The Cloud in the Wind

by Bud Grazer

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Tragedy, Original Character
Length: 58581

Gryphons have a reputation for loyalty. Some live up to it, some don't. And there are some who value loyalty and honor so much that they would rather die than break their word.

Even among a race known for its loyalty, there are some gryphons who go further than the average.

Having pledged to serve her pony master until death, Nuage follows both him and the strict rules that govern her lifestyle.
But how far can honor take someone ?
-
Cover Art by FerrousSpark

Tagged dark for some violence. Written for Equestria Daily's Flash Fiction Event #4.

Published 2013-07-16 19:30:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-02 22:32:17 UTC

1. Until death

“If they hope to fulfill their duty, the Serme must concern themselves with only one thing : to serve their master. Whether it be on the battlefield, with claws, talons and beak or running an errand, or carrying a trivial message, you must always strive to accomplish your master’s commands.

This does not mean that you should ignore your own well-being. On the contrary, if you have no orders to follow at a time, the way of the Serme dictates that you must take care to maintain your health and skills, so you can be called upon at any moment. Being unable to answer the call of one’s master, be it because of alcohol, tiredness or illness, is a failure on your part.”

The western parts of Equestria were far from being populous. Tall mountains, surrounded by thick forests were definitely not the kind of environment that most ponies would want to live in. Only a few eccentrics, hermits or outlaws hiding from the authorities ever made it their home. The region, however, was fine for gryphons.

One mountain bore the name of “Mount Saddle”. The summit stood like a pommel at the front of a relatively flat plateau that went up again at its other end into another peak. Seen from the right angle, it seemed that the land had been carved so that a gigantic rider could sit there, hence the name ponies had given the mountain.

Through what would have been the seating portion of that saddle, a river ran down the gentle slope. In the cold water, a lone female gryphon was standing, one of her eagle talons held in the air.

Her eyes were the only moving part of her body and not even her tail twitched when small drops of ice-cold water splashed against the rocks and reached her belly. She kept her gaze on the water, smiling softly at the reflection. In the clear blue sky above, a small cloud was drifting, looking like it was slowly reaching out to her. What amused her was to see that its color matched hers almost perfectly : both her feathers and the fur on her rear half were completely white with only the slightest trace of blond. If it hadn’t been for her golden eyes and pale yellow beak, she could have been mistaken for a cloud entirely.

Movement in the stream caught her attention. Staying still, she waited until her prey was in the right position. As soon as it swam in front of her, she brought her paw down, her talons spread out like a trident and skewered the fish on her first try. She beat her wings to fly out of the river, holding the fish tightlly in her talon. While in the air, she flexed her other paws to relieve the numbness gained after so much time spent in the cold water.

Half an hour later, the gryphon was sitting in front of the small cavern she had claimed as her own, with a small fire both warming her up and roasting her catch. She smelled the air near the fish and estimated that it was good enough. Grabbing the stick holding it in one claw, she used the other to cut it open so she could check if the inside was cooked properly. Satisfied, she bit on it directly with her beak.

A small mewling noise made her look down.

“Salut, le chat.”

A dark grey cat was sitting a few paces away from her. That was not a new development for the gryphon : the cat (which she never properly named, considering that “the cat” was good enough since it was the only one she had ever seen around) was watching her with intense blue eyes. She always wondered if it was attracted by her bird or her feline half... Of course what really interested it was free food first.

She tore a little piece off of the fish and held it in a talon in front of her. Already licking its lips, the cat approached and nabbed the food. It was quickly done with it and proceeded to lick her talon thoroughly afterwards. It sat down, looking her with the same expectant eyes and mewled again. The gryphon chuckled and took another little piece. She put it on the ground this time, so that her hands would be free to let her eat. If she didn’t, the cat would end up begging until she gave the whole fish away.

The meal finished, she lied on the grass to relax and the cat quickly took its place next to her. She petted its head with a talon, eliciting a purr as it snuggled against her. She laid her own head on her crossed arms and snoozed off.

A little later, a flash and pop of magic brought her back to full consciousness. As she expected, a rolled up scroll had appeared in the air and dropped to the ground in front of her. The gryphoness picked it up and with a quick swipe of her talon, broke the wax sealing.

Nuage,

Meet me in my study.

Papyrus

The writing seemed rushed, but it wasn’t any indication with Papyrus. That old pony hated wasting his time, so his messages were always short and to the point, written and sent in under a minute. That was something that Nuage actually appreciated, in any case. He would explain what she needed to know once they would meet and thus, there was no reason to say anything more than “meet me”.

Nuage stood up, making the cat scamper away with an annoyed meow and walked into a cave in the mountain’s wall that she had claimed as her home.

Without wasting a second, she grabbed the backplate of her leather cuirass and, standing on her hind legs, slid it over her shoulders. The breastplate quickly followed and she tied the straps with expert talons. She squirmed a little to finish getting the armor in place, making it squeak and groan as the old leather resisted the treatment.

The gryphon then tied her belt around her waist, making sure it kept her armor well in place. She slid a broad knife in the sheath waiting for it on the left side. On the right side, a loop was similarly fitted with her weapon of choice : a flail. Its handle was a simple sturdy bit of hard wood, connected by a chain to the heavy steel head. The business end of it was almost rectangular, but had been given a concave shape that resulted in four sharp ridges. A crude weapon, but one able to injure any creature when used right, with or without armor.

Finally, Nuage dropped back to all fours and took a pair of gauntlets. The right one was almost plain, a basic chainmail glove with a few hard plates on the upper side. The left one however, was much more ornamented, with some gemstones embedded in the metal and a golden filigree drawing complicated patterns over her talon. Once they were tight and secure, she clenched her left fist and the enchantment activated.

Designed by Papyrus especially for her, the magical gauntlet reacted by creating a translucent, pale golden disc, centered a few centimeters in front of her wrist. It may have looked like a simple light show, but it was based on the same shield spell that unicorns had used for generations to protect themselves, giving Nuage a buckler sturdier than any metal could hope to be. She opened her talon again and the magical shield dissipated immediately.

Satisfied that everything was in place, Nuage stepped outside of her cave, spread her wings and took off.

“Every intelligent creature knows honor. Not every intelligent creature understands honor.

Some will act honorably in front of others, but abandon all pretense as soon as they are certain that they will face no retribution for their actions.

If one takes advantage of these opportunities, he will become lazy and eventually lose his focus. When no one is around is when one must be the most wary of his behavior.”

Nuage flapped her wings rapidly, gaining a lot of speed as the wind pushed her forward. Flying down from the mountain, the land below her progressively changed. Rocky plateaux covered in short grass and hardy flowers gave way to pine-covered slopes. These eventually turned into a regular deciduous forest as she kept losing altitude.

The earthy smells of the woods filled her nostrils as Nuage flew only a few meters above the canopy. Her destination soon appeared in the distance : the tallest tree in that part of the forest. It was the middle of summer, so seen from afar it looked like a gigantic mass of leaves towering over the rest of the forest like a small hill in the middle of a plain. Chestnut trees usually couldn’t grow this big, but then again, chestnut tree were usually not the residence of a powerful unicorn.

Papyrus had used his magic to accelerate and control the growth of an already impressive tree, turning it into his personal tower. Why anypony would want to live inside a tree, Nuage had trouble understanding. Papyrus had said that it was faster and more convenient than building a regular tower and that a living tree had some interesting properties from a magical standpoint. She remembered asking if the chestnut tree had any arcane advantage over the other trees. Papyrus’ answer was disappointingly simple : “No, I just like chestnuts.”

Flying over to the southern side of the tree-tower, Nuage spotted the large branch that had been grown as a sort of balcony, which led through a clearly artificial, circular opening. Every time she used it, the gryphon couldn’t help but feel like a sparrow going in a birdhouse.

Passing next to some telescopes and star charts, Nuage went down a flight of stairs, past one door and knocked on the second. A grumble in Papyrus’ voice let her know she could come in. She opened the door and entered the organized chaos of his study.

In the center of the room, standing in front of his lectern was Papyrus himself. The old unicorn was showing his years : his fur was still a pale brown that had only slightly dulled over time and turned a bit closer to yellow. His mane and tail were another story : once a bright green they were now completely gray. Sometimes Nuage was thankful for her own white coloration. At least it would never get any whiter.

Papyrus’ flank bore three scrolls for his cutie mark. Two of them rolled up and lying near the third, unrolled one. The match between his mark and his passion was obvious here : like on his sides, Papyrus’ study was filled with scrolls. Knowledge was his craving and the room was both the source and the unfortunate victim of the unicorn’s researches.

Every available surface was covered in scrolls, books or parchments bearing some scribbled notes. The large round table in the center of the room was hard to identify since all the equipment and papers that Papyrus tried to store on it had long gone beyond the edges and piled on the ground near it. Strange and frightening machinery, enchanted gemstones, amulets, jars with or without labels and containing variously colored powders, even a few bones of creatures that Nuage couldn’t identify... Papyrus’ workplace was the worst mess that she could have ever seen. Amazingly enough, the unicorn still knew exactly where every single thing was at all times.

As long as no one else moved anything, of course... Nuage had learned long ago that she shouldn’t touch a single object or risk throwing the unicorn in a state of complete confusion as his “organization” was ruined. She simply stood in a clear section of the room, where no piles of papers had found their way to the ground yet.

Papyrus turned around to greet her. As wrinkled and saggy as his face was, his green eyes still retained the glint of the brilliant mind behind them.

“Nuage. You’re here. Good.”

She bowed in respect. “Master.”

“I’m going to need your help,” he said, turning back to his lectern while levitating a piece of paper and scribbling some notes on it. “I am fighting a losing battle here.”

Nuage furrowed her brow. “What’s wrong, master ?”

“No matter how much magic I learn, there is still so much I don’t know. So much power... After almost seventy years of study, I feel like I’m only beginning to scratch the surface of magic. True magic. Not petty tricks and convenience spells. The kind of magic that can reshape the world and change destinies...

“But I am growing old,” he said with a sigh. “Too old. At this rate, I will die before I can accomplish my goals.”

“Isn’t the study of magic your goal ? This is what you have been doing for... as long as I have known you.”

Papyrus grunted. “It is a mean, not an end. Knowledge is pointless if it is never applied to anything. Like a book that no one would ever read...”

“Then,” Nuage asked, “what is your goal ?”

“Power,” he said simply. “But we can discuss this another time, there are more pressing matters to take care of.”

Papyrus faced her again, levitating a few scrolls and books from three different stacks all over the room. “I have identified some artifacts that I need,” he said while checking the books. “I need your help to retrieve them.”

Acquiring unique or rare arcane items was one of Papyrus’ main activities and one where Nuage’s talents were the most useful. Over the years, the two had found dozens and dozens of mystical objects, sometimes taken from the clutches of dangerous beasts, sometimes “repossessed” from grave-robbers. At other times, they were the ones robbing graves or ancient sacred sites.

Ponies living all the way in that forest were either eccentrics, hermits or outlaws... Papyrus was a bit of each. He would usually try to obtain what he wanted honestly or at least subtly, but when that wasn’t an option he had no qualms about resorting to more brutal solutions. Brutality was often left to Nuage in those cases.

“Where are we going ?” she asked.

“Not far. Everything I need is in Equestria. We will certainly need to push a few ponies out of our way, unfortunately. I will-” The unicorn was interrupted by a coughing fit that seemed to last forever. Nuage rushed to him and patted him on the back, but that was mostly a symbolic gesture. Papyrus’ breathing eventually settled down. “I will succeed,” he said in a raspy voice, “at any cost and you will help me.”

“Of course, master.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures...” He smiled at her. “It’s good to know I can count on you, Nuage.”

The gryphon bowed her head. “I will never go back on my pledge, master. I will always serve you.”

Papyrus nodded and ambled out of the room, still coughing slightly at times while Nuage watched him sadly.

“Jusqu'à la mort,” she whispered to herself.

2. Vae victis

“The one who springs into action immediately will sooner or later end up diving straight into a trap. The one who wastes his time getting ready for action will sooner or later miss his chance and be caught off-guard. One of the most difficult things is to find a balance between the two.

Always think before you act. Never hesitate to act.”

Papyrus was not joking when he said that they wouldn’t need to go far. He rarely joked about anything anyway. Only a couple hours of flight from his tower, Nuage had reached the small mountain that was marked on her map. Circling in the sky, she observed the area.

There was almost no traces of civilization, save for a small town by a lake. That one was pretty far away, in the plains below the mountain. What Nuage was looking for was rather the building standing on a small plateau about halfway to the summit. It was rather simple, made of stone and wood, with a rectangular wall delimiting an inner court. The bulk of the building occupied one side of this perimeter. “A temple ?” she thought “Or a monastery...”.

Scanning around, Nuage found a flat rock where she could land, high above the building. Once in place, she walked to the edge and gave the place a look. She could see two ponies walking around in the courtyard, but could only guess as to how many were inside.

Turning around on her perch, she grabbed an amulet hanging around her neck. Another enchanted item created by Papyrus, this one was relatively simple : a circular frame holding inside a round plate. She rotated the inner discus around its center until the gem embedded in it was facing the other gem lodged in the outer part. The two stones glowed slightly while Nuage placed the amulet on the ground.

A few seconds later, a spark of magic appeared in the air above it, quickly followed by a flash of green as Papyrus teleported in place. The unicorn turned his head around to get his bearings.

“Where are we ?” he asked with a curious look. Nuage simply pointed down at the building and the old unicorn approached the rock’s edge. “Ahh, good. Good.”

“What is this place, master ?”

“High Horn. An old temple or community or something like this. If the stories are right, a small group of unicorns settled here thousands of years ago because they refused to live in Equestria along pegasi and earth ponies. The history of the place is not very important, though,” Papyrus said with a wave of his hoof. “What’s more interesting is that unicorns have been living here for centuries, concentrating on the study of magic. They usually stay away from civilization, but over the centuries, a few very talented mages claimed to come from High Horn and all of them knew spells that baffled Canterlot’s best magicians.

“Now, there is a story about one unicorn named Flint Hoof who was raised here and began making a name for himself. I don’t know all the details, but basically, he used his magic for what were considered evil purposes and the other unicorns from High Horn decided to kill him. A few decades ago, he was finally hunted down and executed, but most of the High Horners died with him in the process.

“They say his power came from a device, a sort of catalyst for his magic that he had created. The unicorns here couldn’t destroy it, so they have been guarding it ever since. And now, we’re going to take it.”

Nuage observed the temple from their vantage point. Her keen eyes spotted a few windows and doors that could be used as an entry points and she could count only four or five ponies in the entire place. Either they were a very small community or most of them were concealed somehow.

She turned back to face Papyrus. “How do you want to proceed ?”

The old unicorn watched the sun going down in the west.

“We wait for the dark and try to slip inside discreetly. If we’re lucky, we can get Flint Hoof’s device without being seen.” He sat down close to the edge, looking down on the temple. “If they figure out what we’re after, they will certainly try to kill us. Be ready.”

“As always.”

“A lot of young gryphons go into battle with great enthusiasm, dreaming of conquest, fame and glory. As they grow older, those will often become bitter and cynical. Many will even turn into heartless murderers, becoming cruel and bloodthirsty as they seek to find something that cannot be found.

Do not entertain yourself with these illusions. There is only one thing in battle : death. It is what you will bring and what you will obtain. Expect nothing else.”

---

High Horn was asleep, with only a couple of lights coming out of windows betraying some nightly activity. The moon appeared on the horizon, bathing the mountain in its pale silvery light and giving Nuage a bit of a ghostly appearance due to her white coloration.

The gryphon waited a little bit more, until the moonlight became strong enough for her to see clearly. She stood up and flexed her wings a few times to limber them up.

“There’s enough light to fly, master.”

“All right,” Papyrus answered with a nod. “Let’s go then.”

Nuage jumped in the air and grabbed the old unicorn, hooking her front legs under his arms. Carrying him along, she flew down to the plateau beneath them.

The gryphon only used her wings to glide, making as little noise as possible. Papyrus, on his end, tucked his legs under his body and held as still as possible. They headed for a window, right under the roof and on the least exposed side of the temple. Papyrus used his magic to open it silently while they hovered in place and a few seconds later, the two were inside. Nuage quickly grabbed a few rolls of cloth in one of her belt’s pockets and wrapped them around her gauntlets to keep her talons from ringing on the stone floor with each step. Her lion paws were naturally silent, at least.

“Do you know where to go now ?” she asked, keeping her voice to a whisper.

“Not exactly, I’ll use a detection spell.” His horn lit up with a dim green glow and for a few seconds, Papyrus turned and tilted his head in different directions. “I can sense at least a dozen magical wards in one place, that must be it. We need to go down.”

Nuage nodded and snuck her head outside of the door. It led in an ordinary corridor and after she made sure that nopony was in sight, she headed in a random direction. The unicorn followed, cushions of green magic glowing under his hooves and keeping him silent, too.

The hallway was only lit by the glow of Papyrus’ magic, but Nuage was pretty sure that she wasn’t missing much in the way of architecture. Plain stones-on-stones construction, decorated only by dust and moss in some places. The High Horners were either totally indifferent to their home’s appearance or the part where the two intruders were currently sneaking was almost abandoned. Nuage finally found a stair leading down and, following Papyrus’ instructions, went to the lowest level.

The two kept going in more dark stone corridors until they stopped in front of a wall.

“I can detect lots of magic on the other side,” he whispered to her. “There must be a door somewhere. Come on.”

Keeping close to the theoretical location of the device, they crept in the hallways until the found a large double door. Papyrus used his magic to push on the heavy wooden panels and they opened with a loud groan coming from the rusty hinges.

“Let’s hope nopony heard that,” he said before sneaking inside. Nuage gave a quick look on each side and followed him.

The room looked like a small library, with almost as many books and scrolls as in Papyrus’ study, but neatly stacked on shelves instead of piled up all over the place. A few strange objects were also stored in corners. There were enough arcane items in here to keep the old unicorn busy for months, but he ignored them all, walking to the furthest wall instead.

“It’s somewhere behind...” He muttered a little more to himself as he examined the bookcases. Finally he stopped in front of a particular volume and pulled it with his magic.

