks to their new clarity and happy lives.
• Insecure Protagonist, Arrogant Antagonist: They are the "Arrogant Antagonist" to Team Flash's "Insecure Protagonist". While Team Flash each face their own personal problems and insecurities on their adventure together, the cultists are each arrogant and confident in their own abilities, believing they can handle anything that gets in their way. This is especially true for their leader Shadow Corrupter, who constantly boasts to be the strongest in the world and his minions believe he can handle anything and will do anything to please him. This reaches its peak in the climax of War of the Lost City, where every single member is shocked and refuses to believe that Shadow lost the final battle against Flash, and Shadow, in a fit of rage over this, tries to attack Faust and drain her of her magic before she can seal his powers away, believing he can stand up to the god of creation herself, only to be easily beaten and punished for his actions.
• Karma Houdini: Discussed. While Faust believes she did the right thing by teleporting them away and erasing their memories, others like Cold, Trixie, and Soarin believe they are getting off scott-free and believe that they should have been brought to justice.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Faust erases their memories after she teleports them to another one of her focal points, except for Shadow Corrupter and Armalum, since they were already teleported out of the city.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Before Shadow Corrupter took over, they treated their children well. However, because they spent centuries trying to conceive a child at the right date at the right time, so that they would serve as the vessel for the Corrupted Shadow, it was more so that their children would remain loyal with the cult, in the hopes that they and/or their children would be more successful in conceiving a child at the right date, rather than out of moral obligation or standards.
• Rousseau Was Right: After losing the war against Team Flash, all the members except for Shadow Corrupter and Armalum are stripped of their memories by Faust, except their own names, in the hopes that without knowledge of their past or influence from Shadow, they can be given a second chance at life. This is played straight with most of them, when they are briefly seen again in a flashback in "A Returning Storm" they are all happy with their lives now and have been given a home by a group of kind ponies. The only subversion is with Storm Blade, who refuses to accept not knowing who he is and leaves the others to find out who stole his memories, while destroying innocent lives in his quest when they are of no use to him. Even when the other cultists get their memories back in "Lingering Shadows", all it does is make them horrified at who they used to serve and what they did, recognizing Shadow as a monster and grateful to Flash and Faust for giving them a second chance away from Shadow's influence.
• Religion of Evil: A flashback reveals that they worship the Corrupted Shadow, and spent centuries trying to conceive a child at the right date and time so that they could be used in a sacrificial ritual to serve as the vessel for the Corrupted Shadow.
• Two Girls to a Team: Tempera and Terror Card are the only female members of the cult.
• Vagueness Is Coming: When Cold Steel tried to interrogate some of their members, all they said was that a shadow is coming to consume the world.
• Would Hit a Girl: All of its male members are perfectly willing to fight mares like Trixie and Ruby.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • None of them have any concerns about attacking Shining Soul when she is selected to fight for Flash's team. This is especially clear after it is revealed she is an alicorn and several of the cultists, including Shadow Corrupter, discuss what to do with her later.
  • A flashback shows them performing a sacrificial ritual on Gleaming Path when he was only thirteen years old, so that he would serve as a vessel for the Corrupted Shadow, turning him into Shadow Corrupter.

Shadow Corrupter

A dark unicorn that leads a mysterious cult.

