A/N : I've been having some writer's block with this chapter, so I decided to try something different, as an experiment. I've been listening to some music and letting it bring me ideas, writing more or less instinctively.

If you're interested, you can listen to it while reading, just click the links when they show up. Depending on your tastes, you may find it really bizarre, don't say you weren't warned. Anyways, it starts here.

“Some may feel that following rules restricts them, but having rules can force you to do more than you would have done without them.

Where many see boundaries and try to break them, others see a path to follow instead.

Those are usually the one who go the furthest.”

Nuage didn’t know how much time had passed, if there was even any. She couldn’t move, or if she could, she didn’t see any difference : there was nothing except for the green light. No smell, no taste, no touch, no sound ; the magic was all she could feel, all she could know, for either one second or an eternity…

Eventually, the endless green evolved into a monochromatic landscape : paler shades made up a sky, while darker ones composed a ground. Nuage turned around, but her surroundings were completely alien and almost featureless, only a few vaguely mountainous silhouettes in the distance breaking the monotony. The sun was absent, all light seeming to come from the almost white sky, from every direction at once and not casting a single shadow.

Nuage looked down at herself, waving a mint-colored leg in front of her face. Instead of moving as it should have, it seemed that only a vague, transparent shape went where she commanded it to, while her actual limb stayed behind, floating in the air. It immediately turned into a fine powder that flowed back in place like the sand of an hourglass. Nuage shook it tentatively and a sort of dust cloud formed, trying to follow the movement. When she stopped and set her leg on what passed for the ground, it flowed and settled back into its expected shape, as if nothing had happened at all.

Looking at the rest of her limbs confirmed that they were in the same strange state and judging by how much her vision blurred for a second each time she turned her head around, it was probably affecting her entire body...

Walking around proved difficult with her mostly inconsistent legs, but after a bit of experimentation, Nuage realized that she only needed to imagine herself moving to do it. Flying had never been so simple...

Too bad there was nowhere to go.

In the featureless plane she was roaming in, Nuage moved randomly. The “feeling”, as much as it could be considered one, of being stretched into a trail of sand-like particles and moving around was fascinating, both terrifying and so unique that she couldn’t help but explore it some more. The gryphoness zipped in the air like a fledgling experiencing flight for the first time. Up, down, corkscrewing, her body flowed in the same motions with a few seconds of delay. Amused, she tried making more and more complex figures, turning around to see the trail of dust twist and loop on its way to its rightful place.

With nothing better to do, Nuage explored the limits of her newfound state, getting a feel of how long it took her body to flow back in place, even flying into a figure eight and timing it so that she would be spread around evenly along the whole length.

Again, Nuage had no idea how much time had passed this way. It felt like only a few minutes, but without any reference, her estimation was worthless. Eventually, she spotted something in the distance, a silhouette that looked more like a pony than anything else. She rushed towards it, her immaterial state letting her go as fast as she could imagine, or at least one part of her. The shape grew bigger and bigger, until it occupied most of her vision and became clearer.

Papyrus.

The silhouette was his, standing as tall as a mountain. His appearance seemed to melt and change endlessly : one second, the unicorn was looking as he did the first time she met him, the next he was the skeleton that she had seen only moments ago. He reverted to an appearance far younger than any she had ever seen, then shifted to his older self... Back and forth, again and again, as if he couldn’t settle on one look.

Nuage gulped and tried to call, only a loud silence escaping her throat.

Somehow, Papyrus still heard her wordless call and turned his gigantic head in an incredibly slow motion until it faced her. His appearance settled on a sort of fusion of all the previous ones, looking old and young, dead and alive at the same time... His eyes were still missing, only the two empty orbits angled in her direction.

The one and only color different from all the green came from inside of those, as red flames lazily flickered inside the dark cavities as in a pair of braziers. The humongous pony’s mouth slowly curled up into a warm smile, making Nuage let out a silent and breathless sigh. She smiled back at him, glad to have found something familiar in the disturbing void.

His lips curled back, revealing rows upon rows of white and gleaming fangs. Nuage froze completely as the gentle smile turned into a predatory grin that felt completely out of place on the herbivore’s body.

Everything shook when the creature lifted a titanic leg that ended in some sort of horrific talon : several dozens of claws fanned out, each one as big as her whole body and peppered with gaping, teeth-lined maws in a grotesque replica of a peacock’s tail. Small flames darted in and out of the mouths, licking the lips like the fiery tongues of a hundred lions getting ready to tear into a fresh kill.

It took Nuage a while to realize that the reason the claw was increasing in size was because it was getting closer to her.

Her mind moved out of reach in a second, but her inconsistent body took its time to follow, as she saw when she turned to look back. An excruciatingly slow race began between the monster and her, her avatar flying through the air away from the monster that wore Papyrus’s appearance while the claws came ever closer. It seemed to drag for minutes, maybe hours. Grain after grain soared away to safety, but so many still remained behind...

The tip of one claw reached a small bundle that was dragging behind. The flame-tongues desperately reached out, lapping at Nuage’s sand-like being with the hunger of a starving wolf. Even with this abnormal body, she still felt it : hundreds of tongues licking as if inside of her very soul, tearing and dragging apart every scrap they could and desperately hungering for more.

Strangely, it didn’t hurt. Nuage felt horror, fear and disgust, but no pain. Still, the wholly sickening experience was enough to motivate her into running away, especially as the monster was raising two legs at once this time.

She dodged easily, simply having to think of where she wanted to be, but with each swipe of its monstrous appendages, the thing managed to scrape away a bit of the cloud. Sometimes only a single grain, sometimes a handful at once. It was only a matter of time before there would be nothing left of her and Nuage knew it, but in front of something so massive and without any weapon, she could do nothing except run.

Unfortunately, the monster was far from being mindless. She kept heading away from its predictable movements, not suspecting that she was being slowly corralled. Only when she found herself between its body and the two monstrous hands did Nuage realize that she had been trapped.

Her mind escaped far away above the creature, but the rest of her would obviously never get out in time. Her view was obstructed when the creature leaned forward, ready to catch her in his snout.

A wave of colors suddenly washed over the whole world.

Nuage felt herself being pushed on the powerful lightwave, rolling, bumping, tumbling into the mess of colors. Blue pushed yellow, purple covered pink, orange painted itself over green, red flashed and fizzled in spots, making Nuage so dizzy that she gave up trying to follow the chromatic chaos. Everything swirled and rolled around, until all colors mixed together and fused into white at one small point.

The small spot of white caught her attention. White was her color... Nuage willed herself closer, pouring her being into that white patch. It grew and grew, until it became a large, fluffy cloud in a rainbow-colored sky.

Her cloud.

A breath of wind picked it up and pushed her away from the rainbow and in the direction of some featureless grassy hills. The colors slowly faded into a sort of aurora borealis, flickering in the sky above, while she drifted closer to the ground, like a kite being pulled back after a day’s play.

The wind increased its pressure, this time not moving her around but shaping the cloud into a rough sketch of a gryphon. The white fluff was carved, tucked in and stretched out in the right places, forming a pair of lion legs on the back and eagle talons at the front.

As the sculpture became more life-like, Nuage took control of the new limbs, wiggling her cloud fingers and swishing her brand new cloud tail. Wings appeared, each feather being molded from a bit of tuft, one after another. Eventually, she found herself inside of a cloud shaped exactly like herself.

A rainbow-colored lightning bolt shot from high in the sky and struck her. The white vapor disappeared in a puff, leaving Nuage falling through the air. Her wings spread out instinctively to break her fall.

When she landed on the grassy earth, Nuage saw her new body, exactly as it was before and apparently unhurt. One very welcome difference was that it was solid this time, rather than a pile of dust shaped like herself.

Her quick exam finished, the gryphoness took off and spun slowly in the air, looking around and scanning the incredibly generic surroundings for anything sticking out. A tiny speck of purple was sitting on top of a distant hill, like a small amethyst crowning the emerald grass. Nuage beat her wings and headed in that direction.

