Rise of Shade: Book 1 - Slade's Downfall

Everyone traveled past varoius rooms before they finally found the real Slade in a room with a lot of moniters.

"Th-that's a lot of monitors..." One of the Sweetie Belle said.

"Tell me about it..." What looked to be a changeling foal said; this one was the version of changelings from before they started giving love instead of taking it. "It's a little unsettling because it looks like there are other versions of most of us that aren't here."

"I know what you mean, Amethyst. It's a little creepy." The Sweetie Belle nearby the changeling foal said.

"Heh, don't get used to this sight." Slade said from the chair nearby. "It won't be much longer before they start to go on a killing spree."

"Oh yeah? And how do you suppose that huh?" One of the Rainbow Dash asked.

"Don't you know anything about me? If you did, you'd know I normally try to murder people via a contract. However, my goal with all of these versions of you was to attack them, not kill." Slade said.

"Wh-what was the point of letting them live?" Twilight asked.

"The point was to plant seeds of doubt with them. Seeds that have been making them become increasingly paranoid." Slade said. "It won't be much longer, before one of them starts killing every pony else in what they would rationalize as 'self defense'." He then smirked. "For as much stock as you put into Friendship; seeing first hand what lengths ponies will go to for self-preservation will be a wake-up call. I'm certain the first one to start killing will be a pony. And that'll destroy your precious friendship at it's core. Because at the end of the day, friendship is easily eroded and corrupted; twisted on it's head when ponies start getting it in their head that it's every pony for themselves." Slade turned his head towards some of the monitors. "All it takes is just one pony to snap. And then, the despair begins."

"Your plan won't succeed." One of the Twilight said.

"Oh really? What makes you think you can stop me while your hear? Defeating me won't stop my plan. All you'll end up succeeding in doing is buying more time for my plan to succeed." Slade said.

The Twiight who had Hamtaro & Bijou on her back's eyes went wide. "Y-you planned this. You wanted us to get distracted by you so your plan could be successful."

"That's right. How does it feel to have your precious ideas of friendship used to spread despair? Must be full of despair. Such glorious despair." Slade said.

However, that was when a particular song started playing form the various moniters. "Oh go Hampton & The Hampsters." Sparkle said from atop one of the Apple Bloom.

"Wh-what is this music?!" Slade exclaimed.

"That's Hampton & The Hampsters; looks like their about to nick your little plan in the bud." Sparkle said. "There's a reason they are the most popular hamster band after all."

"No! No no no no no no no!" Slade said, throwing a tantrum as the depair bar began to empty.

"Looks like your plan's been foiled Slade." Twilight said, and when the song finished, the bar was all the way empty, and the moniters began to static. "You lose."

"No...not yet!" Slade before he hit a button which trapped all the ponies in the room with him. "You may be many, but your not capable of defeating the likes of me!" He added brandishing his katannas.

"SAYS YOU!" One of the other Twilgiht said, hitting Slade with some magic. It went right through Slade, but instead of causing any bleeding, it caused something else to happen.

"...Wait...what's this?" One of the other Apple Bloom asked.

Slade cupped where it was hit for a bit, then brought the hand to his eye sight. "Wh-what..." Slade was just as confused about this.

"Slade...is just a druid animated by dark magic..." The Twilight that had Hamtaro & Bijou on her said.

"So...I've been played for a fool the entire time..." Slade said. "It seems...like I won't be able to last much longer now..."

"What are you talking about?" The Scootaloo that was near Amethyst asked.

"I wasn't always about despair. I am the lone surviving soldier of a deadly war. A war that wiped out all the human population. It was just me, my cousin, my parents, my aunt, and my uncle left. And since my cousin was male, with neither my mother nor my aunt able to even produce any more children due to being too old...Alternate Earth's Human Race was going to be extinct." Slade said.

"Why turn to despair then? What drove you to that?" One of the Twilight said.

"Because when the final battle ended with me as the lone soldier who surived, I was bleeding on my way home. That was when, a massive blizzard hit." Slade closed his eyes as he looked upward. "It came out of nowhere. And it made my chances of surviving practically impossible. That's when this strange figure appeared before me, and offered me a deal."

"...I guess you can't be blamed for taking such a deal. So, your near death experience drove you to despair." One of the Fluttershy noted.

"Something like that..." Slade said. "I may not have much time left...so I can only ask you for the kindest thing you can do for me at this moment." He then threw his katannas away. "Give this soldier, a honorable death in battle."

Slade gripped his shirt as new music began to play and threw it off, revealing a soldier's uniform underneath. And just before the music really got started, he drew a pair of cutlass swords. "I am going to go out, not as the king of despair, but as the General of Supreme Tactics!" Slade said.

Supreme Tactics General
Soldier Slade Johnson

Even though Slade wanted to die here on his terms, he also didn't want it to be a given; the ponies understood that, most of all the various Fluttershy. This was not a battle of life & death; it was to give a soldier a dying wish.

Throughout the battle Slade used various tactics such as fast paced slash dashes and even throwing his cutless only to rush towards where he was throwing them to catch them before they could get stuck in the wall. As the ponies did damage, Slade's skin peeled off, revealing more dark magic animated him.

When about 50% of Slade's skin was gone, Slade suddenly flipped something on the cutlass, which electrified them. "These are my own personally modified Cutlass swords; if I am to die, then of course I wouldn't hold back one inch." Slade said.

The battle raged on from there, but it was clear as the damaged piled up, that Slade wasn't going to live for much longer. At one point, he finally just fell over; unable to do much more then just lay there. That's when the Scootaloo who was near Amethyst rushed over to him. "Wh-what are you doing?" Slade asked.

"I don't care how you chose to live your life; I refuse to just let you die alone." The Scootaloo said. "You may be a monster, but not even a monster like you deserves to die alone."

Slade couldn't help but smile; not an evil one, but a sad one. "You know...if I could be reincarnated...I would love it if...if you became my mother..." Slade said.

Suddenly, Slade became a bunch of light particles which then absorbed into the Scootaloo that was next to him. "Wh-what just happened?!" One of the Twilight exclaimed.

And then a bright light enveloped them all.