NOIRE POV

As we soared above the clouds on Torch's back, I thought back to the fight. Bits and pieces started to form like the Savageblade reappearing and what I said when I was like that. The tone of my voice, the memories that were not my own flooding in and the pain I felt when it was all gone. I couldn't shake this disgusting feeling inside me and it wasn't over yet: I could tell. "We should be arriving at my home soon. You're gonna love the place: Mom designed it all herself," Ember said. She was not wrong. We found ourselves going deep inside a crevasse, twisting through the craggy walls and at the bottom lay a castle of crystals. The walls seemed to be made of all manner of gemstones, which radiated with all the colours of the rainbow as it complimented the sun that hovered above. The crystal palace reminded me of matters I had left back home and the longing pain from the ship resumed.

"I wonder how Cadance is doing?"

CADANCE POV

Time felt to be moving at a fraction of its usual pace as I had to listen to the endless drawl of pointless woes. The first one started talking about taxes and everything began to tune out. I was lost in a thought, a request "When I come back, can we talk? About us?" I promised to wait for him, leaving me in stasis like I never left the station. Like a wife with a husband at war, I counted the seconds passing by. 6 hours felt like days and I was still counting.

"Princess? Court has ended. Would you like me to escort you back to your quarters?" The guard assigned as my personal guard asked emptily.

"Goddess, I already miss him" I thought "I need some fresh air. Accompany me to the gardens, please," I stood up and without even making eye contact with him, quickly walked out of the hall.

On the way, I was met with Silver Knight, who was instructing a pair of guards. He spotted me and excused himself and joined me. What I found suspicious was that when he left them, they were both holding their mouths over their mouths and giggling, leaving me to assume they were female guards. "Greetings, your highness," he said, walking beside me. I may have lost my touch when it came to love at the time but anypony can spot a charmer. A shameless one, at that.

"Greetings, captain. I'm happy to see you are getting well acquainted with the guard here." I smiled through gritted teeth. It was apparent how Silver Knight almost became captain of Canterlot's guard- he got along with so many of the female guard, which outnumbered the male guard, that he was nominated for the position.

"I am happy to hear you say that, princess. I do strive for a good relationship with all of my fellow guards and that doesn't exclude the guards here." He smiled as he followed me to the gardens, talking non-stop about how the fate of his former captain hit him hard and that he's glad that I found happiness once again while tried to stay as silent as possible, giving out a 'yes' or 'thank you' or 'yes, thank you', begging for somepony to shut him up. However, even my personal guard grew tired of his babble, looking off to the side and letting out quiet sighs of displeasure. I silently begged that he wouldn't accompany me to the gardens and soon enough, our blessing came in a member of the earth pony corps (a stallion, thankfully) telling Silver that he had to meet with Burning to discuss the training regime as well as his paperwork. "Oh well, I guess I can get to know my princess a bit later," he said as he followed the guard in the opposite direction, out of sight and earshot.

"Permission to speak, your highness?" the guard asked.

"Permission granted."

"That guy is way too into himself." I laughed at their joke. Maybe this new personal guard was just what I needed to get my mind off Noire.

"May I ask for your name?" I asked.

"Sugilite, your highness," the stallion guard answered.

"Sugilite. That's a nice name."

NOIRE POV

"Cadance must be doing a whole lot better than me..." I thought as we landed right outside of the massive pair of doors that lead to Torch and Ember's home. It looked just as beautiful on the inside as it did on the outside, with crystals and gemstones decorating the entire space. It resembled a lavish apartment combined with a sauna, with its lavish walls and dragon-shaped ornaments contrasted with a pit of hot rocks with a large piece of meat cooking on top. However, our attention was immediately turned to the figure next to the pit, humming a delightful tune. Once she heard the doors closing behind us, she turned around to reveal an 8-foot-tall dragoness with orange scales which faded to blue and crimson wings. She quickly ran over to Ember and they both embraced.

"Oh! I knew you were good enough to become Dragonlord, I just knew it!" She said with glee.

