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Tear Jerker / The Omnitrix Hero

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    Season 1 
"To The Power of Ten"
  • Flash Sentry's very first scene is him trying to help return a Cat Up a Tree to a young girl, only to fail when the cat scratches at him, nearly hurt himself in a fall, and have the Rainbooms easily accomplish the task themselves with their magic. Rainbow's bragging about their powers afterwards and telling Flash to leave the heroic work to the superheroes doesn't help.

"Animal Farm"

  • Shining Armor shows to be a Conspiracy Theorist about the aliens, despite them only helping people, and upon seeing Flash transform back from an alien interrogates him on what he is exactly, nearly arresting him. Thankfully he comes around by the end, but this shows there will still be people that don't respect or trust Flash despite his heroics.
  • According to Fluttershy, the animal hybrids all hate their new bodies, but are forced to help Animac because his machine is controlling them.

"Save The Trees"

  • The Reveal that the living trees are in constant pain from the pollutions and toxic waste being dumped into them.

"Power Outage"

  • Flash's new double-life as a hero has put a serious strain on his friendship with his bandmates, due to him showing up late for band practice or outright missing it. By the end of the chapter, when Flash misses a very important concert they were supposed to perform at due to saving Shining Armor and some other hostages from the Conductoids, and saving the city from a blackout, he is kicked out of the band. Shining Armor also feels responsible since he called Flash in to help.

"Like Looking in a Mirror"

"Rise of the Technovore"

"Bemusement Ride"

  • Trixie gets upset when the day of relaxation she tried to have for Flash is ruined due to the maintenance man causing chaos with his magic spanner.
  • Unlike many other antagonists the Rainbooms have defeated, the maintenance man is not redeemed. He never sees the damage he was causing, and is left to wallow in his misery after his defeat.
  • The chapter ends with Trixie wishing she could do more to help Flash and the Rainbooms. Feeling inadequate compared to them and if she had powers of her own she could help people the way they do.

"The Hunt is On"

  • Flash has a major It's All My Fault moment when Shining Armor is hurt during a battle with Vilgax's drones. It is the first time he has ever failed to save someone, adding to it they were indirectly hurt because of him and his fight and that it happened to one of his friends, who he has started to see as a brother.
  • Flash decides that as long as he has the Omnitrix, nobody is safe around him, since villains like Vilgax will keep coming after him. So he gathers up his things at home, leaves his phone behind, and runs away, leaving everyone in his life behind. As he gathers up his things, he says goodbye to his dog Banana, telling him he can't come with him.
    • Once Flash's parents realize he is gone they start calling all his friends trying to find him. Derpy calls Rainbow, who calls Fluttershy, who calls Twilight, who passes on the info to Trixie and Shining. What makes this worse is nobody but Trixie and Shining have any idea why Flash would run away in the first place, and the two can't share the info with them.
    • Trixie's What the Hell, Hero? speech to Flash for trying to stop Dynamo Danger himself and pushing away everyone that cares about him and wants to help him.
  • The final scene of the chapter has Flash telling Trixie and Shining about his vision of Vilgax, and he admits he's afraid of him now.

"Lady Masquerade"

  • The death of Queen Miragina Saintworthy. Though it is kept to a Gory Discretion Shot, she was still an innocent life that Devious took. When Sunset learns of her death through the memories of her son, Prince Aareus, she apologizes for what happened to her.
  • When Devious begins draining Trixie of her powers, a process that could potentially kill her, she is surprised when Diamondhead suddenly comes to her rescue. Trixie knew how annoyed Flash was with her ever since she became Lady Masquerade, and thought that if she was ever in trouble he would just tell her to fix it herself. Then she stops and realizes that isn't something Flash would do, it is something she would do, and realizes that's because he's a real hero, unlike her.
  • Trixie giving up the Luna Cat Medallion and her new powers to Prince Aareus. She sadly laments that she wanted her own powers for so long and once she finally got it she thought she could use it to be a hero, but instead she let the fame go to her head and was only doing it to get attention instead of helping people.