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• Ambition Is Evil: He desires gaining more power for himself, such as the alicorn powers of Shining Soul.
• Ambiguous Situation: After his defeat, he tries to retain his power by having Armalum latch onto him, but Faust simply teleports him away and takes away the Corrupted Shadow from him. However, Faust does raise the possibility he may have died, but is ultimately unsure of his fate.
  • Banshee531 confirmed he is officially dead, and this was eventually confirmed in-universe when Armalum returned and declared he would avenge his master's death. However, this was a case of Lying Creator on Banshee's part as he wasn't dead and he was Void the entire time.
• And This Is for...: Before he defeats Cold Steel, he declares his victory for his fallen minion Salix.
• Arch-Enemy: Flash has made many enemies throughout the series, but Shadow Corrupter stands out among them as the worst one and the one truly deserving of the title, serving as his Evil Counterpart with the exact opposite personality and powers as him, but also holding the biggest personal grudge against him, seeking revenge on him for what happened at the Lost City of Faust. By the end of The Movie, he blames Flash entirely for everything he has lost since meeting him and for always getting in his way, despite Fire Heart being the one to land the finishing blow against him, due to Fire Heart being Flash's apprentice. Shadow declares his eternal hatred for Flash and swears that someday his hatred will be the reason for Flash's death, even if he isn't the one directly responsible for it himself.
• Ascended Meme: Many fans, angered by his various crime and narcissistic view of himself, nicknamed him the "Deluded One". When Team Flash returns to Canterlot and their friends learn about the adventure they just had, Rainbow Dash ends up using this exact same nickname on him, and everyone else supports it.
• Bad Boss: Zig-Zagged. On the one hand, he is perfectly willing to kill his collaborators like Gold Hoof when it suits him and he doesn't show much affection to his Cult members either. On the other hand, he doesn't seem to kill his Cult members for failing him numerous times (though this may just be Pragmatic Villainy) and he does have some level of care to his minions like when he was genuinely shocked by Salix's first "death."
• Be Careful What You Wish For: After he refused to accept his defeat, he tried to forcibly take Faust’s power for himself. It backfired, and as a result, he and the other cult members were teleported away and had their memories erased.
• Berserk Button:
  • When Cold Steel asks him about Weeping Wood Hollow, he drops his normally stoic demeanor and flies into a rage, telling him to never mention that place again.
    • A flashback reveals why he hates the mentioning of Weeping Wood Hollow. The Cult that he now leads had originated there, and it used to be his hometown. He was born on the day that the Corrupted Shadow was killed, and his parents and townspeople had groomed him to serve as a vessel for it in a sacrificial ritual.
  • He also does not like the concept of luck. When he is lamenting the randomization of each match causing him and his followers to fight blind, he reacts violently when Salix says they might get lucky in the future and fight opponents they are strong against.
• Big Bad: Of the entire War of the Lost City arc and so far, he's been the most persistent enemy Flash has faced.
• Brought Down to Badass: He is stripped of his Corrupted Shadow powers shortly after arriving in the Lost City of Faust. Even without them though, he proves to still be a dangerous and deadly enemy, still having access to other abilities like his decaying magic and ability to drain magic from others, and managed to defeat both Cold Steel and Ruby Scarlet in separate fights.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: He was only thirteen years old, when he became the leader of the Cult of Shadow.
• Dark Messiah: He was groomed by the Cult of Shadows to serve as a vessel for the Corrupted Shadow, and he views himself as the most powerful pony in Equestria, and thus the one who must rightfully rule over it.
• Dead All Along: When he was just thirteen years old, as Gleaming Path, his parents and the other members of The Cult of Shadows used him in a Human Sacrifice ritual to try to revive the Corrupted Shadow. He was seemingly revived with his powers shortly after the ritual, but it is revealed in "Genesis" that the soul in the body no longer belongs to Gleaming Path, since he was filled with negative emotions when he died a brand new soul born from those negative emotions took his place.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He seems incapable of the idea of using his powers for anyone but himself. He laughs at Springer for the very idea of protecting his friends, stating that power is the only thing that matters in the world and it is pointless to risk your life for others. He also doesn't understand The Power of Friendship, when Springer says he would give up all the power he has if it would ensure the protection of his friends.
• Evil Counterpart: To Flash Sentry. Not only were their childhood exceptionally different, and their powers are exact opposites, but even Sombra describes the two of them as being "two sides of the same coin". While Flash constantly makes connections with everyone around him, helping them with their problems and becoming the best version of themselves, Shadow simply finds others when they are at their lowest and keeps them there, so they have no other choice but to join him and help him accomplish his own goals.
• Fatal Flaw: His belief that he's "the strongest pony in Equestria". While he certainly has some degree of skill, enough to defeat Cold and Ruby even without the Corrupted Shadow, he believes that if there is any form of powerful or unique magic then it can only belong to him or nobody. This constantly leads to him underestimating his opponents and often paying a high price for it.
• Foil: To Flash Sentry. While Shadow Corrupter had a loving life as a colt, Flash Sentry’s life as a colt was a living hell. Then, their lives were reversed, for whereas Shadow’s life took a downward spiral after his parents performed a sacrificial ritual on him to serve as the vessel for the Corrupted Shadow, Flash’s life began picking up after he was adopted by the Sparkle Family.
• Given Name Reveal: When Flash sees a vision of his past he sees that he was called "Gleaming Path" as a kid.
• He Knows Too Much: He kills a guardspony because he and his team had found their base, and he could not risk him telling the rest of the guard their location.
• Human Sacrifice: A flashback reveals that he was born on the day that the Corrupted Shadow was killed, and that for thirteen years, his parents and the ponies in his hometown had groomed him for a ritual so that he would serve as its vessel.
• Immune to Fate: Terror Card cannot see his future because as he puts it, he creates his own future.
• It's All About Me: He believes himself to be the "most powerful pony in Equestria", because he believes that only he has the right to have power. The source of this mindset comes from how he was groomed to serve as a vessel for the Corrupted Shadow, after he was told that it was his destiny.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • After winning two battles in a row, first against Cold Steel, then Ruby Scarlet, his luck finally runs out when he tries to steal Shining Soul’s power, when she’s told by a mysterious voice to let go of her fear and unleash her full power on him, knocking him out, and securing another victory for Team Flash.
  • When he gets his power back after his team wins their fifth victory, he tries to pick a fight with Springer while Wingill and Salix fight against Soarin and Trixie respectively. Despite that, he still loses when Springer regains his Mega mode, showing that he still needs to pay karma its due.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: He enslaved Sombra by wiping out his memories and forcing him into his service by binding him to Armalum. Given that Sombra was willing to enslave the Crystal Empire and scarred Flash Sentry, he's among Shadow's least sympathetic victims.
• Knight of Cerebus: One of the few antagonists who's permanently killed off other characters and is generally a darker villain than most in this series.
• The Leader: He is the master of the mysterious cult that Cold Steel has been investigating.
• Leave Him to Me!: After regaining his full power, he decides in the next match to handle all the enemies on his own, ordering Wingill and Salix not to help him. He realizes his mistake when Springer ends up stronger than he thought and tells the two of them to handle the others while he deals with Springer.
• Mad Scientist: He is constantly said to be performing various experiments, even on his own followers. Some of these include the process that gave Wingill the ability to control water and somehow resurrecting King Sombra to act as Armalum's newest host.