She landed softly behind what turned out to be a pony, a small purple filly lying on the ground with her head buried under her hooves and her violet-streaked mane. For a second, the thought that this harmless-looking foal could turn out to be another monster crossed Nuage’s mind, but was quickly dismissed when she heard the poor thing’s whimpers.

Keeping her voice soft and calm, Nuage called her out. “Hello ?”

The filly jumped a little, making her small horn pop out from under her mane. “Who…” She turned around and gaped at Nuage. “Wha… Who ?”

The gryphoness tilted her head to the side. “Hello,” she said again.

The filly blinked a few times. “You’re… a gryphon ?” she finally asked.

Nuage chuckled quietly. “Yes. Yes, I am. My name is Nuage.”

“Uh… Hi. I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“Nice to meet you.” Nuage gave a look around them, but saw nothing except more of those boring grass-covered hills. “Do you know where we are ?”

“No,” Twilight answered, slumping a little. “Do you ?”

“No…” Nuage went to sit down by the filly’s side. “How did you get there ? Do you know ?”

Twilight frowned and sat down on her rump, twiddling a blade of grass absent-mindedly. “I was passing the entrance test to Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns... Then there was sa big explosion and a rainbow and everything became white and… I’ve been here since then.”

“A rainbow… I think I saw that too.”

The two froze when they heard a voice, chuckling behind their back.

"That was quite a sight, wasn't it ?" it said slowly.

The voice was the deepest Nuage had ever heard and had a deep growling timbre, making her think of a panther’s purring and speaking at the same time. She could almost feel herself vibrating as it echoed around her. Nuage turned around to see a unicorn stallion.

Or rather, a shadow in the shape of a unicorn stallion, as dark as a moonless night and completely featureless.

"I wonder what that was," he mused, seemingly swiveling his head to examine in turn Nuage and Twilight.

"Who are you ?" Nuage asked. She didn't get an answer, the mysterious pony only staring with his invisible eyes.

"Are you lost, too ?" the little filly asked shyly.

"Lost ?" He hummed for a second. "No. I know where I am and where I go. I wouldn't say that I'm lost."

Nuage raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Can you help us find our way, then ?"

"I only came to watch," he answered with a hint of amusement in his tone. "Let’s see what you’re worth."

"Wh- What ?"

"You have a visitor," he said, pointing in the distance with a hoof. "Don't make him wait."

Nuage turned her eyes in the direction that he was pointing to.

A huge wolf, with dirty and matted brown fur was trotting towards them. "Wolf" was the closest description she could think of, but still wholly inaccurate to describe the misshapen thing : its hind legs were short and scrawny, contrasting with the muscled front ones. Its broad shoulders were almost buried under a ridiculously hunched back and the thing's neck was too long to be natural. But what really made Nuage shiver were two things : its eyes were absent, replaced by a familiar reddish fire burning deep inside a couple of empty sockets and finally, the beast's maw was permanently opened as it's lower jaw was missing altogether. Long, sharp fangs simply jutted out of the monster's half of a mouth, crowning a fat tongue that hung limply and dripped with what seemed to be liquid fire, sizzling on the ground where it fell.

Nuage gave a glance at the shadowy stallion, only to find that he had left.

Her head snapped back to watch the approaching creature. It sniffed the air and emitted a low, gurgling growl while licking its chops.

The gryphoness jumped into the air just in time to avoid the beast pouncing on her and hovered a few feet above, observing its reaction. It turned its attention to a shaking Twilight, but after sniffing a few times, it only let out a disappointed puff of smoky air through its shiny black nose. The creature focused its gaze back on Nuage, the fire in its eye sockets dancing excitedly.

A gargle came out of the thing’s mouth and its back bulged and rippled, as if a cohort of huge maggots were crawling under its skin. The flesh suddenly tore open with a wet sound, a pair of leathery bat-like wings springing out and making a few experimental flaps. Another pair sprouted soon in front of the first, this one seeming to be turned backwards. The ridiculous appearance of those wings didn’t prevent the monster from lifting in the air and heading for Nuage.

With surprising agility, it darted forward and Nuage had to twist to avoid the beast's lunge, turning around in place gracefully. The creature stopped abruptly to make a half-flip, finding itself facing Nuage upside-down. She steadied herself in the air and frowned.

This time, the beast wasn’t the size of a mountain and nothing could prevent her from defending herself. Nuage readied her claws and charged with a battle roar. The beast flailed its fat tongue as it bellowed, flying forward to meet her. The two clashed in a flurry of claws and wildly flapping wings. Nuage tried to get her talons on the monster's throat but its long neck bent around when it tried to dig its teeth in her arms, forcing her to recoil.

When the creature missed and swung its head past her, Nuage managed to swipe him with her talons and dig a nice gash from one ear to the middle of its neck. The beast let out a distorted scream, making her wince from the sheer volume.

It went into a frenzy.

With its wings beating erratically, it rushed towards Nuage, not caring how many times she raked its face with her talons. The beast only pushed and pushed, trying to dig its teeth in her, trying to grab her with its claws, all the while snarling, huffing and gurgling. A rain of blood fell from the two fighters as they exchanged hits like two rabid animals.

Hoping to put some distance between them, Nuage kicked the thing in its chest with a hind leg. Unfortunately, it craned its neck and managed to catch her calf between its tongue and its fangs. Nuage cried in pain as the burning lump of flesh that passed for its tongue licked and pressed on her leg, trying to chew without a jaw. She rolled in the air, wiggling like a worm to get free, clawing the monster with her talons but it refused to let go. With a scream of pain and rage, Nuage grabbed the monster as best as she could and beat her wings with all of her strength.

The two picked up speed towards the ground. Nuage maneuvered to be on top, holding the beast between her and the rapidly approaching ground.

The instant the beast touched the surface, a huge gaping hole appeared in the ground, swallowing the falling gryphoness and turning everything to black.

She kept falling for a while, until she felt herself losing speed and finally saw some light in the distance, as if she was reaching the exit of a tunnel. Now provided with a direction, Nuage flapped her wings to control her descent. The ground appeared under her, covered in dusty and broken marble tiles. Ahead of her, columns were standing in a row, reaching for a ceiling so high that she could only barely see it and lining a path towards the exit. Many of them had fallen, the worn and split pieces of stone lying on the ground, but those still standing were casting spindly shadows over Nuage.

In the dim light, she saw a short stair leading to a huge doorway. Feeling unusually small in the middle of the massive architecture, the gryphoness walked as silently as she could towards the exit.

She froze as two figures appeared on each side of the gate, two large creatures, standing on their hind legs and holding their burly arms in a fighting stance. The one on the left was bright red, while the other was a very dark blue. Both were sporting strange grimaces on their flat faces, along with crazy, beady eyes fixing her.

Nuage remained still for a moment, waiting for the two monsters to make their move, but nothing came. When she felt herself brave enough to approach them, she understood the reason for their immobility, as she found herself at the feet of two huge, but incredibly lifelike statues, set to decorate the exit of this place. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Nuage climbed the few steps in front of her and exited the strange room.

In the dim light of a dull night sky, she found herself looking at some sort of gigantic city, going on further than she could see in any direction. Simple square houses, built out of adobe and smooth stones, lined up along wide streets... Even in the relative darkness, she could see that those were as old and worn out as the place she just left : in the houses that weren’t rubble already, bricks were missing in some places, there were large holes in many roofs and some walls had fallen off completely, leaving some of the buildings dangerously close to crumbling completely.

Nuage took off and flew above the ruined city for a few moments, seeing nothing of interest no matter how far she could see. No building standing out in the desolation, no living being to answer her questions, not even a rat scurrying along the streets... With a sigh, she decided to take a break and landed on the roof of the house that looked the least likely to fall under her weight.