"Wait! Are you saying that you allowed for her to participate?!" Torch yelled, much to the dragoness' disdain. She grew until she stood over Torch.

"Yes, I did! You should be ashamed of yourself! You should know more than anyone that size does not mean strength! I can whoop your ass in any size I want!" She was absolutely fuming as she tore into Torch with the fury of a hundred dragons.

"Ember?" Spike asked "Will I be able to control how much I grow as well?"

"Of course: All dragons can do it once they pass their molting stage but as for when they get full control, the latest I've heard is around 100. However, my mom can grow larger than my dad because she's a part of the royal bloodline."

"Royal bloodline?" Twilight asked, holding a notebook.

"Yeah. Dragon's used to flock around kings and queens but after a battle that left almost all of the royal family either dead or crippled, they all vanished from Equus and the dragons started to fight amongst each other to decide the new king. Somedragon managed to quell the fighting, becoming the first dragonlord. My dad has always been about preserving this way of life while my mom wants to restore the monarchy."

"So, does that mean that Torch is adopted royalty?" I asked, withholding my laughter. Torch took notice of this but couldn't respond as his wife was still grilling into him. At that moment I felt his intimidating and powerful aura fade away, leaving behind a prideful and arrogant dad. After a bit, the dragoness noticed us and shrunk back down to her previous size.

"Oh, and my darling Ember brought friends! Hello, all of you, my name is Ignia," she said politely.

"Yes, I am Noire, a code avatar, and this is my group I'm travelling with."

"I am Tidal Horn. A general of the Crystal Empire."

"I am Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia's student."

"Seahoof, your highness. Just a humble sailor."

Ignia's expression turned serious "A code avatar. Like him?" She asked gravely.

"Yes, however, I am not like Grim. I have come here because we have had reports of his magical signature here in the Dragonlands and want to stop whatever he has planned." Ignia stared at me intently, judging whether I should be trusted. I gulped. I could tell that this royal dragon was way stronger than the dragonlord I fought before, and she could easily stomp me if she thought I was lying or a threat. However, my fear was proven groundless as her serious expression quickly reverted to its sweet and kind shape.

"Well, we can discuss all of that after dinner." She looked to the ponies of the group "Oh, I'm sorry but we don't get many herbivore visitors so we only have meat and gems," she apologised. Tidal assured her that it was alright by summoning a bag full of food for everyone who couldn't eat meat. Ignia led Tidal, Twilight and Seahoof to a comfortable place to sit while Spike, Ember and I sat close to the meat "Now, I'm sure you are wondering how I know of code avatars when Heros wiped everycreature's memories of them, am I correct?" I nodded "Well, that is a long story."

OVER 10,000 YEARS AGO, THE BADLANDS

My progenitor, the first dragon king, was one of the most powerful in his time and even the princesses feared his might. However, he was also one of the only ones to have a code of honour, defending weaker dragons. Before the formation of the Dragonlands, he lived in a remote cave in the Badlands like most dragons did those days, waiting for the opportunity to bring about what he so desired: the unification of dragons. He waited until that fateful day when a crash was heard from outside his home.

"Who goes there!" The dragon yelled. He stepped out of his cave, revealing a large dragon covered with dark blue scales, white, leathery wings and amber eyes. He sniffed the air for any trace of a dragon "If you are out there, reveal yourself!"

"Calm yourself, dragon. I have no intention of hurting you." An echoed voice said. A figure appeared from behind a rock revealing a hooded figure. The dragon could only see the ragged, brown cloak they were wearing. The hooded figure coughed before speaking once again "I apologise for the noise. I had run into an altercation with a group of dastardly lizards pretending to be dragons and you know the rest. Now, would it be too quick to ask for a place to rest before I head off on my journey."

Without question, he offered the stranger refuge for a short while; after all, mysterious strangers often told great stories.

"I do not believe you and your lies. Dragons are the mightiest race next to alicorns and I don't even smell blood on you! You couldn't have killed a single dragon, let alone a group!" The hooded figure looked up towards the dragon's hateful gaze. He slowly lifted the hood of his head, showing his long, silver hair and strange, pink eyes.