• Mana Drain: Shadow reveals he has the power to drain others of their magic similar to Tirek. He attempts to drain Soul of her alicorn magic for himself, but the attempt fails when Soul unleashes the power of her magic and blasts him.
• Manipulative Bastard: It is shown and discussed that the reason his cultists are all so loyal to him is because he finds others when they are at their lowest point in life and manipulates them into staying that way, making them think that he is the only one they can turn to in life so they will do anything to stay of use to him. It is shown though, once most of his cultists have their memories of him completely wiped and live happy lives away from his influence, they can all recognize him for the monster he truly is once they remember him.
• Narcissist: He has a very high opinion of himself. In his first proper appearance, he boasts to a royal guard that he is "the most powerful pony in Equestria". He constantly boasts that he controls his own destiny, and that he is the only one to deserve powerful magic like Soul's alicorn magic. Also, a flashback shows that the cult used to be called the "Cult of Shadows", whereas it is now called the "Cult of Shadow", implying that Shadow renamed the cult after himself after he became its leader, so he would be the main focus of it rather than the Corrupted Shadow.
• Never Accepted in His Hometown: Inverted. A Pensieve Flashback by Flash reveals that Weeping Wood Hollow was his hometown, and it was where the Cult of Shadows had originated, and he was born on the day that the Corrupted Shadow was killed. For this reason, his parents and the townspeople had groomed him to serve as the Corrupted Shadow’s new vessel through a sacrificial ritual.
• Never My Fault: In "A Thief's Tale" he blames Armalum for his loss against Springer in the previous chapter, saying that he's wasting magic on him due to trying to keep Armalum in control over Sombra's body.
• Not So Invincible After All: He is shown to be a very dangerous threat. He has the Corrupted Shadow, a power capable of matching Flash's Sacred Light, and even without its help he is shown he can defeat tough opponents like Cold Steel and Ruby Scarlet. His image of being invincible and "the most powerful pony in Equestria" is ruined though when he tries to drain Shining Soul of her alicorn magic. When Soul unleashes her full power on him, she sends him flying, knocking him out and giving him his first true defeat. Then, after he gets his full power back after his team wins five times, he picks a fight with Springer, only for Springer to once again gain his Mega mode and fight him evenly, until Springer ends up winning by finding the orb.
• Nothing Personal: Before he kills him, he tells the guardspony that he has nothing against him, just that they simply can’t let anyone else find out about their operation.
• Not So Stoic: He tries to present himself as an imposing force to be reckoned with, and has little to no reactions to Tempera’s advancements on him. However, he is shown to have a temper in War of the Lost City, and he constantly acts as though he is the only one to have power.
• Pet the Dog: Though he doesn't appear to return Tempera's feelings for him, when the two of them first met he gives her a month to prove she can be useful to him after she tells him how her parents never loved her. He also seemed to be worried for her when he sees the lengths she goes to for him during her fight with Springer in "A Picture of One's Life" and is much softer toward her in the next chapter despite her defeat compared to how he is toward Armalum.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Despite his ruthlessness, his disposal of Gold Hoof, and his willingness to harm children, he treats his subordinates well. Though it's more so that they remain loyal to him rather than out of genuine care.
  • When Armalum needs a new host, Tempera at first thinks that he’s going to put his mask on her. He instead tells her to make a scribble beast for Armalum to use as a host instead of placing it on her face, since he still needs Armalum to win their battle against Flash Sentry and his allies.
• Self-Made Orphan: It revealed in a flashback in the chapter "Bonds", that after his parents performed a sacrificial ritual on him so that he would serve as the Corrupted Shadow’s vessel, when he came back to life with its power he proceeded to kill them, along with the rest of Weeping Wood Hollow for their involvement in the ritual. Given that he was only thirteen when they performed the ritual on him, they pretty much had it coming.
• Smug Super: Shadow sees himself as "the most powerful pony in Equestria", and he wants everyone to know it. He makes it clear when facing against Flash's team that he sees them all as beneath him, especially when he gets his Corrupted Shadow powers restored.
• Sore Loser:
  • After he loses to Springer, despite having regained his full power, he is enraged over it and takes it as a personal humiliation. He particularly blames Armalum for it, saying he has been "wasting magic on him", and warns him he better be able to do his job the next time he is chosen to fight, or else "that's it for him".
  • After losing to Flash in the final battle, he tries to take Faust’s power anyway, even after she warns him that doing so would have consequences.
• That Man Is Dead: Armalum claimed that he died after the war in the Lost City of Faust, however, he eventually revealed to be Void himself. He however declares that "Shadow Corrupter" died when Faust stripped him of his powers, in the sense that they were what made him who he was. He originally named himself after his powers, the Corrupted Shadow, but since they were removed he felt he could no longer hold that name and named himself after what he had now become without them, a "Void".
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • He is caught off-guard by Flash's trickery in their first encounter, when instead of Flash attacking him directly like he expected Flash instead destroys the mammoth he was riding on, sending him crashing to the ground and forcing him to fight Flash directly.
  • After finding out that Shining Soul is an alicorn, he plans to take her magic for himself by any means necessary, and believes it will be easy since she is just a kid. After stalking her throughout one of the battles he eventually catches her and tries to drain her, only to end up getting blasted by her instead, and lose the battle when Soul grabs the orb after blasting him.
  • After regaining his full power he believes himself to once again be unbeatable, and in his next battle tries to fight Springer, Soarin, and Trixie all by himself, ordering his allies not to help. He realizes his mistake when Springer regains his Mega Mode but still loses the fight.
  • After losing the final fight to Flash, he actually tries to drain Faust of her magic in a fit of rage. Naturally this does not go well for him.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When Flash sees a vision of Shadow's past, when he was "Gleaming Path", it was shown that he used to be pretty nice and had several friends that he had fun hanging out with. But then when he was only 13 years old, his parents and the townspeople tried to use him in a sacrificial ritual to turn him into the next vessel for the Corrupted Shadow. The trauma from this event changed him into the villain he is today.
• Uncertain Doom: After he lost the final battle against Flash, he refused to let his Corrupted Shadow be sealed away and tried to attack Faust and drain her of her magic. Faust easily overpowers him, and as punishment removes the Corrupted Shadow from him instead of simply sealing it, an act she said previously could end up killing him. Armalum attaches himself to Shadow in an attempt to help him retain any of his power, but Faust simply teleports them both away. Faust can't confirm if he is dead or alive after this, leaving his fate ambiguous.
• Unseen No More: He spent his first few appearances in darkness, with none of his features visible or described in the narration at all. He finally makes a proper appearance in the ending of "The Lost City".
• Villain Takes an Interest: He knew that Cold Steel was investigating his cult, but was unconcerned by him at all. Once he learns about Flash Sentry though, he immediately becomes interested enough to have all his minions summoned as soon as possible.
• Where I Was Born and Razed: He wiped out the entire village of Weeping Wood Hallow, including his parents, reducing the Cult of Shadow to just himself and the members listed in this section.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Since he was born on the same day the Corrupted Shadow was destroyed, his cultist parents and fellow townspeople put him through a ritual to make him become a vessel for the Corrupted Shadow. They ignored his protests and pleas against this, cutting him numerous times with daggers to initiate the ritual. All of this when Shadow was just at the age of thirteen.