For the first time since the beast had attacked her, Nuage took a look at her leg. Her heart missed a beat when she saw that a very large part of it was now missing, most of her calf gone and leaving only the bone underneath. Strangely, she felt nothing in particular from that leg, the impression of loss only coming from her brain.

“Is this how it ends ?” she asked the silent and gloomy city. “Eaten piece by piece…”

Nuage let her head hang low and sighed again. “What am I doing here ?”

“I wish I could tell you.”

Nuage shot up and turned around in the direction of the voice.

She found herself face to face with another gryphoness. A fair bit smaller than her, with white feathers on her head, a pale brown fur on her body and a pair of eyes shining the palest blue, like the clear water of a mountain stream. Nuage’s beak opened in shock at the sight.

“M- Mom ?”

“Hello, kitten,” she answered with a tender smile.

“Wha- ? But… How can… You- You’re-”

“Dead ?” Nuage’s mother’s eyes took a sad look for a moment. “Yes. That has not changed.”

Nuage kept staring for a while, still processing the sight. “Is it really you ?” she finally asked in a breathy whisper. “Is this some strange dream ? It feels like a dream...”

“I don’t know exactly. Maybe you’re imagining all of this, maybe not. What I do know is that I am your mother, my little kitten.” She chuckled a bit. “Who would have thought you would grow so big ?” Nuage’s mother approached and tried to wrap a wing around her shoulders. The big gryphoness had to lean forward to let her reach up. “You’re so much bigger than me now, but you will always be my little kitten !”

They nuzzled each other, Nuage letting all of her worries melt away in her mother’s embrace for a moment. After a while, she pulled back with a sigh and smiled. “It’s good to see you again, mom. It’s been… so long.”

“I know, kitten,” she said, reaching up to groom the feathers on Nuage’s head with a talon. “I’m sorry things turned out the way they did, but… that’s life. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Nuage nodded sadly while she let her mother fuss with her a little. After a few moments of silence, she asked the question that had been on her mind for a while.

“Mom… Am I dead ?”

Her mother took a step back and watched her with a serious expression. “It’s… hard to answer that question. I’m not really sure what’s going on… You may be stuck between life and death right now.” She sighed and looked around them. “We should get out of this place.”

Nuage raised an eyebrow as she gave a few glances at the desolate city. “What’s wrong ? This place seems… safe.”

“Safe ? Hmmm… Yes, but the longer you stay here, the harder it will be to leave. If you don’t, you will just end up a part of the ruins here.”

“Where should we go then ? Where do you…” she was about to say “live” but stopped herself just in time. “Where do you stay usually ? What’s the afterlife like ?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

Nuage tilted her head to a side curiously. “Is there some kind of rule against it ?”

“No,” her mother answered with a giggle. “I just don’t know. I don’t know where I was or what I was doing until I felt you needed my help and showed up here.”

Nuage looked in the distance, examining the landscape for a few minutes. It seemed so peaceful, so quiet and still, with nothing threatening her, nothing that could bother her in any way. It was tempting. So very tempting to simply sit and wait, forever in peace. She looked down at her talons, picturing her gauntlets covering them, especially her left, enchanted one…

With a sigh, Nuage straightened herself. “You’re right, mom. I still have things to do… back home.”

“What will you do about Papyrus ?”

Nuage stiffened. “You know about him ? How…”

“I know everything you know.”

“Really ?” she said, blinking a few times. “That’s… surprising.”

“You’re not answering my question, kitten.”

“I… I don’t know.” Nuage slumped a little, staring at the ground in front of her.

“You need to decide…”

“What do you think I should do ?”

Nuage’s mother shook her head. “I only want you to be happy but I can’t tell you how to do it, that’s something you need to figure out on your own.”

“Happy… I don’t know if that’s possible.” Nuage lost her eyes in the dark sky above. “I used to be happy, serving Papyrus.”

“Used to ?”

“Hmmm. He’s changed. I don’t think I really want to follow him anymore. Maybe… I’d-” she gulped. “I’d rather join you. You and dad, and Tristan. It would be… nice.”

“You would give up ? That’s not much of a solution.”

“I… I don’t want to live a horrible life. I-” her voice died down in her throat as she choked on a sob.

“What is it ?”

“I… I’m scared, mom. What if my master… t- turns me into…”

“A revenant ?” Nuage’s mother pressed herself against her side and gently nuzzled her. “Honestly, I don’t know how much of a choice you have in the matter. But you can still fight, even if you are destined to lose.”

Nuage simply answered a non-committal humm.

“SIIIIIIIIIIIIS !”

She didn’t really have time to do anything before getting flattened against the ground, a heavy weight suddenly pressing on her back.

“Hey, sis,” her brother chirped from his perch. “How are you hanging ?”

“Tristan !” their mother said with a frown. “What are you doing ? You could have hurt her !”

“No way ! Nuage’s extra tough,” he answered while loudly slapping a hand on her back a few times. “If you’d drop a house on her, the house would be the one to break. Hey ! Maybe we could try that ?”

“Get off me !” Nuage said with an exasperated tone.

“Nah,” he retorted while wiggling his butt on her back. “You’re comfy.”

Growling, she gathered her legs under her and pushed up. With a grunt and a heave, she stood and tossed Tristan off her back in the process. She turned around to see the chestnut colored gryphon watching her with his glinting, mischievous green eyes.

He looked the same as she remembered when he died : a barely adult gryphon. He used to tower over everyone, taller than even their father, but now that she was fully grown, Nuage almost reached to his beak. Height aside, she was still much bigger than him, though : while he had a lithe body with lean muscles, she was broad and bulky. He was built for speed as much as she was built for strength.

None of that really mattered, since Nuage simply pounced on him like a playful kitten and the two tumbled on the ground, trying to pin each other down. She thought she had him locked in, but he squirmed himself out like an eel and jumped on her back again.

“What’s wrong, sis ? Can’t catch me ?”

With a frown on her face, Nuage pushed on her left legs and rolled on her back in a heartbeat, ending up putting all of her weight on him. She heard a satisfying “oof” as he was squeezed between her and the ground.

“What’s wrong, bro ? Can’t get out ?”

He only flailed his legs around as an answer, eliciting a pleased chuckle out of Nuage.

“Stop that, you two,” Nuage’s mother said, stomping the ground as she walked to the two struggling gryphons. “Nuage, get off of your brother this instant.”

“But, mom ! He started it !” She gulped when she saw the stern look in her mother’s eyes. “Yes, mom.” She walked away with her head hung low.

“And you,” the authoritative gryphoness said while pointing a talon at her brother, “what’s the big idea ? Quit acting like a cub already.”

“Sorry, mom.” Tristan stood up and walked next to Nuage, making himself smaller under their mother’s gaze.

“Good,” she said with a nod. “Now be nice. Both of you.”

“Yes, mom,” the siblings answered in unison.

“So,” Tristan said, giving Nuage an appraising look. “What’s going on with you ? You planning on doing something with your life, for a change ?”

She stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean ?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“You…” Nuage managed to hold her tongue before she could say anything inappropriate in front of her mother, but only barely. “How can you say that ? I… What about everything I’ve done for my master ?”

He shrugged. “That’s it ? Following a pony’s orders is your greatest accomplishment ?”

“Hey !” She poked him with a talon. “Don’t make it sound like I was his dog or something. I made my oath and I followed the way of the Serme every single minute, from the first day until the very end. How about that for an accomplishment ?”

“Until the end, huh ?” Tristan leaned forward, his eyes narrowed and with a smirk on his beak. “So... it’s over now ?”

“Yeah, it’s-” Nuage found herself completely still, except for her eyes blinking a few times. Silence blanketed the three gryphons, the desolate city not producing a single sound to bother them. The whole universe seemed to wait while Nuage realized the meaning of her words.