The bookshelf rotated with a groan, revealing a hidden entry in the next room.

“A fake bookcase... Is that really the best they could come up with ?” He shook his head. “And here I thought they were extraordinary mages...” Papyrus took a cautious look at the passage and after his examination, stepped inside.

Strange patterns appeared in gold on the walls and a yellow bubble of magic appeared around him.

“Ha...” He touched it with a hoof, only to find that the surface was very solid. A blast of magic from his horn fizzled as soon as it touched it. “Alright, now that is impressive. Try to break it from outside, Nuage.”

She nodded and approached the shield bubble. Reaching a talon to it, she found the magic field to be as hard as rock. She took her flail and twirled the mass in the air to gain momentum, then smashed it on the shield. The heavy head bounced back and almost made her lose her grip.

“Okay, that won’t work,” Papyrus said. He calmly observed the intricate markings glowing around him. “I should be able to break out of this, but it will take some time. Now, unless the ponies in this place are complete morons, they should be here very soon. Hide and try to take them by surprise.”

“Understood.” Nuage jumped in the air and with a few quick flaps of her wings, took place on top of a bookcase in a dark corner of the room.

She counted about thirty seconds before the sound of hooves came from the hallway. Two unicorn stallions ran inside the room, passing below and not noticing her, as she had hoped. The faint light made their appearances difficult to really see, but one seemed mostly white or maybe yellow, while the other was either black or a dark blue.

They both slowed down and walked near the still trapped Papyrus. The old mage raised an eyebrow as he saw them.

“Is that all ?” he asked. “I would have expected more than two ponies... Should I feel insulted ?”

The two exchanged a glance before focusing back on him. The clear one spoke up. “Who are you and how did you find this place ?”

Papyrus sighed. “Is this really the time for introductions ?”

“Answer the question !”

“Or what ? You won’t let me go ? Somehow I doubt that’s really in your plans...”

The darker pony walked closer to him. “Nopony should know what is hidden here. Tell us how you learned of it and your death will be quick.”

Papyrus stared at the two for a moment. “So that’s how it is... I’m afraid I will choose the option where you die and I don’t.”

“Stop fooling around, you are powerless here !”

The old unicorn didn’t answer. He simply turned around to observe the runes glowing on the walls around him.

Nuage jumped from her hiding spot while unsheathing her knife. Only a second later, the blade was embedded in the base of the clear-colored unicorn’s neck. She didn’t wait for him to fall to the ground and immediately bounced back in the air, starting to twirl her flail in the air.

The dark unicorn managed to spin around quickly and fired a wild beam of magic in her direction.Unfortunately for him, Nuage had activated her magical gauntlet and his attack bounced harmlessly on the shield spell. At the same time, the head of her flail met his own head with a sickening crunch. She landed with one of her hind paws on his neck, using her claws to slice his throat open.

The two unicorns twitched a few times, then lied still definitively. Nuage pulled her knife free and wiped it clean on one of the dead unicorn’s fur before sliding it back in its sheath.

In his prison, Papyrus didn’t even turn around. “Thank you, Nuage.”

The gryphon looked at the corpses and sighed. The clear-colored one looked rather young. She wondered what his cutie mark was supposed to represent. A spinning top... Using her talons, she closed their eyes for the last time.

“Reposez en paix.”

In his bubble, Papyrus was gathering magic around his horn. His spell reached out to the surface of the shield, making it flicker and pulse slowly. It still held, though.

“Ivory ?” A feminine voice came from outside the room.

Nuage slunk into another dark corner and waited.

“Shade ? Ivory ? Are- Are you ok ? What’s going on ?”

From her hiding spot, Nuage saw a young mare’s head peek around the door. A small white sphere was shining at the tip of her horn, providing some light in the room.

“This isn’t funny. Answer me !” she called as she walked slowly inside.

The mare turned around a bookcase and froze. Her eyes widened and she screamed.

Turning to run away, she froze and screamed again as she came face to face with Nuage.

The gryphon was ready to block her attack, but the unicorn in front of her simply staggered back. Her hooves stumbled on one of her dead friend’s body and she fell on top of him. She screamed again at the sight of his blood now staining her white fur.

Papyrus grumbled in his bubble. “Would you keep it down ? I need to concentrate here.”

Nuage walked to the mare and clamped a talon on her muzzle.

“That’s better,” Papyrus said. A few seconds later, his last spell managed to dissipate the magic trap around him. “Finally. They really didn’t want anypony to get out of that thing...”

The mare whimpered and looked at Nuage with teary eyes. She was strangely similar to the gryphon, her fur completely white. Only her pale blue mane was more colorful than Nuage’s feathers. Even her eyes were a very light shade of blue... Nuage gave a quick glance at her rump : her cutie mark was a round shield with a crescent moon and a star decorating it.

“No screaming,” Nuage said, taking her talon away from the mare’s muzzle.

“Are- You- I... Who are you ?”

The gryphon tilted her head to the side, not expecting that particular question. “Nuage.”

“What ?”

“I am Nuage.”

“No, I meant... Ugh. What are you going to do to me ?”

“That depends on you,” she answered.

The mare blinked a few times. “You’re here for the Fortior, aren’t you ?”

Papyrus stepped next to Nuage. “What do you know about it ?”

She frowned. “Nothing. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. All I know is that it’s too dangerous to be used. Nopony must ever get his hooves on that cursed thing.”

“Humph. We’ll see about that,” Papyrus said while going back to the open passage.

The mare almost went after him, but Nuage grabbed her mane and glared at her until she slumped down.

“There are a lot of protections in there,” the old mage said. “It will take time to remove them all... Should I expect more unicorns to pop in here or can I work in peace now ?”

Nuage shook the mare a little when she didn’t answer.

“No, nopony else...”

“What, there were only three of you living here ? That’s hard to believe. Maybe you should check, Nuage.”

“No,” the mare said urgently. “The only ones left are foals. Please, don’t hurt them.”

Papyrus observed her for a moment and shrugged. “I guess I’ll be fine on my own, then. Nuage, make sure that mare won’t bother me.”

“Yes, master.”

“No ! Wait !” The mare struggled as Nuage grabbed her in her arms and lifted her in the air. “Don’t take the Fortior ! You can’t...”

Her protests died as she was taken far away from the room. Nuage flew through the first window she spotted, gliding in the night sky with the mare screaming in fear and flailing her limbs. Nuage held strong with all of her four legs, keeping the unicorn firmly under her.

She lost altitude quickly, following the mountain’s slope for a few minutes until she found a clearing to land in. From here, the mare would need at least an hour to climb back up... Nuage approached the ground and let her go, making her land in a heap.

The mare stood back up on shaky legs while Nuage landed in front of her, watching the gryphoness with a mix of fear and hate. She simply stared back.

“Well... What are you waiting for ?” the unicorn finally asked. “This is where you eat me, isn’t it ?”

Nuage blinked a few times. “I don’t eat ponies,” she said.

“So, you’re just going to kill me, then ? Whatever, I’m not going down without a fight.” She angled her head forward and lit up her horn.

“I’m sorry about your friends.”

“Wha- ?” the magic fizzled out on her horn. She shook her head and lit it up again, tears appearing in her eyes. “No, you’re not. Those... Those ponies were all the family I had and you killed them, just so you could steal the Fortior ! You’re not sorry, you’re just a monster. A murderer.”

“I’m a Serme.”

For the second time, the unexpected answer made the mare lose her focus. “A what ? Is that even a word ?”

“I have sworn to protect my master’s life with my own.” Nuage looked sadly at the mare. “Your friends would have killed him. I had no choice.”

She scowled and yelled. “There’s always a choice ! You kill ponies simply because your master tells you to ? Is this your excuse for being an assassin ?”

“I made an oath to serve my master and I must respect my word. Whatever he asks, I will do or die trying. That is all.”

“This is ridiculous. Who’s forcing you ?”

“My honor is.”

“This-” The mare yelled even louder. “This is stupid. This makes no sense ! You’re obliged to obey your master because you said you would ? And you would die to keep your word ? Just how crazy are you ?”

Nuage observed the seething unicorn for a few seconds.

“Ne craignez pas la mort, car celle-ci est inévitable. Craignez l’échec, car celui-ci est votre entière responsabilité.”

“What ? What are you blabbing now ?”

“It is one of the teachings of the way of the Serme : do not fear death, for it is inevitable. Fear failure, for it is your entire responsibility.”

The mare remained puzzled, staring at Nuage for a while. The gryphon sighed.

“I see you don’t understand the honor of my way,” she said softly. “Then know only this : I will never break my oath.”

The unicorn glared and gritted her teeth. “Do you even realize how dangerous the Fortior is ? No unicorn should ever use it.”

Nuage didn’t answer, letting the faint night breeze fill the silence.

“Your master is crazy !” the mare said. “He will only turn into a bigger monster with that kind of power. If you care about him as much as you say, you should stop him before things get worse.”

“I serve him. He will decide what to do.”

“You-” She gritted her teeth and choked on a sob. “I- I am the only one left to stop him then, since you killed Ivory and Cool Shade. It is my duty to get the Fortior back.”

“I understand,” Nuage said. “Understand that if you try to kill my master, I will kill you.”

The mare swallowed the lump in her throat and fixed her teary eyes on Nuage. “I will have to kill you first, then.”

Nuage nodded. “What is your name ?”

The mare raised an eyebrow, but answered nonetheless. “Swift Snow.”

“Swift Snow... For both our sakes, let us hope that we will never meet again.”

Nuage turned her back to her and spread her wings. “Bon vol.” She jumped in the air and with a few powerful beats of her wings, left Swift Snow behind her.

Maybe it would have been safer to kill that mare, but if there were foals in High Horn, somepony would have to take care of them. Hopefully, she would never find Papyrus again...

Nuage took only a few more minutes to get back to the room where the Fortior was kept.

“Don’t come in,” Papyrus said when she called him. “I’m almost done here.”

Nuage sat down and waited. A few minutes later, he came out with something wrapped in cloth on his back.

“I have the device,” he said as he left the hidden chamber. “I’ll teleport back to my tower now. Meet me there tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, master.”

Papyrus levitated the amulet he was wearing around his neck in front of him. Its design was very similar to the one Nuage had used earlier, another focus to help long distance teleportation. In a flash of green light, the unicorn disappeared, leaving the golden amulet to fall back on the ground. She grabbed it and made her way out.

Nuage jumped out of the first window she could find and gave the temple a last look. With a sigh, she flapped her wings and took flight in the direction of her home.

She only whispered a few words for the dead as she left.

“Malheur aux vaincus.”

3. A god or a demon

Twenty-one years earlier...

The young white gryphoness shook in fear in front of the creature. In the cave that her family had chose as their home, her brother laid on the floor, a large gash on his side still leaking blood. He had stopped breathing a minute ago.

Her mother was leaned against the opposite wall, her head facing in the wrong direction after her neck had snapped when she was sent crashing into the rock.

Only her father still stood between the red dragon and her. It may have been young for dragon standards, but it was still five times bigger than the teenage gryphoness.

The beast roared and blew a great flame at the same time, making her scream in fear. Her father jumped over her, spreading his wings in an attempt to protect her from the heat.

She didn’t even know why it had attacked her family. Maybe it simply wanted to take their cave for itself. If it had only asked, they might even have left...

Her father stood up. His sword was lying on the ground a few meters away and he had only his claws to defend himself and his daughter. The dragon roared again and stomped closer.

“Monstre sans cervelle,” her father muttered. He jumped to grab his sword and headed straight for the dragon, letting his anger out in a roar. “Sois maudit !”

The dragon tried to hit him with a claw, but her father dodged by swooping around its arm. He flew near its head, avoiding the clasping jaws narrowly.

His sword went deep into the dragon’s right eye, making it thrash and roar furiously. Her father avoided the jaws and the claws.

Its tail struck him in the chest, sending him crashing on the ground with a thud. She gasped and started to run towards him.

She screamed as the dragon blew a mighty jet of fire on her father.

When the flames died down, only a smoking, charred body remained. Her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears.

The rumbling breath of the dragon made her look back up. It was snarling, one of its eyes closed and leaking blood. It opened its maw, showing rows of giant teeth ready to cut her to ribbons.

She screamed and ran, trying to reach the exit by passing between its legs. She had to stop when it blocked the way by lowering its tail. She turned around and tried to put as much distance as she could between them, but quickly reached the end of the cave.

The dragon stepped closer and swiped at her with a claw.

In a way that he had not anticipated, her father had just saved her life : with only one good eye, the dragon misjudged the distance and its claw only opened a large gash rather than cutting her in half. She screamed again from the pain.

Disappointed, the dragon breathed in, intending to finish her with fire instead of claws.

Its breath caught in its throat as lightning suddenly coursed all over its body. The beast turned around and she saw him between its legs : a unicorn pony was standing at the cave’s entrance, his horn glowing with a bright green haze.

The dragon roared again like a feral animal and blew a huge stream of fire at him. When it subsided, the unicorn was still standing inside a magical shield bubble, completely unfazed.

The dragon struck it with a claw, but the unicorn teleported a few meters back, letting it hammer the ground. He fired a bright jet of magic in its face, making the dragon recoil a little. It swung again with a claw and he teleported away once more, sending another blast of magic in the downtime.

The two kept that little dance up for a minute until the dragon lost its patience. It opened its maw again to roar so loud that the cave’s walls shook. The unicorn took the opportunity to send a spell straight into its throat, though.

When the dragon tried to breathe fire again, its face scrunched up in confusion as nothing went out of its mouth.

It growled in pain and clutched its chest. The unicorn simply walked away, putting some distance between them.

Smoke started to escape through the dragon’s throat and nostrils. Soon, it was followed by bright blue flames. It thrashed and wailed in pain as the fire burned it from inside and eventually collapsed and stopped moving, black smoke rising from holes appearing in its carcass as the beast consumed itself from within.

The unicorn walked in the cave. She finally had a chance to take a good look at him : brown with a green mane peppered by a few gray locks. He was also carrying a pair of worn saddlebags.

“Gryphons ? Humph... I was expecting a dragon hoard.”

His eyes locked on hers and she jumped back a little as the dragon-slaying unicorn approached. He looked down at the cut on her chest and levitated a roll of bandage.

She simply blinked as he cleaned and covered her wound.

“That should do. Sorry I didn’t get here earlier, kid.”

“Que... Qui êtes-vous ?”

The unicorn stared at her. “I don’t speak French.”

“Quoi ?”

He sighed. “I knew I should have learned before coming here... Well, good luck to you, kid.” He turned around and walked away.

She wondered what was happening for a moment, before she realized her savior was leaving before she even learned his name.

“Attendez !” She tried to stand, but shook and fell on the ground. He didn’t stop. “Dîtes moi au moins votre nom !”

The mysterious unicorn didn’t even turn around, simply yelling “Sorry, I don’t understand you.” The last she saw of him was the picture of scrolls on his flank.

The next day, she sat before the three graves she had placed her family in. She said her last goodbye silently and put everything she could carry in a bag. All of her legacy, small enough to fit in a small sack slung on her back... But most of it was in her heart, in the ways of the Serme that her parents had taught her and her brother.

She didn’t understand it really before. She thought that a Serme was supposed to be meek and docile, only existing for his master and therefore unable to make a decision by himself.

Her father sometimes joked about this, saying how she was like a cloud, only going where the wind was taking her. Without it, she would just float in place and cry, he said. But now, she knew of a wind she could follow.

She would be his cloud.

“You should advise your master when you think he is doing wrong, but never forget who is the master and who is the Serme. These roles can never be exchanged.”

Nuage stepped to the door of Papyrus’s study and knocked.

“Come in.”

Inside, the old unicorn was observing a strange contraption. At first glance, it could have passed for an overly ornate bridle, but the various silver parts and gems were clearly not intended for decoration, all of the wires converging to a central piece meant to wrap around the wearer’s horn.

“This is the Fortior,” Papyrus said. “Flint Hoof’s ultimate creation. And a fascinating piece of arcane design. I’ve never seen anything quite like this, it would undoubtedly take me decades to truly understand the functioning of that device.”

He lifted it in the air in front of him. “Fortunately, I don’t need to understand its inner workings to use it.”

Nuage looked at the artifact with curiosity.

“What do you need this for, master ?”

“The Fortior is only a tool to reach my next objective. The reason I settled in this forest in the first place is because it is close to another mage’s lair. A unicorn called Stone Mane built himself a real fortress in a nearby mountain. He died long ago, but all of his work is still inside. The magical defenses he set up made sure that nopony could steal them, even after his passing. I’ve been looking for a way to get inside for years...

“But now,” he levitated the Fortior on his head. “I should have more than enough magic to penetrate inside his inner sanctum.”

Nuage watched him as he tied the straps. “What are we looking for this time ?”

“Stone Mane’s grimoire. If I am right, it contains the spell that I need.”

“Master ?” He looked at her with a curious expression. “What is your goal ? Why are you gathering all these items ?”

“Power. My goal is power, Nuage. It has always been, I thought you would have understood that by now.”

“I understand, but you are already one of the greatest unicorns in Equestria. You have power already.”

Papyrus snorted. “What I have is insignificant ! I don’t want the power to cast a few impressive spells. I want real power. Absolute power !”

Nuage recoiled a little.

“When I am done, I will be the most powerful being in this world. More powerful than any unicorn. More powerful than a princess. I will become a god, Nuage !”

“A... A god ?”

“Yes. I still need more time to reach that objective, which is why I need Stone Mane’s spells. All the texts I read about him say that he had found a way to cheat death. I will do so, too. Once I’ll be immortal, I will have all the time to collect enough power and finish my ascension.”

“But... Why would you want to be a god ?”

Papyrus frowned at her. “You can’t understand, Nuage, you have no ambition. Unlike you, I am not content with having a master telling me what I can or can’t do. Absolute power means absolute freedom.”

“I... don’t know,” Nuage said with a worried look. “It sounds... dangerous. Do you really trust yourself to act like a god ? What about other ponies ? You can’t do anything you want to them...”

“Not yet I can’t, but soon... Soon, they will become insignificant.” Papyrus gave her a disturbing smile. “Don’t worry, Nuage. When I won’t need your assistance anymore, I’ll find a way to reward you for your loyalty.” He chuckled a bit. “You will have the favors of a god, how many can claim that ?”