Tempera

A unicorn that serves Shadow Corrupter.

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• Abusive Parents: Her parents never showed her any love at all growing up, making her desperate to find some pony to love one day, and eventually made an Arranged Marriage for her without consulting her just add more connections to themselves.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: She is deeply in love with her master Shadow Corrupter, and is constantly trying to flirt with him.
• Arranged Marriage: Her parents had her betrothed to the son of a business associate, an earth pony named Haut Monde. However, when Tempera first met him to get to know him better, he quickly got on her bad side, insulting her talent and having a Stay in the Kitchen attitude. It isn't long before she throws a drink in his face and calls off the wedding herself.
• Art Initiates Life: She can use her magic to bring her drawings to life.
• Co-Dragons: Shares this with Armalum. They are both the first cultists revealed and are both the most loyal towards Shadow Corrupter. Tempera has also been by his side as he has recruited several others into the cult.
• Decoy Damsel: A flashback in "A Thief's Tale" shows she acted as this when she and Shadow first met Wingill. She pretended to be caught in a raging river heading for a waterfall, and Wingill used his abilities to "save" her. Once she was out though, she shows she was never in any real danger, since she could teleport, and was only pretending to be in danger because her master wanted to see Wingill's abilities for himself, and get close enough to restrain him so they could talk without him flying away.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: In "A Picture of One's Life", she realizes that due to Shadow ordering her back to bed earlier that morning, she didn't have time to restock the pages in her sketchpad, and only had four pages to work with in the fight.
• Face Death with Dignity: A non-fatal subversion. When Armalum needed a new host, she expected Shadow Corrupter to place his mask on her when he told her that he needed a volunteer. Shadow Corrupter instead tells her to create a scribble beast for him to use as Armalum’s new host.
• Femme Fatale: She is described as being a tall and slender unicorn and a very attractive mare in general. She acts playful around her enemies, often taunting them and speaking happily about what she and the others will do to them. Though the one pony she focuses her seductions on is her master, Shadow Corrupter.
• Forceful Kiss: When Shadow Corrupter orders her to gather the rest of his forces with Armalum, she gives him a long goodbye kiss on the lips before leaving. Downplayed slightly since Shadow Corrupter is unmoved at all by it and keeps a dull uninterested expression for the duration of the kiss, neither resisting nor returning the gesture.
• Freudian Excuse: On top of receiving little love from her parents, her skills as an artist were constantly belittled by both of them and her designated husband, Haut Monde. As a result, she became extremely eager to prove herself and her art skills to any pony, even if it means becoming a servant to Shadow Corrupter, who only gives her a modicum more attention than her parents did.
• Friend to All Children: Her backstory shows that she was this before meeting Shadow Corrupter. She used to entertain foals with her magic at birthday parties, and after she ran away from home it was revealed that the foals she entertained were the ones who reported her missing, not her own parents, because they noticed it had been several days since any of them had seen her. Unfortunately she is no longer this, since she is perfectly willing to harm or even kill Fire Heart and Shining Soul under orders from her master, despite their age. She is shown to have reverted to this after Faust mind wiped her of her time with Shadow and the other cultists though, with her once again using her magic to entertain foals, and later took over as a teacher when the old one retired.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Her main motivation. Due to growing up in a loveless family with her Abusive Parents, she longed for a stallion who would love her and she could love in return. Unfortunately, her main target of infatuation became Shadow Corrupter, and despite him being not interested in her romantically, she believes if she can prove herself useful enough to him he will eventually reward her with his love someday.
• Ignored Enamored Underling: She is completely head over heels in love with her master Shadow Corrupter, but while he has occasionally shown appreciation for her devotion, he has never actually returned her affection, mostly just ignoring her flirting and brushing her off.
• Insane Troll Logic: She insists that her master Shadow Corrupter loves her, because she knows what it is like to not be loved by someone. Since she grew up with Abusive Parents who never loved her, and Shadow keeps her around because she is useful to him, then to her being useful to Shadow is the same as being loved by him.
• Jerkass Realization: She was disgusted when she learned the way she acted, especially her crush on Shadow, after regaining her memory.
• Logical Weakness: Her magic brings her drawings to life, but they are still just made of ink. If that ink is heated up enough it dries and hardens, meaning her creations become dust. So naturally, anyone with fire magic can easily dispose of anything she can make. They also dissolve if they get wet, as seen when one that Armalum is using as a new host body falls into a lake and turns to mush before dissolving in a few moments.
• Love at First Sight: Combined with Rescue Romance, she first meets Shadow Corrupter when he saves her when she was being attacked by a manticore. She instantly falls in love with him upon seeing him, and devotes herself to him.
• Mad Love: She grew up in a loveless family, and became desperate to find someone who would love her and she could love in return. She eventually met Shadow Corrupter, when he saved her from a manticore, and fell for him instantly. She then devoted herself entirely to him, wanting to prove her worth so he would keep her around, believing that if she proves herself to him then he will reward her by loving her back.
• Mook Maker: She constantly uses her magic to bring her drawings to life and have them fight for her and the other cultists. She can make several kinds of minions, each with different names and abilities, and it is shown that even if she is knocked out the minions she creates continue to fight without her.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Her flirting with Shadow Corrupter includes her getting in his personal space by hugging him tightly, trying to cuddle with him, or deeply kissing him goodbye.
• Single-Target Sexuality: She only has eyes for Shadow Corrupter. Her origins in "A Picture of One's Life" show that she spent years fantasizing about finding a stallion she could love and would love her in return, but when her parents attempted to have an Arranged Marriage for her, it had disastrous results. Shortly after running away from home, she met Shadow Corrupter, and he became her obsession ever since.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: She will happily declare that she will kill anyone her master tells her to, as long as it makes him happy. When she and the other members of the cult are hunting down a single royal guard after killing the rest of his squad, she claims it was rude of him to run off while she was having fun with his friends, and refers to the drawings she brings to life to attack him as his playmates.
• Undying Loyalty: She'll do anything for Shadow Corrupter, even have herself become Armalum's new host if Shadow Corrupter wanted.
• Yandere: She is so obsessed with Shadow Corrupter she not only will happily kill for him, she doesn't even like any other mares being near him. When the cult first arrives in the Lost City of Faust and she sees Trixie and Ruby among Flash's team, she says she would be happy to keep the two of them away from her master, calling them both "skanks". A flashback in a later chapter also has her dismiss Terror Card and call her a "husky" when the latter asks to join the two of them.

Armalum

An armored creature that serves Shadow Corrupter.