“It’s over,” she repeated in a whisper. “Its… I… I don’t have a master anymore, do I ?”

“Unless you decide on a new one,” her mother said softly. “I guess you don’t.”

Nuage slumped so much she lost at least half of her height in the process. “What am I supposed to do now ?”

“Make your own choices,” her brother said harshly. “I know you’re not used to that, but-”

“Tristan ! Don’t-”

“No ! Let me finish, mom.” He pulled Nuage’s head up to force her to look at him. “You’ve spent your entire life avoiding choices, but that won’t work this time.”

“I haven’t-”

“Oh come on,” Tristan said with a derisive snort, “you’ve been following that crazy old unicorn just so that you wouldn’t have to think by yourself.”

“That’s not true !”

“Yes it is and you know that perfectly well.” He poked her chest with a talon before continuing. “You don’t want any responsibilities of any kind, you can’t do anything without someone telling you.”

“S- Shut up.” Nuage turned to her mother for support, but she only looked sadly between both of her children. “I- I just… I just don’t know what to do.”

“Then find out !” her brother said, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation.

Nuage frowned and pushed him back roughly. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re dead ! What kind of problems do you have now ? Huh ?” He simply looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “You’re not the one who was left behind. Alone. Abandoned ! I… I didn’t know what to do. I still don’t know what I was supposed to do. When… When you were…” She choked again on some tears.

Her mother wrapped one of her wings over her neck. “Let it out, kitten.”

“When you were killed,” she said between sobs, “I… I just wanted to go with you. I couldn’t stay behind... I wanted to kill myself. I- I tried to… but... I couldn’t do it. I chickened out every time. I was too scared…”

Nuage wiped her eyes with a talon. “I couldn’t die, but I couldn’t live for myself either. So I went to Papyrus and lived for him. That’s all… That’s all there is to it...”

Through her tears and her mother’s feathers, she gave her brother a glance. He stared at her sadly, then hung his head and shook it. “I know this isn’t easy, sis, but you can’t go on like that.”

After a long heaving sigh, Nuage nodded. “Right… You’re right. I- I have to go back.”

“What will you do ?” her mother asked after taking a step back.

“I don’t know yet, but I at least have to speak with Papyrus. I’ll... figure something out, I promise.” Both of her relatives exchanged an uneasy glance, but seemed at least a little convinced.

“So, how do we get out of here ?” Nuage asked as she straightened herself.

“How else ? We fly !” Tristan spread his wings wide and jumped in the air, doing a few loops and flips to show off.

“Follow us, we’ll show you the way,” her mother said before taking off too.

Nuage nodded and with a small smile, took to the air.

The three gryphons went up almost vertically in the dull sky, flying in the direction of what seemed to be the moon, hardly discernible behind thick gray clouds. For a few minutes, only the flapping of wings could be heard in the deathly quiet, but as they rose higher, the wind started to pick up and whistle in Nuage’s ears, like dozens of voices that could almost be understood but still too faint to be intelligible, infuriating whispers that grew louder and louder as the wind gained intensity.

The temperature dropped as fast as they climbed, too. First, the cold was only a refreshing breeze in her wings, then started to cool her even through her fur and feathers. Nuage’s mother kept flying ahead without slowing down, while Tristan stayed behind. Both of them seemed unaffected by the chilly air.

Nuage felt a cold little prick on a leg and raised it to watch what had hit her. She saw a smear of black on her white hairs. Another prick was accompanied by another stain appearing.

“Keep going, sis,” her brother said from behind. “Don’t stop for any reason.”

Nuage hesitated a few seconds, but simply nodded and moved, trusting him about whatever was going on. They continued their ascension, until they passed a few clouds and the light became brighter. Nuage saw a flurry of black snow in the air, like tiny flakes of coal swirling around between gray clouds that seemed to slowly undulate and flow, like wet cement. Every snowflake that touched her stealed a little more heat, but avoiding them was impossible as the wind turned and whipped around faster than she could ever hope to move. For some reason, the snow wasn’t touching either of the other two gryphons.

The shivering Nuage forced her wings to beat and fought to follow her mother, keeping the tufted end of her tail in sight as a beacon. The white gryphoness progressively turned black from the soiled snow, feeling each individual flake attacking her with its frosty bite.

With her brother both encouraging her and warning her not to stop, Nuage still managed to go higher, heading for another opening in the cloud cover. When they passed through, the wind only increased in intensity again. The now pitch black gryphoness felt herself burning twice : once from the cold air stinging through her frozen fur and once from her lungs aching under the strain of the fast flight. She wanted nothing more than to take a break, to land somewhere and breathe for a while, letting the coldness numb her peacefully.

“You can’t stop,” her brother said as if he had been reading her mind. “Hang on, we’re almost there.”

With renewed determination, Nuage flew, escorted through the heavens by her relatives. Seconds turned into minutes of fighting against the furious winds tossing her left and right, while enduring the growing pain of the freezing air and snow. Nuage growled and grit her beak, concentrating on flying and nothing else.

She flew, blinking her eyes when the black snow found their way into them. She flew, ignoring her lungs protesting against the freezing air they were forced to pump in and out at a sustained pace. She flew, shutting off the parts of her mind that were telling her to stop. She flew, placing her life in the hands of her relatives and feeling more at peace than she had in a very long time.

The next bank of clouds they broke through was the last, as Nuage realized when she saw the humongous moon hanging overhead, a comforting white that was just bright enough that one could still look at it without being blinded.

Unfortunately, between her and the heavens’ ceiling, was more than just snow : in the tornado-level winds loaded with black snow, shapes and figures also swirled around. Some were pony-like, other reminded her of gryphons, dragons and many other creatures she had met on her travellings in the world of the living. Many more were completely alien, bodies that seemed to have no beginning and no end, things with too many limbs to count, beings smaller than a sparrow, others bigger than a whale, all of them turning, tossing in the air currents like mere autumn leaves.

“We’re almost there,” Nuage’s mother said encouragingly. “We only need to go through the storm.”

“Only…” Nuage repeated with a sarcastic chuckle.

“We’ll help, sis,” Tristan said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up.

Nuage started flapping her wings desperately to add her strength to his. In front of her, her mother took her talons in her own hands and pulled. The three gryphons went up, the wind picking up ever more strength with each meter they climbed.

The shadow of a minotaur zipped nearby, reaching up with a hand to try and grab them, then disappeared almost as fast when a gust sent him away. A creature too alien for Nuage to even begin to describe fell down and only avoided crashing into them by a hair’s breadth. A ghostly manticore flapped its wings frantically to approach them and managed to grab one of Nuage’s legs with its clawed paw. She screamed as another layer of pain was added to the others.

Nuage’s mother let go for a moment and crashed herself into the monster, dislodging it in the process. It took her a few moments of efforts, but she still flew back up and resumed pulling her daughter. Unfortunately, the ordeal had forced the trio to lose some speed and thus allowed several other creatures to approach, regular ponies and unnamable abominations alike.

“Faster,” Tristan shouted in her ear. “Fly, don’t think about anything else, just fly !”

She screwed her eyes shut and complied, forcing her wings to beat again and again. She panted, straining herself more than ever before and wondering if she could actually die from exhaustion in her current condition. Her wings flapped, flapped and flapped without end as she kept going in the darkness.

Suddenly, all resistance disappeared, Nuage becoming enveloped in a comforting warmth. She gasped and opened her eyes, seeing her mother above, blurry and undulating as if she was watching her through water. Below, she saw Tristan let go of her sides and grin. His beak opened and although no sound reached her, she knew what he was saying.

“You made it, sis.”

She blinked a few times and looked around. Everything was blurry and she seemed to float upwards gently. It felt like being in a warm bath, gently soothing her strained muscles and even her lungs as the liquid air flowed inside them. The three gryphons drifted up, seeing the blue of the sky above the surface. A minute later, they broke through...