Nuage watched silently as he turned around and buried himself in more books and scrolls, his horn sometimes lighting up as he cast various spells for purposes only he could know. She watched in the distance, whispering to herself.

“Un dieu ou un démon.”

4. You have me

Nineteen years earlier...

Nuage didn't even wait for the boat to reach the harbor. After three weeks of being surrounded by nothing but water and enduring seasickness, she grabbed her belongings and took off as soon as the coast was in sight.

A few minutes later and she landed on the docks.

The ponies called the city something like "Méine Hattenne". A strange name fitting for the strange sight, never before had she seen so many buildings at once. They were all giants, too, reaching for the sky like some grotesque, huge claw.

She had seen French towns before... A city hall, a temple and a bunch of shops, houses and farms. You could have fitted one of these in just a small neighborhood of Manehattan.

So many ponies were going about their business that she was getting dizzy trying to follow them with her eyes. Earth ponies pulling or carrying loads around. Unicorns looking important while giving orders and pegasi flying all over the place, transporting items or simply going on their way.

Nuage realized that finding the one pony she was looking for might not be as easy as she thought...

"Information"

Nuage smiled as she read the sign above the door of a small building. Equestrian was easy : the words were the same as in French. They just pronounced them wrong.

She entered a small office, with only enough room for a counter tended by an earth pony and a few shelves loaded with flyers, maps and booklets. The pony, a bright red stallion with a blond mane and a cheerful smile, greeted her as soon as she came in.

"Hello and welcome to Manehattan ! We don't get many gryphons in here, it's always a pleasure to see one of you. How can I be of assistance ?"

She stared blankly. They really pronounced everything very, very wrong...

"Euh... Hello. Je- I... Cherche... hum. I search one pony."

The stallion was the one staring now, his smile turning from cheerful to strained. "I hope that's not what you really meant... Let’s try this again.” He spoke slowly and articulating as much as he could. "How can I help you ?"

"Help," Nuage repeated quietly. "Yes. Help. Help me search ?"

The stallion looked at her, nonplussed. "Oookay... Wait here," he said. Seeing no sign of understanding from Nuage, he gestured to get his point across, then disappeared in the back of his office. He came back a couple minutes later with a small book in his teeth, that he held for Nuage to take.

She grabbed it and read the title.

"Survivre en Équestria / Surviving in Equestria”

Nuage smiled as she watched a few random pages. The book had basic information about Equestria, pony customs and a list of useful words and expressions. Enough to avoid starving or ending up in prison.

After a quick glance at the pre-made sentences she tried again to speak with the stallion, slowly as she put each word after the other carefully.

“I am looking for a pony.”

“Well... Okay. Who ?” He groaned at her confused expression. “Do you know his name ? His. Name.”

“Yes. Name... Le nom. Ah oui mais non, en fait...” She shook her head. “No name.”

“No name ?” he repeated, raising an eyebrow. “How the hay do you expect to find him, then ?”

Trying to give more information, she continued. “He is a... licorne.” She browsed her guide quickly. “Unicorn.”

“A unicorn. That leaves only a third of the country’s population...” The stallion shrugged. “Guess we’re making progress.”

She blinked at him dumbly. “And... You have no idea what I’m saying.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s not enough. Not. Enough. You understand that ? Lots of ponies here. Lots of unicorns.”

Nuage scratched her beak in thought and beamed when an idea went through her mind.

“The... uh. Image. The image on the croupe.” She turned and pointed at her own flank.

“Image... You mean his cutie mark ? You know what his cutie mark looks like ?”

“La marque... Yes, the cutie mark.” She paused again, short on words and tried going through the book again. Unfortunately, it had information on renting a room or ordering food, nothing about scrolls, parchments or anything of the sort. “Three... Comment on dit ça... rouleaux...” Judging by the stallion’s face, that wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

Nuage looked around the office and her face lit up when she saw a pile of paper stacked on his desk. She took three sheets, ignoring his protests and rolled them up. When she had her substitute scrolls, she set them in the correct position in front of the stallion and pointed.

“Cutie mark is this.”

“Huh ? Aaaaaaaah.” He smiled as he understood. “Now we’re going somewhere ! Give me a minute.”

Nuage tilted her head to the side as the stallion grabbed a piece of paper and started writing on it. He gave it to her once he was finished.

“Go to the city hall and show this to somepony there. Maybe they can help you.”

“... Pardon ?”

He groaned as his head fell on the desk. “Why me ?”

After a bit of moaning, he gestured for Nuage to give him the book back. He turned the pages with his muzzle while muttering to himself. “This is gonna take a while...”

Two days had passed after Papyrus had explained her his plans. Nuage spent most of them unable to decide if she was happy that her master was so close to his goals, or terrified of the possibilities. She knew that he was not the most compassionate pony in Equestria, but he usually avoided doing any harm... but if he had the powers of a god, as he intended to ? He might not be the worst, but he wouldn’t be the best either.

Still, he was the most important pony in her life. She didn’t pledge her loyalty to him simply as repayment for saving her, Papyrus was the bravest and most powerful pony she had ever seen. He could even shame most gryphons in battle and had a brilliant mind to boot. She could not think of a worthier master.

She could think of a worthier god, though.

When she found herself hoping that they would fail in their next quest, Nuage shook her head and walked into her cave. She grabbed an ancient book, passed down from generation to generation in her family and detailing the way of the Serme. Thumbing through it, she looked for a passage that could guide her.

“It is easy to follow your master’s instructions when you agree with them. If following the way of the Serme was this easy, everyone would do it.

When you begin to doubt your master's commands is when you must remember your loyalty the most. An oath cannot be taken and ignored at one’s convenience. Never forget that you have sworn to serve your master until death and not until you have a change of heart.”

Papyrus and Nuage were walking through a plain, heading for Stone Mane’s lair. It had taken the unicorn a few days to get ready, but he was confident that he would be able to break in and retrieve what he wanted. The gryphoness followed her master quietly, keeping her eyes on their surroundings. The plain slowly turned into a bog, each step producing a squish from the spongy ground under the hooves and paws.

“Master ?”

Papyrus hummed in response, not turning around to watch her.

“Are you sure this is a good idea ?”

“What ? Going through the bog ? It’s the shortest way. Besides, you have wings, it’s not like you could sink.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said. “I was talking about this whole quest. I can’t help but think it’s a bad idea.”

The old pony sighed. “After all these years, don’t you trust me ?”

She walked behind him in silence for a few seconds, looking down on the ground as she mulled her thoughts.

“Personne n’est parfait.”

“You know, once I’ll be immortal, I’ll actually take the time to learn French.”

“I said : nopony’s perfect.”

Papyrus turned his head and watched her intently. “You’re right. I’m not perfect... Yet.”

She didn’t answer.

“If you feel like I’m doing wrong, then why are you still following me ? Or are you just waiting for the chance to stab me in the back ?”

“I would never do that, master.”

“I know, I know.”

They kept going, remaining silent in the deserted bog. The sky was grayish that day and as if there wasn’t enough humidity in the ground, a thin drizzle started to fall. Now, the morose weather was reflecting Nuage’s morose thoughts. She passed the time by concentrating on the noises they made while walking.

Squish. Squish. Squish

Why wasn’t she trusting him ? He was her master and a brilliant pony...

Squish. Squish. Squish

Serving a god may well be the ultimate dream of a Serme, in fact...

Squish. Squish. Squish

Was she simply afraid of not being worthy of serving him ? Or maybe because he wouldn’t need a servant anymore.

Squish. Squish. Squish

She couldn’t know that he would be an evil god...

Squish. Squish. Clack.

Twang.

Her eyes opened wide as she jumped on Papyrus’ back, using all of her weight to press him down in the wet ground. He shouted in surprise while she squawked in pain, something stinging her left thigh.

Nuage blinked a few tears away and looked back to find a bolt sticking out of her rear leg. A small trickle of blood clearly making its way down her white fur. It seemed that the bolt was keeping the wound mostly closed, so she decided to leave it in despite the pain and the sickening feeling of the foreign object tugging at her muscles every time her leg moved.

“You missed !”

“No I didn’t, she jumped in the way.”

She flapped her wings to leave the ground and her master’s back, turning around in the voices’ direction. A gryphon was hovering above the ground, a crossbow in his talons. A few meters further, a blue pegasus landed in the muck, letting a familiar white unicorn off his back.

“Dang. And here I was hoping we could be done quickly.” The blue stallion calmly walked towards Nuage and Papyrus. “Guess we’ll do this the hard way.”

The old mage, after cleaning most of the mud off himself, stepped up and glared at the intruders. “What is the meaning of this ?” he asked, his gaze going from pony to gryphon to pony.

Swift Snow stood as tall as she could. “Give the Fortior back and we’ll leave you in peace.”

“Right. You shot me without warning but you’re willing to leave me in peace.” Papyrus turned to the gryphoness. “Are you alright, Nuage ?”

“I’ve had worse.”

“Nuage ?” the brown gryphon laughed. “What kind of name is that ?”

“What’s wrong with it ?” the pegasus asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s not real name, it means ‘cloud’.”

“Dude... My name is Cloud.”

“Anvil Cloud,” the gryphon said. “And you’re a pony, it’s not the same. No gryphon would ever give their children that kind of name.”

Papyrus gave Nuage a curious look. “Huh. I did not know that. Is that true ?”

“Yes,” she answered, not elaborating any more.

Swift Snow stomped a hoof on the ground, its spongy texture killing most of the effect. “Can we focus ? I didn’t hire you guys to chat with them. We have to get the Fortior back.”

“Mercenaries...” Papyrus sighed and spoke loudly. “I’ll give you twice what she paid you to leave me alone.”

The pegasus whistled. “What do you think Ausha ? That’s a lot of bits.”

“Forget it, Anvil. I have principles. Plus, I don’t work for murderers.”

“You have no business sense...”

“I do. You’re an idiot. How much work do you think you’ll get with a reputation as a double-dealer ?”

Anvil Cloud shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you have a point.” Reaching back to his side with his mouth, he pulled a sword out of its sheath while Ausha reloaded his crossbow.

Papyrus levitated the Fortior out of his saddlebag and magicked it on his head. “Time to see what that thing can really do, I guess...”

Swift Snow’s eyes widened at the sight. She pointed at Papyrus. “Attack him ! Hurry !”

Anvil rushed forward, half-flying, half-running. Nuage hovered between him and Papyrus, grabbing her flail in her right talon and starting to twirl it. The pegasus neither slowed down or changed his course, intending on meeting her head on. The gryphoness let him come and activated her enchanted gauntlet at the last second. Anvil’s sword hit it hard, sending her flying back from the inertia. She swung her flail in his direction, but it passed near his head without striking it.

Ausha flied up and shot a bolt straight at Papyrus’ head, which bounced harmlessly on his shield spell. The gryphon cursed as he readied another shot. Meanwhile, Swift Snow launched a few magic bolts that only made the shield shimmer.

“Anvil ! Attack the unicorn, I’ll take care of the gryphoness.”

“On it !”

Anvil Cloud maneuvered in the air, dodging and rolling around to reach Papyrus. Nuage tried to intercept him, but ignoring the gryphon earned her another bolt in her body. Fortunately, it struck near her shoulder and her cuirass stopped it before it could do any real harm.

“Sorry about that, miss. I really hope I won’t have to kill you...” She saw him hovering in the air a dozen meters away, reloading his weapon.

Nuage glared at him while pulling the bolt out of her shoulder. “Go into battle both ready to die and ready to kill without second thoughts. When two warriors of equal skill face each other, the one who hesitates is the one who dies.”

“Huh ? What was that for ?”

“The teachings of the Serme.”

Ausha stared at her for a moment. “The Serme ? Those don’t exist anymore, what are you talking about ?”

“I exist.”

He sighed and shook his head. “Why is it that the cute chicks always end up being crazy ?”

He leveled his crossbow at her and shot another bolt quickly, hoping to hit before she could react, but Nuage had expected it and activated her shield in front of her to block the shot. Ausha wasted no time and flew up, putting some distance between them while he reloaded. Nuage followed, trying to get into melee range.

She was bigger than him, but he was faster and more agile. He could not stop to aim, though and shot several shots almost blindly, not even getting close to hitting his target. His ammo supply eventually ran out and with the last bolt, he turned around and stabilized himself for a careful shot. Nuage squeezed herself behind her shield, leaving as little a target as she could.

He pulled the trigger, the bolt flew a hair’s width near her head.

Nuage had not slowed down and found herself finally in range. Ausha tried to dodge, but her flail struck him hard in his side, knocking the wind out of him. The gryphon’s wings were paralyzed for a second and he fell from the sky.

Nuage took the little respite she had earned to check on Papyrus, but he didn’t seem to need her help. Whether it came from Swift Snow’s magical assaults or Anvil Cloud’s attacks, nothing went past his shield. He used every downtime to counterattack with blasts from his own horn. His two assailants managed to avoid those, but only barely.

She focused back on Ausha. The soft ground had cushioned his fall and he was slowly getting back up, clutching his head with a talon. Nuage dove, twirling her flail as fast as she could and leveled her flight to pass just above him, from behind. She swung to strike the back of his head, but the fortunate gryphon turned just in time to see it coming and flattened himself on the ground. The flail’s head sailed in the air with a whistle, missing a hit that would have turned his skull into paste.

Nuage flapped her wings to lose speed, turning around when she came to a stop. She couldn’t land with her leg still hurting from the bolt, so she simply hovered in the air, staring at her foe.

She saw a few beads of sweat rolling down his neck and the fear in his eyes was so obvious that she almost felt pity. She wondered if that was the first time he came close to his death... Did Nuage look like that when the dragon was about to turn her into a pile of ash ? What was Ausha seeing, right then ?

Papyrus shouted in rage. “Enough of this ! You weaklings have wasted enough of my time. If you can’t take a hint and run, then you can die.”

His horn lit up, glowing white from the tremendous amount of energy he was pumping into it. A large mass of water rose from the ground around him into some sort of bubble. He floated it above the pegasus and spread it all around him in a liquid dome.

“What ? You’re gonna give me a shower ? You crazy old goat...”

“Idiot.”

From the blob of water, Papyrus formed a hundred sharp ice spikes, all pointed at the center of the sphere where Anvil Cloud stood.

He only had time to yell half a curse before being speared from all directions at once.

While the pegasus crumpled lifeless to the ground, Papyrus turned slowly to Swift Snow.

“Your turn.”

She gulped and erected a shield spell that was easily stripped down by his magic. The mare staggered back and yelled when a gryphon landed on her back and grabbed her tight.

Nuage blinked. Ausha had only needed a few seconds of inattention to fly to the mare.

“We’re out of here,” he said before flapping his wings and taking her into the air.

“What ? No, we can’t-”

“We’re outmatched, girl.” Ignoring her complaints he darted away, flying fast and low on his powerful wings.

Nuage flittered near Papyrus.

“Should I pursue them, master ?”

He grunted. “Don’t bother. If they come back I’ll finish them myself.” His eyes went on her injured leg. “We should take care of that. Hold still.”

Nuage moaned when the bolt was yanked away. Blood flowed out of the wound.

“Looks like he hit an artery... Let me fix you up.”

Magic glowed around her leg and the blood stopped immediately. Nuage felt a stirring inside the wound. Under her eyes, the flesh knitted itself back up. When Papyrus was done, the only trace of her injury was the blood dripping down her leg and the pink spot where her skin was bare, as the spell didn’t regrow the fur.

“Impressive,” Papyrus said to himself. He tapped the device on his head with a hoof. “That thing was worth the bother.”

Nuage flexed her leg, feeling no pain anymore. “Thank you, master.”

Papyrus nodded and started walking again, beckoning her to follow with a hoof.

“You see, Nuage ?” he said. ”This is just a start. Imagine what I will be able to do soon.”

She followed, giving the pegasus’s corpse a passing glance. “I- I don’t know... You’re playing with dangerous powers, master.”

He snorted. “You know nothing about magic, Nuage. Let me worry about this.”

“I...” She sighed. “Yes, master... I just wonder... Can’t you be satisfied with what you already have ?”

“Ha !” Papyrus chuckled darkly. “And what do I have ? A house in the woods, a bunch of fancy spells, piles of magical trinkets... Those are worthless ! How could I be satisfied when I have nothing ?”

Nuage stopped and watched him walk ahead of her, sadness clenching her heart. She murmured, out of earshot.

“Vous m’avez moi.”

5. It will take more to stop me

“We’re almost there.”

Papyrus pointed in the distance at a rocky spire that stood like a strange monument built at nature’s whim, the only remnant of an ancient volcano now collapsed and drowned in the wetlands. The peak was barely covered by vegetation, keeping most of its original black coloration and with the ongoing drizzle, the whole scene looked even drearier than it should.

“Stone Mane dug his tower in this rock. I guess he really was into the gloomy wizard theme.” Papyrus chuckled a little, but his smile disappeared as his laugh quickly turned into a noisy cough. He hacked and wheezed, clutching his chest in pain, making Nuage hurry to support the old pony as he wobbled on three legs, his whole body shaking with each cough.

After almost a whole minute, he calmed a little bit but every breath he took produced a crackling noise that made Nuage frown in worry. After clearing his throat for a long while, he spat a disgusting glob on the ground.

Nuage goaded the panting pony into sitting down, still holding him with her talons.

“Damn it,” he said between breaths. “I’m really falling apart...“ He groaned as he struggled to control his respiration, still enduring the pain in his lungs. “I don’t know how much time I have left, but it can’t be very long.”

After a few minutes, he tried to stand up on shaky legs. Nuage pushed him down.

“Don’t force yourself, master... You shouldn’t have made all this way on hoof in the first place.”

“I’m not dead yet ! I can still...” He tried to stand up. “... walk.” His legs buckled and he would have fallen to the ground if it hadn’t been for Nuage’s quick reflexes.

“Damn it all !”

She held him down and looked softly in his eyes. “Let me carry you, master.”

He watched her with a surprised expression for a few moments but eventually sighed and nodded. Nuage lowered herself on the ground in front of him. Slowly, the old stallion dragged himself and clambered on her back.

