”Hello once again audience! Were we left off, I WAS FUCKING FLYING!”, Shade yelled at no one in particular as he soared through the air. ”I know what I said!” Yeah, sure you did.

”Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee- This is getting pretty boring.”, He said plainly. He looked at the ground far below himself as it swooped past. ”That explosion defies the laws of physics. I like that!”

A moment of silence passed.

”I wonder how long I'm going to fly.”

-Twenty minutes later-

”Oh. My. God.”, Shade groaned. He was currently in a relaxing position, facing the blue skies. ”'How long am I going to fly?' Why the hell did I say that? It's the same thing as jinxing myself!”

He got no answer.

”I was asking you, twat!”

….. Stop that!

”What? Being all meta and shit? I'm the goddamn Shade! I can do what I want.”

Fine. Ground.

”Wha-”

*KABOOM!*

Shade collided with the hard soily substance that most living beings call ground. He didn't stop immidietly, but left a trail of dirt in his wake as he slided across the ground, face first. He stopped eventually.

*muffled words*

I'm sorry, what was that?

Shade raises his head from the ground and coughed and spat.

”I said: There is dirt in my mouth.”

Whatever.

Shade stood up and looked at his surroundings. Not that there was much to look at. Just a plain that seemed to house no life what so ever. There were mountains in a distance and some rocks around the place, but not much else.

”Where the hell am I?”

An answer came as a brick that hit Shade on the head. He stood for a few seconds before comically falling on his back.

”YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

On top of a sharp rock.

”Didn't we already use this gag?”

Shut up.

So, Shade saw that there was a piece of paper on the brick. He took it and looked at it.

”Badlands.”, He read. He looked at the skies. ”You have to be so vague, dip-SHIIIIIT!”

Another brick had just collided with his..... *clears throat*. Lower areas.

…......

I mean his crotch.

Shade squirmed on the ground letting out a flow of curses and moans of pain while holding his..... Lower areas. After a while, the pain faded away, he stood up and looked at the other brick. This one had a piece of paper as well. Naturally he read it.

”Dragon Badlands.”, A pause. ”Oh, yeah. That explains everything. It has just one exrta wor- Wait! Dragons! Man, I love dragons!”, He sceamed in utter glee.

He looked into the sky. ”You are still a dick, though....” He saw a shape falling to his direction. It seemed very conveniently placed. It also had a comical feel to it. ”Is that an anv-!”

Shade couldn't finish his sentence as an iron anvil came crashing down to his head and then falling onto the ground. Shade stood motionless for a while before falling on the ground, face first.

-An hour later-

Shade was starting to wake up.

”Zzzzzzzzzzz.”

I said, he was starting to wake up.

”Zzzzzzzzzz. *mumbling* Zzzzzzzzzz.”

WAKE UP!

A moment passed.

”Uhh.”, Shade finally groaned. ”This feels so much worse than a hangover. I don't even remember what a hangover feels like.” He started sobbing. ”I want alcohol dammit!”

….. I am not feeling bad for you.

He stopped his sobbing and got up. ”Well, an anvil to the head is a new experience. Every day is an adventure. Might as well continue mine.”

You are an idiot.

”Where to go? Where. To. Go?”, He hummed and looked around.

…... Are you ignoring me?

”I'll go...... That a way!”, He said and pointed his finger towards one of the distant mountains ”Funny, I feel like I should remember something.” He shrugs. ”Oh well, if I forgot it, it wasn't that important.”

…............ Can't he hear me? Did that anvil just give him amnesia?

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Did I just fix the fourth wall? Could it be? Did I actually do something good? Awesomesauce!

Ahem! I'm drifting in thought. HEY! Where did he go? I could have sworn..... Aha! There he is!

Shade was strutting along the dead plains, no apparent care in the world.

”This suuuuuucks!”

Well, except one.

”This place is boring as hell. No birds. No trees. There isn't even any grass.” He said. After a while he started snickering. ”Hehehe. Grass. It's funny because it has 'ass' in it. I am hilarious.”

His self targeted humor was soon ended by an loud screech. Or roar. Whichever.

Shade looked forward and saw a large creature fly towards his direction. Here are some hints. It was big, had scales, claws and sharp teeth.