And fell.

Now finding herself high in the sky, Nuage twisted her body to turn face up and spread her wings. Above her, the sky rippled where they had popped out of it for a few instants, until there were no traces left of their passage. After the initial surprise passed, the trio glided down gently towards the ground. Nuage recognized the featureless grassy hills from before and sure enough, after checking around a little, spotted the purple filly still sitting alone on the grass. She motioned the others to follow and angled her flight in the direction of Twilight.

She was about halfway when a shadow dropped from above, placing itself on their path. Nuage flared her wings to stop herself from crashing into a muscular gryphon with golden fur and brown feathers. She smiled as he turned his golden eyes to her.

“Hi, dad.”

Without a word, her father smiled and flew closer to wrap her in a hug. She hooked her own legs around his shoulders, enjoying the familiar toughness of his battle-hardened body. As always, he pulled away from her after only a few seconds and took his usual serious expression again.

“I was wondering where you were,” Nuage told him.

“I was keeping an eye on this place,” he answered simply with his warm voice. “Something is going on here.”

“Something ?” She looked around, seeing nothing much except for the young Twilight Sparkle. “Do you know what this place is ?” she asked, “or why I’m here ?”

He simply turned around and flew in the filly’s direction. Nuage and the others followed and landed behind her. Twilight jumped in the air when she saw the four gryphons walking towards her.

“Don’t be afraid,” Nuage said. “We won’t hurt you.”

“Who… Who are…” Twilight stammered.

“We’re ghosts !” Tristan said, waving his hands in the air. “OoooohOOOOOhoohohoo !”

Nuage knocked him on his head once to shut him up. “This is my family, they helped me find my way back here.” She furrowed her brow and looked around. “Where is that beast gone ? Have you seen it ?”

Twilight shook her head.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t far.” The impossibly deep voice resounded again, making Nuage’s hair stand on end.

She turned to face the shadowy unicorn and noticed that his appearance was clearer now : he was still black, but hints of white showed his eyes and a crooked smile while some dark gray seemed to make up his mane and tail. The stallion laughed, his growly voice croaking in the air. “Family reunions are always so heartwarming.”

“Who are you ?” Nuage asked, giving him a suspicious glare.

“Such an uninteresting question can only bring a boring answer. Ask a better one.”

Nuage blinked a few times, staring at the smirking unicorn. “All right,” she eventually said. “Let’s try this : what is this place ?”

“Good enough,” he answered with a nod. He took a few steps to reach the top of the hill and gestured with a hoof to show the entire landscape in front of him. “This is an... intermediate. A temporary world that only exists as long as someone occupies it.” His eyes turned to Twilight. “A world to house those between the other worlds.”

“Other worlds ?” Twilight repeated, tilting her head to the side.

“The world of the living. The world of the dead. You are at the half-point here, little one.”

“Does- Does this mean… I am…”

“You’re not dead yet,” the stallion said with an amused tone. He turned his head towards the family of gryphons and nodded in their direction. “These ones are, though.”

Twilight watched them with an odd, puzzled look.

“My family was killed years ago,” Nuage explained. “I didn’t have time to do the introductions...”

“I meant the four of them,” the unicorn added darkly, freezing Nuage.

“I… What ?” She felt herself shaking a little.

“Don’t listen to that creep,” her brother said while placing a hand on her shoulder. “If you’re here, it’s because you can still go back, too.”

The stallion chuckled. “The beast is here to hunt those who would leave. It likes to keep things orderly.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Nuage’s father said, taking a step towards the stallion. “If she was already dead, she wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“You’re a bunch of stubborn ones, hmm ? She is dead, but somepony is working hard to prevent her from going away completely.”

“Papyrus,” Nuage whispered. “What’s going on, then ? Why am I still stuck here ?”

“The beast must devour you first. Then, supposing that pony knows what he’s doing, he will capture the beast, extract your soul and bring it back.”

Nuage furrowed her brow and stared at the stallion. “How do you know all of this ?” she asked quietly.

“Question time is over,” he said, waving a shadowy hoof. Calmy, he walked next to Twilight and sat down on the grass by her side. “We’ll be here if you happen to come back.”

Nuage opened her beak to ask him what he meant, but there was a brilliant flash of green and then, everything turned black. She felt herself falling and flailed in the air desperately, until she thumped on the floor. In the darkness, she picked herself up.

Light slowly came back, showing Nuage the inside of a wooden room... Papyrus’s room.

In the brown of the tree, the brown shade of the unicorn himself was almost like a camouflage, only broken by his pale green mane. He was as Nuage remembered him from so long ago... He looked healthy. He looked young. He looked bright.

He looked beautiful.

Papyrus smiled gently and Nuage returned it, feeling a weight she hadn’t been aware of lifting off her chest. He took a couple of steps forward, until he was standing right in front of her, close enough that she could feel his breath on her feathers. She blinked a few times, her mind turning blank.

“You’re safe,” he said, letting out a relieved breath. “I was getting worried.”

She remained silent for a little while. “What’s going on ?” she finally asked.

“Don’t worry, Nuage. Everything will be fine.” Papyrus hooked a leg around her shoulders and hugged her. She sighed, enjoying the comfort. “You will be safe, I promise.”

“Really ?”

“Really,” he answered while taking a step back. “You know you can trust me, don’t you ?”

After a moment of hesitation, Nuage weakly nodded.

“I’ve always looked after you... We’ve always looked after each other.” He leaned forward.

“Wh- what-” Nuage’s eyes opened wide when he placed his lips against her beak. Her heart raced up and her mind turned to a big ball of white fuzz, overwhelmed by the unexpected kiss. The unicorn pressed forward and after a few seconds, Nuage leaned back against him, throwing her legs around his neck.

She had dreamed of that moment so many times before and yet, it still felt better than anything she had ever imagined. A rush of euphoria made her entire body feel light and warm, as if she was being carried gently through the afternoon sun by a flock of butterflies. A small joyful tear appeared at the corner of her closed eyes and Nuage opened her beak to return the kiss.

The warmth spread through her as his tongue explored the inside of her mouth. She became warmer and warmer, until the warmth turned into a sweltering heat.

The heat then turned into a fire, which turned into a blaze. Nuage felt her insides boiling and burning.

She opened her eyes in panic and found herself staring into a couple of empty eye sockets lit by red fire burning inside. Using her forearms, she tried to push the beast away, only to find it holding her close with its own legs, its mouth still wrapped around her beak and that fiery tongue scraping inside.

She screamed a muffled cry and punched with all her might while the monster’s fire went past her throat. She clawed at him, raked its face with her talons, feeling the heat reach to where her stomach laid. The beast didn’t seem to care about the pain, locked in its morbid embrace with her.

For a second, Nuage only wanted it to end, to let the monster finish its duty, but one fear still wouldn’t let her : if she did, Papyrus would bring her back as an undead creature and she would remain forever like him, a grotesque monster refusing to admit its time was over.

With another scream, this one of rage, Nuage dug one of her talons inside the beast empty orbit. The fire burned her digit, but it was barely noticeable next to the fire roiling inside her chest. With her solid grip on the thing’s skull, she put all of her strength in a single heave and pried its face off of hers.

The beast rolled head over tail due to its momentum ; Nuage crawled back, fighting to get her breath back through her burning throat. The thing got up and walked slowly towards her, wearing Papyrus’s image again, but Nuage would not be fooled a second time. She turned around and ran to the door.

The moment she opened it, she found herself face to face with the creepy black unicorn, observing her with a frown.

“You’re only delaying the inevitable,” he said. “You might as well get it over with.”

“Why do you even care ?” Nuage croaked through her sore throat.

He simply turned tail and disappeared, blending in the darkness of the hallway as if he had never been there. Nuage jumped after him and closed the door behind her, hopefully trapping the beast inside for at least a little while.

