NOIRE POV, THE DAY BEFORE THE ATTACK

Cadance, the generals and I were on the train to Canterlot in preparation of Grim's attack. All of us remained in concentrated silence as Celestia's sun was setting on the horizon; we were all anxious about what horrors awaited us tomorrow. It was clear on all of our stern expressions that none of us wanted to be on this train right now, on our way to meet with a threat so confident, they announced when and where they were going to attack. I looked around the cabin, watching everyone looking down on the ground or out the window; even Windy was looking tense, a reminder that the stakes were too high to fail and let Grim take over the capital. Our silence was broken by a Dragonfire scroll appearing and falling into Cadance's lap. "It must be from auntie," she said as she unravelled the scroll and read it, "She said that the Elements have made it into the city and most of the people have been moved to the lower levels of Canterlot. The whole city should be empty and safe from harm,"

"But that doesn't mean we can be lax" Burning added "Grim seems to be confident that his forces could easily wipe out the entire city in one day. With his intelligence and better mastery of the code, we can't even imagine what he will be capable of,"
Burning was right; when I saw into a piece of his mind, I saw the destruction he wrought with his code, easily disposing of two alicorns and on the verge of world domination. However...

"From what I've gathered from Grim from our interactions, he's smart but no general. His strategies up until now were using brute strength to overpower his foes. He's also not in the best states of mind so drawing him out of the city and to us should be our main priority. The only issue is..."

"Can we beat him with just the eight of us and the princesses? I mean, the princesses were helpless against him and we have no clue how strong he is," Windy finished. Silence filled the room again. We all knew that we had to be the ones to kill Grim but it was easier said than done. It took another master of the code to defeat him and even he couldn't finish the job. I was starting the get a handle on the code but not nearly enough. I only hoped the assistance from my allies would be enough. As we silently thought about the fight ahead, Ayra entered the cabin.

"We should be in Canterlot in 5 hours. Maybe you should all get some sleep for now,"

"Thank you, Ayra. Let's all rest up for tomorrow," Everyone got up and went to the sleeping cabins. As I was about to leave as well, Ayra caught my hand.

"If you see Chrysalis, please spare her; There still might be hope for her," I nodded silently, assuring her I would. Ayra sighed in relief and let go of my hand. As I saw her turn away from me, I almost thought I saw a blush on her. Putting that notion aside, I went to my bed in the cabin and dreamt empty dreams that night.

"Where are you? I'm waiting for you ever so patiently," A voice called to me in empty dreams.

"Nowhere of importance to you. I'll be there to stop you. I'll stop you every time, Grim, and sever your twisted head from your corrupted body," To my surprise, the voice that responded wasn't mine, but another's. My mind wondered about who it could be until I arrived at the only possible conclusion; this was the hero who stopped Grim the first time. This revelation brought about a greater source of confusion as I was dreaming of something I shouldn't be able to remember unless this was another fraction of memories that I receiveD from Grim when we were talking in the dream realm. That night still perplexed me 'Is this another thing the code is capable of? This feels like how I entered Tidal's thoughts but stronger. "You have suffered, Grim. Anyone with a brain could tell you that but know you will find rest in your own soul. Your own soul will look you dead in the eye and end your torment but know you will face it willingly. I will not finish you today; I will be preserving you for your soul,"

And just like that, I was awakening...

I woke up with a start and looked outside and saw it was morning, the snowy plains had made way to the city of Canterlot. 'We managed to get here before Grim. Good.' I kissed Cadance on the forehead, making her groan while I got out of bed. I quickly dressed and went to greet the others. As expected, they all had dressed and prepared for the day ahead, outfitted in their new encoded armour. It looked the same as the armour they used to wear but with modified pieces. Windy had wind patterns on his shoulder plates and a fur hood. He also had reduced armour to make him more agile and quicker. Tidal had the wave patterns on her shoulder plates and was sporting a royal blue cape, resembling her mother's cape she still had in her room. Burning had taken off his arm pieces entirely, leaving only his bandaged arms. The rest of his armour was slimmed to help him move better and I noticed he was wearing a red headband under his charcoal black hair.

"Are you gonna keep staring or are you going to come over here and talk to us, newbie?" Tidal shouted. I snapped out of my lost trance and went over to them "I'm going to assume you didn't wake up Cadance? I swear, sometimes you forget we're in a battlefield," She went off towards Cadance's room. After that, all I could hear was yelling and shouting.

