NOIRE POV

During the days when life became too much for me, whether it be 'mother' or school or just nothing going my way, my father would tell me "As long as you have a code to live by, you can overcome any trial before you" in an awful, sagely tone. I didn't understand him at the time and just told him that I didn't get it. However, he would just pat me on the head and tell me that I'll know what it is when I'm older. When Grim told me about who I am -what I am- I could quite solemnly say I still didn't know. I could hear, from the depths of my mind, words I wish I could never say again. The cries of another me who had broken his chains and pulled me into the depths of my anger.

"Decode Sword: Savageblade"

CADANCE POV

When Celestia, Luna and I made it to the throne room, Grim and Noire were already duking it out, zipping around the room, Noire slashing with his blade while Grim blocked with his bare hands. Noire seemed to have the offensive advantage, however, Noire felt different. His aura was darker, his eyes were sharper and the most recognisable sign was his black and red broadsword. It had gaps in the blade and it looked attached to Noire like it was his hand. I looked to Celestia and Luna, both bearing the same worried look. "Aunties? What's happening to Noire?" I asked. Celestia looked to me with uncertainty while Luna continued to look on with increasing anger. I was brought back to the fight when Noire and Grim landed back on the ground in a power struggle.

"Intriguing! It looks like you're my power remains through the fraction of my soul inside of you! It would be great to study a code avatar with two codes!" Grim celebrated. What was he on about?

"SHUT UP!" Noire yelled. He backed away from Noire before coming back with a stronger swing. The impact sends Grim flying backwards 'Has Noire always had this strength?' I silently awed as Noire chased Grim to where he landed and started striking him with his sword repeatedly. " 'I'm a part of you'!?" He swung his sword down on him "All my pain" and again "My suffering" and again "My life" and one more time "because of you!?"

"What pleasant heartbreak. Now you feel the same sorrow I did; the sadness of suffering in darkness because of something -of someone- out of your reach. The only way to avoid ruin is to embrace that darkness as your own. As my own. Become one with me," Noire ignored him and continued to wail on Grim but this time to no avail. Grim waved his hand and a wave of energy sent him flying back to us and landing in a crater.

"We need to go," Luna said, shocking both Celestia and myself. How could she even consider leaving him alone with this monster as he slowly becomes one himself!? "At this moment, Noire's conscious is consumed by his desire to destroy and his code, or should I say Grim's code reacts strongly to that. We cannot save him,"

"No! I refuse to give up on him!" I barged past my aunts and towards the crater where Noire was, struggling to stand. It hurt to see him so angry, overcome by pain "Noire! Please wake up!" Noire didn't respond to my call and continued to limp towards the smug-looking Grim "You have to fight this!" Grim teleported over to me before I could even notice what was happening. He turned his arm into a blade and pointed it at my throat. Celestia and Luna tried to get to me but a barrier blocked them. It was only me, Noire and Grim now. Noire was even more annoyed and enlarged his blade.

"Do you see what is before you, child? Only monsters remain of these two men. So stay out of business between monsters lest you want your head on a platter," His blade began to extend, grazing my neck. I felt the sting and drip of blood down my neck but I was not fazed; I was only concerned about bringing Noire back to his senses, even if it killed me.

"NOIRE! Remember what you told me on the roof!? About if you should really be with me!?" Noire stopped dead in his tracks "Do you remember your vow to me?"

"Don't worry, I'm not too sure either. However, when I saw how it hurt you were to see me tied up How it drove you to defend me from your own aunts when you could have easily let them do whatever they would've done to me and fixed the gap between you and Shining... it inspired me... inspired me to defend you should you ever be in trouble. Even if you may decide to kick me out."

"I was silent then but I'm ready to speak up now!" Noire walked to Grim and me, his pace slow and heavy with each step he took "Don't leave me, Noire! I don't want to live without having to dump you in the shower or hearing you comfort me when I'm unsure about myself or helping me with snooty nobles in court!" Noire was now right behind Grim but still looked lost in his sorrow "I need you with me right now! I lo-"

Slash

Grim was sent flying into a wall before his blade could reach something vital. Noire's aura began to fade and his blade returned to normal "*sigh* Thank you, Cadance. You don't have to say anymore; you'll hurt that beautiful voice of yours," He caressed my cheek before turning to face the tyrant. He summoned his Duoblade, ready to fight for real "I'll never forget my code to live by,"

"Good. Now show him how strong you really are,"

TIDAL POV

It was never going to end at this pace. The monsters continued coming and our numbers were dropping fast. We had been surrounded and it wasn't going to take long until we are overwhelmed "We can't hold out much longer! Isn't there any way to stop these things!?" Windy said as shot another bazooka arrow. Burning had retreated from the front, joining me and Windy in the middle of our crumbling formation.