Now that the most immediate threat was taken care of, Nuage took a look at her surroundings. This proved difficult, since she was in an almost completely dark corridor, the only light coming from the space between the wall and the door behind her, and a few meager rays shining at the other end. She walked forward, towards the exit of this new tunnel.

The light became brighter as she progressed, until it blinded her for a few seconds. Once her eyes finally accommodated, she recognized the familiar rocky walls of a cave, the opening framing a beautiful setting sun near the horizon.

It wasn’t just any cave, either. Nuage had found her way back to the place where she had spent the earlier years of her life... Even her brother and her mother were at their usual spots. They turned around to watch her when she stepped forward.

“Welcome back, kitten,” her mother said with her beautiful smile. “You’ll be safe here, for a little while anyway.”

“We’ll have some time to figure a few things out,” Tristan added. “That can’t hurt ! Sit down, Nuage. Let’s chat.”

She nodded and almost complied, freezing in place with her butt halfway in the air. “Why do you call me Nuage ?” she asked, cold suspicion creeping up on her. “You can’t know that name.”

“Same reason we’re speaking Equestrian,” he answered with a chuckle. “We know what you know, sis. None of this is really real. Dead gryphons don’t hang around in a copy of their former home for all of eternity. It’s more complicated than that.”

“Then… Why are we here ?”

“It’s temporary,” her mother answered. “As long as you’re stuck between two worlds, we can communicate with you. Once you leave… Well, it’s pretty much impossible to explain after that.”

Nuage sighed and watched her brother with a smirk. He raised an eyebrow quizzically. “You’re right,” she told him. “This is kinda complicated.”

“Don’t worry yourself about us,” he said, waving a hand to push the subject away. “The important thing is that we can talk. And you decided that your name should be Nuage a long time ago, so that’s what we’ll call you. I like it anyway. Nuage. Nuage… It sounds nice.”

She giggled a little as her brother tried pronouncing her name in every possible way. “So, what should we talk about ?”

“Papyrus would be a good start,” her mother said. “Have you decided anything ?”

“You should kill him,” her brother said, making Nuage wince.

“K- Kill… Him ?”

“I have to agree with your brother, kitten. That pony needs to be stopped.”

Everyone remained silent for a little while, Nuage staring at the ground in front of her, deep in her thoughts. “Do I have to be the one to do it ? I don’t know if I can...”

“You don’t have to do it alone,” her mother said. “But you can’t avoid that responsibility. You were the one who allowed him to gain so much power.”

“But… I- I…”

“We’re not blaming you, sis. But you have to fix your own mess. You know you have to.”

She sighed sadly. “I’m his only friend. The person he cares for the most… If he doesn’t mind doing… this... to me, there’s no telling what he would do to other ponies.”

“I know it will be hard,” her mother said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “But you have to do it. This magic is way more dangerous than you can imagine, if you let him play with it, only disaster will ensue.”

“You’re right,” Nuage said. “I… I’ll see what I can do to stop him.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to untie the knot in her chest. It didn’t really work, but she pushed forward anyways. “How do I get out of this place ?”

Nuage looked around the cave, as if she expected it to have a door with “real world” painted on it. “Where’s dad ?” she asked, her brow furrowing as she realized that he was the only one missing from the family reunion.

“He should be back soon,” her brother answered. “Ha ! There he comes.” He pointed at a shadow against the setting sun and Nuage followed it. A minute later, her father arrived as predicted and with a guest, too : a little purple filly was held in his arms.

“Twilight ? Dad, why did you bring her here ?”

The gryphon let his charge on the ground softly and landed next to her. “I snatched her when that weird black pony wasn’t looking,” he said, as if that was a sufficient explanation.

Nuage only raised an eyebrow at him. “Why ?”

“That guy has some plans of his own. Plans that can’t turn out well for anyone, except him.”

“Uhm… Mister gryphon ?” Twilight asked shyly. “What… What do you think the stallion wants with me ?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “Nuage ?”

She watched him dumbly for a few moments. “Uh… Yes, dad ?”

“Who is that stallion ?”

“Why are you asking me ? I’ve never seen him before… The only unicorn I know that could show up is Papyrus... and that’s certainly not him.”

Nuage watched her mother move towards Twilight and wrap a wing over her to reassure the disturbed filly. “He seems to know you, kitten,” she told her daughter. “And it looks like he has some sort of agenda, involving you.”

Tristan nodded and spoke up. “He knows a lot. He’s being all mysterious, but he knows exactly what’s going on here, I’d bet.”

Nuage tapped her chin with a talon. “Hmmm… It looks that way. He knew about that beast and what it was supposed to do.”

Twilight piped up from under the wing she was using as a blanket. “He said that the monster was a guardian… What does it guard, then ?”

“I think,” Nuage’s father said, “it’s here to stop dead spirits like us to go back into the realm of the living. The stallion explained that, if I remember right.”

“Who would want to go back ?” Nuage’s brother asked with a shrug. “Wouldn’t that make them a ghost or something ? That doesn’t really sound pleasant... I mean, my body must be a dusty pile of bones by now, if I could even get it back.”

Nuage’s eyes opened wide. “He wants to go back.”

“Hmmm ? Who, that creepy black unicorn guy ?”

“Yes. There’s only one pony who could know so much about the spell Papyrus is using on me. He plans on going back to the living world... but the beast is still preventing him from doing so.”

Twilight’s high pitched voice sounded again from beside Nuage’s mother. “He said the beast would be captured after it is... done…”

“Eating me ?” Nuage finished. Twilight nodded. “When the beast is incapacitated… He will be free to go back... using Twilight.”

Silence fell on the group… until an impossibly rumbling bass voice echoed in the cave.

“You are smarter than I thought, gryphon. Not that it really matters anyway.”

Everyone turned around to watch the unicorn standing at the cave’s mouth. His coat was like a black panther’s, pitch black and lustrous, and his mane had various streaks of gray on a white base. A clear white skull made up the mark on his flank.

“You’re Stone Mane,” Nuage said coldly.

The stallion watched her with a curious grin. “You manage to surprise me again. I didn’t think anyone would still know that name.”

He chuckled a few times. “They say that knowledge is power… but in your case this is just a joke.” The unicorn frowned and stared at them with his blood-red eyes. “I don’t like ponies… or gryphons... meddling into my business. You laughable bird-cats have no idea how powerful I am. You have no idea of how long I have been waiting for such an opportunity ! No one will stand in my way.

“You,” he said, pointing a black hoof at Nuage, “are the beast’s next meal, whether you like it or not. And you,” his hoof switched to Twilight, “are my ticket out of here. Now come peacefully and let’s get this over with.”

Nuage stepped forward and put a talon on Twilight’s shoulder protectively. “I don’t think so. I have been inside your tower. I have seen what your magic can do. I won’t let you go back to Equestria to start all over again.”

“You think you have a choice in this ?” Stone Mane growled at her. “I don’t have time to argue with you. The filly doesn’t have time... When the sun goes down, it will be over, for all of us.” Nuage took a glance at the burning disc already starting to plunge under the horizon. “So, I’ll speed things up now.”

His horn lit up in a pale blue haze and he angled his head to point it down at the ground. A beam of magic shot up and a dark hole suddenly appeared in front of him. One clawed paw reached out, followed by the rest of the winged, wolf-like beast climbing out.

Everybody moved back, Nuage keeping a hand on Twilight’s shoulder while the rest of her family took position protectively in front of them, her father in the center, her mother on the left and her brother to the right.

Stone Mane snorted in amusement and lit up his horn once again. His magic wrapped around the beast, creating a blue cocoon that encased it. For a few seconds nothing happened, then the egg-like case burst open, leaving in its place a huge red dragon.

Nuage shivered when the thing roared.

“You all know how this ends,” Stone Mane said viciously. “Please, be quick about it.”

The dragon roared again and bent down, bringing his head near the cave’s entrance. Nuage’s brother was getting ready to take off when Nuage jumped on him.