"So, to have you believe my words and allow me refuge in your home, I must show you my power?" He deadpanned. The dragon arched his back and grew until he became twice his original size and stood on four legs. He took in a deep breath and shot a fireball straight at the man, who still did not move. Before the fight ensued, he only muttered "Very well..."

A LITTLE LATER

Their battle was intense but ,in the end, the strange man had barely won against such a terrifying foe and once the wounds of their battle had faded, they talked all through the night. About their lives, their goals and how they were going to get there. They practically knew each other by the time the sun rose.

The sound of crackling wood woke the slumbering dragon. With a quick jolt, he stood on his two legs and came to lots of shocking realisations.

1) He had been knocked out of his mightiest form, back to his normal height, and unconscious for the whole in one hit by a creature not even a quarter of his height.
2) That man was now sitting next to him, cooking meat.
and 3) He had a large knot on his forehead where a magic blast had hit him.

"No way..." the man looked up at him curiously.

"Oh. You have awoken. Good, the meat is ready," he said, barely looking to his surprised host as he cooked a large piece of meat, the size of an adolescent dragon.

"No way..." the dragon muttered.

"Seeing as you are a dragon, you can have the larger portion. Or do you not need it, seeing as you are now my height?"

"No way..."

"I'll take some more anyway. I need my energy for the trip. Consider it my reward."

"No way..."

"Can you say anything else besides 'No way...' or did I happen to hit you too hard?"

"Impossible! You must be in some possession of dark magic! How did you manage to defeat me, Ignius, the mightiest dragon in the Badlands, with one hit?!" he yelled, closing in on the man's face. His response was short, and bitter to the dragon's ears.

"I am not in possession of dark magic. I am Heros from the planet Haven. The code avatar of chivalry."

"What in Tartarus are you on about?! What is this about being a 'code avatar' and from this 'Haven'?!"

Heros sighed as he lifted the meat of the fire and put the fire out with a wave of his hand "The code avatars are rare people with the ability to draw upon the power of the goddess and control the most powerful, original form of magic, the very same magic the goddess Faust used to create this world. Haven is my home planet. Faust summoned me here because of a threat to this world, this universe's very existence. His name is Grimoire."

"I heard of such a man but the princesses can handle him just fine. He's just another 'evil threat' that pops up every so often. Tartarus, they even had to seal away the Crystal Empire a while ago due to Sombra being a power-hungry shit."

"He is very real and dangerous. The princesses have already been defeated and held prisoner in their own castle."

"Why should I believe you? Just because you beat doesn't make anything you say true. All this stuff about code avatars and other worlds seems too farfetched for a dragon who only cares about power."

"Hmm. Then how about this? I will teach you this little magic trick that some of my dragon friends know and you will give me this whole slab of meat. Deal?"

Ignis pondered on this for a while. He knew very well that dragons had little to no magic so Heros' teachings could be useless to him. However, his desperation to gain the power to defeat the other dragons who were a threat to dragonkind and become the dragon king. Plus, the look in Heros' eyes felt trustworthy.

"I will agree but you only get the meat if this trick is good enough for my standards."

"Deal," Heros smiled "The trick is using the small amount of magic in your ignio-respiratory sac to it's utmost limit and in a pinpoint direction to unlock what could be a dragon's most powerful ability." He paused, letting the dragon's impatience grow.

"So?! What is it?!" Ignis yelled. Heros pointed to a stalagtite with a finger and shot a beam at it, shattering it completely.

"Plasma breath."

Ignis looked at Heros in bewilderment. He thought that such a thing was impossible but the human had no reason to lie besides from earning a chunk of dragon meat, which Ignis knew was hard and tough to chew for anycreature besides dragons. He accepted this knowledge and allowed the human to eat the meat.

"Ah! This tastes awful and why is it so hard to chew?!" Heros exclaimed.

"It's dragon meat. Did you expect our muscle to be soft like your deer or fish?" He laughed.