”A goddamn dragon.”, Shade wispered. He made a very weird looking face(<-doesn't have a face), pressed his hands on the sides of his head and squeeled, ”So awesome!”

He was broken out of his mild daze by a powerful tremor. And another one. Then one right next to him. Shade looked and saw what looked like a giant leg. His vision moved up the leg and he moved back to get a better view.

What he saw was a giant four legged creature. It's large body was entirely covered by grass and moss. On top of it grew a few trees and on it's back was what looked like a humanoid torso. A large figure wearing a mask. It also had large clawed hands.

The dragon came closer and stopped in front of the giant creature. The dragon was rather small compared to the small walking mountain. It's scales were white as snow. It roared and growled and also seemed to speak, which Shade did not hear.

The next thing happened in a matter of seconds. The creature grabbed the dragon in it's large hand and pressed the claw of it's tumb against the dragons neck. The creature pushed the claw forward and the dragon roared in pain. Blood could be seen flowing down the white dragons neck. The giant creature then let the dragon fall to the ground.

The ground that Shade was unfortunately standing on.

”Bitch!”, He yelled as the dragon's mass dropped on him. Miraculously, and unfortunately, Shade was not knocked unconcious. His lower body was stuck under the dragon.

”AAARRGH!”

Safe to say it hurt. Oh, it hurt indeed. But this is Shade we are talking about, so he's going to be okay.

The giant creature continued walking like nothing had ever happened, each of it's steps causing the ground to shake.

Shade tried to muster all his strength to crawl out from under the dragon. The success of this endeavor was not very succesfull. He only managed to crawl out a few inches.

He had an annoyed look in his eyes. ”This is just great. Trapped under a dragon. Not the way I imagined a meeting with one transpire. I was thinking along the lines of an epic battle or ending up as dragon food.”

Then the weight on his lower half shifted and rose slightly. Not wasting the chance, Shade crawled out fron under the dragon and jumped up. He wobbled for a few seconds. ”Numb legs. Great.”, he said sarcastically.

He looked at the dragon and saw that it was now standing up. Well, barely. It fell down again as it tried to take a single step.

Curious, Shade, disregarding the possibility of danger, went to take a closer look at the not yet dead dragon. He circled around it and stopped in front of it's head. The dragon was rather large compared to him. It's head alone was half his size.

Shade's eyes locked onto the wound on the dragons neck. It was fairly deep and was bleeding heavily. Shade was no doctor, far from it, but even he knew a fatal wound when he saw one. He got closer to the dragon's head and crouched down next to it, looking at it.

The dragon stirred and opened it's eyes a little. They were deep blue.

”Wh- What are you?” The voice was clearly feminine, but weak.

”Honestly? Don't know myself. Should find out. Maybe.” Shade said, as if having a casual conversation.

”Why aren't you afraid of me?” The dragoness asked.

”Yeah, it's pretty hard to fear a dying creature. Even a dragon.”, Shade deadpanned. The dragoness chuckled weakly at this.

”A blunt one, aren't you?”

”Funny. That's exactly what that one doctor guy said when I said that I was going to bite his finger off. And immidately did it afterwards. I keep my promises.”, Shade remarked innocently.

The dragoness chuckled again, this time looking a bit sad. This did not get unnoticed.

”Why the long face?” He asked casually, quickly muttering, ”Weird term isn't it? Long face. It makes no sense. How does one get a long face? Idioms, so weird.”

The dragoness looked directly at Shade. ”Why do you care? I'm just a dragon. A monster.”

”No you're not.” Shade said. ”Monsters don't talk. They crush, kill, destroy.” Adding a silent ”Swag” in the end.

”That is an odd way to look at things.”, Was her reply.

”Yeah, I get that a lot. My doctor said it was bad. He was a mean liar so I bit him.”

A lone tear slid down the dragoness' cheek. ”I am dying. I know that and I accept it. Yet I worry so much. Can you imagine how that feels?”

Shade was silent for few seconds. ”One of my doctors said that I was emotionally dead and unable to understand what others feel, so no. I bit him too.”