“What are you-”

“Don’t ! Don’t fight that dragon. Not again !”

“We can’t let it get you, Nuage.”

“No ! You’ll die !”

“Don’t worry,” Nuage’s mother said with a sad smile. “We’re here to protect you, this is our role.”

“No ! I won’t let you die again !”

Stone Mane stepped forward, his horn’s light bathing his cruel grin in an eerie glow. “You can’t fight back… Nuage, was it ?”

“I’ll show you !” She flapped her wings and darted towards the unicorn with her talons ready to strike. Something yanked her back before she even got halfway.

“All you will show me... is how to get eaten.”

Nuage looked at her arms and legs, finding them wrapped in chains, big and small, some looking shiny and brand new, others being old and rusted. The whole mess of metal pulled her back until she was held up spread-eagle against the bottom wall of the cave.

“Take your places, the scene is about to start,” Stone Mane said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “And you,” he added, looking at Twilight, “need to stay right where you are.” Another burst of magic hit the ground near the filly’s hooves. She screamed when bones shot out of the earth, joining up above her in the most literal meaning of the word “rib cage”. Nonchalantly, he walked out of the dragon’s way and sat down near the cave’s entrance.

The beast took a step forward while Nuage struggled helplessly against the chains binding her. Her three relatives exchanged a few glances and nodded. Her brother was the first in the air.

“No…” Nuage whispered to herself, crying and hoping that wishing it hard enough would stop the incoming events.

Nuage’s mother and father both charged the dragon straight on. They weren’t planning on striking it, she knew that, they were only creating a distraction for Tristan’s attack from the side. It didn’t work the first time...

It didn’t work this time either. The beast saw her brother coming and threw one of his claws in his way. He was going too fast and saw it too late to avoid it.

“No !” Despite Nuage’s shout, the dragon impaled her brother on its claw. Tristan was sent flying in the opposite direction and fell near the cave wall, his blood flowing out of his body, pooling on the ground.

“No !” She saw him watch her, his expression one of confusion as he struggled to understand the fact that his life was quickly vanishing. His eyes became empty, locking into an eternal stare. Nuage almost broke her arms trying to free herself from her chains, but the metal didn’t yield.

She pried her sight off of him and looked back to her parents. Her mother was frenzied, flying around the dragon like a fury, screaming for revenge, claiming the dragon’s blood to repay her son’s.

“No…” Nuage sobbed when the dragon finally managed to catch her, almost crushing the smaller gryphoness from its grip alone. She saw him swing and throw her like a ball, straight towards the wall.

“No !” She had no chance. She only had a split-second to spread her wings and stabilize. It wasn’t enough. She hit the rock at full speed, her neck snapping with a horrible crunching sound. Through her tears, Nuage barely saw her lifeless form fall on the ground.

Only one left… Nuage turned, sniffling, to look at her father avoiding a swipe from the dragon’s claws. The beast huffed and got ready to breathe fire towards Nuage. Her father dove in time to shield her with his body.

“No…” Nuage tried to grab him with her restrained hands, to stop him from going back into the fight. If she could save at least one of the three… He stood up and gently pushed her away, then smiled at his daughter and leaned in to nuzzle her.

“It’s too late to save us,” he told her softly. “You have to fight for those that can still be protected.” His eyes drifted to the encaged Twilight Sparkle for a second before they settled back on Nuage. “I’m proud of you. I wish I could have been there to tell you in person, but it’s still true. You have courage, honor, strength, valor... You are what any gryphon should strive to be.”

“D- Dad…”

“Keep fighting.” He reached up with a talon to wipe a tear off of her face. “Whether you win or lose, the fight only stops when you’re dead, remember ?”

She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. Her father stepped back and turned around to glare at the dragon.

“Brainless monster,” he said under his breath. “Curse you !”

Her father jumped into the air. He managed to strike the beast in its eye, but it only made it mad and inevitably, he ended up being crushed under the dragon’s tail. Nuage didn’t say anything this time when he was incinerated in front of her, simply sobbing and struggling against her bonds.

The beast got down on all fours and slunk forward until its face was only a few centimeters away from her. It licked its lips wickedly, making the gryphoness tug stronger on the chains.

“You’re wasting your time,” Stone Mane said, stepping in sight.

The beast opened its maw and bit on her side. Nuage groaned in pain as it nibbled on her for a moment, taking its time to rip off a small chunk of her flesh.

“Did you really think you could stop me ?” the unicorn taunted her.

“Stop !” Twilight screamed from inside her cage. “Stop it ! I’ll… I’ll do what you want, but stop hurting her !”

“Oh, my little pony… You don’t understand.” He bent down to face her with a creepy smile. “I need her to be devoured. And you will do what I want in any case, you don’t get to bargain.”

The filly crawled back as much as she could, pressing her back against the cage. Meanwhile, Nuage screamed as the dragon ripped off one half of her left wing. It chewed on it in front of her, the sound of her crunching bones making the gryphoness’s stomach lurch. More desperate with each passing second, she put all of her strength into pulling on her bindings.

They groaned and became looser, but not nearly enough.

“Don’t feel bad,” Stone Mane said, walking casually next to Nuage. “You didn’t fail... You never had a chance to begin with.”

The dragon leaned in to get the other half of her wing. Nuage let the pain fuel her muscles to slacken her bonds a little more.

“These chains are not of my doing, you know. You placed them on yourself. The reason why I am so powerful is because I have freed myself from these a long time ago. You ? You refuse to let go of your chains.”

“What… What do you mean ?” Nuage managed to mutter.

“Your morals. Your fear. Your mercy. Your rules. Your... honor.” He almost spat that last word. “You’ve held yourself back. You don’t allow yourself to take power.” Stone Mane snorted. “That’s the difference between the two of us. There is nothing to pull me down.”

Nuage stopped struggling, letting his words sink in. The beast took that opportunity to bite on her belly, tearing a sizable chunk away and making her scream so hard her throat became sore.

“You are weak. Leashed. Restrained. I,” he said with a wicked grin, “am unlimited.”

“No.”

“Pardon ?”

“You’re wrong,” Nuage said calmly. “Those chains don’t hold me back. Not all of them.” She looked up and spotted a rusty one, tied to her left hand. Twisting her torso a little, she grabbed it with her other talon and pulled with all her strength. The corroded metal snapped.

“You were right about my fears.” With her hands having gained some slack, Nuage took another rusty chain, holding her right leg and broke it too. “But the other chains don’t restrain me.”

She snapped the last rusty piece of metal, wrapped around what was left of her waist and fell back with her feet on the ground. All of the other, shiny and new chains were now loose and not a hindrance to her. She gave Stone Mane a cold stare.

“Those chains… They pull me forward.”

The dragon roared and leaned forward for a bite, but Nuage jumped up, bouncing on the wall and flapping her only remaining wing to go up. The beast found itself entangled in her chains and she quickly ran a few circles around it, immobilizing the monster the way she had been only a few moments earlier.

“You really are one crazy gryphon,” Stone Mane said. “But as long as that works for me, I don’t care. I only needed the beast tied up anyway…”

With a blast of magic, the unicorn dispelled the cage holding Twilight and levitated the screaming filly in front of him. Nuage saw him turn tail and run towards the cave’s exit ; she dove and tackled him to the ground, making Twilight fall and roll.

“Run !” Nuage shouted at the filly. “Run while you can !” The little pony hesitated, turning between her and the exit. “Go ! Now !” That sent her running away.

“Let go of me,” Stone Mane growled from under her. “You damned bird-cat ! I won’t be stopped by someone as weak as you.”

“I’m not weak.”

Nuage threw a powerful punch in his jaw that made the unicorn dizzy. “You simply don’t understand my strength.”

She flapped her wings to take to the air and, with the chains still running from her arms and legs, made several loops until Stone Mane was wrapped and immobilized behind her.

