The Lord of Void

‘Are you sure that this is a good idea, Master?’

‘For the last time, No! This is a fucking terrible idea. Now shut up before I come to my senses and listen to you.’ I responded

‘So… why exactly are you doing it?’ he asked curiously

I had to suppress a sigh

‘Because apparently the brothers need this place, and as this place technically belongs to them, it somehow falls to me to get them back’ I answered

‘It fell to you to oust a dragon from the area it now calls home?’ came the sarcastic response

‘Yes. Incidentally this is a prime example of why altruism sucks eggs. Now, Shut. Up.’

After my talk with the Flim Flam brothers they agreed to my plan, on a few conditions, but they also asked me to oust a dragon that had taken up residence in their workshop. Apparently they had a lot of shiny things lying around and when the dragon saw it, it decided that the workshop now belonged to it.

They were also rather tight lipped about how the dragon found the workshop to begin with. It wasn’t exactly out in the open and I was honestly sure that if the dragon wasn’t told where the workshop was, it wouldn’t have found it.

My theory? Someone that the brothers conned, most likely a former partner, was furious about said con and wanted revenge. Revenge in this case, took the form of a dragon, or the dragon was the one conned.

Anyway, there I was making my way though a rather roomy cave. It was obviously large enough that their cart could travel through it. According to them the workshop was located about a quarter mile within, they made me a map so that I would not get lost on the branching tunnels. They were also rather tight lipped on how they even found the area that would become their workshop.

As I took the left branch in the tunnel the ground began to become smoother.

It seems I’m close

After another minute I began to hear the rhythmic sound of a deep rumbling snore. I slowed down and began sneaking farther in. I honestly didn’t have a plan beyond go in and see what I’m dealing with.

As I moved forward I came face to face with a giant door. The brothers had told me about it and how to get past it. I held up the rune stone they had given me and as promised the door began to recede into the walls. What they neglected to mention, and what I should have expected was the noise.

So much for being sneaky… I thought with a sigh

“Oh?” came a very deep but sleepy baritone voice “So the maggots have returned! Good I could use the protein for the coming migration.” It continued in a strangely west country accent that seemed vaguely familiar.

I kept to the shadows and moved forward a bit. That’s when I saw the dragon. It resembled a typical european dragon with brownish colored scales. It had a long tail and snout and also had a set of spikes along his spine. I couldn't actually see any wings on its back.

That actually bodes well for me.

From what I had learned, browns are the most rational and logical of the dragons. Almost all browns were flightless which causes them to figuratively and literally be more down to earth than any other dragon.

[Scan]

Oh? So it seems combat is an option too. Either dragons aren’t as powerful as I was lead to believe or this particular one was young. Although it is possible it’s just weak

“Come out little morsels, it’s time to appease my appetite. Well, I suppose you will serve as appetizers. I doubt you two will be very filling.” The dragon said with a chuckle

“I am afraid I am not here to fill your belly.” I say, stepping out so it could see me.

“Oh? You are not who I was expecting. Where are those other two?” It asked looking around

“I am here on their behalf. They ask that you vacate this place, as it is their workshop. They need to use it to create and invent new things. They would like it back.” I said casually

“Hmm... I am afraid I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request.”

I raised an eyebrow

“Means no” The dragon finished

I couldn’t help but snicker.

“Look Barbossa-”

“How did you know my name?” It asked a angrily, understandable really as I had learned that to tell someone the name of a dragon, without permission from said dragon, was a huge offence.

“...W-What.” I said, failing to hold back more laughter.

“My name is Barbossa. Who told you my name?” It punctuated this question by slamming it’s front leg into the ground.

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.

“What is so funny! Why are you laughing!” Barbossa asked both furious and confused. He was obviously not used to being laughed at.

“Oh, oh my god…” I snickered again “S-Sorry. Whoo. Ah sorry, inside joke. Don’t worry about it” I said, while trying to catch my breath.

Barbossa seemed to lose his confusion, unfortunately what he lost in confusion he gained in fury. I also realized I just ruined any chance of ending this diplomatically, like I honestly cared to begin with.

With a furious roar it charged at me. Thankfully all the battles I had been in had given me quite well developed instincts. Despite the speed at which it’s jaws tried to snap at me, I was able to flash step underneath it.