"Revelations"

  • Trixie laments that she can't make illusions anymore, and thus can't help Flash trick the Rainbooms when they start to realize he is connected to the aliens somehow. Later when Flash turns into Volt-Edge to go into the city and face Vilgax's drones, Trixie subconsciously touches her forehead where the medallion used to be, wishing she still had it so she could help. She is clearly still lamenting the recent loss of her powers and how she could use them to help her friends properly.
  • Flash is worried that he is going to have to come clean about the Omnitrix to the Rainbooms, and is worried what they will think of him about it.
  • The Rainbooms helplessly watch as Vilgax kidnaps Flash after knocking him unconscious, not understanding anything that's going on.
  • After Trixie and Shining Armor explain to the Rainbooms how Flash has the Omnitrix and that it turns him into the alien heroes, Twilight asks why Flash didn't tell them about it since they're his friends and he could trust them to keep it a secret. Shining explains Flash didn't want them to think any differently about it or change how they saw him. This gets all the girls to think back about when the aliens first showed up and how amazed by them they were, with Twilight in particular remembering how eager she was to learn about alien tech, and realizes if she knew about the Omnitrix she would have wanted to study it non-stop and would have constantly invited Flash to her lab and to hang out with her just to examine it, now realizing how insensitive and upsetting that would have been to him.
  • When faced with a Sadistic Choice by Vilgax, to give up or watch him as he kills his friends, starting with Twilight, Flash surrenders against Vilgax, despite Twilight's pleas. Made worse by the implications that Flash still has feelings for Twilight.
    Twilight: (as Vilgax holds her by the neck) Don't do it! I don't know everything that's going on, but I know you can't let him have the watch. (Vilgax tightens his grip on her, making her cry out) We're...not worth it.
    Vapaw: You are to me.
  • The reactions of Trixie, Shining Armor, and the Rainbooms when they see Vilgax's ship take off and think they have lost Flash forever. Trixie falls to her knees screaming Flash's name, Shining punches the ground while roaring in anger, and all the Rainbooms but Twilight look down in despair. Though thankfully the moment doesn't last long when they see Volt-Edge soaring through the sky cheering in victory before they quickly meet back up with Flash.

    Season 2 
"Plumbing School"
  • Flash has some brief depression after he fails every test given to him by the Plumbers, while Shining managed to do much better. He begins to think that this just means that without the Omnitrix he's as "useless" as ever. Thankfully, Twilight is there to help assure him he's not.

"They Came From the Deep"

  • Ripple making a Heroic Sacrifice to hold off the squid leader so Flash and his friends can escape. What makes this worse is how Flash was slowly bonding with him and earning his trust after Ripple constantly displayed an anti-alien attitude. What he says to Flash before he activates the DNA bomb, after comforting Flash for refusing to do it himself, is also a gut-punching moment.
    Ripple: It's okay kid. You didn't do anything wrong. The world needs more people like you. [Flash smiles before Ripple raises the device himself]. And less people like me.
  • The destruction of the alien squids is this itself. True, they were trying to commit genocide on humanity themselves and refused the last chance Flash gave them to stand down and live in peace, but it was because they believed humans couldn't be trusted due to how they are killing their own planet. Flash himself sadly admits that they had good reasons to not trust humanity and can only hope that one day the human race can be one no other aliens need to be afraid to trust, even if it seems like an impossibility.

"Return of the Masquerade"

  • When Trixie watches a news segment of Flash and Shining saving some people as Riot-Horn and The Plumber, and she briefly remembers her own time as the superhero Lady Masquerade.
  • The flashbacks in the second half of the chapter show Jackpot and Miragina Linehault slolwy fall in love with each other. Sadly though, they are forced to separate when Miragina needs to return home to become queen, and she can't take him and their babies with her because the crystal can't handle all of them. The chapter ends with their family separating, with Miragina taking Aareus with her and leaving Jackpot and Trixie behind. All Jackpot can do is hope and pray that they are reunited one day, but sadly this can never happen now, due to Miragina's death at the hands of Devious.

"Trixie's Destiny"

  • Trixie attacks Devious in a rage due to now knowing that Queen Miragina was her mother, and Devious killed her without remorse. Devious just uses this to his advantage by taunting Trixie over her mother's last moments as he killed her.
  • As Trixie fights with Devious over his staff, he tries to play mind games with her by making her question her friendship with Flash and the Rainbooms, with Trixie thinking back on how they treated her before Flash discovered the Omnitrix. Though this is heavily painted as a Self-Serving Memory, it shows how Trixie views her past experiences with the Rainbooms as them bullying her and making fun of her (ignoring how she was the instigator and bully of many of those events herself) and briefly wonders if Flash would have even told her about the Omnitrix if it wasn't for the fact she was there with him when he first found it. Though thankfully, despite this brief Moment of Weakness Trixie still sees them as friends now and Devious as the evil one.