"They'll be fine. Now tell us what's on your mind, Noire," Burning asked me questioningly.

"I'm that easy to read now, am I," I said jokingly. I only got a deadpan stare in response. I gave a long sigh before I began "I got another memory from Grim last night. It was one of his encounters with the hero. I couldn't see anything but I could hear the hero talking to him, saying he was only going to 'preserve' him and that he was going to be defeated by 'his soul'. I still don't get any of it,"

"Maybe he meant Grim was going to surrender, that he was going to crumble under the weight of his sins. You did say he comes off as a little unhinged when you get to know him," Windy proposed.

"It seems unlikely though. To spend 10,000 years plotting and not once regret your actions? If that is the case, we won't be seeing that anytime soon," Burning added. That was when Tidal entered the room with a tired but dressed Cadance. Her armour was the same as the raid, but with stronger metals and encoded.

"Whatever he said doesn't matter now. We got reports from a messenger that a large army was seen marching towards the capital from the west. We should go to the castle and prepare our forces. We all agreed and exited the train, along with the rest of our forces who were all in other trains. It wasn't as large as Canterlot's army but we needed everything we could get to fend off Grim's forces. On the way to the castle, I looked to the empty streets, where ponies, albeit majorly stuck-up, obnoxious ones, roamed.

"This was for the best. Grim's monsters are powered by fear; they would've been in the way," said Cadance, placing her hand on my shoulder. Her warm hand reassured me once again. I smiled before turning back to the sight of the castle gates, where Celestia and Luna were in full battle armour and accompanied by their own army. Celestia had a halberd to her side while Luna had her scimitars; they were serious, as they should've been.

"We welcome you and your forces with open arms in this time of dread, Noire, Cadance, generals," said Celestia "We should go meet his force and the west gate. From all of your expressions, I believe we have a bit to talk about,"

On our march to the west gate, I explained my new dream to Celestia and Luna. Celestia was intrigued by this new information. Luna, on the other hand...

"You are telling us that the hero never intended on destroying Grim forever?" Luna asked. From a closer glance, you could've seen a twinge of pain, anger but most of all, betrayal. I nodded and Luna sighed "Well, whatever he said doesn't matter, it is the fact that you and Grim are connected. I have never heard of two code avatars sharing memories at least from what I've heard,"

"The hero may have withheld that information from us. He was incredibly secretive and vague about everything, including his own name," Celestia proposed. Cadance laughed at that notion.

"You must have caught on to a few of his tricks. It would explain why you always give such vague words of wisdom." Celestia blushed slightly but ignored the comment and we continued marching "So to recall the strategy, The generals will be at the vanguard with the armies will Noire, Cadance and ourselves will be at the rearguard?"

"Yes, we suspect that Grim will expect Noire to be at the vanguard but we must expect the worst from Grim. That's why being supported by strong individuals will hopefully be enough to even up the playing field," said Burning. The gate was beginning to appear in sight. I began to feel butterflies in my stomach; this was the first large scale battle I have ever been in. To everyone else, I may have seemed like some mighty warrior entrusted to save the world- no, the universe and I tried my best to appear fine, but I was still a lame university student with terrible social skills. I don't know how I managed to keep it up for so long but at least I had the assurance that I could still feel nervousness under the visage of a valiant warrior. I steeled myself as the gate appeared in front of us. However, something was off.

"Everyone, I'm not feeling a strong magical signature from this army. This can't be right," everyone looked at me confused until every horned pony in our group searched for a signature and came to the same conclusion I did.

"Noire's right. For an army just as large, if not larger than ours, their collective signature doesn't sum up to even a small platoon," said Tidal. Windy went up high and searched for the army.

"Guys? The army... IT'S GONE!" our eyes went wide as we looked up and saw what looked like a large magic circle, black with red lines coursing around it, in the air. It looked about the size of the entire city. Noone had a clue what was going on until one by one, monsters began falling from the sky. Screaming filled the air as some, instead of falling, flew.

"The marching army must have been an illusion! Dammit! We've been fooled!" Tidal yelled "We have to move fast before we're completely overwhelmed. Celestia, how many soldiers are back at the castle?"

"300 in total,"

"Then we still have a chance to get to them before they take the castle. We'll split into two groups; the generals will go with the Canterlot and Crystal Empire forces and meet with the forces. Celestia, Noire, Cadance and I will go incognito to the castle. Something tells me Grim will be there," We all agreed and went on our separate missions, the generals commanding the armies and going to fight the monsters while the princesses and I went through the residential district to the castle. I silently prayed we hadn't lost the fight before it even began.