Let’s give this a try

[Blast]

With that black tendrils began to entwine around my clenched fist. I immediately jumped up and punched it directly in the stomach.

I was honestly surprised how effective it was. It actually had enough force to lift the dragon up a few feet into the air. The remaining force propelled me back down. The moment I hit the ground I flash stepped away from the falling bulk.

As it hit the ground it created a small crater and made the entire workshop shake. This wasn’t surprising as it must have weighed hundreds of tons.

I later learned that Blast actually generates a huge amount of force, but the most deadly thing about it is not its force, but that fact that it hits the internal organs and completely ignores any physical defenses the enemy may have. Basically if it doesn’t have any magic defences then it deals massive damage.

It seemed Barbossa did have some magic defenses as he instantly turned and lunged at me with one foreclaw.

I flash stepped behind him, with the intent to throw some scalpels at him, however that ended up not being the case as one of his hind legs instantly shot out. My instincts didn’t save me this time and I had no time to do anything but try to jump back to lessen the impact.

I have no idea if it worked at all as I was instantly shot into a stone wall.

I used another spell that I had recently learned, I had no name for it but it worked by basically putting an illusion over my body that made it appear that I have not taken any damage and also allowed me to act, and even feel like that was actually the case.

The problem? All that damage doesn’t go away. It merely makes it look like I am totally fine, when I am really not.

This spell was far more about psychological warfare than anything else.

I bring out Astroranem and get ready for his next attack.

“Oh, that’s a fine sword you have there. I think I’ll take it!” Barbossa says, eyeing my sword.

“Come and get it then” I say as I begin to charge at him, taking a few steps then flash stepping to his closest leg and giving it a good slash.

“GRAAAAAR” Barbossa screams as he brings his now injured leg closer to himself. “YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!”

He turns to me and sucks in a breath. Then exhales a huge amount of sand.

I knew that the true purpose of the sand was not damage, though with the speed of the exhale it did have the potential to do some serious damage, it was visibility. Browns actually had pit organs like a snake, and therefore relied more on sensing body heat than using their eyes.

I jumped to the side quickly enough to avoid the sand, unfortunately Barbossa was one step ahead of me this time and managed to swing his tail at me. This time however I was able to make a shield to block the strike. I then put some magic directly into Astroranem and released a wave of magic from the sword as I swung it.

It wasn’t enough to lop off his tail but it was enough to draw blood.

Barbossa growled at me as we looked at each other.

“Leave now and we can simply end things here” I say

Barbossa seems to take personal offense at this and leaps at me.

I decide to try using Burst again and flash stepped beneath him again. Unfortunately Barbossa was wise to my plan and shot a stream of sand underneath himself. I could tell that I just took a lot of damage as I once again impacted a wall.

I realized I made the mistake of thinking his breath could only be used in a large spray. But it seems he can concentrate it into a tight blast.

I quickly captchalogued some random things to regain some health. A few more hits like that and I was done for.

I could tell that my spell was having the desired effect as I faced him again. I could see some real fear in his eyes now, no doubt wondering how I could still seem totally fine after being hit into a wall twice now.

I flash stepped forward again, cutting his other foreleg this time, I hit the back of it intending to try to hamstring him. From his pain filled roar, I believe I succeeded.

Then Barbossa’s other claw shot at me like a viper, swatting me away. I found myself getting up close and personal with another wall.

I simply walked back in front of him, allowing him the first move this time.

We simply stare at each other for a while. I had also noticed we seemed to now be in the opposite positions than when we started. With my back to the workshop and his to the door.

“Is that leaving quietly option still on the table?” he finally asked me

I simply nod toward the door.

Barbossa quickly limped out through the still open doors with a wheeze after every step.

As soon as he was far enough away that I couldn’t hear his footsteps, I finally dropped my spell and fell over backwards. Almost totally exhausted and hurting all over.

‘Master…” Came a hesitant voice “Congratulations on your victory and all that… But… It seems the Dragon Migration is coming to Ponyville. Soon, if the lavender one is correct...’

I groaned as I turned over and got my feet underneath me, starting to feeling like I wasn’t the master of my own destiny, and began to captchalogue things again to restore my health.

Hopefully things go to canon and I don’t need to fight more dragons I thought as I began to walk back out of the workshop.