"The Visitor"

  • Cadance finds out that Shining has been keeping secrets from her when she discovers the battle against Vilgax's drone, including seeing Flash's transform into an alien and seeing Shining in his Plumber Suit. This leads to a heated debate between the two, with Cadance tearing into Shining for lying to her for months when they are supposed to be a team, and risking his life without taking her feelings into consideration or if something were to happen to him and leave Flurry without a father all because he wanted a thrill ride. She eventually gets so mad she storms out of the house since she couldn't be around him right now. As Flash also explains to Xylene, on their planet trust is a big part of relationships and if Cadance feels she can't trust Shining anymore then who knows what could happen between them. Thankfully though Cadance forgives Shining by the end of the chapter.

"Glitches"

  • Despite being the main antagonist of the chapter, Gal-N is a Tragic Villain. It turns out that he was captain of the ship that Vilgax destroyed in "Rise of the Technovore". He considered the ship his home and his crew his family, but they were all killed in the ship's destruction, and when although he escaped destruction himself, he was experimented on for months by Dragstar. It is also implied his thirst for vengeance is due to his matrix being damaged, which means his actions aren't entirely his fault. The others even note that he turns good after his matrix is healed, otherwise it is another innocent life that Vilgax destroyed.

"Taking Flight"

  • Fleetfoot's superhero career is unfortunately cut short. Right after she agrees to join Trixie, Flash, and the others until Trixie can gather the other medallions, she is attacked by Devious and eventually captured by him. He almost succeeds in obtaining her medallion, until Fleetfoot renounces it to keep it out of his hands and have it go to Trixie instead. Though Trixie offers to try to get it to re-bond with her, Fleetfoot declines the offer, realizing she isn't cutout to be a superhero like the rest of them after-all, not being able to handle constantly putting her life on the line.

"The Invasion of Canterlot"

  • After Flash's Secret Identity is revealed to the whole world by Vilgax, everyone at CHS is left shocked by this, including his old bandmates, but nobody is more shocked than Flash's own parents. When his parents arrive with other civilains during the middle of his fight with Vilgax, Flash briefly breaks off from the fight to get them to safety. Trail at one point even tells Flash to just give Vilgax what he wants, thinking that will make him leave.
  • Flash ends up getting sucked into the Null Void after a bluff by Vilgax goes wrong.

"Secrets of the Omnitrix"

  • The Rainbooms are all depressed as Vilgax continues his invasion, believing without Flash there's nothing they can do to stop him.
  • Vilgax has his drones capture as many humans from Canterlot as they can. When Celestia and Luna are captured, they see several of the students from CHS captured as well, with Celestia begging the drones to let the children go and just take the two of them instead. Her pleas are ignored.
  • The captured students of CHS wonder where Flash is and why he isn't helping if he really is the alien heroes, knowing that he's not the kind of person to abandon someone. When the Rainbooms, Lady Masquerade, The Plumber, and Adagio free the captured civilians from Vilgax's ship, Ringo asks where Flash is. All that Fluttershy can say is that Flash is "gone", with everyone else understanding what she means and everyone who knew Flash hardly able to believe it. Though Flash isn't actually dead, the way the Rainbooms talk throughout the chapter before his return make it clear they think he is, since they have no way to get him back anyway, and the only one who outright states his faith he is still alive is Shining Armor.
  • Flash falls just short of completing Azmuth's test due to how he took the time to save the Opticoid, and he briefly breaks down over how he's let everyone down. Luckily this doesn't last long since he impressed Azmuth enough to trust him with the Omnitrix thanks to his altruism.

    Season 3 
"World Famous"
  • Right away we are hit with an example at the start of the chapter. It is revealed shortly after Flash defeated Vilgax and stopped his invasion of Earth, he was arrested by the authorities. The interview montage of citizens around Canterlot also have a few people speak negatively about him, showing not everyone is so accepting of him now that his secret is out.
  • Flash has been in prison for three days, and his family and friends have all been denied from seeing him.

"The Mysterious Creature"

  • Now that Flash's identity is public, it means there is a lot more pressure on him. When he and his team first confronts the Griffon, the Omnitrix won't let Flash transform due to detecting uncatalogued DNA. To every onlooker it seems like Flash isn't doing anything or he just panicked.
  • Fluttershy suggests that maybe the Griffon is just scared due to being in an unfamiliar place. It turns out she is right, and that it is lashing out because it is scared and in pain due to the device in its neck.

"Old Friends, New Friends"

  • While also Played for Laughs, the awkwardness between Flash and Princess Twilight is very apparent, especially given their Unresolved Sexual Tension.
    • After Princess Twilight finds out Flash and Adagio are now dating, Adagio mockingly smirks at her while pulling Flash close to her.
    • After Princess Twilight reveals she is in a relationship with someone else now too, Flash is shocked for a moment and frowns before asking if it is with Timber Spruce. Though it turns out it isn't, but still that was his first thought upon hearing that a version of Twilight was dating someone.