"Princess Cadance told us that these things feed off of magic to function but they have been moving without much input. They must have a power source; something close to the vicinity," Burning's observation was correct but we were running out of time before we were all dead. I took a quick look at the monsters but they didn't show any signs of having an alternate power source on them. It was until I noticed another monster fall from the magic circle to realise "It's the magic circle! It must be using magic from the surroundings and fueling them! We need to destroy it!" That was going to be easier said than done. As the monsters kept closing the gap, absorbing more soldiers into them, an idea sparked; a simple but risky one.
"Windy, Burning! Attack the circle with everything you have!" They both looked at me in shock, understanding what this meant instantly. If we failed, we wouldn't have any means of killing the monsters and we would most likely be killed but it was our last chance. These unspoken words passed by us generals and we all gathered together "Forces! Hold the line!" I commanded as we launched our ultimate attacks.

"BURNING FIST: DRAGON!" Burning thrust his fist to the air, creating a large dragon ascending to the sky.

"WINDY PHOENIX BLAST!" Windy aimed an arrow at the circle and fired. During its rise, he boosted the speed of the arrow with a strong flap from his wings.

"GRAND TIDE'S TRIDENT!" I performed three upward slashes, launching three water blades upwards combining into a water trident. All three attacks hit the magic circle, struggling to breakthrough. However, a crack appeared, and another, and another. Soon the magic circle began to fall apart as pieces fell like glass and dissolve. All three of us collapsed, lying on each other for support. We looked around as the monsters had stopped attacking and faded away like the circle. There were little sounds of rejoicing from the small army we had left alive. The job was not over yet though.

"C'mon guys. We have to help Noire and the princesses," Windy said as he tried to pick himself up but failed. We were all helpless. We could only hope that Noire and the princesses were strong enough to at least force a retreat.

"The rest is up to them now," Burning wheezed out.

"Yeah..." That was all we could say before passing out. In the brief moments, before I blacked out, I could feel a sickly feeling in my stomach. "It was probably just the exhaustion," I thought to myself before I fell asleep, confident that Noire could finish this battle.

NOIRE POV

As I clashed with Grim, I could see a red, green and blue light flash in the sky, hitting the magic circle and shattering it. As soon as it was gone, I felt the magic in the air return to normal, allowing the princesses to assist me which I desperately needed. Despite my newfound control, I was still being toyed with by Grim. "Your allies seem to be bigger nuisances than I thought. No matter, you will all be gone soon enough," he said as he conjured several black tendrils from his arms to tie me up. I felt his grip on me tighten as I was lifted into the air before being slammed back down. Luckily, Celestia caught me in her magic grip. I silently thanked her and activated my unbound state, my eyes becoming the same gold and the black veins spreading across my face. I rushed Grim with incredible speed and assaulted him with several sword strikes. This tactic proved to be more effective as Grim's left arm was unable to take the punishment and was cut off. I saw this as my opportunity to get in close. Changing my sword into its Longblade form, I was ready to cut Grim clean in two. However, tendrils came flying out of his body like sharp harpoons. Luna shielded the barrage of tendrils while I was forced to back away. I was too late to shield myself as I felt a tendril pierce my right leg and left arm, leaving me kneeling on the floor.
The princesses came to my aid, Luna charging him with her scimitars while Celestia blasted him from afar and Cadance focused on healing me.

"Why is it healing so slowly?" Cadance said frantically trying to close to holes as Luna and Celestia were holding back Grim. He managed to knee Luna in the stomach and fire a magic blast, sending her into a wall. Celestia yelled and in a blind fury, unleashed a torrent of magic attacks at Grim. It was honestly terrifying to see such a kind soul become so angry but Grim had a way of bringing out your worst. Her assault was brought to an end when Grim teleported behind her and grabbed her by the horn. Celestia gave out a loud scream as his grip tightened. I gritted my teeth and stood up, bearing through
the pain but all I could do was watch as Celestia was tortured and thrown aside like trash. Anger filled my being but this time I was in control and focused.