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• Affably Evil: The armor itself speaks in a fairly civil and matter-of-fact tone.
• Ambiguous Situation: When his armor gets knocked off, its revealed that he’s Sombra. However, there are two problems with that: the first being that he told Ruby Scarlet that he’s been serving Shadow Corrupter for eight years. The second being that Sombra was killed in the Crystal Empire. It's eventually revealed that it is Sombra in the armor, with Shadow Corrupter having resurrected him, but the armor itself is alive and is using Sombra's body as a vessel.
• Big "NO!": He lets one out when Flash completely destroys him.
• The Bus Came Back: After a year of absence, Armalum came back in The Movie as one of Storm King's henchmen and planning to avenge his master's death.
• Co-Dragons:
  • Shares this with Tempera. They are both the first cultists revealed and are both the most loyal towards Shadow Corrupter. Armalum was also the first one to join Shadow's cult and has thus been with him the longest, and is the only cultist who doesn't have his memories wiped by the end of the war.
  • In The Movie, he serves this role to the Storm King, along with Tempest and Void.
• Dragon Ascendant: In his debut appearance he was one of Shadow Corrupter's Co-Dragons, and when he returns in The Movie, he continues to faithfully serve Shadow, now Void, as his only remaining cultist. He ends up being revived at the end of Evil's Uprising and spends Season 9 as a central antagonist, even being more dangerous than the Legion of Doom.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He tracks down the other former cultists after learning where they should be from Storm Blade, so he can restore their memories like he did with Storm's just to drain the hatred they should feel for Flash. He believes they should naturally feel hatred for Flash for what he did to Master Shadow, stripping them of their memories, and forcing them to live the "pathetic lives" they have been living since their defeat in the Lost City. However, after they regain all their old memories, they still have the new ones they made since they started living in the village, and with this new clarity instead of feeling hate for Flash, they are horrified by what they did when serving Shadow, recognizing him as a monster, and all believe that Flash defeating him and Faust wiping their memories was the best thing to ever happen to them, since it gave them a second chance at life. Armalum is just confused and enraged by this revelation, declaring them all traitors.
• Freudian Excuse: After an unknown war that Armalum participated in, he was left trapped in a temple for thousands of years, unable to move without a host. When Shadow found him, he provided him a host to regain a body and finally given some power, in which it's implied that this was the catalyst for why he wants more power and thus works for Shadow.
• Final Boss: He effectively becomes this for the entire series. He serves as the main antagonist of Season 9 and the last dangerous foe Flash faces. Though he is working along side the Legion of Doom during this, it is clear that he is far more dangerous than the three of them and simply uses them as a means to an end, and while Twilight and her friends face them Armalum calls out Flash and the Royal Knights to face him personally. Armalum even lampshaded this right before he and Flash finally begin their final battle.
  Armalum: Strange. I don't think anypony would have guessed I'd be your final opponent.
• Glass Cannon: He becomes this after he loses Sombra as his host. He is forced to use a scribble beast that Tempera creates for him as a substitute, and although he still has his powers while using it (if significantly weaker than when he had Sombra) he is also much easier to defeat due to now having the same weaknesses as all Tempera's scribble beasts, going down very quickly in all the fights he participates in afterwards due to his weaker host.
• A God Am I: After he defeats Faust and absorbs her to gain her power for himself, he declares his intent to replace her as the Top God of Equestria, and rule it the way Shadow Corrupter always intended to. He takes to boasting about how he is a God afterwards when he faces Flash and the Royal Knights.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • His attempts to gain hatred from the other cultists totally backfired when him giving them their memories back caused them to turn against him and cut their ties with the Cult of Shadow.
  • He created a pocket dimension in order to torment Flash, but it ends up becoming his undoing when Flash destroys him and his armor pieces scattered around his pocket dimension that will eventually collapse, and thus, he will fade from existence permanently.
• I Owe You My Life: Implied to be the reason why he's loyal to Shadow Corrupter. Years ago, he was trapped in a temple and left to collect dust, until he was found by Shadow Corrupter, allowing him to bind to a host and earn some level of freedom. He seems to serve Shadow Corrupter out of gratitude for this, given that he vividly remembers that moment as the time he became his servant.
• Killed Off for Real: In both of his first two major appearances, he was presumed dead only to reveal to be alive or resurrected by an outside force. When Flash defeats him in "Ending of the End", he not only drains him of the Corrupted Shadow, the force that was keeping him together, he destroys his body and has the pieces of his armor scatter across the pocket dimension he created. Since the dimension will collapse any moment and anything inside of it will cease to exist along with it, it is 100% guaranteed Armalum won't be coming back this time.
• Last of His Kind: He doesn't explain most of the details of his origin, simply summarizing that he was created centuries ago by a powerful group of creatures trying to refill their dwindling numbers, and he is most likely the last of his kind now.
• Reforged into a Minion: When his armor is knocked off it is revealed that he’s Sombra. Shadow Corrupter eventually reveals that he traveled to the outskirts of the Crystal Empire and found Sombra’s horn. It is confirmed that he was somehow able to bring Sombra back to life by experimenting on his horn, and manages to keep him alive by using the Armalum armor on him.
• Removed Achilles' Heel: His main weakness is that he needs a host to survive, meaning that he is only as strong as his host and is constantly battling for dominance over their body. He has tried to remove this weakness several times.
  • When he is first seen, he is revealed to be using Sombra's resurrected body as a host, but since Sombra has no memories it means that Armalum has complete control over him. This doesn't last when Flash restores Sombra's memories, causing him to fight Armalum for control, and eventually breaks free from him with Flash's help.
  • Shadow has Tempera make an alicorn scribeast to serve as a new body for Armalum, one that won't fight him for control. But although this is certainly powerful, it is easily destroyed, making Armalum a Glass Cannon.
  • Upon his resurrection in Season 9, he reveals he no longer needs a host at all, due to now being powered by the Corrupted Shadow that Shadow passed on to him, as well as The Power of Hate.
• Sharing a Body: Armalum is actually just a sentient mask that needs to be put on someone else to use their body. Normally his mind struggles with his host's mind for control over the body, but since he was put on Sombra, who didn't have any memories at the time he was resurrected, Armalum could easily suppress his personality and have full control over the body himself.
• Sinister Scythe: His weapon of choice is a scythe. A hint that Armalum's host is Sombra.
• The Symbiote: It is revealed that Armalum is not the one inside the armor, but the armor itself. It can't do anything on its own and requires someone to wear its mask to be able to do anything, using their body as a vessel. He reveals in Season 9 that after Shroudheart revived him, he no longer needs a host, now being powered by the Corrupted Shadow, as well as the hatred that Shadow, Shroudheart, and Mean Flash all felt for Flash Sentry.
• Taking You with Me: He attempts this on Fire Heart. While the two are fighting, after Armalum has lost Sombra as his host and is now using a scribble beast Tempera made for him, Heart manages to push him into the lake, where the water will dissolve his body. Armalum quickly grabs Heart, pulling him in with him. Though his body dissolves and he is eliminated before Heart can be eliminated too, Heart is momentarily de-powered, due to being unable to use his fire powers after getting wet.
  Armalum: You brat! I'll take you with me!
• Team Killer: Granted, the "team" in question has been disbanded for quite some time, but once he makes his return in Season 9, he intends to track down the other former cultists and restore their memories. But instead of letting them join him on his mission to kill Flash and avenge Master Shadow, he instead just intends to drain them all of their hatred of Flash to power himself, leaving them in critical condition. Storm Blade was his first victim, and he makes it clear he intends to track down the rest of them and do the same thing to them.
• Undying Loyalty: He is described as Shadow Corrupter's most loyal servant, sacrificing his own life to empower him when he's nearly defeated for the second time in Canterlot. He remains loyal to Shadow even long after his death, where after he is resurrected by Shroudheart and empowered by the Corrupted Shadow, he sets out to fulfill Shadow's goals for him, starting by fulfilling his Dying Curse and killing his Arch-Enemy Flash Sentry.
• Villainous Breakdown: He suffers a satisfying one when Flash starts draining his powers away from him, feeling fear for the first time in his existence.
• Villainous Legacy He serves this for "Lightning Siege". He has been dead for almost a year by this point, but his actions in Season 9 lead to the creation of Phantom Magic after he temporarily absorbed Faust's consciousness, allowing Overthrow to discover it and use it to become the main villains of the story, in their attempt to overthrow Twilight as ruler.
• Walking Spoiler: It is hard to say anything about him without revealing that he is actually just a living suit of armor and is controlling the body of Sombra as its host, or that he is the true final antagonist of the series.
• You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: He inflicts this on Storm Blade in Season 9. After restoring his memories, he makes it clear he does not intend to break him out of prison so he can join him in avenging Shadow, he instead only did it to restore his hatred of Flash so he can drain it. He plans to do the same thing to the other former cultists as well.
• You Know What You Did: Ruby Scarlet seems to recognize him, but he insists that he has no idea what she’s talking about, as he had been in Shadow’s service for eight years. Then comes the reveal that he may or may not be Sombra.