"Hunter of Pearl"

  • When Flash and the others first find Pearl's cave, they hear her singing to herself. As they get closer though, they realize that this is a sad song, one of pain and loneliness filled with sorrow and longing that makes everyone who hears it want to cry. It emphasizes how Pearl feels alone in the world and has nobody.
  • Flash is initially able to talk Pearl into trusting him and his friends, explaining how they want to help her get to a place that can be her home, and even gives her name. But right as they seem to win her over, as Flash extends his hand to her, the Omnitrix detects her uncatalogued DNA and scans her despite Flash's protests. This causes Pearl to lash out, thinking Flash tried to trick her and attack him.

"A Dazzling Dispute"

  • When Adagio finally gets the chance to have her own fame and be adored like she always dreamed of, she reverts back to the way she used to act during her days as a villain. She becomes a lot more rude to those around her, acting like a demanding diva entitled to everything and making outrageous demands. She also becomes a lot ruder to Flash, forcing him to eat certain things and forcing him to act as her personal taxi for her and her sisters.
  • When Adagio's attitude goes too far, when she demands Flash drive her and her sisters to their commercial shoot instead of going after the dragon hybrid, she calls him "the worst boyfriend ever" when he talks back. This is the last straw for Flash, and he tells off Adagio for her selfishness and how she hasn't changed at all. He throws her the keys to his car and tells her to drive herself, leaving their relationship unclear at the moment.
    Flash: Adagio, that's enough. There are more important things in life then your modelling career.
    Adagio: So you care about getting more attention for yourself then helping me get some attention?
    Flash: I don't do this for the attention! I'd be doing the same thing if my secret identity wasn't known. I thought you had changed. I thought you'd realized there are more important things in life than everyone loving you. But it's clear the only person you care about is yourself.
  • Adagio realizes that she cares more about her new friendships and the time she spent with Flash than being worshipped by anyone, but fears that it's too late to do anything about it after the way she acted and that Flash doesn't want anything to do with her anymore. Though thankfully he is willing to forgive her after she helps save him while fighting Scales and gives him a Heartfelt Apology.

"Tick Tock, Slows The Clock"

  • Nelly is subjected to a bit of fat shaming throughout the chapter, both by bullies and even a bit by Flash and his friends, even just through Brutal Honesty. It doesn't help that she is aware of her unfit appearance and feels like it is preventing her from being a real racer like she has dreamed of.
  • Nelly initially refuses to give up the Rapid Turtle Medallion, since it is the reason she has finally been able to win races and be a runner like she has always wanted. Though Rainbow continuously points out that she is just using the Medallion to cheat and is dishonoring the sport she supposedly loves and is being a potentially bad influence to the younger generation.

"Viral Infection"

"Age is Just a Number"

"Tirek's Scheme"

  • When everyone is preparing to remove the human DNA from the hybrids and send them to Equestira, Fluttershy and the hybrids all share a tearful goodbye.
  • Flash and Fluttershy both have a Heroic BSoD when it seems like the hybrids were all killed in an accident. Though Flash eventually decides to honor the hybrids with his alien forms of them, Fluttershy is last shown being completely depressed with no such inspiration.

"Tirek's Crimes"

  • The Reveal that Tirek was the one responsible for Max Tennyson's death. He was his partner, and he murdered him by shooting him in the back.
  • Everyone's reactions when they realize Tirek's true colors, when confronting him on his ship. Sunset even sees his memories during the battle, and later tells Shining Armor and Azmuth how he was the one that killed Max Tennyson.

    Season 4 
"From Time to Time PT1"
  • Flash is initially excited about the future when he sees how advanced everything is. But when he hears how horrible his friends' lives are he considers it a Bad Future and wonders how he let it get so bad.
  • When Twilight realizes what Flurry has done, that she took her temporal-phase oscillator prototype and accidentally pulled Flash's teenage self from the past, she is initially furious with her. But as soon as she realizes that Flash is from a certain day and realizes exactly what Flurry was trying to do, she loses all her anger and instead hugs her.
    Flurry: I thought maybe I could change things. Make everything better.
  • The reveal of why things are so bad in the future, and how it all started on the very day Flurry pulled Flash from. It's because that's the day Shining Armor died.
    • When visiting Shining's grave, Flash and Flurry run into Cadance, who is still mourning her husband's death after 20 years. When she sees how young Flash is and Flurry looking down in shame, she asks her daughter what she did, and as Flurry tries to explain how she tried to save her dad she starts to tear up before Cadance pulls her daughter into a hug.
      Flurry: I thought I could change things. I thought if I went back, I could help Flash before it happened. I just...wanted to save him.
    • Cadance reveals that nobody killed Shining, he simply died as a hero because he tried to save someone from a burning building and Flash couldn't save him. She uses Flash's own words on how he describes it: that he "wasn't good enough".