“Do you really think this is enough to stop me ?” He tried to shoot a blast of magic at her, but due to his position, he was unable to adjust his aim correctly, only forcing Nuage to take a short step back. The unicorn started blasting the chains with his magic, slowly cutting through the links.

“I only need to slow you down,” Nuage answered as she walked towards the beast. With a mighty swipe of her talons, she cut its belly open.

“What are you doing ?” Stone Mane growled from behind her.

“Taking back what’s mine.” She dug into the monster’s guts until she found its stomach and ripped it open. A white cloud immediately flew out while the beast whined like a hurt dog. It floated in the air, then swirled around Nuage, coalescing and reconstructing her.

“That’s not how it works, you fool ! You have no idea what you’re doing.”

She ignored him, watching with interest her wing taking back its rightful place on her side. She flapped it a few times when it was complete and smiled.

“You’ve just sealed your fate,” Stone Mane grumbled. “You’ll be a part of the beast now. For eternity. You will never be free.”

Nuage watched the dragon trapped in front of her. The burning eyes locked onto hers and they understood... She nodded and, closing her eyes, wished for the chains to disappear. The beast now freed, it shimmered and shrunk until it turned back into its deformed wolf-like form. Nuage walked up to it and petted its head. It whined once and pointed towards the exit. With a smile, she nodded and walked out.

Behind her, she heard Stone Mane getting back up on his hooves, followed by the beast’s growl.

“You… You can’t leave like that.”

Nuage simply walked away, not even bothering to look back.

“I can’t be bested by a stupid gryphon. You don’t even have magic.”

“So ?” Nuage said over her shoulder.

“So ? So ? I am the greatest mage that has ever lived ! You can’t stop me. That’s impossible !” Stone Mane rushed forward, intending to charge Nuage, but the beast instantly appeared in his way, letting out a blood-curling snarl and forcing him to stop dead in his tracks.

Nuage stopped and gave him an amused glance. “Maybe you’re not the only one who can do the impossible.”

“You…” The unicorn gritted his teeth together. “You dare mock me ?” His blood-red eyes shone with pure rage. “You will pay for this !”

Stone Mane’s horn shone so bright that she could still see it even with her eyes closed. Nuage had to turn her head away.

“I may not go back…” The voice growled from behind her. “But I can stop you from doing so. You will have all eternity to think about how stupid it was to oppose me !”

The light became blinding behind Nuage and the ground started to shake under her feet. The beast barked at her, wordlessly telling her to run away. She exited the cave, avoiding falling rocks on the way and heading for the relative safety of the rolling hills outside. As soon as she stepped outside, the ground cracked, huge crevices appearing everywhere and shining with blue magic. Nuage spread her wings and jumped in the air, the crumbling ground becoming harder and harder to stand on.

She was still left with the question of where to go in the quickly disintegrating landscape. She spun in place to scan the area, unsure of where the exit might be.

“Help !”

Nuage locked on the shrill voice to spot Twilight standing on a piece of dirt that was about to crumble into the azure depths. Angling her wings, she dove as quickly as possible and grabbed the filly just as she toppled and started to fall. Nuage quickly tossed her on her back and worked her wings, taking the both of them higher in the darkening sky.

“Why are you still here ?” Nuage yelled over the rumbling of the shattering earth. “I told you to run away !”

“But... I...”

“What ?”

“I don’t know where to go !”

Nuage slowed down. In her excitement, she had flown away, but with no direction in mind. And they didn’t have long to figure it out : Stone Mane’s magic was eating up this world faster and faster. Once it would be gone…

Twilight screamed and clamped her legs around Nuage when the beast roared, making everything vibrate with its intensity.

“The sun !” Nuage flapped her wings and darted towards the disc, half gone beyond the horizon.

“The sun ? What ?”

“The beast said to follow the sun. That’s the way out.”

“You… You understand the monster ?”

“I… guess I do,” Nuage said quietly. She shook her head. “That’s not important, we need to get out now.” Redoubling her efforts, she carried the filly riding on her back towards the light, faster and faster.

The blue magic began to seep into the sun itself, dark tendrils growing like vines from the outside and progressively reaching further in. They seemed to suck the light itself, dimming the sun and making it turn from its original blinding white to yellow, then orange and red.

“We won’t make it,” Twilight shouted over Nuage’s shoulder.

Nuage flapped her wings even harder. “There’s no point in giving up.”

“But we won’t make it. It’s too late !”

Nuage had to take a few breaths before she could answer. “If you do your best, the end result is not important. That’s why a Serme keeps fighting until he no longer can.”

“What ?”

“If you never stray... If you are perfect in everything you do… Then failure becomes irrelevant.”

“Perfect ?” Twilight repeated quietly.

Nuage groaned as she pushed her wings to her limits. The sun became bigger and bigger, no longer a bright circle on the horizon, it stood as it really was : a gigantic gateway, the only exit from the darkness gaining on everything else.

Nuage started to think that Twilight was right. With every wingbeat, they went closer and with every wingbeat, the opening became smaller.

“I have to try…” Twilight muttered. “Yes, I have to do my best...”

A beam of purple magic zapped above Nuage’s head, creating a circle around what was left of the passage. The tendrils of blue magic reached it, but were stopped by the interference.

“Keep that up,” Nuage said as she accelerated one last time, ignoring the fire burning in her muscles.

Twilight grunted under the effort, although her fillyish voice made it sound more like a cute squeak.

“I… can’t…”

“Do your best. Always !”

The purple barrier shimmered, struggling to keep Stone Mane’s magic away... Nuage brought them closer...

With a scream, Twilight’s magic surged one last time before vanishing completely.

“I’m sorry,” the filly muttered. “That’s all I can do.”

“It’s enough,” Nuage said as they finally reached the exit. The gryphoness only had time to tuck her tail before it closed definitely behind them, but they were one the other side, in a plane of endless light that grew brighter and brighter.

“We… made it ?” Twilight asked, her voice sounding distant.

“We did.” Nuage turned around, seeing the filly slowly floating away and disappearing in the brightness. “Thank you, little unicorn. And good luck.”

“Wait ! Where are-”

The rest of her question was lost in the void, while Nuage’s surroundings turned back into the familiar green. She let herself be wrapped in the magic without any resistance, knowing that this time, it was taking her in the right direction.

Nuage took a deep breath and prepared herself.

“Plus qu’une chose à faire maintenant.”

Author's Note

Surprise cameo from everyone's favorite bookworm filly !

Well, I think my little experiment was a success : I went from not being able to write anything to spitting over 12k words ! At least the quantity is there, as for the quality... you tell me. But one good thing is that writing this chapter has made me enthusiastic about this story again. The next chapter should be the last one, hopefully it will be done quite soon.

About the music... Magma iss de hündin !

Okay, so Magma is not the only thing I listen to, even if I really love that band. I just thought that if I was going to use some music to give me a mood, I should keep it the same through the whole chapter and Magma has always kept a sort of coherence in their sound, even after 40+ years of playing.

If you're not familiar with the band, you may be wondering what kind of gibberish they were singing... The band (whose line-up changes constantly, except for the drummer and founder Christian Vander plus his wife Stella) is indeed French, but they do not sing in French. About 99% of their lyrics are sung in kobaïan, which is a made-up language and not meant to be translated, so don't bother. It's an integral part of their sound, there's no literal meaning to the words.

While I'm on the subject, the first part of the song "Kobaïa" is sung in English, but I've never managed to understand more than a few sentences (mostly stuff like : "You have come to find Kobaïa. We have come to find the zeuhl." and "We have a peaceful message : Kobaïa is everyone.") If anyone with a really good ear can understand what they're singing, I'm interested. If you do, you may want to try the different live versions of the song, that could help.

Oh, and if you think that I have mental issues for listening to that kind of stuff, don't worry, I've heard that before.