”Could you do something for me, stanger.” The dragoness said in a pleading voice. ”Could you find my daughter and make sure she is safe? She is the most important thing in my life.”

”I don't make promises I can't keep.”, Was Shade's immidiate answer. The dragoness looked sorrowful. ”But,” Shade added. ”I don't see why I should say no.” This made the dragoness smile faintly. ”Just, no promises. I'll try but I won't promise anything.”

”I understand.” She said, relieved. ”Thank you. Most would not even think of helping a dragon. Not after what my kind has done. Thank you.” The dragoness was almost sobbing from relief. ”What is your name, kind stranger?”

”Shade. You?”

”Saphira.”

Shade did his best not to let his reference sense burst out. It, amazingly, worked.

”I'm in your debt. Just the fact that you are willing to try makes me happy.”, Saphira said and immidietly grimaced in pain. ”Thank you kind one. One more time, thank you.”, She said, practically crying by now. Not of sorrow or pain, but out of simple delight.

”No need to thank me.” Shade said. ”I haven't done anything yet.” He reached his hand towards Saphira's muzzle. ”Let me help you relax a little. No use dying both alone and in pain. That would suck.” When his hand connected, something unexpected happened.

The moment Shade's hand connected to Saphira's muzzle, a blinding white light began shining around their bodies and it soon engulfed them..

It took a while for the light to vanish. Shade blinked a couple of time. Saphira was gone. There was not a trace of her left, except for a small stain on the plain made by blood.

”What in the...”, Shade said and left the question unfinished.

'W-what happened.', A voice rang from somewhere. 'Where am I?'

Shade was very confused, and was looking around. ”Dragon Lady? Where are you?”

'I.... I don't know.', Saphira said, struggling to understand what just happened.

Shade's gears were a bit faster. ”Why are you inside my head?”

'Inside your.... I-I', Saphira stuttered and tried to say something. After a while she finally managed to speak up. 'I can't believe it. This is impossible, yet it is so. How?'

”You know what is going on?”, Shade asked.

'I-I may. It's something called a Soul Merge. An event where two souls combine and merge together. It's supposed to be nothing but a mere legend. A myth.', The dragoness said in disbelief.

Shade's gears ran double time. ”So it's like a fusion.”

'Yes. Something like that.'

Shade crossed his arms to think, but one thing stopped him before he could. His outfit had changed. Instead of his coat being completely black, white marks had appeared on it. From his shoulders, going down his sleeves, there were white flame patterns that stopped a little bit below the elbows. The same with the tail of the coat. On his chest, there was a white symbol that looked like a dragon head. On the dragon symbol's forehead there was a deep blue sapphire. He didn't see it, but he also had symbold on his back, these ones looking like a pair of wings. He marvelled at his new look.

”Wicked.”, He mused to himself.

'I have to admit, you look quite dashing.', Saphira said, but Shade could quite literally feel her blush afterwards.

”Well, as confusing and awesome as this is, I need to get moving. There is an adventure to be had and a dragon to be found.”, Shade proclaimed and started walking towards the mountains once again.

'You-You are really going to find my daughter?', Saphira said with mild suprise. 'I didn't expect you to actually keep your word.'

Shade just kept walking. ”Remember one thing. If there is something Shade will never do, it's break a promise.”

The dragoness was speechless at Shade's honesty and his resolve. Finally, she managed to say, 'Thank you.'

Shade just laughed at this. ”I already told you, don't thank me when I haven't done anything yet.”

”Now, enough chit chat. Upwards and onwards! To adventure!”

Well, Shade sure has it rough. It is the 13th chapter after all. But hey, he lost his memory of being able to break the fourth wall. Pinkie Pie is enough. One more and the world could explode. But back to the story! So, Shade get's exploded into the Dragon Badlands, encounters a gigantic Soul Fragment wandering around those parts and gets his soul fused with a dragoness. And yay! Shade isn't having an adventure alone. People will still think he is crazy for talking to himself though. We also see a bit of Shade's better half.

Remember when I said that these chapters would be badly executed and make little sense. Well, I'll let you be the judge of that. Next time, our main group arrives in, you guessed it, Ponyville!

Yours truly,

Doctor D, The Soulreaver

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