Wingill

A hippogriff that serves Shadow Corrupter.

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• A Storm Is Coming: He uses these exact words when explaining that Equestria is doomed to be conquered someday, if not by Shadow then by something else. This also serves as foreshadowing to the Storm King.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: He left Seaquestria to finally be free and see the world, promising his mother he would return after he defeats the Storm King, intending to find someone strong enough to help him do it. He eventually meets Shadow Corrupter and joins the Cult of Shadow, believing he has finally found someone who can help him. In the process though he ends up becoming a villain himself and inflicting pain on innocent lives, just like the Storm King did to him and countless others. Soarin even calls him out on this.
  Soarin: I don't know what happened to you, but you're wrong. Instead of stopping the thing that made you scared, you became that thing.
• Big "NO!": He gives several when Cold Steel begins freezing the lake in the Lost City of Faust, while Wingill's inside it. He gives out a long one once the lake is completely frozen, and him along with it.
• Brought Down to Badass: When he leaves Seaquestria in a flashback, he took a shard of the Pearl of Transformation that broke off in his attempted theft of it, intending to use it to transform into anything he wants whenever he wants. But Queen Novo uses the pearl to seal the power in the shard, making it so Wingill can only transform between his hippogriff and seapony forms. That being said, he still manages to make excellent use out of this limitation.
• Cursed with Awesome: When Shadow Corrupter experimented on him to increase his strength, it was suppose to give him something that he wanted. Instead it gave him the ability to control water, and it is noted that Wingill hates water. Despite this though, he does manage to use his new powers to great effect.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He might be working for an evil cult, but he still loves his mother. Before leaving Seaquestria, he promised his mother he would be back one day, after the Storm King was defeated.
• The Exile: In a flashback, when he prepares to leave Seaequestria, Queen Novo warns him that if he leaves he can never come back, out of fear of him leading the Storm King back to them. Though he says he is completely okay with this, he also promises his mother he will return one day when the Storm King is defeated.
• Foil: To Princess Skystar. Both are young hippogriffs who want to return to the surface world and defy Queen Novo to do so. However, Skystar joins with the heroic Mane 7 to stop the Storm King and remains relatively obedient to Novo, while Wingill turned to outright villainy by joining with the Cult of Shadow to accomplish the same thing.
• Freudian Excuse: Wingill's home in Mount Aris was conquered by the Storm King and he joined with Shadow Corrupter to live a life of freedom instead of being confined in Seaquestria.
• Harmless Freezing: He is frozen solid by Cold Steel during a battle against him, when Cold freezes an entire lake solid with Wingill inside. Wingill is teleported back to the castle shortly afterwards, signaling his defeat.
• The Leader: He is briefly stated in "A Returning Storm" to be the leader of the amnesiac cultists.
• Making a Splash: He gains the ability to control water after Shadow Corrupter experiments on him. However, he discovers that he can't use his powers in his seapony form.
• Underestimating Badassery: When the cult first attacks Flash's team in the Lost City of Faust, he attacks Flash himself. He thinks he has the Defender completely beat once he drags him into the lake, where he has the advantage against him. Instead, Flash uses his Sacred Light power to one-shot Wingill, sending him flying out of the lake and crashing into a nearby building.
• Villainous Legacy: He stole a shard of the Pearl of Transformation when he escaped from Seaquestria and used its power to constantly change between his hippogriff and seapony forms. When Flash and his friends eventually arrive in Seaquestria and Flash explains what happened to Wingill and how his shard worked after so long, it inspired Queen Novo to split the pearl into shards and share them among her subjects, allowing them to change back and forth from the two forms themselves.
  Flash: Well, I guess some good came from his betrayal.

Terror Card

A unicorn that serves Shadow Corrupter.

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• Arch-Enemy: She quickly establishes herself as one to Trixie.
• Blessed with Suck: She hates her ability to see into the future, because she always sees something bad happen to someone and is never able to prevent it, thus leading her to believe that the future is set in stone. She joined Shadow Corrupter because she is unable to see his future, due to him saying that he decides his own future.
• Didn't See That Coming: She is shocked when she finds out that she is not the only pony who has the power to see into the future, after Trixie explains how Flash's mother has a similar ability to Terror.
• Foil: To Trixie. They both have magic that they originally used for entertainment, with Trixie's being based on that of a stage magician with illusions and slight of hand, while Terror was more like a Fortune Teller, using magic cards based on the Tarot and having magic that lets her see into the future. But while Trixie started out very weak and unskilled with magic, wanting to be "great and powerful", Terror hated her own abilities because of how much misery they brought her. This eventually led to Terror becoming an Arch-Enemy to Trixie when they met, constantly targeting her when they were selected for the same fights.
• Freudian Excuse: Her ability to see the future alienated other ponies from her, so she joined Shadow Corrupter to relieve herself of that power.
• Given Name Reveal: Her real name is revealed to be Glitter in flashbacks, but when she joined Shadow Corrupter and Tempera she told them to call her Terror Card, believing she would never be respected by them with her real name.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: She is just as vulnerable to the negative effects of her magic cards as her enemies, just as they could potentially gain positive effects from them instead of her, all depending on what position the cards land in. She tries to minimize this by looking into the future to see the outcome of the card effects.
• I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Downplayed. While her feelings for him are unknown, she follows Shadow Corrupter not because she can’t control him, but rather its because she can’t see his fate.
• Punny Name: Her name, Terror Card, is a pun on the Tarot card deck (pronounced Tare-Row).
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives a brutal one to Trixie after separating her from the rest of her team and delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle to her, telling her that all she can do is hide behind her shields and illusions and can't do anything on her own, and thus has no future due to having no strength of her own to push forward.
• Seers: She has the ability to see into the future, similar to Misty Veil. She uses this to see the outcomes for each of the effects of her cards and uses whichever is best for the situation and avoid any negative effects the cards might give her. However, this ability still has limits, only being able to see about a minute into the future while fighting.
• Tarot Motifs: Her Establishing Character Moment has her using several cards to cast her magic on a royal guard and talking about fate, like a Fortune Teller.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She has incredibly strong magic, but no actual fighting skills and relies entirely on her ability to see into the future to gain the advantage. Once she can no longer do this, she is reduced to shooting randomly at Trixie's illusions, and her Tarot themed magic cards end up backfiring on her by strengthening Trixie instead of weakening her.
• Worthy Opponent: She finally sees Trixie as this when Trixie defeats her once again in their third battle, admitting that she is strong and telling her to never forget that.