"GRIM! Your fight is with me!" I yelled as I picked up my sword and prepared for another round "Decode Sword: Shootingblade," my sword transformed into a bow. I drew an ethereal arrow and took aim at Grim's chest. Grim looked puzzled by this before letting out a chuckle.

"You think that a new blade will save you? Okay then," he stood in front of me, arms spread wide "Go ahead," I took advantage of the opportunity Grim was freely giving me. I closed my eyes and searched through my mind for a way to solve this hopeless situation and in the depths of my memories, I had an idea.

"Final Decode:" I let the arrow fly, hitting the arrow square in the chest. However, Grim seemed to have taken no damage from it. Grim laughs cockily, mocking my failure but stopped as soon as he saw me smiling "I thank you, Grim. For helping me realise who I am because this may be the first time I am glad to have a part of your soul in me,"

WINDY POV

While we were resting, I looked up at the peaceful sky, rid of evil, and sighed with relief. However, my sigh stopped as I saw another magic circle appear in the sky "Crap! Another circle!" I shouted. However, with all of us depleted of magic, there was no way of destroying a second one. Burning looked at the circle but with relief instead of fear.

"There is no need to worry. The magic it is composed of is pure," the red magic circle began to change into a royal blue "That is Noire's magic zone," A magic weapon began to take shape, becoming a gigantic ethereal arrow.

NOIRE POV

"Phantom Comet" Through the castle, came an ethereal arrow. Much like Phantom Excalibur, it phased through Grim's body, leaving not a scratch on him but he soon staggered, severely depleted. Not relenting, I returned the decode sword to its broadsword and stabbed Grim through the heart. Grim coughed up a lot of blood and slowly backed away from me. I tried to confront him again but the adrenaline finally wore off. I fell to my knees, feeling a scorching pain in my leg preventing me from moving.

"I have underestimated your strength, Noire. You and your allies are much stronger than any foe I have faced 10,000 years ago. I will retreat for now but know that this is only the beginning of my little campaign. Maybe a little tour around Equestria will do me some good before coming back for more," I tried once again to catch him but to no avail as I crumbled to the floor. Cadance came to my aid, helping me up "You will certainly be a nuisance for me as well, Princess," He said, pointing at Cadance before opening a portal and disappearing.

"It's over," Cadance said, sighed a hefty sigh.

"Yeah... we won. This victory...is ours," I stood on my uninjured leg with Cadance for support "C'mon, the princesses need medical attention. Message the troops to return to the castle," Cadance did as I asked, creating a mind link and alerting the army of our victory. We went over to the princesses, both unconscious and began healing them together. They both woke up after a few minutes later.

"Noire, Cadance! Where's Grim!? Did he get away!?" Luna said frantically.

"...He got away. However, now we need to focus on rebuilding and preparing for when he strikes again. He said something about a tour across Equestria. He must be planning on conquering us the long way this time, taking over town by town before hitting us again, even stronger," Celestia and Luna got to their feet, bearing through the pain before the army returned. It looked so small; we must have lost hundreds.

"We have lost many today," Celestia said "However, their lives were not wasted. We have won this day for our loved ones. For Equestria!"

We all raised our fists into the air as the sun was lowered and the moon rose. She was right; after so much struggle, we finally struck back. That day became known as "The Battle of Clashing Codes" by the press and we became known as heroes.

Author's Note

OH SWEET BABY JESUS!
I know this took way too long to finish and I will not excuse myself for how much I have put this off but now that it is done, I can finally relax *inhale* *exhale* and continue the daily grind. Now for news, new chapters will be taking a back seat so I can look back on the later chapters (Ah my sloppy glory days) and improve while trying to get as much done on Just a Dream as possible. I hope this will be good enough to keep you guys somewhat entertained for when I start the next Act. Now for this next arc, I will censor for those who want no spoilers:

Act 3: The Code of Dragons (wink wink nudge nudge)