"Digital Dilemma"

"Love Lost"

  • The entire plan of Devious and Chrysalis, creating an "Anti-Love Potion" that turns everyone affected by it against the one they care about the most.
    • The most prominent example is seen with Shining Armor and Cadance, who are both Happily Married and were celebrating their anniversary together. They start yelling at each other and getting violent about their grievances and escalates to them yelling about a divorce and who gets to keep Flurry.
    • Though most of the Rainbooms are absent for most of the chapter, we later learn what they were doing while they were affected by the potion too. Applejack and Rarity both badmouthed their little sisters and were horrified at what they did when they were cured, Rainbow was arguing with her parents who did the same to her, Fluttershy had spent the whole time yelling at Angel and all her other animal friends, Pinkie was screaming at her entire family, and Sunset sent angry texts to all of her friends.
    • Also a minor detail, Flurry is affected by the potion too. Though since she was with Flash and Adagio when it happened she remained her usual cheerful self, until Adagio brought her home and she kept screaming at her mother trying to hold her. Though she was quickly given the cure by Twilight.
  • Adagio realizes that since she and Flash felt no different about each other even when affected by the potion, it means they aren't the most important people to each other. She also realizes that they don't love each other even after all they have been through together, which leads to the two of them deciding to break up, though wanting to remain friends. This also leads Twilight to realize how she didn't turn on Timber when affected by the potion, realizing she doesn't love him and deciding to break up with him. Though it is clearly much harder for her.

"Break Up Reaction"

  • Flash and Adagio have a hard time adjusting to now being broken up. Adagio even suggests maybe she should just stop hanging out with the group due to this. Thankfully though, Flash has a talk with his parents that convinces him to put in the work with Adagio to start over as friends, with the two becoming Amicable Exes.
  • Despite Twilight having broken up with Timber, he tries to pressure her into getting back together, saying they can move away from Canterlot together and get away from all the crazy and magical events going on. Twilight is tempted to take him up on this, despite Spike's protests against it. However, when Twilight jumps in to help Flash with another emergency and shows concern for him when he almost dies, Timber watches in jealousy before marching off in anger while growling he hates this city. It is also implied he is ghosting Twilight later by ignoring her calls, despite how she still wants to be friends with him.

"Twilight's Haunting"

  • Flash's apparent death from being unable to defuse a bomb.
    • It leaves everyone devastated, but the main focus of the chapter is Twilight trying to deal with it, especially when she is constantly seeing what seems to be his ghost all week. Her parents actually book her an appointment with a therapist to try to help her cope.
    • Cadance says she and Flurry are going to miss Flash too, and even brings up how Flurry might not even remember Flash when she grows up.
    • Flash's parents are especially not doing well after the apparent death of their son. Neither of them look like they have washed up or slept in days and had barely eaten anything. Twilight avoids seeing them for awhile, due to fearing they blame her for what happened to Flash and hate her, but luckily when she finally visits them they don't blame her, and they are reunited with their son when it is revealed he's alive.

"Ghostfreaked Out"

  • Flash is certainly hurt a bit by Ghostfreak's true evil nature. He explains he has always viewed his aliens as partners that he could rely on to support him. So having one of them turn against him is a deep cut.

"Parental Misguidance"

  • The constant near death experiences Flash has gone through are finally too much for his parents, with them wanting Azmuth to remove the Omnitrix from him. When he refuses, they try to ban Flash from using it until he's eighteen.
  • When speaking to Flash's parents about how their overprotectiveness of their son won't keep him safe, he tells them a story about how he indirectly caused the death of his student Albedo, because he didn't let him help him stop an out of control power generator once. Azmuth couldn't do it alone, and the generator overloaded, causing an explosion in the bunker he locked Albedo in.

"The Ultimate Opponent PT2"

  • The beginning of the chapter has Flash in a Heroic BSoD, due to his failure against Shadow and the Negative Ten. The pressure of always needing to be the hero and figure out what to do is finally starting to get to him as his will starts to crack, and he sits outside alone during a Gray Rain of Depression. Fortunately a talk with Shining Armor quickly leads to Flash having a "Eureka!" Moment and finding out how he can beat Shadow.

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