WINDY POV

"Bazooka Arrow!" I launched an arrow at a group of monsters. The arrow transformed into a tornado the instant it hit one of their chests, sending them flying and slicing them into bits. I don't know how long we could keep this up but we had to buy as much time as we could until Grim was taken out. From the corner of my eye, I could see Burning and Tidal dealing with their own hordes, as well as the armies fighting back the monsters as well as they could. However, they seemed almost unresponsive to any physical attacks and absorbed magical attacks of low power. They could only be defeated by a large amount of magic absorption. "Burning! You're not putting in enough magic! They won't go down that way!"

He understood this and launched another blazing punch to an amalgamation's stomach, blowing it up seconds later "I know but some of them have a higher resistance than others. We need to take them out in groups!" he responded.

Tidal swang her sword at a group of charging monsters, slicing them in two "Then don't hold out! Pull out all the stops!" her sword became engulfed in waves. She planted it into the ground and out of nowhere, waves came from the ground and were sent in the direction of a large group of enemies "Tsunami!" monsters were consumed in the wave and were sent in the direction of the town square.

"Burning Fist: Monkey," Burning's arms and legs were engulfed in flames and began punching and kicking his way through a crowd, forming a path "To the square, we'll round them up there!" he yelled. I took off into the air and flew in the direction of the square with the monsters in tow.

"Noire... Finish this mess before it gets any crazier..." I whispered to myself as I flew.

CADANCE POV

"Decode Sword: Gardnablade," Noire shielded all of us from the barrage of magic attacks sent our way by three monsters. Once they stopped, Luna leapt and sliced them into pieces before they could even realise what happened. Celestia and I were in the back, shooting down those behind us as we made our way to the castle. However, we seemed to be making no process as monsters kept appearing from the magic circle in the sky and forced us back. "We're getting nowhere like this. Isn't there a way to teleport straight into the castle and save us the trouble?"

"I've been trying ever since we left but whatever that magic circle is doing is interfering with teleportation. I can barely feel the magic in the air anymore; as if it just disappeared," We cast this aside as we continued our way into the city but as we got closer, more complications seemed to arise. Noire began having a harder time keeping up with the rest of us, frequently getting headaches. B y the time we reached the gates, Noire was clutching to his head in pain "Noire! Are you okay?" I asked out of concern.

"He's monologing at me," he said between short breaths.

"What's he saying?"

Noire took a moment to steady his breathing "Something about a 'magic zone' and that the magic here belongs to him. Celestia? Luna? Do you have any idea what he's on about?" they both looked scared at this new information. Celestia eventually told us what he meant.

"Yes. Magic zone allows a magic-user to control all magic in the environment. The range depends on your skill in controlling magic. For example, Tidal and her mother use this technique to fuel their water magic. Grim must be using the largest magic zone he can muster to summon those monsters and stop us from teleporting. It's safe to say that once we run out of magic, there won't be any opportunity to recover any more without beating him first,"

"Then we should hurry before our forces run out of magic and are overwhelmed," and just like that, the gates were opened almost by themselves. Without hesitation, we charged forward into the lion's den.

GRIM POV

I watched from my little globe; my creations wandering the streets, keeping these annoyances occupied. I saw one of those annoyances get consumed, swallowed by my soldier. It was a funny little thing I had come up with after my encounter with Noire. 'If my monsters can already absorb magic, why not make them absorb ponies? They already have magic inside of them so...' and my amalgamations could now feast upon the magic of others, making them stronger and less resistant to overload. It was then during the carefree channel surfing that I had another one of those ghastly migraines "So you have arrived, Noire. We have much to talk about but it can't be here, with so many eyes on us, and I can't make it any easier for you," I said as I continued watching from Celestia's throne. It was super uncomfortable.

NOIRE POV

By the time we made it into the castle, it was teeming with monsters. This came as no surprise but their appearance shook us all. In their flesh was guard uniforms, jutting out of random areas. What came as even worse of a shock was the faces of the guards were also in their flesh. Celestia and Luna bore a look of sadness and rage while Cadance was barely able to stand "Help... us," a voice called from one of the monsters. It was a guard, still alive inside of that monstrosity "Help...US!" they yelled before an abnormally large hand squashed their face, disappearing inside their skin. It was horror incarnate.