Once his front legs were wrapped around her neck, she stood back up and started walking in the direction of the black peak. Nuage could feel his chest slowly going up and down with his ragged breath and Papyrus leaned his head against her neck as he made himself comfortable in her feathers.

She kept staring straight forward to hide her blush.

“Thank you, Nuage.” His voice was a quiet whisper. “I couldn’t do this without you.”

She froze, her eyes widening as his words sunk in.

She was the one in power. She could decide if his plans would fail or not...

“What’s wrong ?” he asked from behind her.

Nuage took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

“Some say that emotions lead to errors in judgement and that focus is achieved by getting rid of them. This is an unfortunate misconception. Emotions are a part of all of us and cannot be truly eliminated. Instead, one should learn to control and use them.

If you love your master, use that affection to push yourself into pleasing him.

If you admire your master, bring yourself to be worthy of serving him.

If you fear your master, let that feeling drive yourself to be irreproachable.

If you hate your master, spite him by being perfect in every way and not giving him any good reason to criticize you.

Your duty should not come at the cost of everything else. Everything else should be used to fulfill your duty.”

Nuage stopped as she finally reached the base of the spire. From up close, it stood like a black, jagged fang in the middle of the land.

“There are lots of entrances,” Papyrus said from his perch on her back. “Lots of tunnels, both natural and artificial, the place is a real maze... The lower levels are not too dangerous as long as you don’t get lost, but higher inside there are some really nasty magical defenses.”

He shifted around a little. “Stone Mane must have been paranoid. He dug dozens of tunnels as emergency exits, oubliettes, dead ends... He set up hundreds of traps and made them so durable that most of those are still working today.”

Nuage craned her head to look at him over her shoulder. “Will you be able to deactivate them ?”

“I’m sure I will. My body may be weak but my magic is still strong. Walk around, we should find a tunnel soon enough.”

Nuage nodded and started moving, looking for an entrance.

The slight slope leading to the peak prevented water from pooling in this place too much and made the terrain less spongy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much of an improvement, as it became slippery instead. With careful steps, the gryphoness eventually reached a small opening in the rocky wall, but when she approached the entrance, Nuage realized that it was barely big enough for her to crawl in.

“This passage is too low,” she said. “We should find another one.”

“No, it’s fine. Let me down.”

“You shouldn’t-”

“Let me down. I’m telling you it’s fine.”

“I...” She sighed. “Yes, master.”

Nuage lowered herself to let Papyrus climb down and he walked ahead, using his magic to illuminate the dark tunnel. The old unicorn only needed to lower his head to fit inside, but she had to squeeze herself to follow.

"I can barely fit, master,” she said, exhaling all the air out of her lungs to gain a little extra space around her chest. “If this is a dead end, I'll be stuck in here."

Papyrus went a little further and called back. "Don't worry, the tunnel gets bigger around here."

Trying not to lose all of her feathers on the walls, Nuage followed him and allowed herself a big gulp of air when she reached the wider part of the cave. It wasn't roomy, but enough for her to stand normally. And as much as a tight cave was not ranking high on her list of favorite places to explore, at least they were out of the rain now.

The two walked further in the eerie green light of Papyrus's magic. The cave was mostly silent, only their footsteps resonating on the black stone walls along with the dripping of some rainwater seeping inside. Even with that humidity, the tunnel was surprisingly devoid of life, though : no plants, not even moss or lichen dared to grow inside.

As Nuage lifted her eyes a little, she noticed that the ceiling looked relatively smooth, but not because it had been carved that way. Instead, it seemed that the rock had melted, leaving countless tiny stalactites where the stone had dripped like wax off a candle. She checked the walls and saw similar traces of rock being melted and deformed as if it had been as soft as clay or soap.

“Impressive, isn’t it ?” Papyrus had seen her checking the cave and was watching Nuage with a smirk.

She nodded. “How come this tunnel looks...”

“Melty ?” he finished for her. “It’s a lava tube. An eruption pushed all the magma outside, leaving this section hollow.”

“A volcanic eruption ?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, this volcano has been extinct for eons. You won’t even find a hot spring around here.” Papyrus turned around and resumed walking. “All that’s left of it is that rock spire and all those tunnels.”

The two went through the cool tunnels for a while, until they reached a branch where another tube connected to the first one. Nuage waited while Papyrus seemed to examine them.

“Do you know the way, master ?” she asked after a while.

“Not precisely. I’ve been in these caves a few times before, but there are too many tunnels to remember or even to map. All I know is that we need to go up.”

Nuage approached the fork, checking each tube but finding no signs indicating which one to take over the other. She was about to give up when something caught her attention to the left tunnel. She took a few steps in to make sure.

“Did you find something ?” Papyrus asked from behind her.

Nuage breathed in the air coming from the tunnel. “I smell ponies in that direction,” she said, taking another whiff. “The odor is faint, but I am sure that several ponies have been through that tunnel.”

Papyrus hummed in thought. “I know that some ponies use these tunnels when they need a place to hide. Between the labyrinthine setup and the traps, no one in their right mind would go look for them here.”

“So, do we follow their tracks ?”

He hummed in thought while tapping a hoof to his chin, then nodded.. “With a little luck, they will lead us further inside the spire. Yes, let’s go.”

Nuage took the lead, following her sense of smell through the caves and picking up on more and more scents as they progressed, identifying at least five different ponies. Papyrus and her eventually reached a crude wooden ramp leading to a higher tunnel.

“They’ve been doing construction in here ?” Papyrus wondered aloud. “Whoever is living in these caves is planning to stay.”

“I can smell a lot of different ponies,” Nuage said with a frown. “There might be a whole herd in here.”

Papyrus simply shrugged. “The more, the merrier. Keep going.”

Nuage eyed the rickety ramp. It was made of a couple of slender tree trunks and some branches tied up between them with thin rope. Not willing to try if the thing could hold the weight of a full-grown gryphoness, she hovered above it while Papyrus walked up cautiously. Following the upper tunnel, the two soon spotted some light coming from a cave further down. The old mage let the magic on his horn faze out and nodded forward. Nuage acquiesced and stepped as quietly as she could.

The tunnel led to a small opening on a rather large room below and she crouched on the perch to look down discreetly. Judging by the few pickaxes and scaffoldings laying around, this area had been carved quite recently. A few torches gave a flickering light on crates, barrels and sacks stacked in one corner. In another, a few crude mattresses were set up, along with a table and some seats. The small camp was deserted at the time, though.

“I don’t see anypony, master.”

Papyrus snuck beside her and observed the cave too.

“A whole encampment ? What are those ponies doing in here ?”

“Should we check it out ?”

“Hmmm... Yeah, I don’t want any bad surprises while we’re here. Let’s see who those ponies are.” He gave the small ridge leading to the bottom a wary glance and shook his head. “Carry me down.”

Nuage nodded and flew above Papyrus to take him in her arms until they landed below. While he made his way to the living area and checked a few papers laying about, she headed for the stacks of crates to examine their contents. She opened them one after another, finding nothing but grain in all of them.

Nuage stopped in front of the fourth opened crate and scratched her head, wondering why anypony would go to the trouble of settling this hiding spot, only to store regular corn inside. She dug her talon in the grain absentmindedly, enjoying the feeling of the grain sliding between her digits.

She frowned as she felt something soft and furry against her hand. After a little digging, Nuage pulled out a pelt, then another and another... She recognized snow-white ermine fur, mink, foxes and a few others that she wasn’t familiar with.

“What did you find ?” Papyrus asked her from the other side of the cave.

“Fur. Lots of fur.”

“Really ? Let me see that.”

Nuage stepped aside to let him check out the crate’s contents. He levitated a few pelts in front of him, giving them a curious look. “Those look genuine.”

“Why are those here ? Gryphons often wear fur, but I’ve never seen a pony do.”

“That’s because it costs a fortune. Hunting animals for fur is illegal in Equestria so it has to come from overseas. Then, the huge taxes make the prices go sky-high.” Papyrus went to another crate, digging in with his hooves. “The ponies living here are certainly smugglers. There’s a good profit to make with those skins, if you have the right contacts.”

Nuage walked to another box, plunging her talons inside. This time, she felt something hard under the grain and grinned when a bottle came out in her hand.

“Look, master !” She showed her catch proudly. “Aiglevin !”

“Is that gryphon alcohol ? Yeah, that costs a fortune too.”

“In Equestria, yes,” Nuage answered. “Back home it’s not that expensive. It’s been years since I’ve had some,” she said, already salivating and watching the liquor with gleaming eyes.

If those ponies were smugglers, Nuage reasoned that taking a bottle from them wouldn’t be a problem... “Stealing from a thief is not stealing.”

With her sharp talons, she quickly cut the wax sealing at the top of the bottle to reveal the cork. She pinched it in her beak while she held the bottle with her hands and with practiced ease opened the bottle with a familiar “pop”.

“Do you want some, master ?”

Papyrus approached the opened bottle and grimaced. “That thing smells weird.”

Nuage brought the bottle near her beak. She smelled the familiar scent of strong alcohol, mixed with the sickly sweet smell of dozens of mountain herbs and flowers. “It smells good,” she finally said. “I mean, it’s supposed to smell like that.”

“I don’t know, it’s like... medicine.”

“Maybe, but it tastes good. Are you sure you don’t want to try ?”

“I’ll pass,” Papyrus answered while waving a hoof and left to check another crate.

Nuage shrugged and lifted the bottle in the air. “À votre santé !”

She took a quick sip, enjoying the sweet herbal taste and the strong burn of the alcohol, then plugged the cork back in and tied the bottle to her belt. After all, who knew when she would have a chance to get another one ?

“Alright I’ve seen enough,” Papyrus declared after a few more minutes of searching. “These smugglers don’t seem to have anything magic-related, so they must stay away from the higher levels.” He craned his neck to look around the cave until he spotted a tunnel going up. “Let’s move, these ponies are of no importance to us.”

Nuage nodded and flew him up to the next tunnel.

Nuage and Papyrus progressed slowly through the complex of caves. Having no real direction to follow except “up”, half of the time the tunnels they chose were dead ends, forcing them to go back and try new ones.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Papyrus froze and held a hoof to stop Nuage. She watched him for a moment, but since he gave no explanation, asked him what was wrong.

“We’re getting closer,” he said. “I can sense some magic traps around. Stay behind me and watched where you put your hooves. Claws.”

“Yes, master.”

“This should be easy now. We just have to head for where the defenses are the tightest.” Papyrus checked that the device on his head was properly in place. His horn glowed brighter for a few seconds and he walked ahead.

They kept advancing like this for a while, Papyrus stopping here and there to detect and disarm traps, Nuage simply following obediently while the old unicorn chose which way to follow thanks to his magic.

She frowned when they reached another dead end.

“Did you pick the wrong tunnel, master ?”

“You know, I thought a gryphon would be able to think in three dimensions...” He pointed up with a hoof and Nuage followed it with her eyes to find an opening in the ceiling.

“I’m a gryphon, not a bat,” she said under her breath while he snickered softly. “I’m not used to caves.”

After a quick flight, they continued their journey on the upper level. Papyrus had to stop more often, most likely to disarm the traps, although all Nuage could see was his horn shining brighter from time to time.

It felt like they had been wandering in those dark tunnels for hours, but the gryphoness could do nothing except trust her master to find the right way in there. They stopped again at a sort of crossroads where several tunnels met. Papyrus seemed to check each one, pointing his horn in their directions before picking one.

His face suddenly contorted in a grimace as he clutched his chest. He fell to his knees and the light flickered on his horn while he was shaken by a new coughing fit.

Before Nuage had time to react, a set of glyphs shone in bright green on the walls. She heard a sound like a small detonation in one tunnel, followed by a similarly green cloud rolling towards them.

“What is-”

“Acid !” Papyrus managed to shout between coughs. “Run !”

A flash of green magical light. Everything went dark.

“Master ?”

No answer. Despite her best efforts, Nuage couldn’t see anything in the pitch-black cave.

“Master !”

Still nothing. She activated her enchanted gauntlet, the shield spell giving her a faint light.

A wall of sickly green vapour was ready to swallow her.

Nuage screeched and turned around to run. Papyrus had teleported himself somewhere and hopefully he was safe but for now, she had to take care of her own safety. She jumped in the air and flapped her wings, keeping her shield spell active to give herself a little light. Nuage flew almost at random : between the darkness and the acid cloud flowing behind her, she had no time to plan her path carefully. Luck alone kept her in the tunnels Papyrus had already cleared out.

Her luck eventually ran out when Nuage found herself dodging a fireball, flying dangerously close to the ceiling. She realized that she was going in the wrong direction and turned around. The cloud had slowed down, simply because the volume of the caves was more than it could fill, but it wasn’t stopping yet. Worse, it was too late to turn back.

With muttered curses, Nuage headed straight into the trapped tunnel, hoping that fate would let her keep her life. The traps activated one after another as she sped through. Maybe because they hadn’t been designed to stop a gryphon barrelling down the cave, they missed her. Bolts of magic and balls of fire flew wide around her, only a few requiring Nuage to deflect them with her shield.

At this rate, the cloud of acid would be easy to outrun, then she could wait until it finally dissipated.

A group of glyphs glowed white on the walls as yet another defense activated. Nuage raised her shield in front of her face.

She found herself tetanized, her whole body painfully stiff when lightning hit her.

Nuage crashed on the ground, unable to move and struggling to catch her breath. Thankfully, the electrical shock didn’t last, but her muscles remained unresponsive for a few seconds. She flopped like a fish on the ground, trying to get back to her feet.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw the green cloud still approaching, rolling on the ground like sentient smoke pursuing her. Her legs still refused to answer her commands.

The cloud reached a feather she had lost on the ground a few meters back. Nuage saw it liquefy and boil in the acid, making her eyes widen in fear. She may have been prepared for death, but the agony that was awaiting her in that cloud was another thing...

Nuage forced her limbs to respond. Twitching and shaking, she managed to stand up and crawl away.

Her shield illuminated the cloud gaining on her. She forced her legs to work, not trusting her stiff wings yet.

With a faint hissing sound, the tuft of hair at the tip of her tail was attacked by the acid. She screamed in fright and picked up the pace.

A black rocky wall stood in front of her. Her heart was beating like a drum. Did she run out of tunnel ?

In the ground, she saw an opening to a lower level.

With a final heave, she dragged herself to the edge and let herself fall down, spreading her wings to glide in the darkness. A whole minute passed before she touched down.

There didn’t seem to be any traps on this level and the acid cloud would take a while to catch up. She let out a long, shuddering breath as she found herself safe for now.

Nuage sat down and checked herself out. Except for a few hairs lost, she was unscathed.

“Safe,” she thought.

Nuage was alone, in a dark complex of tunnels riddled with deadly traps and no idea on how to get out.

Definitely safe...

Nuage took the amulet Papyrus used as a beacon for teleportation and activated it. After five minutes of watching the metallic disk on the ground in front of her remaining stubbornly inert, she sighed, grabbed it and stood up.

She looked around her, seeing nothing but identical tunnels everywhere. Nothing but darkness and shadows, no indication as to where she should go...

Nuage snorted and plucked one of feathers. She placed it on the ground to mark the direction of a tunnel she had picked randomly and walked ahead with a determined scowl.

“Il en faudra plus pour m’arrêter.”

Author's Note

-_- One week to write under 4k words...

I blame Steam sales !

6. You're all I have

Seventeen years earlier

Finding the right pony had seemed easy at first : large cities held a registry of their inhabitants, with their names and cutie marks recorded on paper. “A cutie mark is what makes a pony unique,” the guide to Equestria had said.

Maybe whoever wrote that had a different notion of “unique” : she found twelve unicorn stallions with scrolls for a cutie mark in Manehattan alone. Five more in Fillydelphia, eight in Baltimare.

Over fifty in Canterlot...

After so much time examining cutie marks, Nuage could say without a doubt that “unique” was definitely not a suitable term.

Worse yet, smaller towns didn’t keep such registries and for the last year, Nuage had to resort to simply wandering around, asking for ponies with scrolls as their mark and checking every passing stallion’s backside. That earned her a solid reputation as a weirdo in more than one place she had visited, most ponies assuming that she was either looking for her next meal or for some fun with the male population... At least, that taught her a lot of colorful Equestrian words.

The ponies usually said that she was crazy. She had to give them a little credit : trying to find one pony in a country as gigantic as Equestria was crazy.

Nuage mentally shrugged as she flew towards her destination : some mare had told her about a unicorn matching the description of the one she was looking for, living like a hermit on a nearby hill. The kind of tip that she had gotten dozens of times, each one leading her nowhere. But since her other option was to give up and do nothing, the choice was quite simple.

Her avian eyes scanned the area from high above and eventually picked up a pony on the ground. Brown coat and a pale greenish mane... Nuage flew closer.

Those graying hairs looked familiar, making her heart beat faster.

Without ceremony, she landed almost at full speed, right behind the stallion and with her eyes stuck on his flank. She smiled wider than ever.

He turned around and gave her a strange look, arching an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side.

“Do you want something or...” he said, trailing off.

Nuage could barely restrain herself from jumping on the stallion and hugging him until her arms hurt. After all these years, she had finally found him.

Nuage blinked in surprise when he cleared his throat loudly. She should say something...

“It is... You. It is really you.”

The stallion gave her a blank stare. “I think you have me confused with somepony else, miss.”

She shook her head vehemently. “You don’t remember of me ? The dragon...”

“You’re not a dragon,” he answered flatly.

“No ! The dragon... He... He killed my parents. And my brother, too.” Her smile faded briefly before she continued. “He was going to kill me too but then you came and you killed him.”

“Huh ? I don’t... Wait...” His eyes narrowed, scanning over her. “I remember a dragon in a gryphon cave. There was one who survived... Was that you ?”

She nodded so hard her head was close to falling off. “You have saved me my life. I have been looking for you in all Equestria,” she said, waving her hands to try and cover “all Equestria” before she continued. “I didn’t know that it was a country that big... It took me lot of time.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That was years ago... You’ve really been trying to find me all this time ?”

“Bien sûr ! I had need to find you.”

He stared at her silently for a little while. “Well... If you wanted to thank me, you’re welcome... I’m not sure what else to say.”