“Nice going, Spike.” one congratulates

“Well, what are you waiting for, Spike? Smash it!”

We could see him recoil.

“Smash the egg?” he asked hesitantly

“Yeah!”

“Yeah, throw it on the ground as hard as you can!”

“Yeah!” they said, starting to shout. “Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!”

We could see him lift the egg above his head, obviously struggling with the decision.

“No!” Spike finally shouted “It's just a defenseless egg, like I was! And I'm not gonna let you hurt it!” he said resolutely

“What did you say?” the red one asked fiercely.

“I said no.”

“No one says no to me,” he threatened as he stepped forward.

We moved up behind Spike to make a united front against the other dragons, taking off the fake costume as we did so.

Then we felt it. That feeling of dread and hopelessness that meant he was close.

“Well Spoken.” came a very familiar voice

Everyone present began to look around frantically

“Forget this! Let’s go!” The red says fear evident in his voice as he turns tail and runs, the other two following his lead.

I couldn’t help myself, I had to chuckle as they fled.

“Dr. Jackal! What are you doing here!?” Twilight asked

“You want another go?” Dash says as she gets into some kind of boxing pose, constantly turning, as I was using the ventriloquism spell again.

“Oh, no. I honestly never saw many dragons in one place before, so I decided to have a look. I always had a fascination with dragons, you see. And lo and behold, but who enters that volcano, in the most ridiculous costume I have ever seen? You three.” I said

Rarity definitely looked annoyed that I said her costume was ridiculous.

“When I saw Spike try to make friends with dragons that are following the path of Rage, well I just had to see the result.” I finished

“P-Path of R-Rage” Spike stammered, his whole body was shaking.

I cut off my VoidTerror and saw them breath a little easier then answered

“Yes, there are a few paths a dragon can follow in life, finding your primary path in life is like a pony getting their cutie mark. You have already taken steps in two paths so far, and did not find either to your liking. Now I have a question for you, when you refused to break the egg, what did you feel? Do you regret not smashing the egg?”

“No! I don’t regret it at all, but… but I felt like a coward” he said, the end barely above a whisper.

“What! You’re not a coward at all Spike! Why do you think you are?” Dash asked

“Great, now I’m going to need to deal with the fire and the brimstone since Dash and I are in agreement.” I said before Spike could answer

“But I was gonna run away before you all showed up!”

“Oh, Spikey Wikey, that doesn’t make you a coward.” Rarity said in a soothing voice, as she pulled him into a hug.

“Once more I must agree. Do you feel like a coward because you wanted to run instead of fight? Run from a fight you had no hope of winning on your own? Because fighting a battle you cannot hope to win is not courage. That is stupidity.”

“But.. But..” He stammers once again

“Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s acting despite your fears. You would have been a coward if you broke that egg, knowing it was wrong, but doing it anyway because you were afraid. You showed real bravery and courage to stand up to those dragons.” I explain

“Without fear, courage does not exist.” Twilight said softly, then continued when her friends looked towards her “Celestia once told me that.”

“Correct” I said, stepping out, now with two phoenixes on my shoulders

They were stunned when they saw the three of us.

I looked down at the egg in Spike’s claws, he looked down at it sadly before holding it out toward the phoenixes.

They simply cawed at him and ruffled their feathers.

After seeing Spikes confused face, I held out an arm in front of me and one of the phoenixes moved from my shoulder to it.

“Phoenixes are a rather interesting species.” I stated simply looking at the big red bird.

“When a creature of another species saves an egg, the parents then give the egg to the one who saved it as a gift, basically saying they are worthy to raise it. I personally think that they see the fact that the egg needed saving means that they failed as parents, but that's simply my speculation.”

Thank you Celestia for keeping such a detailed record of caring for Philomena, and your research on phoenixes in general. That you were also gracious enough to leave in the ruin’s library I thought to myself

Twilight’s jaw dropped, whether this was do to me not using Celestia's title or that I seemed to know so much about phoenixes, I wasn’t sure.

“I… I don’t know how to take care of a phoenix.” Spike admitted

“Talk to Celestia, she had to raise Philomena. I’m sure she will help you with whatever you need.”

I threw out my arm so that the phoenix on it would fly off, toward the quartet. As they ducked to avoid being hit, I turned and brushed off the other phoenix then flashed stepped away.