Searing Salix

A kirin that serves Shadow Corrupter.

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• Affably Evil: At the start of War of the Lost City, he speaks in a casual, almost friendly, tone to his opponents. However, as he begins to lose numerous times to Flash and his allies, he begins to drop his friendly demeanor and becomes more aggressive.
• Alliterative Name: Searing Salix
• Butt-Monkey: He is the cultist that struggles the most against the heroes. He occasionally gets a few good moves in, but he mostly just ends up getting defeated whenever he is chosen to battle and is shown to be very clearly outmatched against the more experienced Royal Knights. He even lost to a child twice! Then got defeated by the other child immediately afterwards. And for added humiliation, the second child was given fire magic, which Salix can use in his Nirik form, to help him fight against him and the other cultists. Poor guy just can’t catch a break.
• The Exile: A flashback reveals that he was forced to leave the kirin village because of his refusal to take the Vow of Silence.
• Freudian Excuse: He was exiled from his village for refusing to enter the stream of silence, so he joined Shadow Corrupter to freely express himself. His ability to turn into a nirik is also why he doesn't join Flash and his friends because he fears that his ability to destroy everything around him will cause everyone to dread him and attempt to imprison or take his powers away.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The other members of the cult all find him annoying due to his Motor Mouth tendencies, to the point where they all shout at him to shut up. Though despite being annoyed by him they all still care about him, as shown when Salix is Reduced to Dust during a battle with Flash's team and the other members of the cult are all shocked by this, ranging from anger to sadness.
• Laughably Evil: He may be unrepentantly malicious, but his Motor Mouth tendencies and Butt-Monkey status make him the most lighthearted member of the cult.
• Motor Mouth: Similar to Autumn Blaze, he goes on and on when talking. He talks so much he even tries to make conversation with his enemies at first, and when told to shut up he starts ranting about how he understands and will be quiet before actually being quiet.
• Playing with Fire: Like the Kirin from canon, he can transform into a Nirik, a creature of pure fire. He is sent after Cold Steel for this reason, since his fire powers would give him the advantage against Cold's ice magic.
• Reduced to Dust: He is the first “casualty” of this in War of the Lost City. After taking too much damage from Flash he fades to dust in front of his teammates. He shows up by the end of the next chapter though, showing that he and the others who suffered from this didn't actually die, they were just teleported to pods in the castles where they were healed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When he stops talking then something is clearly wrong with him. When he is injured during a battle with Flash, Soarin, and Trixie, Terror Card and Storm Blade practically beg him to keep talking to make sure he's okay.
• Unskilled, but Strong: His fire magic makes him dangerous due to how powerful it is, but that is all he actually has going for him. His only "strategy" in fights is to blast everything with fire until it melts. Anyone with actual technique to their skills can easily identity his weaknesses and lack of skill and exploit them, outclassing him despite his powerful magic.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He believes he has the advantage against Cold Steel due to their respective powers, bragging that in video games fire always beats ice. Cold proves him wrong, saying that if he had payed more attention to science than video games, he would know that if ice is cold enough not even fire can melt it.

Storm Blade

Image courtesy of RainbowPotatoPony.

A pegasus that serves Shadow Corrupter.