"We have to keep moving. If this continues, we'll stand no chance," I summoned my Longblade and charged at the hordes, the princesses right behind me. I sent forth a mighty swing at my enemies, sending a large magic wave at all of them. Once it made contact, they all exploded. I was fuming with anger 'I don't care how much you've suffered, Grim. This must end.'

"I couldn't agree more, Noire. However, allow me to move the finale of this chapter of our tale to a more fitting location," Before I could respond, I could feel myself being teleported. I turned to the princesses, who were too busy fighting off the monsters to come to my aid.

"CADAN-" I half yelled before everything went white.

"Morning, sport," said a familiar voice as I rubbed my eyes, trying to figure out where I was. I caught a faint smell of bad cologne and aftershave. I had recognized this voice almost instantly; it was my dad. The area began to clear of white and found myself in my family's old kitchen, where I sat in my usual chair to the far right of the dining table. There were six seats at the table; one for dad, 'mom', me and three guest seats for visitors we never had. My mom and dad were orphans and didn't have many friends the could talk to very often due to most of them being abroad. 'Busy b*tches' my mom used to call them when she had one too many. I heard the popping of a toaster, it was time for dad's signature toaster waffles. It was the only thing he could make that couldn't burn the house down and what we could afford with the minimal savings we had. I snapped myself out of my trance and looked at myself from the clean plate below me; I was still an adult but my armour was replaced with an orange t-shirt saying 'Kool Kid' in bold, black letters and cargo shorts. I was questioning how much of this was real when I noticed Grim, sitting next to me.

"If you're wondering about how this is possible, allow me to elaborate. My magic zone allowed me to enhance our bond enough to look into your memories again. As this goes on, your friends are valiantly fighting for their lives and we're unconscious on the floor of the throne room. Now my theory is beginning to make more and more sense by the second," I barely even noticed my dad setting my waffles on the plate and how he ruffled my hair as he left to take his own seat at the table "I have made a lot of contact with him over the years but I never got a hint as to his life or name but with you it's different. Ever since that night, I have experienced memories as if they were my own and sometimes even woke up thinking I was lying next to Cadance. I predict you have had such difficulties as well?" He was right; sometimes when I woke up, I tried looking for a magic ball but remembered I didn't own one and often forgot where I was even going "I will take your silence as a yes. You see, I have achieved something great. Something more than what I originally set to accomplish. I didn't travel across dimensions; I created a new one with my entire 'me' being copied as 'you',"

I was lost for words, to say the least. To say the most "If you expect me to believe you for a second, you must be crazier than everyone thinks you are," Grim only smiled.

"I didn't believe it either until I saw the evidence. The explosion that caused my world's end, it's energy signature appeared present on my own as a form of radiation. The same radiation I found in yours which led me to conclude that your code is the same as mine, or at least highly compatible with each other,"

"Aren't you going to finish that, son? You can't go to school with an empty stomach" I ignored my dad completely. A much as I wanted to hug him, I couldn't just ignore this maniac saying he was me. I was still sceptical, with my mind running around, trying to come up with excuses for how we could almost the same code. Grim noticed it and summoned more pictures. One of them was a group of scientists. One of them looked like Grim except he had brighter skin and his eyes were black, like my own. He also had a female scientist at his side, clutching onto his side and a male scientist with his arm around his neck. It looked they were happy. Grim covered picked up the picture with his hands, covering the two friendly scientists with both thumbs.

"This was me before the explosion. See the resemblance?" he was right again, his appearance was basically an older version of me. He wasn't done though as he pulled out another piece of paper, but more aged, worn with time. It was a medical report, for me "You remember this day when you were five. The day you found out there were traces of radiation poisoning in your brain. Miraculously, you didn't die at three. You remember this-"

"-as the day my parents' marriage was ruined. Mom blamed it on dad and dad just sat there and watched as mom slipped into despair and alcohol," I finished for him. It was a miracle how I didn't die long ago but living with the guilt felt like a curse. To feel like the reason my mom becoming a monster and my dad's death. I had heard enough. I slowly stood up, leaving a small boy in my place. My attire changed back into my armour as left. Grim only smiled and followed me. I went to the door going into the back-yard, opening it to reveal a world of white. Without hesitation, I walked into the light.
"Dad? When is Mom coming back?" I heard in the background.

"I don't know, Noire. I don't know..."

Author's Note

Hoo boy!