NOIRE POV, PRESENT TIME

"By the time morning came. Ignis found that the human was gone and he also set out to unify the dragons. He quickly found the plasma breath technique to be real and used it to defeat countless dragons with it, earning his title as dragon king." Ignia finished her story, sighing wistfully as if recalling a pleasant memory, We all were dumfounded by all this new information. Spike was in awe of learning more about dragons, Twilight was practically glued to her notebook, which looked almost full by then. As for me, I was just surprised to learn 'the hero's name and that Heros knew of the code and mastered it so quickly. That was surely something I would have to discuss with Faust later. "Any questions?" She asked.

"Yeah," Spike responded "Can I learn how to do that plasma breath thing?"

"You can learn but with your small size, you may not be able to do it practically. Your flames would most likely die out before it could reach the right density." Spike sighed in disappointment and leaned back as Twilight patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, you will be able to do it when you're older," Twilight said.

I was deep in thought when Ignia looked to me "Noire? Is anything was wrong?"

"It's just that something about the story." I thought back to Celestia's story "Heros supposedly wiped everyone's memories of him and Grim so how did Ignis pass down the technique if he didn't remember Heros teaching it to him?" I wondered.

"Maybe he only erased memories of the ponies and the others tribes were excluded. The Badlands are very far away from Equestria: his reach may have not gone that far." Tidal suggested. It was a valid explanation but there was still some questions left that I had to ask Faust tonight.

"Grimoire?"

Just like Faust said, once I closed my eyes and went to sleep in a comfy sleeping bag, I reappeared in the void between worlds. Where Faust was ready and waiting for me "It's weird that I've spoke with you 3 times already in the past week. You don't show yourself very often, do you?" I ask. Faust frowned at my statement and I retreated in fear that I may have angered a god.

"It is true that I don't have much impact on Equus as a whole. My final act as Controller, creating Equus, relinquished me of my physical form. I can't even speak directly to my daughters, Celestia and Luna, through anything more than premonitions within dreams." She teared up a bit upon the fact but quickly collected herself. She was here to train me "Onto the matter at hand. From your demonstration of your ability, I can see that Luna trained you well in combat and your mastery over my gift to you has increased rapidly. However, as for your control over the code, it is safe to say that you have only lost control after your realisation of your origins."

"Wait. What gift are you talking about?" I ask.

"I'm talking about the Decode Sword. It was once meant for Heros as a way for him to learn his power: like a learning assist but as he was already well versed in magic, he didn't need much more than an explanation of the situation and he was set."

"That makes sense but I'm still left with some questions: Why did Ignius remember Grim? What was Ignia talking about when she mentioned Grimoire and why didn't you tell me about him before you sent me here?" Faust seemed a little ashamed of herself before answering.

"For your first question, it is as your unicorn general friend said: Heros' reach did not extend to the Badlands. He only erased Equestria's memory as Grim was unknown to most countries. Grimoire was, as you may have expected, Grim's original name. He abandoned it after the incident but some individuals had the right to call him that like Celestia. As for why I didn't tell you, I foresaw you agreeing even with an explanation and I feared any knowledge of your spiritual counterpart may result in you joining him instead. I wanted to know if I could trust you, which I now know I can. Now that all of your questions have been answered, are you ready for your training to begin?" I took a deep breath and nodded before Faust's figure morphed, twisted and disappeared from sight, leaving only the darkness "Good. Now overcome this trial of the mind, maintain the strength of your ideals."

WARNING! DARK SUBJECTS SUCH AS TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS, DOMESTIC ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES. THIS PORTION MAY BE DISTRESSING FOR SOME READERS SO PLEASE EXERCISE DISCRETION WHEN READING AND SEEK HELP IF NEEDED.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a race car bed way too small for me. It had a flaming '1' on both its sides and was my favourite colour: blue. I quickly rose from my place on the bed and looked around. Everything was like I left it; the walls were a royal blue, the generic ranger action figures and plushies scattered about from my adventure with mom and dad when I was still bedridden. We defeated a dragon and saved a reluctant and bored looking princess. She was almost spiteful when she left to make dinner.