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• Awesome by Analysis: Because he was apparently trained by Grand Hoof he can recognize anyone else who was trained by him due to recognizing the way they fight. He can predict several of Flash's moves because of this and thus is a difficult opponent.
• The Chosen Wannabe: His dream was to become a Royal Knight, but when he failed his test, he became increasingly impulsive, always acting without thinking, which got him assigned to guard duty. When the mission that he and Noble Banner were assigned went south, he stole the Celestic Gear that was meant for Noble, and joined the Cult of Shadow.
• Cool Shades: He wears a light-blue visor at all times, and it is revealed in "Discarded Honor" that this visor helps him see, due to him suffering from double-vision without it.
• Elemental Powers: Just like the Royal Knights, his Celestia Gear lets him use elemental magic. However, his gear uniquely lets him use three different elements, wind, water, and lightning; unlike all the others seen thus far that can only use one.
• Evil Former Friend: Once had a genuine friendship with Noble Banner. Not so much after he stole his Celestic gear and staged his death.
• Evil Is Petty: When he makes his return in "A Returning Storm", he is sown to be searching for anyone who can tell him who he is and plans to make whoever stole his memories from him "pay with their lives". In his search for answers though, he ends up destroying anything that isn't connected to his past. When he comes across one village full of innocents, when they say they don't know who he is he destroys the entire village and kills everyone in it since he "has no use for them".
• Exact Words: He took Grand and Celestia’s advice to not hesitate too seriously, which caused him to act increasingly impulsive without thinking of the consequences.
• Face–Heel Turn: Its revealed in the chapter "Dicarded Honour" that he was a candidate to be a Royal Knight, but his hesitation caused him to fail his test. He then became increasingly impulsive, always acting without thinking, and when he and Noble Banner were sent on a mission to apprehend criminals hiding in the Badlands, they were ambushed, and Storm Blade took the Celestic Gear that was meant for Noble Banner, and used it to kill him, run away, and eventually joined Shadow Corrupter.
• Faking the Dead: He did this both for himself, and his Celestic Gear. On a mission with Noble Banner, after stealing his intended Celestic Gear, and using it to murder the bandits they were after, Storm killed Noble Banner and used one of the burnt corpses to act as his own body. He also left behind a damaged sword, for others to think it is the Celestic Gear that was meant for Noble.
• Freudian Excuse: The whole reason why he became what he is today, is because of his failure to become a Royal Knight due to his indecisiveness, so he now believes that he needs to act on impulse, even if it means giving into his more selfish desires and brutal tendencies.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: During a mission with Noble Banner, while the two are pinned down by bandits, Noble's intended Celestic Gear is transported to him, but Storm stole it from him and used it to kill the bandits. Then, he realizes that going back to Equestria will mean giving up the Celestic Gear. So he murders Noble and fakes his own death to keep the Celestic Gear for himself.
• A God Am I: Upon his return in "A Returning Storm", his Sanity Slippage gets to the point where he declares himself to be a god, thanks to his Celestic Gear giving him "the power of the heavens".
• Given Name Reveal: His real name is Swift Wind. His weapon’s name is Storm Blade.
• Hero Killer: It is revealed that he is the one who killed Noble Banner, and did it so he could keep the Celestic Gear he stole from him.
• Honor Before Reason: When he battles Flash in "Seven on One: The War's End Part 2", he tells Tempera not to interfere and let him deal with Flash himself, saying that it is a matter of pride. This is despite the fact that the entire cult with the exception of Shadow had been battling Flash by that point and Flash had already managed to defeat four of them.
• Nervous Wreck: He used to be this when he was just a guardspony. Unfortunately, his indecisiveness in a stressful situation prevented him from officially becoming a Royal Knight and thus Storm began to reject his nervousness, deciding to act in impulse for every situation. Too bad said decision leads to his path to villainy.
• Never My Fault: Downplayed. While he does admit that his indecisiveness cost him his chance to become a Royal Knight, he mostly blames Noble Banner for pushing him to become a Royal Knight, which lead to his failure.
• Police Brutality: A flashback showed him beating up a child despite the fact that he had already subdued him.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: He was placed on guard duty after he had caused property damage, and had ruthlessly beaten up civilians despite the fact that they either cooperated or weren’t doing anything illegal.
• Rejected Apology: When Noble Banner tried to apologize for pushing him to become a Royal Knight after he used the Celestic Gear to kill the bandits who had them pinned down, he flew into a rage, and used the Celestic Gear to kill him.
• Shadow Archetype: To Flash Sentry. Both knew Grand Hoof and faced their own personal challenges, but unlike Flash, Storm never had the will to overcome his struggles and he chose to betray Grand Hoof, becoming more willing to harm others, including children.
• Start of Darkness: His failing of the test to become a Royal Knight was the beginning of his downfall to joining the Cult of Shadow.
• Single-Stroke Battle: He and Flash end their battle in "Seven on One: The War's End Part 2" this way. Storm loses.
• The Strategist: Since he was in the Royal Guard he knows all kinds of strategies and fighting tactics. When he first joined the Cult of Shadow, he taught Shadow everything he knows about strategy to give him better control and focus over his powers.
  Storm: I can teach you to defeat a hundred opponents with the power you would normally need to beat ten.
• Token Evil Teammate: He serves this to the amnesiac members. While all of them like their new lives despite their loss of their memories, Storm on the other hand refuses to stay with them and accept not knowing who he is, and went off find someone who can tell him, while terrorizing innocent civilians.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He was originally a nice guard who was friends with Noble Banner and training to be a Royal Knight. But after he failed his test due to his own hesitation, he ends up taking a turn for the worse. He stops hesitating all together, never thinking his actions through, thus causing a lot of property damage, and he becomes a jerk towards Noble Banner, blaming him for his failure due to making him take the test before he was ready. Despite Faust having erased his memories, he becomes even more of a jerkass when he returns in "A Returning Storm".
• Villains Never Lie: During his confrontations with Flash he reveals that he once trained under Grand Hoof too. Cold tells Flash that this must be a lie, since nobody had ever heard of Storm previously. This is put into question when Storm reveals he knows Cold Steel, saying he was there when Noble Banner presented him to Celestia and Grand. It turns out that most of what Storm told them was true. He did train under Grand and was training to be a Royal Knight. He only lied about having met Cold Steel previously, but he did know all about him because he heard about him from Noble Banner, and so he knew what buttons to push to get a reaction from Cold.
• We Used to Be Friends: He was once friends with Noble Banner, both of them joining the guard at the same time and both dreaming of being Royal Knights. But when they took their final tests at the same time, only Noble passed, due to Storm's hesitation. This caused Storm to become bittern angry at Noble, for making him take the test before he was ready. Thing reach a climax in their final mission together, where Storm rejects Noble's apology to him, steals the Celestic Gear that was intended for Noble to use himself, and then kills Noble so he can keep it.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He may be evil, but he does seem to have a genuine desire to improve the military of Equestria, planning to strengthen them and teach them to never hesitate.
• We Will Meet Again: At the end of "A Returning Storm", he has been defeated by the heroes and locked away in the Crystal Prison, with his namesake weapon confiscated from him and placed in the Hall of Knights with Noble Banner's statue where it would be protected. Despite all this though, he hisses darkly to himself that the blade belongs to him, and one day when he is free from the prison he'll make the world suffer.

Other Members

Members who work for the cult, not part of the main circle.

Gold Hoof

A unicorn who terrorized a town at the edge of Equestria.

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• Asshole Victim: He gets killed by his ‘business associates’ before Flash and Cold can arrest him. Not that anypony would shed a tear over him though.
• Bad Boss: Implied given that his minions are fearful of him and is verbally harsh with them.
• Bait the Dog: A storm hit Rapid Growth's village that destroyed their boats and ruined their trading business. However, Gold Hoof offered to mitigate the damage by charging a small fee to use his ferries to travel. Initially, it seems that Gold Hoof had saved the village, but when they began using the ferries to transport materials to rebuilt their boats, he began charging higher prices, putting all of the villagers in debt and sending his thugs to harass those who couldn't or refused to pay.
• Expy: He’s based off of Gato.
• He Knows Too Much: His ‘business associates’ kill him before he is arrested to prevent him from spilling any beans about them.
• Killed Off for Real: One of the few antagonists killed in this series.
• Loophole Abuse: He keeps Cold and Flash from arresting him, because while they know he’s committing illegal activities, they have no witnesses who are willing to come forward.
• Sacrificial Lamb: He is killed by the end of his first appearance, all to establish how dangerous the cult is and the lengths it will go to in order to keep its secrets.
• Sadistic Choice: He tries to get out of the mess with Cold and Flash "legally" by putting them and the entire village into one. He orders them all to sign documents that absolve him of all the crimes he has committed and force them to hand over their village and land to him, also making it so the Royal Knights can't arrest him. If they refuse to sign he'll blow up the bridge the town has been building with the paper bombs he planted on the support beams and have his thugs drop a child, Swift Growth, into the sea, making it so they can't save both of them at once. His plan fails when Cold Takes a Third Option, destroying the documents he tried to make them sign, freezing the support beams solid to render the paper bombs useless, and having Flash save Swift when he was dropped by the thugs.
• Villanous Gold Tooth: He's described as having a golden tooth in his mouth, and he uses fear to prevent witnesses from coming forward about his illegal activities as he terrorizes a town at the edge of Equestria.
• Villains Want Mercy: When his ‘business associates’ activate a kill switch on him, he pleads for Cold and Flash to save him.