“Yes, thank. But that is not all.” Nuage stood proudly in front of him. “I want to be a Serme, like my father and the father of my father. I promise you... uh... allégeance.”

“... You mean allegiance ?”

“Yes. Allégeance. I serve you from now.” Nuage bowed down in front of her new master.

“Wait, wait, wait... Wait.” The stallion shook his head before taking a deep breath. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Yes, master.”

“Master ? Ugh... My name is Papyrus,” he said with a snort.

“Understood, master.”

Papyrus rolled his eyes and motioned her to get up with a hoof. “Okay, follow me, we need to talk... What’s your name ?”

“Nuage,” she answered softly. “Call me Nuage.”

He nodded and started walking. Nuage followed, her beak almost hurting from her gigantic smile.

She had done it. The cloud had found the wind.

“When they lose their masters, some of the Sermes choose to take their own lives rather than serve another one or remain without a master.

Whether you should or shouldn’t do the same is up to you.

What is necessary is that you understand the reason why they do it.”

Nuage winced as she plucked another of her feathers and placed it on the ground. If her little trek in this labyrinth lasted much longer, she would end up naked from the waist up... There was no other way, unfortunately : she had already looped in the tunnels and ended up finding her signs several times already. Also, if Papyrus was looking for her, he may be able to follow the trail too. Sighing, she headed into the next part of the cave, walking on three legs as she held her shield in front of her for lighting.

The spell’s golden haze barely let her see where she was going, her keen predatory eyes being almost pointless in this environment but they did pick up on some light coming from further down the tunnel, though.

For a second, her heart sped up in excitement but quickly calmed down when she realized that it couldn’t come from Papyrus : instead of his familiar green, that light was a dim white. She stalked along the walls, turning her shield spell off and advancing without a sound.

Peeking her head around the edge of the tunnel, she spotted a lone lantern abandoned on the ground. She waited for a moment, hidden in the shadows, but nopony came to retrieve it. Carefully, Nuage stepped forward while scanning every tunnel for movement. Whoever had brought that lantern here was gone now.

The fireflies dancing inside the glass were fighting against the constant darkness of the caves and doing a much better job of it than her enchanted gauntlet. Bending down, Nuage grabbed the lantern's handle in her beak, carrying it pony-style and with her new light source, examined the nearby tunnels. Ironically, it did nothing to help her pick her next destination. Instead, it was her sense of smell that gave her a lead : she smelled blood...

After searching a little, she finally spotted a few drops on the ground, still fresh and ruby red. Probably the lantern's owner : he must have triggered a trap and ran away in panic.

Nuage followed the new trail, hoping that if that pony was still alive, she would be able to use him to find her way through the tunnels.

A few minutes later, she froze when she heard a familiar sound coming from further down the caves : coughing. Cold sweat ran down her neck as she realized the blood may not have come from a random smuggler. She tried calling out but got no answer except for more coughs.

Nuage walked as fast as she could along the bloody trail, every step making the noise clearer. The distinctive sound of hoofsteps soon replaced the coughing... If Papyrus was trying to move around while injured, she needed to hurry to reach him. Her walk turned into a jog, then a run as she could tell that she was getting close. Nuage called out her master again.

There was a scream and a rush of air.

Fire burst out of a tunnel a few meters ahead of her, making Nuage yelp and stop dead in her tracks.

She couldn’t move a muscle in front of the display. Heat. Red flames. Smoke. For a second, she could see the dragon’s giant teeth gleaming in the darkness.

It took her a long while to realize that the fire had died down almost as fast as it had appeared. Nuage slowly gathered her wits back. As her brain went back in action, she felt a thousand things at once : her legs were shaking, her eyes were twitching and tearing up at the same time, her stomach was trying to climb out of her guts, her throat felt tighter and tighter, her breath was erratic...

It may have been only a few seconds, but the walk to the next tunnel felt like it took her hours. Swallowing the lump in her throat with no small amount of difficulty, Nuage peeked in the still hot tunnel, praying to find nothing.

A pony corpse laid on the ground, blackened and smoking. A few strands of hair were still slowly consuming themselves, tiny red spots dancing along the burnt mane.

Under that mane stood a charred horn.

Sixteen years earlier

Nuage glided down near the small house she shared with her master. Once she was almost on the ground, she dropped the dead boar she had hunted earlier and landed next to it. It was a big catch and she would need days to eat the whole thing, but first she had to make sure it wouldn’t spoil.

She muttered a few words to the dead animal, an apology for taking its life and thanks for feeding her, then pulled her knife out and went to work. First, she carefully cut the skin off the carcass : leather was a rarity in Equestria and she was not going to let a good pelt go to waste. Once that was done, she set it aside and eyed the bloody meat hungrily. Nuage always prefered cooked meat, but there was always a strong, instinctive drive fogging her mind at the end of a hunt. The thrill of the chase, the feeling of power when she took the animal’s life. The predatory hunger...

Half by reflex, half consciously, she dug her beak in the soft parts of the boar’s belly and pulled back with a large slab of meat hanging from it. The gryphoness hummed in pleasure as the still warm flesh slid down her throat.

“Urgh... I think I’ll never get used to that...”

She craned her neck and, looking over her shoulder, saw Papyrus standing behind her, trying to keep the grimace off of his face.

“I’ll never understand how sometimes you can look like a cute bird-kitty and some other times... Some kind of nightmarish flesh-eating monster...”

She blinked a few times. “Cute ?”

Papyrus chuckled. “Yeah. A cute blood-sucking killing machine.”

“I don’t suck blood,” she answered with a half-pout.

“Right.” He chuckled again. “It would be better if you did, actually. Then you wouldn’t leave so much on the ground.”

Nuage watched the red liquid pooling on the dirt. “If it bothers you,” she started to say but was quickly interrupted.

“It’s okay,” Papyrus told her with a dismissal wave of a hoof. “I know you can’t eat grass or flowers. Just... make sure you clean up when you’re done.”

“Of course, master.” She smiled briefly at him, then dug into the boar again for another delicious strip of fresh meat.

“Ponyfeathers... Are you going to eat that whole thing ?” Papyrus asked with a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

“Not at once. I’ll have to smoke most of it....” She leaned in for another bite and chewed in silence.

Papyrus walked next to her and watched the bloody carcass. “Does it really taste that good ?”

Nuage nodded. ”Boar is one of my favourites.” She tapped her beak in thought. “I’d place it third, after duck and rabbit meat.”

“Rabbit ? Ah come on... Bunnies are cute and cuddly. Even you have to admit it.”

“I do.”

“... And you still eat them ?”

“Well...” Nuage shrugged as she tore another bit of meat with her talons and tossed it in her open beak. “It’s their own fault for being so tasty.”

She kept eating in silence, observing Papyrus near her. The old pony was watching, a gleam in his eyes. Curiosity ? Fear ? Wonder ? Horror ? Maybe all of those at the same time... Nuage smirked and ripped a small piece of soft meat, then held it in her open talon in front of Papyrus.

His eyes widened in surprise, switching between her and the raw meat.

“Do you want to taste ? You’ve been thinking about it, no ?”

“I...” Papyrus’s eyes slowly returned to the boar meat. His magic wrapped the piece and it floated in front of him. “I have to admit that I am curious and there’s only one good way to know... Yeah...” He took a few deep breaths. “Here goes !”

The meat floated inside his mouth and he chewed cautiously once, twice. The third time came slowly... One of his eyebrows raised while the other went down and his mouth contorted into a comical grimace. It only lasted for a few seconds before he spat it out, the meat going through the air to an impressive distance.

“Guh ! This is... sickening !” He spat a few more times on the ground while Nuage was doing her best not to laugh. “Pwah ! Damn it, the taste is sticking to my mouth.” He spat once more and balked when he saw the red coloration of his saliva. “Blood ? Grah... How can you eat that stuff ?”

“The blood gives an interesting taste,” she answered calmly. “Actually, one of my favourite foods is the boudin noir. It’s made by mixing pig blood and ground meat and putting it in the intestines, then-”

He cut her off with a yelp. “Stop ! Just... Stop, damn it ! I don’t want to know.” Papyrus shook his head. “I”m going to be sick...” He took a few calming breaths, then gave her a sharp look. “This is revenge for that time I made you taste hay, isn’t it ?”

She recoiled a little. “What ? No ! I just thought you might like it.”

Papyrus sighed. “Fine, fine. Forget this.”

“The hay really tastes horrible, though...”

He chuckled a little. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You can eat whatever you want... As long as it’s not me,” he said with a smile and she nodded, smiling back and giggling a little, too.

Having sated her most immediate hunger, Nuage left the carcass alone for the moment and took the skin back in her talons. With the blunt side of her knife, she started carefully scraping any leftover flesh and fat off the skin.

“What are you doing now ?” Papyrus asked, watching over her shoulder. “Is that some other crazy recipe ?”

“No, I want to tan this skin... I can’t fit in my old cuirass anymore,” she said while showing the fresh skin, “so I’ll use this to make a new one.”

“Oh... Well, okay.”

“By the way, master. Do you have a basin I can borrow ?”

“I think I do. What’s it for ?”

“I’ll have to soak the skin in urine for a while.”

Nuage kept scraping the remains off the skin for a moment, until she realized that Papyrus wasn’t answering her. She turned around and winced at the sight. The teeth grinding was bad enough, but the twitching eye really was troubling her.

“That’s it,” he muttered through his teeth. “I can’t put up with all of... this.” Papyrus waved a hoof around, showing... everything, basically.

“I can deal with you bringing in dead animals, even with the smell and the blood and everything... I can deal with you shedding feathers all over the place.”

“Sorry, master. It’s just-”

“Yes, I know ! It’s summer and you’re moulting. It’s still annoying.”

Nuage slumped a bit.

“But this ?” He pointed an accusatory hoof at the skin. “That’s where I draw the line. You’re not soaking anything in piss inside my house ! Seriously ?” Papyrus snorted. “What’s next ? Will you need some manure, too ?”

Nuage raised a talon and opened her beak to answer, but stopped herself at the last moment. It didn’t seem wise to explain the use of dung in leather processing at the time.

“I think it’s time you get your own place, Nuage. Hay, I’ll even help you build it if you want and then you can be as gross as you want in there. Just don’t expect me to visit.”

“My own place ?” She tilted her head to the side. “Uh... As you want, master. Do... Do you want me to go now ?”

Papyrus sighed. “No, of course not.” He gave his own house a look and shook his head. “I think I’m going to move too, anyway. This place is cramped, even for a single pony.” He sat down, looking at the forest in the distance and grinning a little. “I think I should make myself a proper wizard tower... It’s not the most original thing, but I’ve always liked the idea.”

Turning his head, he watched Nuage before asking her “What kind of house would you like ?”

She stayed silent a long while, simply unable to answer. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I guess... a cave would be fine ?”

“That’s it ? A cave ?”

Nuage simply shrugged and busied herself on her skin. It was basically clean by now, but she still looked for tiny scraps of flesh clinging to it.

“Don’t you have any big dreams, Nuage ?”

“Dreams ?” She paused and turned back to look at Papyrus. “I only want to serve you, master. I’m already living my dream.”

The unicorn watched her for a long while.

“That’s all ?” he finally asked softly. “You want to be a servant your whole life ?”

“Not any servant, master. I don’t serve you simply because of duty, I want to help you...” She smiled gently. “I guess I have dreams, after all. Your dreams are my dreams, master.”

He stared at her with wide eyes for a good while before his gaze eventually settled in the distance. Nuage watched the horizon too, not wanting to break the silence.

Papyrus finally spoke up quietly. “You don’t owe me anything, you know. I didn’t save your life for any kind of reward. Heck, I’m not even sure why I attacked that dragon... I just heard screaming and I didn’t stop to think.”

“You were brave,” Nuage said softly.

“Brave ? Hah ! More like reckless and crazy...”

“No.” Her quiet yet strong dismissal made Papyrus silent. “I saw you fight that dragon. You were brave and cunning.” Nuage grinned at him. “If you had been a gryphon, you could have become a great warlord.”

He chuckled softly. “Maybe... I’m not too bad as a pony either, I suppose. That’s still not a reason to devote yourself to me like that.”

“It’s what I want to do, master. But... If you really don’t want me around... I...” Nuage hesitated, unable to find words to express her thoughts.

“What would you do if I died ?” he asked her abruptly, making her gasp and freeze. “You never know, Nuage, it can happen. Have you thought about what you would do ?”

“I...” Nuage swallowed the lump in her throat. “I can’t.”

“You can’t what ?”

“I can’t think about it... I- I don’t know what I would do. What am I supposed to do, all alone ? What’s the point ?”

Nuage shook her head, cleared her throat and composed herself. “Sorry, master. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m happy to serve you and if that ever changes... I- I’ll manage, somehow.”

Papyrus watched her sadly, then looked away, his face a blank mask. “Yeah. Sure...”

She mouthed a silent thank you to her master and followed with a prayer that he would never leave her. She couldn’t afford to lose him.

“Vous êtes tout ce que j’ai.”

Author's Note

A short chapter in only two days, now that's more like it.
I may finish that story in less than a decade !

7. What happened to you ?

Nuage was sitting on the ground near the smoking corpse. She wasn’t sure when she had sat down... She didn’t even remember walking closer, but there she was now, plopped on her rear next to the carcass, all alone.

It couldn’t really be Papyrus... It had to be another pony. There were other ponies in those caves, so there should have been unicorns, too. It was one of them on the ground in front of her. It wasn’t Papyrus. Because if it was him, then she was alone.

He was a great magician, he couldn’t have gotten caught in a trap so easily. He couldn’t die like that and leave her alone.

Unless his sick body finally rendered him unable to use his magic... If his lungs seized while he was trying to disarm a trap, like they did earlier, then it was possible : he was dead and she was alone.

No... Nuage couldn’t accept this. She couldn’t be alone, not now, not here. Papyrus had to be somewhere else in those tunnels and she had to find him.

Yes. She needed to find her master again. Her place was by his side, serving him. It was her duty...

There was no other place where she would want to be.

There was no other place where she could go.

Nuage stood up and started walking in the dark tunnels.

Alone.

Left talon, left paw.

Nuage didn’t know where she was going.

Right talon, right paw.

She didn’t know where she was.

Left, right, left, right...

How long had she been going through these tunnels ? Nuage had lost track of time. The only light source were the fireflies buzzing around in the lantern she was holding. No sun, no moon to tell the time of day or night, only the maddening silence. It felt like forever.

Left, right. Left, right. Keep walking, keep searching.

Papyrus had to be somewhere. She had to keep moving and find him.

Somewhere else than a piece of scorched rock.

Left, right.

Nuage slowed down, little by little.

Left, right.

Maybe tt was time to admit it.

Left.

She knew where she was going.

Right.

She was going nowhere.

Nuage slumped on the ground, not even bothering to wipe the tears flowing from her eyes.

“Headlight !”

The voice echoed in the tunnels.

“Headlight, is that you ?”

Nuage opened her eyes and lifted her head a little. She saw shadows dancing on the wall in front of her. Two ponies appeared soon afterwards.

“Headlight, I swear to Celestia you’d better-” The stallion’s voice died down as his eyes locked on Nuage. “The hay ?”

A bright yellow pegasus mare, holding a lantern under one wing and a spear under the other, stepped forward and let out a low whistle when she saw Nuage. She pointed her weapon at her.

“What’s a gryphon doing here ?” the stallion, a big brown earth pony, asked.

“Dunno,” the mare answered. “And he’s a big one, too.”

Nuage didn’t even bother correcting her about the gender error. She simply stared at the two ponies in silence.

They seemed a bit startled by her lack of reaction and exchanged a glance before getting a little closer, weapons at the ready.

“Who are you ?” the stallion asked.

Nuage simply laid her head back on her arms. “Personne,” she whispered.

“Huh ?” the mare blinked a few times, then approached, pointing the tip of her spear close to her face. “What are you doing here ?”

“Nothing,” Nuage said flatly.

The stallion scratched his head in confusion.“The hay is wrong with him ? Her... She’s a she, right ?”

“Sounds like it,” the mare answered with a shrug. She turned back to face Nuage. “Hey, you ! This here is our turf, get it ? How did you even end up here ?”

Nuage didn’t bother answering.

“We’re talking to you,” the stallion said, getting closer and shoving a hoof against her shoulder. “”Useless featherbrain... Hey...” He walked around her side.

“What the... This is one of ours,” he said, pointing at the bottle of contraband alcohol still tied to her belt. “You damn thief !”

The mare took on a menacing posture, pointing her spear close to Nuage’s face. “You’re gonna come with us to see the boss, he’ll decide what to do with you.”

Nuage simply stared at her, raising an eyebrow.

“Get up !” the mare shouted.

“Okay.”

The gryphoness gathered her feet under her and stood. The ponies tried to keep on a brave face, but she couldn’t help but notice when they cowered slightly at her stature. They composed themselves quickly enough, though.

“Start walking,” the mare said, taking the lead. “And don’t even think of trying anything.”

“Okay,” Nuage said dully, following the pony in the tunnels.

Nuage had some idea of where the two ponies were taking her, most likely the room that she had found with Papyrus earlier, or another one like it, maybe. What she wondered about was what they intended to do with her once they would be there.

Ask her questions ? She didn’t have many answers to give. Maybe they intended to kill her ? That seemed exaggerated for one bottle of liquor, though... They may just show her out and let her go.

And where would she go ? She could go home to her cave... And then what ? Go home to her country ? There was nobody waiting for her there. Or anywhere else for that matter. Nobody, nowhere...

Just one gryphoness alone in a huge world, what was she supposed to do ?

Maybe it would be better if they killed her. If they didn’t intend to, she could always be the one to attack them. At least she could die fighting, it wouldn’t be such a bad way to go...

Nuage blinked as she surprised herself with these thoughts. Was she really ready to end it ? Was she really unable to live without her master ?

She kept walking, giving her captors a glance.

“Hey,” she asked quietly, “what do you do ?”

The mare in front of her stopped and turned around, watching her with a confused frown. “What was that ?”

“What do you ponies do ? What do you live for ?”

She stared at the gryphoness for a while and eventually shrugged. “I dunno...”