"Mommy has been acting weird since I was last in the hospital," I found myself saying out of nowhere "I wonder if she's getting better like daddy said he would." This was different to when I was merely watching Tidal's memories and dreams. I was front row and centre to the worst day of my life. I subconsciously stood up to clean my messy room when I heard light footsteps. She was coming.

The door flew open to reveal my mother, a remnant of her at least. She wandered her way into the room like a giddy child in a candy shop. I was naïve back then but now I could imagine her twisted perspective now. Her eyes replacing the bed with designer clothes and the toys with jewellery. I was frozen staring at the glock in her right hand while she painted the walls red. She hated blue. "Mommy?"

"Soon you'll be gone," her back was turned, looking a the shelf where my favourite picture of us stood. I was five year old and we were at an amusement park where we all got to take a picture with the rat mascot "I never wanted a child but Lux was so happy when he found out I was infected with you. Everyone was so fucking pleased you were festering inside, plaguing my dreams and my life. You stole our love, the spark, the magic between us was gone and it's ALL BECAUSE YOU CAME BETWEEN US!" she turned and pointed the gun straight at me, right between my teary eyes. Mommy's long gone.

"Mommy? What are you doing?" I asked innocently. So innocently that she had to jerk the gun forward to shut me up.

That was when she started laughing to herself "You'll die soon. We keep taking you to the doctors but something new always pops up. It's only a matter of time so why don't I speed up the process!" The door flew open again and found my dad, my hero, standing there. I wanted to run to him for safety but the pressure from being caught between my salvation and certain death kept me locked in place. This wasn't like the fairy-tale games where dad and I fought together. I was back in reality and dad was forced to defend me.

"What are you doing with that, Amanda?"

"Amanda? Remember when it was 'honey' or 'darling' or 'sweetheart'? But ever since the pregnancy, the depression and the drugs, we lost all of that! All because of that brat!"

"Put it down!"

"No! He needs to die for us to be happy!"

"Noire, it's going to be okay. Daddy's got you." He spoke to me in the gentlest of words like always. For a moment, I felt like this was another day. Sure, mom and dad were fighting but surely everything was going to turn out okay, right?

"STOP CODDLING HIM!!! HE'S DESTROYING OUR MARRIAGE, LUX!" the mad woman yelled.

"HE DID NOTHING. IT WAS YOU WHO REFUSED TREATMENT. IT WAS YOU WHO DISTANCED HERSELF WHEN EVERYONE TRIED TO HELP!" the hero yelled back. She took the safety off. Finally, the moment came and how quick and horribly it past. Dad had made a mad dash to shield me from the inevitable. His figure consumed me with darkness, protecting me

Bang.

The darkness fell like a lifeless body and like that, it was the end of my mother's trial and she was obviously found guilty. From the scene of the crime, several reports of gunshots in the area and a traumatised child forced to suck up his tears and give a statement, she was carried of in a matter of an hour. When she was being carried away by two bailiffs, I could feel the restraint on my body lift. I was finally free to pursue the one responsible for destroying me.

"Get back here," I said as I ran after her. However, the hallway the woman was led down seemed to stretch infinitely.

"You deserve more than this." I felt the Savageblade in my grip and the gap between us seemed to close.

"I DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS!" Her head was within range.

"Get back here... SO I CAN FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED!" I raised the sword high, preparing to finish the bitch who wasn't even brave enough to finish what she started.

"DIE!!!"

I was stopped as I woke up and found myself back in the dragon's castle, on top of Tidal, with the Savageblade mere inches from her throat. I was frozen in place as her saw her blue eyes staring back into my black and red ones.

"Noire?"

Author's Note

This is the beginning of the weight that is Noire's full backstory finally being lifted off my shoulders. I really wanted to nail this chapter as I feel like screwing up with this one (and the next one) will ultimately screw up Noire's character. With that, I hope I get lots of feedback as I'm pulling a risky move with my characters next chapter and I don't want two consecutively bad chapters.

Stay dizzy. Wuzzy out.