“Money !” the stallion behind them said cheerfully. “One day we’ll all be stinking rich and live the good life.”

“I guess there’s that,” the mare said, “and we have fun, too. Why, you want to work with us ?”

Nuage observed the mare a moment, processing her words. Finally, she took her eyes off of her and simply stared in the distance.

“No.”

“Humph. Then shut up and keep moving !”

She nodded and followed once more.

They went up and down, left and right, guided by the mare without any apparent hesitation. Either she was able to see details in the monotonous and badly-lit walls that let her find her way easily, or she was going about randomly and hiding it well.

The gryphoness found herself observing the pony in front of her to pass the time. She was... Yellow. Her coat, her mane, her tail were nothing but various shades of yellow. Even her cutie mark was a pile of golden coins, rather hard to see properly in the faint light since it was only a slightly darker shade than the rest of her fur.

Nuage’s mind drifted slowly during the uneventful walk. She wondered if this was how ants felt, walking in never ending lines in their tiny galleries, back and forth... Did they get bored after going along the same route every day of their lives ? They did it to feed the colony or something like that... Maybe their sense of duty was what kept them focused. They did it for their queen, for their family.

What happens to a colony when the queen dies ? Do the ants pick a new one ? Do they just die without her ? Do they leave and join another colony ?

“Nuage !”

The gryphoness froze and blinked a few times, unable to move anything except her eyelids. Slowly, as if it took a huge effort, she turned her head to the left.

“Master ?”

Papyrus was standing under the light of his horn a little ways in a tunnel.

“Nuage. I was wondering where you- Ooompf !”

His words were muffled by feathers as Nuage jumped and squeezed him in her arms.

“Vous êtes vivant !”

Papyrus mumbled incomprehensibly in her chest while Nuage kept hugging him, refusing to let go. The old unicorn struggled for a while before he managed to wriggle his head to one side.

“Nuage... can’t... breathe...”

Her eyes widened in shock and she quickly pushed Papyrus away, holding him at arm length. “Sorry, master...”

He took a few deep breaths before speaking. “Did you think I was dead ?”

Nuage rubbed her head along his neck, as if making sure that he was real. “Je pensais vous avoir perdu pour de bon...”

“Easy, girl.” He patted her head with a hoof. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on dying today.”

She whispered in his fur. “Thank you.”

“Let’s move. We’ve wasted enough time already.”

Nuage let go of him and nodded.

“Ahem...”

She turned around and found herself face to face with the two smugglers, looking very unamused and pointing their weapons at her and Papyrus.

“Are you two done snuggling ?” the mare asked with an irritated tone. “Good. Now you’re both coming with us.”

Papyrus stepped next to Nuage and gave an appraising look at the two ponies. “You know your way around these caves ?” he asked.

The earth pony stallion took a step forward and cracked his hooves menacingly. “You’re not the one asking questions here, old guy. You two will follow us if you know what’s good for you.”

“Looks like you are not the brain of your little duo,” Papyrus answered him coolly.

“What’s that supposed to mean ?” he said with a frown.

“It means that I don’t need you.”

The stallion growled and grabbed a short sword in his mouth.

Before he even had time to take a step forward, Papyrus’s magic glowed a bright green around his horn. The next second, with a sharp crack and a flash of light, electricity arced from his horn to the metallic weapon, almost blinding Nuage. Squinting her eyes to resist the brightness, she saw the stallion stiffening like a statue as lightning ran all around his body, buzzing and crackling for second after second.

When Papyrus stopped, the stallion fell to the ground, twitching erratically as if he was still alive. His empty eyes told otherwise, though.

The yellow mare stared at her dead companion with her jaw hanging low. When she managed to take her eyes off of him, she started to shiver as she noticed that Papyrus had now his own eyes on her.

Her spear clattered to the ground as she lost her grip on it.

Slowly, she composed herself and swallowed the lump in her throat. She looked at Nuage and Papyrus warily, then took a deep breath.

In a blur of yellow, the mare turned tail and ran in the caves.

“Nuage ! Catch her !”

The gryphoness sprang into action, running after the mare.

“Alive !” Papyrus shouted in her back.

The chase was short. The tunnels weren’t large enough for either of the two to fly properly and with her long and powerful legs, Nuage had no trouble catching up. Gryphons were built for short sprints and a pony’s only chance to escape one was to turn the chase into a contest of endurance : after one minute, the gryphon would be exhausted while the pony could keep going. It all came down to how much of a head start the pony had and in this case, it wasn’t even close to being enough.

Nuage closed the distance until, in a combination of experience and predatory instinct, she knew that the time was right. She pounced, letting her powerful leonine legs throw her through the air and landed on the mare, digging her talons in her back to hold her.

Between the pain and the extra weight suddenly pushing on her, the mare lost her footing and tumbled on the ground, Nuage still clamped on her back. She screamed and squirmed, trying to free herself, but the gryphoness’s mass prevented her from moving. Using both her weight and the strong grip of her talons, Nuage pinned the mare completely.

For a fleeting moment, predatory instincts triggered in Nuage’s mind, something telling her to bite down on her prey’s neck and finish the hunt... It only lasted a second, but the mare had seen it. In the flickering light of the lantern that had fallen a few steps away, Nuage observed her catch : her eyes were wide and fixed on Nuage’s face, her whole body shivering, and she was panting from both the exhaustion of the chase and sheer panic.

The knowing look of the prey realizing it is about to be devoured...

Nuage examined one of her talons. The gauntlets protecting them were designed to cover everything except the sharp end of her claws and they did their work perfectly, digging deep in the pony’s flesh. Bright red blood covered the tip of her digits and the gryphoness made a show of licking them clean, causing the mare to whimper. She didn’t particularly enjoy the taste, but what mattered was that the mare thought she did.

Nuage stepped off of the yellow pony and wrapped one of her talons around her neck. “Get up,” she said, keeping her hold even as the mare nodded and got to her hooves in silence.

“You’re not going to run.” Nuage had said this more as an affirmation than a question or even an order. It was simple fact. The mare nodded meekly and started walking, following the direction Nuage pointed her to.

The two walked back to where Papyrus was waiting. The old unicorn was sitting on the ground, eyes closed as if meditating and when he opened them again, Nuage winced slightly as she saw how tired her master looked. Nevertheless, he fixed his gaze on the pony being corralled back to him, observing her in silence with a serious frown.

The mare shook more and more, her eyes switching back and forth between her captors. Both simply stared at her, Nuage waiting for orders, Papyrus apparently deep in thought.

“P-Please don’t k-kill me !” she blurted out.

The mare slumped, sitting on her haunches and her head hanging low. “I don’t want to die,” she said pitifully while giving her companion’s corpse a fearful glance.

“Good,” Papyrus said coolly. “Then you’re going to do what I say.”

“Wh-wha-”

“What’s your name ?”

“My ? I... Gold Dust.” She gulped and tried to steady herself a bit. “Who are you ?”

Papyrus simply ignored the question. “You know your way around these tunnels, correct ?” Gold Dust barely had time to nod before he continued. “You know that there’s a mage’s lair in the upper levels ? I want to get inside and you’re going to show me the way. Simple enough ?”

She blinked a few times, her jaw gaping. “You can’t get in there, the tunnels are way too dangerous above.”

“I know about the traps, I’ll disarm them as we go.”

Nuage turned worried eyes to her master. “Are you sure you can do it, master ? The last time was pretty close...”

Papyrus furrowed her brow and watched her intently. “We are going. Either I get inside Stone Mane’s tower or I die trying. Understood ?”

“Perfectly, master,” she answered with a small nod.

“Good. Now, I can’t teleport. There’s something in the spire to prevent that, that’s why I landed around here. And I can’t run anymore, so I’ll need you to carry me again, Nuage.”

“Of course, master.” She crouched on the ground to let him climb on her back.

Once in place, Papyrus addressed Gold Dust again. “Now get moving and don’t even think about running away. My magic is perfectly fine, so I can break your legs and carry you if I have to. I’d like to avoid that inconvenience, if you don’t mind, so...”

Gold Dust whimpered and nodded, then looked around to get her bearings. She picked one tunnel and headed in, followed by Nuage and the unicorn on her back.

“Someone once said : life is nothing but the prelude to death.

There is wisdom in that saying. Always make sure that you are ready for that moment.

Too many live a remarkable life and find themselves failing at the very last instant, because they are unprepared. If you keep a calm and focused mind, you can make use of even your final second the way you choose to.”

Progress was still relatively slow, but with guidance from Gold Dust the random wandering was reduced to a minimum. It took about an hour until the the two ponies and one gryphon reached something that seemed out of place in the volcanic tunnels : a heavy iron door.

Nuage let Papyrus down from her back and he approached the rusted gate slowly, almost with reverence.

“Finally...” He put one hoof on the metal as if he needed to make sure that it was real, then turned to Nuage with a smile that looked a little too wide to be comforting. “We’re almost there. Stone Mane’s secrets are finally in my reach.” With a look of renewed determination, he wrapped the door in his magic and opened it. The ancient metal groaned in protest and a little cloud of dust rose as the passage opened.

The cave became silent again. In the light of Papyrus’s horn, Nuage examined the entrance : a high corridor, dug artificially in the rock judging by the smooth walls and right angles. The stone was bare on the walls and ceiling, with no decorations of any kind. The ground, on the other hand, was littered.

Bones. Bones of all kinds and sizes, carpeting the floor along the entire hallway. Hundreds, thousands of them. Judging by the number of skulls, several dozens of ponies were resting here.

“Wha-wha-what the hay i-i-is this p-place ?” Gold Dust was shaking like a leaf, her eyes stuck on the ossuary before her.

“I think,” Papyrus said, “that these are all the ponies who tried to enter Stone Mane’s lair. Without permission.”

“Why... What... There are... so many.”

“He has been dead for centuries. Over the years, many have come here looking for his power...”

“And... you’re going to- to do the same ?”

Papyrus turned around and gave the mare a look of pure contempt. “No. I will not do the same as those. I will not fail. I will not die. Not here. Not now. Not ever.”

The mare winced and took a step back. “I don’t need you anymore,” he told her. “You can leave now. Nuage ? Let’s go.”

He headed into the entrance, using his magic to push aside most of the bones, making a sort of alley for them.

“Wait !” Both turned around to face Gold Dust again. “You said there’s lots of old magical stuff in there, right ? Lots of... valuable stuff...”

“Valuable ?” Papyrus hummed in thought. “Probably, yes.”

“Then... Y- You wouldn’t mind if I come with you, would you ? I’m sure there’s enough for all of us, after all.”

Nuage observed the strange mare for a moment. She still looked scared, but there was a glint in her eyes. Her thirst for gold was enough to give her courage... or maybe foolishness ?

“I won’t take anything you tell me not to. You won’t even know I’m there, I promise. Deal ?”

Papyrus shrugged. “I don’t care. I only want Stone Mane’s spellbook. But watch where you put your hooves. I’m not helping you if you get into trouble.” He turned back and whispered in Nuage’s ear. “Keep your eyes opened. You never know.”

She nodded and followed her master in the grim corridor while Gold Dust hooves clopped on the stone behind her. Everybody remained quiet, the macabre display inciting nothing but silence from the living.

A few seconds later, Nuage was relieved to spot another iron door at the far end of the hallway. She didn’t want to spend more time than necessary in this place... A quick look over her shoulder let her see that Gold Dust was eager to leave too. She was casting uneasy glances left and right at the remains and even seemed to be holding her breath.

Papyrus, on the other hand seemed unfazed by the walk, his eyes firmly set on the exit.

A shrill, metallic noise screeched from behind them, followed by a loud clang that echoed around the room. Nuage and Gold Dust immediately turned around and saw that the other door had slammed shut.

Slowly, a strange blue haze seemed to seep out of the ground, raising like a mist until about ankle high, hiding the piles of bones from sight. The pale glow gave everyone a sickly complexion.

“What’s going on ?” Nuage asked her master. Before he had time to answer, she heard Gold Dust screaming in terror.

She watched where the mare had her eyes stuck : the blue mist had wrapped itself around one pile of bones and was slowly assembling it, giving the inanimate remains a semblance of life again. One skeleton rose from the ground, then another and another and another... The mist was no longer visible around those, only an eerie glow shining through their empty eye sockets a hint of its magical presence.

One of the skeletons took a step forward. A sound, like the wind howling through distant trees came from its animated body, progressively turning into a rasping breath.

“Intruders...” Its voice was a hoarse whisper, but still clear enough to understand. “Entrance... is... forbidden...”

When the skeleton paused for a moment, all Nuage could hear was the sound of liquid splashing on the ground. A quick glance confirmed her that Gold Dust had lost control of her bladder.

More skeletons rose all around them.

“M-M-Maybe we sh-sh-should leave,” the mare said in a pitifully squeaky voice.

Another skeleton approached them. “None... can... leave...” The last ones were reanimated now, all traces of the blue mist completely gone.

“You... will... join... us...”

“I see,” Papyrus said calmly while Nuage took her flail out. “Interesting spell.”

The small army of skeletons shambled forward, encircling the group completely.

“Master ? How do we get rid of living deads ?”

“Well, I’m not too sure. It can’t be that different from the regular living, I guess.”

Gold Dust whimpered, trying to hide behind Nuage. “We... We’re gonna d-d-die...”

“Of course not,” Papyrus said. “If they get us, we’ll become part of the welcome committee here. So, technically... not dead.”

“That... That’s even worse !”

“Agreed. So let’s kick some bony butts.”

“Avec plaisir,” Nuage said with a smirk.

Papyrus was the first to act, sending bolts of pure magic into the mass of skeletons that sent bones flying around. Nuage twirled her flail and jumped forward to strike the nearest enemy.

The head of her weapon hit neatly the bottom of its skull and propelled it all the way to the back of the room where it bounced against the door, making it sound like a gong. The rest of the skeleton simply stood where it was, looking lost. Nuage chuckled at the sight, but quickly focused on the rest of her opponents.

As she quickly learned, a flail appeared to be a great weapon against animated skeletons : a sword or other cutting weapon would have had trouble doing much damage to something without flesh but Nuage’s blunt tool benefited from the opposite effect : without soft tissue to cushion the blows, she was able to crush the bones. She fractured skulls, snapped radiuses and shattered vertebrae everywhere she could reach. Targets were not in short supply, but after a few minutes of furious clubbing and intense magical zapping from Papyrus, most of the skeletons had been incapacitated or pushed away. Gold Dust was happy to stay out of the way in the safe zone between Nuage and Papyrus.

“Well, that was easy,” the old unicorn said after blasting the last skeleton. “Let’s just get out... of... here ?”

The blue mist from before reappeared and wrapped all of the remains in the room. The skeletons started to rise again, their broken bones mending and going back into place. In front of Nuage, the one who had had its head removed walked back to its skull, picked it up with its bony hooves and placed it back casually on its spine.

Papyrus and Nuage observed the scene quietly, seeing every single downed foe stand back up as if nothing had happened. The undead army turned back to face them and ambled forward.

“Merde.”

Gryphon and unicorn went back to work. The skeletons were slow and clumsy, but with the numerical advantage, they managed to land a few hits on Nuage. Still, a few bruises against an entire group of skeletons reduced to a pile of bones was not a bad trade-off...

Or it would have been if the undead army wasn’t getting back up once more.

“We’re going to need a different approach,” Papyrus said while the last skeletons were reforming themselves.

“Do you have an idea, master ?”

“Not yet. Give me some time.”

“Very well.”

The third round went much like the previous ones. When the skeleton army was dispatched again, Nuage found herself panting, sweating a bit and with a few extra bruises. At this rate, it would only take a few more sessions until she couldn’t fight back. Their only hope was Papyrus. If the old unicorn could find a way to cancel this spell, they would be safe.

For the fourth time, the skeletons attacked. Nuage was busy swinging her flail all around when her master addressed her.

“Nuage, get me a skull.”

“What ?”

“I need to study this spell, get me a skull.”

“As you wish.”

Nuage turned to a group of three skeletons. One tried to attack her, but its slow charge was easily dodged. With a couple of back and forth hit from her flail, it was sent into pieces. The next one almost fell on her and she had to activate her shield to keep it at bay. The third skeleton took that opportunity to bite her, sinking its yellowed teeth in her right shoulder.

Nuage suppressed a groan and simply used her wing to bash on the skeleton’s neck. It took a few hits, but she managed to make it lose its hold and punched hard with her talon clenched around her flail’s handle. One quick swing of her weapon later and that skeleton was no longer an issue.

She concentrated back on the one pushing on her shield. With a smirk, she opened her left hand and the spell disappeared, causing the undead creature to lose its balance.

It fell skull first in her outstretched talon.

One quick swing of her flail on its spine and she was left with the head in her hand.

Its glowing eyes seemed to stare at her.

“Join... us...”

She almost threw the thing away in reflex when she heard it speak. Whiter than ever, she quickly went to Papyrus and handed him the thing.

“Thanks, I’ll have to-”

“Join... us...”

“Aaaaaaand that’s creepy...” He shook his head. “I’ll have to study that thing, not sure how long that’s gonna take. Don’t get killed in the meantime.”

“Alright, master.”

“Join... us...”

“I heard you the first time,” Papyrus said with a roll of his eyes. Lighting up his horn, he built a shield spell around himself and started examining the undead skull.

Outside of the bubble, the skeletons were predictably rising again. And now, Nuage had to fight them all by herself. She gave the yellow shivering ball on the floor a look...

“Hey,” she poked Gold Dust with a talon. “Make yourself useful. I can’t fight all alone.”

The mare lifted her head a little and spotted the skeletons coming back, then quickly went back to cowering, eyes shut and hooves covering her ears.

“Et merde...”

Nuage closed her eyes and took a deep breath... then roared and charged into the fray. She kept moving around, never letting the skeletons reach her. When it seemed that they had her cornered, the gryphoness leapt in the air, flying just above the mass and striking as many as possible with her steel flail.

She fell when one managed to catch one of her legs. Nuage got herself free, but not before getting struck by several hooves on her flank. Thankfully, only a few skeletons were still standing at that moment and she dispatched them without more trouble.

The others were already rising back, unfortunately.

Nuage rushed to Gold Dust and grabbed the mare, putting her on her hooves. She looked her straight in the eyes and said only one word. “Fight !”

Gold Dust stammered, unable to make a sentence.

“I can’t keep them off alone. You must fight.”

“I- I can’t... I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die.”

Nuage shook her. “Everypony dies. What matters is what you do before.”

She looked back with teary eyes.

“Do you want to spend your last moments crying in your piss ? Fight back !”

“But...”

“At least you’ll go down doing something you can be proud of, so get up and fight.”

Gold Dust blinked a few times and eventually nodded. “Okay... I... I need a weapon,” she said, scanning the area.

Nuage looked around the room... Her eyes stopped on a headless skeleton, trying to get inside Papyrus’s shield. Probably the body going with the skull he was observing.

She flew to the mindless corpse and grabbed a leg. With a little help from her flail, the limb fell off and she had a nice, sturdy femur to give to Gold Dust.

She watched the bone with disgust... Nuage felt sorry for the digit-less pony, but the time wasn’t right to be picky and she almost shoved the thing in Gold Dust’s mouth. She was still shaking, but at least she was now standing up and could be of some use, hopefully.

The gryphoness got ready to face the next wave of skeletons.

“Watch my back.” Without even waiting for an answer, Nuage went back to work shattering bones.

A skeleton managed to jump on her when she reacted a little too slowly and clamped its teeth on one wing. She hissed in pain but couldn’t dislodge it, still busy with another one in front of her. Fortunately, Gold Dust proved her worth when she jumped in from behind and struck the thing as hard as she could, getting it away from her wing. Nuage muttered a quick thank you to the already retreating mare before focusing back on the endless fight.

After a few more minutes, Nuage had to face the truth : even if they were being pushed back constantly, the skeletons were winning the fight. Slowly but surely, she was getting tired. Her arms were becoming too heavy to keep up, her legs were getting stiff and painful and after getting hit in the ribs a few times too many, breathing was becoming difficult.

“Master ? How much longer do you need ?”

“Give me a few more minutes,” he answered without looking back. “I think I have this figured out...”

“A few minutes.” Nuage watched the revenants rising again, unsure of how many times it had been by now. “Piece of cake...”

She swung her flail again and again, disassembling the skeletons methodically, but each hit sapped some of her strength away little by little and she had to step back to avoid being simply overwhelmed. Until she felt a wall behind her back... With no more room for retreat, she stood and fought, Gold Dust doing her best by her side.

By the time they got rid of the skeletons in front of them, those further back were already back up. Worse yet, now unable to hide behind Nuage, Gold Dust was having trouble defending herself from the horde. She was eventually pushed back and lost her weapon somehow. The mare tried to fly away, but one skeleton bit on her tail and dragged her back to the ground.

Nuage attempted to fight off the revenants pounding on the screaming mare, but she had her problems. One swing of her weapon went too slowly due to fatigue and a revenant caught it in its jaw. She had no time to yank it free, being assaulted by still more enemies. Unarmed, the gryphoness fought as long as she could, but was finally overwhelmed, dragged to the floor and beaten by bony hooves.

Even then, Nuage still tried to fight back. It may have been pointless, but it was a matter of principle. Despite the pain and exhaustion, she was wearing a proud smile on her beak as her last moments were approaching.

Curiously, death did not come for her. A wave of green light washed over her and the revenants suddenly fell to pieces.

It took Nuage a few seconds to react and dig herself out of the bone pile. Her eyes widened at the spectacle in front of her.

The bluish mist had appeared again, but this time instead of animating the skeletons back to life, it took the shape of ponies. Dozens of ponies, standing as ghostly figures in the room. They shimmered and started to dissipate into nothingness right under her eyes. One of the apparitions, the shadow of a unicorn, turned towards Papyrus.

“We’re... free...” it said in its ghastly voice. “Thank... you...”

The last ghosts slowly vanished, leaving the hallway eerily silent but somehow more peaceful.

Papyrus walked near Nuage, giving her an appraising look. “Looks like you had a hard time. Sorry I took so long.”

“I’ll survive. I think I have nothing broken,” she said while poking herself with her talons. She winced at a few cuts and bruises, but couldn’t find anything that felt like heavy damage. Turning around, Nuage swept the bones still covering Gold Dust. The poor mare was curled into a ball, weeping and shivering like a traumatized foal.

The gryphoness pushed her gently, trying to get her attention. “It’s over,” she said. “They’re all gone.” The only answer she got was some babbling and sobbing.

“She’ll find her way out,” Papyrus said. “Let’s keep moving.”

“I think she’s hurt, master.” The mare was breathing shallowly and barely responding to Nuage’s prods.

“So ? I warned her.”

“You can heal her. You did it for me earlier.”

“Why should I ?”

Nuage gaped at him. “Be-Because... I-” She shook her head and stared at her master with a determined frown. “Please, master. It will only take you a minute.”

“It’s a waste of time and energy...”

Nuage held her glare for a moment, until Papyrus sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Fine, fine. Step aside.”

The yellow mare was wrapped in magic for a moment and her breathing calmed down. Once Papyrus was done, she stood back up on shaky legs.

“Am I... Am I dead ?”

“No,” Papyrus answered.

“Am- Am I l- l- like... these ?” she asked, pointing at the bones littered on the floor.

“No, you’re fine.” He turned back to Nuage. “Come on now, this has taken long enough.”

The gryphoness followed her master, giving the mare a single nod as a goodbye. In the corner of her eye, Nuage saw her rush to the door they had come in and disappear in the dark tunnels without looking back.

Papyrus opened the other gate to reveal some stairs leading up. After a short climb, Nuage and him found themselves at long last in the true heart of Stone Mane’s hideout.

The first room was a sort of library or maybe a book repository. All sorts of tomes, scrolls and even a few stone tablets were stored in the round room. Several doorways led to other rooms.

Papyrus spotted a few candles and lit them up, giving them some much needed light.

“Remember, we’re looking for Stone Mane’s grimoire. It has to be somewhere in here.”

“It’s a... book, right ?” Nuage turned around, giving the library a look. “How do we tell it apart from all these ?”

“I suppose it looks a little different. It should be hoof-written and it’s precious, so probably not mixed with all the others.”

The two checked anything that seemed to stand out, with disappointing results, but when she went to grab a candle on a nearby shelf, Nuage spotted something in an adjacent room : on a desk, a leather-bound book was waiting, opened to a blank page with an old quill lying next to it.

“Master ?” she pointed at it, making Papyrus grin as his eyes followed that direction.

“That’s it ! Well done, Nuage, I-” his congratulations were interrupted when he slammed his muzzle against a shimmering blue magical wall. “What the-” He bumped his hoof a few times on the obstruction. “Another security measure ? Grah, just how many did that crazy old bat put in there ? There’s a limit to paranoia, for pony’s sake.”

Nuage absentmindedly pressed a talon on the force field... and almost fell when she encountered no resistance. She waved her arm a few times, going through with no difficulty.

Papyrus stared at her, blinking a few times. “It only works on ponies ? Well this will be easy, for once. Grab that book, Nuage.” She nodded and entered the room, a candle in her hand. The faint scent of dust and mold filled her nostrils, making her a bit queasy.

A few steps in, its light allowed her to see where exactly she was standing. This was a laboratory.

A laboratory dedicated entirely to death : bones were stacked in every corner, a dozen skulls were sitting on shelves, seemingly staring at her, diagrams on the walls detailed the skeletal structure of ponies, others were listing all their organs... Each one of those was covered in notes, scribbled on every available space. Near the back of the room were more shelves, holding jars filled with random parts.

Having dissected her fair share of animals, Nuage could identify all of them : livers, kidneys, hearts, brains... Their origin was not much of a mystery, judging from the operating table at the end of the laboratory. It was completely coated in dried blood and still had a few tools, now rusty but still recognizable as scalpels, scissors and saws. It could almost have passed for a doctor’s equipment, if it hadn’t been for out of place elements, like a pair of pliers or the chains and restraints.

Whatever had happened here, Nuage couldn’t imagine it as being pleasant...

“Nuage ? What’s wrong ?” Papyrus asked, his voice slightly distorted from behind the magic screen. “Just take the book.”

Her eyes fixed on the grimoire. Nuage approached the desk and flipped a few pages randomly. Most of the text was way too technical for her to understand, but the schematics and sketches weren’t.

Death.

It was a book of death. The skeletons at the entrance were making a lot more sense now : Stone Mane had been studying the most unsavory of all possible fields of magic.

And now, Papyrus wanted that horrible knowledge. He wanted to avoid his own death and the grimoire may very well be a solution, in a twisted way.

Nuage’s gaze switched back and forth between the book and the candle in her hand. For what felt like hours, she hesitated. It would be easy : a simple flame and nopony could reproduce what Stone Mane did. She could easily betray her master’s trust. She could betray her own principles.

She could prove that every single aspect of her entire life had been pointless...

Her eyes shut tight, Nuage grabbed the thing and turned around to hand it to Papyrus.

As soon as it was on his side of the magical force field, the grimoire levitated in green magic, opening in front of Papyrus who checked a few pages with a feverish grin.

“Finally... I did it. No... We did it, Nuage.”

“Yes,” she repeated, sounding hollow. “We did.”

“This is perfect. Now come on, let’s get out of here, I still need to study that thing.” The grimoire disappeared, stashed into one of his saddlebags.

Nuage gave the dark rooms a last glance, wondering what was driving Stone Mane in the first place. How many ponies had died here, to satisfy his curiosity and ambition ? How many would still die from the traps in the tunnels, victim of his insane paranoia ? She didn’t even know who the corpse she had mistaken for Papyrus was...

“Nuage ? We’re leaving.”

“I... I was just wondering.”

“About what ?”

She took a few seconds before she answered. “Do you think Gold Dust made it out of the trapped tunnels ?”

He shrugged. “Why do you even care about that mare ?”

“Why don’t you ?” she asked back. “Why didn’t you want to help her, back there ?”

“I told you, it’s a waste of time and effort.”

Nuage looked down. “You used to help ponies when they needed it.”

He scoffed.” Yes, I did. And what did that ever gain me ? Nothing, that’s what. I’ve spent enough time taking care of others for naught, now I’m taking care of myself while I still can.”

Nuage frowned and fixed her eyes on Papyrus again. “What about me ?” she asked. “If you found me with that dragon now, would you just let me die ?”

“You’re not some random stranger...”

“But if I was, you would let me die ?”

He looked at her for a long while. “Probably.”

“Comment...”

“Honestly, fighting a berserk dragon... I don’t know how I managed to actually survive this. If it had been an adult I would have gotten crushed like the idiot I was.”

She watched him as if it was the first time they met.

“Come on, I’m tired of this place.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Me too...” Nuage followed him, dragging her feet on the ground, her eyes stuck on the old unicorn walking tiredly in front of her.

“Qu’est-ce qu’il vous est arrivé ?”

Author's Note

This chapter took a while, but I like how it turned out in the end, so I guess it was worth it.

The story is getting close to its conclusion by now aaaaand... I'm going to be on vacation for the next three weeks. Yay !
In theory, that should give me plenty of time to write, but I have no idea how often I will have access to a computer. There's only so much I can do on my phone...

So, basically I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out. In the worst case, I'll try to have it done before the end of the month.

8. Where the wind carries me

Nuage was flying at a comfortable pace towards Papyrus’s tower, the old unicorn tightly gripping her back. She had gone above the clouds to avoid the rain and a little to her right, the sun was going down on the horizon, coloring that portion of the sky in shades of orange and pink. The born flyer was a little torn between the need to go back to the tower before night and the chance to enjoy a beautiful sky to soar through for a little longer.

“Nuage ?”

She looked back, getting a glimpse of her master above her shoulder and slowed down to reduce the roar of the wind in their ears.

“Yes, master ?”

“I’m curious. That gryphon said Nuage isn’t your real name ?”

She turned her head forward, settling her gaze on the horizon. “It’s the name I answer to. There is nopony left to call me by my birth name anymore... In the end, Nuage is more real than the other has ever been.”

“But why did you change it ? If nopony knows your name, what difference does it make ?”

“It... never felt like it was mine. My father lost his sister a few weeks before I was born, so he gave me her name. It’s like I’ve been wearing it for her...”

Papyrus hummed in thought. “If it was an homage to your aunt, don’t you think you should still carry her name ? In memoriam ?”

“She was a great gryphoness, serving the same master as my father. She was killed in a duel, an honorable death. She doesn’t need me to be remembered and I... I wanted to have my own name... I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind.”

The two remained silent for a while, lost in their thoughts.

“So, what is it ?” Papyrus finally asked.

“What ?”

“Your actual name ? What is it ?”

“Nuage.”

“That’s not what I...” He chuckled. “I see. You’re a secretive mare... Er- gryphoness.”

“Not really...”

“You’ve been following me for years and I barely know anything about you. You never talk about yourself.”

Nuage looked thoughtfully in the distance. “There’s not much to say.”

“That’s not true. For example, you can talk about your family. Didn’t you have a brother ?”

“Tristan ? What about him ?”

“Well,” Papyrus said, tapping a hoof softly on her shoulder to encourage her. “What was he like ?”

“He was a jerk.”

“Really ?”

“Hmmm. He was two years older than me, so he was bigger and stronger. He would boss me around all the time when our parents weren’t watching.”

“Huh. I thought your family was nice.”

“Well... When he wanted to, he could be. I remember... I was really young at the time, I used to have an old rag doll that I would take everywhere with me. I lost it one day in a forest near our home cave. There were plenty of bears in that forest, so we weren’t allowed to go play there, but we did it anyway.”

Nuage took a short pause to check her position. They still were far away from their destination. “I only realized I had lost it when we came back home... I cried a lot and when our parents asked, I told them what happened. They punished the both of us, but I didn’t even care, I just kept crying because of my lost doll.

“So, Tristan went to get it. When he came back, he was punished even more, but he had found it.” She smiled sadly, a few tears pearling at the corners of her eyes. “I miss him,” she said in a whisper. “I miss them all.”

“I understand,” Papyrus said gently, patting her neck as best as he could without falling off her back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought this up.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head and sending a few drops of tears flying in the air. Nuage kept that same sad smile. “It’s good to know that I can still cry about it. I... I haven’t forgotten them. I wouldn’t want to forget, no matter how sad it makes me.”

“You’re happy to be sad ?” She heard Papyrus laugh softly over her shoulder. “I think I’ll never really figure you out, my friend.”

“Is that a bad thing ?”

“No, no. It makes hanging out with you more interesting.”

Nuage chuckled a little and for a few moments, she was happy to be there, with her master. Unfortunately, her amusement was only fleeting. Watching the rain clouds below reminded her of how gloomy their future was looking.

“Master ?” she asked, tilting her head just a little to catch a glimpse of Papyrus.

“Hmmm ?”

“That book... I don’t like it. It’s... bad." She sighed, annoyed at herself for not finding the right words. "Contre-nature. Innommable. Rien qu'une malédiction... I don't know how to say it in Equestrian. It's... bad."

“Bad ? No. There's no good or evil magic, it’s only a tool."

"Maybe, but I don't see how this could be used in a good way." She shivered a little. "Did you see what was in that laboratory ?"

"I did."

"And you don't mind ?"

Papyrus didn't answer for a while, so she kept talking. "Magic that can bring the dead back... That sort of thing should not exist in the first place."

"Would you rather I die ?"

This time, Nuage was the one who kept silent, unable to decide on her answer.

"Lord Abélar once visited the domain of his neighbor, lord Meredith. She was a gryphoness of great status and power and had many Sermes under her command, while lord Abélar only had a few.

During dinner, a messenger came with news of one of her subordinates. When he realized that he would be unable to accomplish his mission, that gryphon had decided to take his own life rather than come back after his failure.

Lord Meredith seized that opportunity to brag and told lord Abélar : 'This is the kind of loyalty I inspire in my clan. My servants are all ready to die for me. Can you claim as much ?'

Lord Abélar answered : 'No. One of my servants would have not taken his own life. Instead, he would have found a way to succeed or die trying. My servants are all willing to live for me, that is the kind of loyalty I inspire in my clan."

One day later, she still had no answer. If Papyrus lived, he was going to start practicing some revolting magic... Would Nuage be the new general of an army of undead ponies ? What kind of madness could come out of this ? Papyrus, the immortal ruler of a new, morbid Equestria ?

But if he died... She would be on her own, with no path to follow, with no goal to reach. With no meaning to her life...

She... needed him. She had always needed him. He was her drive, he was the reason she traveled to the other side of the world with nothing but hope and a few trinkets in her bag. He was who she looked up to.

Or at least used to...

Nuage grunted and left her cave after hours spent lying inside and ruminating her thoughts. She no longer wanted to think.

Spreading wide her pristine white wings, the gryphoness took to the sky and flew a few circles above the mountain that was her home. No thinking, just flying. The wind rushing in her feathers, playing like music in her ears, pushing her up and down at its whim...

She spotted movement below. A hare, thinking it was invisible in the tall grass and hopping carelessly. Its white tail was like a flag being waved to signal his position.

No thinking. She dove.

When the brown hare spotted the huge predator heading straight for him, it was already too late. Sharp talons dug into its furry back while she was flapping her wings furiously to ascend into the air. The shock was so brutal that its neck was snapped in the motion.

Nuage flew to her domain, in front of her cave entrance and tore up her kill without wasting an instant, sending chunks of gore left and right as she removed organs from the still warm body. The blood was like a drug, the only thing occupying her mind right then.

"You shouldn't play with your food." A male voice told her from behind. "Didn't your mother teach you that ?"

Nuage turned around, finding herself face to face with a brown gryphon, the one she had fought the previous day, Ausha. He was carrying his crossbow on his back and a length of rope coiled around his chest, staring coldly with his piercing blue eyes. Even if he wasn't making any hostile movement, Nuage didn't expect him to have come here for a neighborly visit... She stood on four legs wound up like springs, ready to jump at any second while she glared at the intruder.

"How did you find me ?"

"Same way I found you the last time." He chuckled and gave her a cocky smirk. "You're the only gryphon gal in the whole region. I can smell you from miles away."

Nuage watched him with a raised eyebrow. She hadn't thought about it before, but it was probably true. It had been a long time since she'd left the gryphon territories and living with ponies had made her forget a few particularities of her own kind...

"What do you want ?" she asked, still ready to strike.

"Isn't it obvious ? I'm after your so called 'master' and things will go much more smoothly with you out of the way..." The brown gryphon narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. "We could either come to an agreement... or I could remove you from the picture."

Nuage frowned. "An agreement ?"

"Let's say, for example, that we face each other and that, hypothetically speaking, you fight less than optimally. If you find yourself tied up here," he said while dropping the rope, "you couldn't help your 'master', but it wouldn't be your fault." Ausha gave her a knowing grin. "And of course, if that happened, I would obviously give you something as... reparations. Money or... whatever you would deem fair."

"I don't care about money."

He snorted derisively. "I could have guessed. I can give you bunnies if you'd prefer that."

Nuage huffed, letting a puff of air through her nostrils. "You should get out of here while you still can."

"Hmmm... Your reaction is interesting, you know." He smirked. "I just said I wanted to kill your 'master'. If you're as loyal as you claim, shouldn't you try to stop me ?"

Nuage involuntarily relaxed a little, thinking on her behavior. Maybe this gryphon could be a solution...

"I think you don't wanna protect him that much," he added.

Someone needed to stop Papyrus. It couldn't be her, she was meant to protect him.

"Am I right ?"

She couldn't betray him that directly... or at all. If he died that way, she wouldn't even have her honor left.

But when would she get a better chance ?

"Hey, are you even listening ?"

Nuage squeezed her eyes shut and grunted. She shook her head in frustration. She just couldn't decide... She only wanted to stop thinking.

Ausha's expression darkened quickly when Nuage finally looked at him again. No thinking. There was an intruder in her domain, a threat. No need to think in that case.

She stood on all fours, tall and proud, head high and with her wings flared. Finally, she communicated in the oldest way known to her kind. In one roar, Nuage gave a very clear message : leave or fight.

Ausha responded an equally transparent gesture when he crouched a bit, standing ready to pounce.

She lunged at him like a wild animal and the two gryphons collided. Ausha held strong and withstood Nuage's charge, his legs leaving a short trench in the dirt as her momentum pushed him back, but he didn't lose his balance.

Nuage adapted her position and planted her hind legs firmly on the ground while trying to wrestle the male with her arms. They struggled for a moment, neither managing to take the advantage until Nuage found herself tumbling forward over him. Somehow, her smaller but more agile adversary had thrown his weight under her and her own force had made her lose her balance.

Nuage rolled on her back to face up, but that was all she could do before Ausha jumped above her. She went for his neck, but he swiftly grabbed her talons in his and forced them down while she kept reaching for the throat. The two fighters found themselves in another stalemate, but with Nuage lying on the ground and Ausha using his weight to push down on her it wouldn't be long until her arms could no longer hold.

Nuage saw her death coming at his claws.

It was tempting : a proper, honorable end to a clean fight. She could just let go, stop struggling and let him finish her...

Something still drove her to resist... a tiny speck of uncertainty, the notion that this was not the right way to serve her master... But she didn't want to serve him anymore.

She didn't want to die.

She didn't want to live.

She didn't know what she wanted...

Nuage growled in frustration, against herself, against Papyrus, against Ausha, against everything and everyone. She had to stop thinking.

With a primal scream, she flailed and tossed against the talons holding her down. With the energy only a frenzied beast could gather, she managed to loosen his grip and get one of her own talons free. Now able to fight back, she clawed and punched indiscriminately, not even bothering to aim. Ausha fought back in much the same way.

Nuage struck him in the chest, he slapped her on the face, she cut his shoulder, he clawed at her neck... She felt nothing and saw in red. The two gryphons shoved and tugged, rolling on the ground in a tumble of feral violence until Nuage found herself on top of her foe, holding his arms in her talons and pinning his legs under her paws. Ausha thrashed but she lowered herself on him ; she was taller, she weighed more than him and had more strength... he was trapped.

Nuage acted on instinct, clamping her beak around his neck. She could have easily finished him : all she had to do was tighten a little to open his throat to the air, but something, a last minute hesitation, stopped her. The gryphoness held her pose, panting around the feathery neck. His musky scent was filling her nostrils... She felt his breathing, as fast and shallow as hers, his arteries pulsing against her tongue at a furious pace. She was a single twitch away from killing him, but that thought had left her mind completely, replaced by another one.

Nuage lowered her body on top of Ausha's, letting her weight rest on him, feathers on feathers, fur on fur. She growled, lower and lower. Without loosening her vise-like grip, she rubbed herself up and down on her prey in small, slow motions. Her mind was now filled with a different kind of hunger, a new desire taking complete control of her body. The dazed gryphoness started to purr and move more intensely, focusing only on the feeling of her skin against his.

With a crack of magic, a scroll popped out of thin air in front of her and bumped on Ausha's head with a soft crumpling sound before rolling on the ground. Nuage watched it stop a few centimeters away with wide eyes, her fuzzy mind taking its time to complete the puzzle. Eventually, she recognized a message from Papyrus. From her master. She was needed, she had to obey...

And, she realized, she was still rubbing herself on the gryphon below her...

Not only that, she could also tell that she had had the intended effect on him.

She froze.

Slowly, Nuage let go of her hold on his neck. With some difficulty, she swallowed the lump in her throat and lifted her eyes.

Ausha barely dared to move, looking utterly confused. Terrified, aroused, angry, disgusted, fascinated... It was like his face couldn't decide which expression to pick, if it wasn't trying to combine them all. Nuage gulped again, wondering what in the world she was doing right here and then.

Was this what happened when she stopped thinking ? A chill went down her spine as she looked at herself. Her white feathers were covered in red from blood coming out of wounds she suddenly became aware of. Her chest and Ausha's were the canvas for a grim painting composed of blood coming from two gryphons and one hare. Giving a quick glance to the side, she saw the carcass, torn inside out, bits and pieces thrown around on the ground...

She wasn't even hungry.

Nuage shuddered and closed her eyes, almost breaking into tears. She maintained her composure only barely, mentally standing like an acrobat on the edge of a breakdown, but eventually took control of herself again. She could spend some time thinking on her own state later, but first, she had to decide on her immediate actions.

It was time to go back to Papyrus. The way of the Serme was her life and she was obviously not fit for anything else. Taking one deep and slow breath, Nuage cleared her mind of all distractions. Instinct was beaten, chained and locked up at the bottom of her brain ; she rose back to her feet and watched the gryphon under her.

This time, she saw a threat to her master. She briefly considered taking his life right then, but killing a foe when he was defeated, helpless and... riled up seemed devoid of any shred of honor. Especially since she was the one responsible for his 'condition'.

On the other hand, letting Ausha go wasn't an alternative. Spotting the rope he had brought with him gave Nuage an obvious solution. The gryphon started to squirm as soon as she moved away, but a kick in his most sensitive region quickly got him back under control and less than a minute later, he was hog-tied with no hope of getting free. His wings, his legs, even his head were restrained...

"You're completely nuts," Ausha said while she dragged him inside her cave. "Do you plan on finishing me later ? I don't like doing it tied up, just so you know."

Nuage looked away. "I... I'm sorry," she managed to say quietly. "I don't know what's taken me. I'll let you go later, but my master needs me right now. I just don't want you to follow."

He snorted, half laughing. "Your master... Because you're a Serme... How crazy are you exactly ?"

Nuage only stared at him for an answer.

"The Sermes are supposed to serve gryphon warlords, not insane ponies."

"Papyrus was worthy of my oath, more so than any lord."

"No kidding ? There's no competition ! The clans have been unified under the tribes ages ago and the tribes all follow the king now. There's no room for warlords anymore and there's even less for Sermes."

"I-"

"Have you been living under a rock for the last century ? Sermes only belong in history books by now."

"Th- that's-"

"Where did you even learn the code ? Some old adventure novel ?"

Nuage frowned and walked deeper inside her cave, coming back with the book that had taught her how to live her life. "My father gave it to me. He held it from his father and so on for seven generations." She held the old, worn, but carefully maintained tome under his nose. "This is my heritage, not some game I'm playing."

"It is a game," he shot back. "You don't even realize you're playing it." Ausha wriggled on the ground, trying to stand or at least raise his head, but soon gave up and settled on glaring at her from below. "Sermes were obsolete even before the both of us were born."

"No. My father served-"

"Nobody. If he really was a Serme then he was nothing more than a holdover. A symbol of the old days who did nothing more than all other symbols : stand there and look pretty."

"I-"

"-should stop deluding yourself," he finished for her. "Don't you see that pony you serve is a murderer ? A lunatic ? How many deaths will it take ?"

Nuage slumped a little, letting both her rear end and her book land on the floor. "If this is about your friend, I'm sorry about him."

"Who ? Anvil ? He was a coworker, not a friend. And that kind of thing happens in the business. No, I was talking about the ponies your great unicorn master killed to get his hooves on that magical doodad. They weren't asking anything from anyone. He just showed up and bam ! All dead."

Nuage looked at her feet. "I'm the one who killed those two."

"But you did it for him. He's the one who needs to be stopped."

"Maybe... I can only serve him. I made my pledge and I can't break it. If you know anything about the way of the Serme, you'll understand."

"No I don't ! You know that he's dangerous. Forget that stupid honor thing and do what's right, damn it !"

Nuage growled. "Forget my honor ? And you call me crazy ?"

Ausha started yelling at her. "Of course you have to forget it. Everyone else has ! What world do you think you're living in ?"

"I should be weak because everyone else is ? What world do you live in ?"

"The real world ! I'm not living in a fantasy of the past, I live in reality, where you can't expect someone to be nice just because he gave you his word. Where I don't have to kill myself if I can't fulfill a promise. Maybe you should visit that world sometime. Right now would be good."

"I have a duty. I have a destiny."

"Destiny ?" he almost spat the word out. "This is even more ridiculous than-"

"La ferme."

"There's no such thing as-"

She backhanded him in the face. "La ferme !"
Nuage seethed, barely containing her rage. The male gryphon shrunk a little under her furious glare... He still looked like he had things to say, but remained silent. When she spoke again, her voice was struggling to remain steady.

"In that world you speak of... If a dragon goes into a greed frenzy, do you say it's just a thing dragons do ? If that dragon kills a family of gryphons, do you say it's just bad luck ? If a unicorn shows up to save the youngest, do you say it's a coincidence ? If that gryphoness decides to live the way her parents taught her, do you say she's delusional ?" She paused for a moment and received no response. "Why shouldn't I see my destiny there ? Do you have a better explanation ? All you're telling me is to forget my way ? Because it's obsolete ?"

Nuage had her face almost touching his at that point, but she shouted as if he was miles away. "Forget everything my parents taught me... c'est ça ? My family's lives. Their deaths. My life. On oublie tout ? Everything was pointless then ? Meaningless ? Le hasard ? Is that it ? Is that it ?" she asked while shaking him with a talon.

Ausha muttered a few words she didn't even bother to listen to. "Va te faire foutre ! Tu m'entends ? Fuck ! You !"

Nuage had to restrain herself from jumping on him and beating him to death. She settled on grabbing his neck and lifting his head in front of hers. She was both foaming at the corners of her beak and crying at the same time, anger and pain making her voice shaky. "No destiny ? I won't believe that. Jamais ! I refuse to live like that."

She dropped him roughly on the stony floor and went to gather her equipment, working to control her erratic breathing and mumbling to herself. Mechanically, she strapped on her armor and tucked her weapons in place, doing the only thing she could do.

When Nuage came back near Ausha, she found the cat observing him curiously. She walked closer to pet it. "Tu le surveilles, d'accord ?"

As an answer, the cat stepped on velvet paws near the brown gryphon and rubbed its head against his.

"I made a friend," Ausha said flatly while Nuage chuckled once. "Hurray." The two gryphons exchanged a glance. "You're going back to your master," he simply said.

"I go where my place is."

She spread her wings and jumped in the air.

"Là où le vent me porte."

Author's Note

Live from the middle of nowhere in Normandy !

This chapter was typed and uploaded from my phone. That was fun !
No, wait... The other one... Tedious !

Seriously that was a pain. I did my best to keep the formatting decent but if you saw anything weird, you now know why.

Hopefully I'll be back to civilization for the next chapter. I miss my PC.

9. Nothingness

Nine years earlier,

Nuage hated the jungle.

It was the first time she walked through one and couldn’t get out too soon, hopefully never to return. The heat was terrible but even then, it wouldn't be so bad if the air wasn’t so damp. It was like trudging through a hot and steamy fog bank. Or pea soup. She was sweating all the water from her body and didn't feel any cooler from it, only more sticky, wet and grimy with every passing minute. The short feathers on her chest were nothing more than a spongy mass of fluff, itching her so much that she couldn't help but scratch it every two steps. Fanning herself with her wings had no effect, only stirring the desperately hot and moist air a little.

Nuage looked up and frowned. She knew that up there, high in the sky was some cool, chilly wind, but she couldn't even see the blue expanse above, only green. Leaves, branches, vines... The canopy was dense, tight like a net designed specifically to keep her grounded.

And most humiliating of all, Papyrus seemed completely fine in front of her. The unicorn walked calmly, enjoying the sights and humming a little tune to himself. He had stopped only to pick some exotic fruits on low hanging branches, munching happily on them while exploring the green hell.

"How are you holding up back there ?" he asked without looking back.

Nuage turned into a miniature fountain of sweat when she shook her head. Some of the salty liquid rolled into her eyes and she had to use a talon to wipe it away. She groaned and kept rubbing as it stung her. "Wonderful," she said glumly.

"I've always wanted to see the zebra homelands. It's even more interesting than I expected."

Nuage paused to look around. Green and brown everywhere. Thousands of noises from as many animals hidden all around them, insects, birds, rodents, reptiles... Predators and prey alike. The smell was overpowered by rot : rotting wood, rotting carcasses, rotting fruits. And that unbearable heat... And the small army of flies trying to use her as a landing strip... In a vain effort to swat one, she only hit her own face .

"Saloperie !"

"What was that ?"

"Nothing," she said with a sigh. "Are we going to be here for long ?"

"Don’t you enjoy the trip ?" Papyrus turned around and was treated to the most desperate face Nuage had ever made. "Heh. I guess not. Well, we'll be out of here as soon as we find the Ssakinsha tribe."

Nuage grunted and shook herself like a wet dog when she felt something crawling on one of her wings, making a big centipede fall off. After taking a few deep breaths to stop herself from shuddering in disgust, the gryphoness followed her master again.

They had been trudging through that revolting jungle for days and had yet to see any trace of the reclusive zebras. Supposedly they had some powerful and unique magic that Papyrus wanted to observe, but so far all the two adventurers had done was wander through the trees and get stung or bitten by things she prefered not to know.

"We'll never find anything here, master. I don't think there are any..." Something came rushing through the jungle towards them. "... zebras ?"

Out of nowhere, two striped figures appeared. They immediately blurted out a torrent of words in their native language that neither her or Papyrus were able to understand. A few awkward stares later, one of the two zebras managed to mix some pony and gryphon words into something mostly comprehensible. Apparently, some sort of creature was attacking their village.

Nuage turned to look at Papyrus. "What do we do, master ?"

"They look like they need help and we're the only intelligent creatures for miles around... What do you think ?"

"We save them."

“Obviously," he said with a confident grin. "We're the heroes, aren't we ?"

Nuage giggled a little and followed the two zebras deeper into the forest. Nothing like heroism to make a gryphon forget the heat.

It took only a few minutes before she heard some disturbing noises. Shouts and yells mostly covered by sounds of skittering and crunching. Soon enough, the two saviors of the day erupted into a small clearing that was mostly filled by a... thing.

Nuage had faced monsters more impressive than this one, but none were as disgusting. Some strange mix between a spider and a slug and three times the size of a pony, it had many pairs of legs near the front of its black, slimy and spongy-looking body. The main part of said body was covered by an impromptu shell made of whatever the creature had found : branches, stones, leaves and bones from all sorts of creatures, big and small. Anything that could be picked up had been stuck on its back into a protective cocoon that it was simply dragging along. A large maw occupied most of the head that was sticking out in the middle of all these legs.

A few zebras were lying about, either dead or dying after trying to face the monster. Nuage suppressed a shiver at the sight of the creepy crawler. Meanwhile, Papyrus kept calm and simply got ready to blast the thing with his magic. They both expected the fight to be over instantly, but quickly discovered that the beast was immune to his spells. That explained why Zebras famous for their magic were having trouble...

Nuage took to the air, the clearing giving her some room to maneuver and landed on the thing's back. The clutter-made shell wasn't as stable as it looked, rippling under her paws as the creature underneath moved and breathed, but it was easy to get a decent grip on the many objects sticking out everywhere. Ironically, the back of the beast may have been the safest place during the fight, since it's legs couldn't reach up there : whatever the thing was, it was confident that its shell was impenetrable.

It may have been right in a way, since rocks and bones were pretty hard to break, but it hadn't been counting on a gryphon using its talons to simply dismantle the flimsy construct. Nuage pulled on the loosest pieces, tugging and heaving until a large plank came off and revealed the body behind.

Translucent skin covering pulsing and throbbing organs... She could see blood and other alien-looking humours flow inside. The sight alone was bad enough, but the stink that came with it was another thing and it took everything Nuage had to not throw up right then. That shell apparently kept inside a foul mixture of bodily secretions and random bits of rotten materials.

On the ground, Papyrus was doing his best to fight with his magic indirectly, throwing what he could grab in the beast's direction. Bracing herself, Nuage held her breath and widened the gap in the armor, then pulled her knife out and plunged it deep inside the exposed flesh. A reeking stream of lukewarm sticky fluid squirted out of the wound and painted her face. She screamed as a little made its way into her beak, letting her experience the most revolting taste she had ever encountered. Nuage barely had enough time to secure her grip on the creature's back before emptying her stomach.

It took almost a minute before she had a chance to catch her breath, her stomach still clenching but thankfully empty by then. She got closer to the unprotected part of the monster and stabbed again. And again and again... It barely did anything except make it shake and turn in an attempt to dislodge her. Nuage did not lose her grip, but the beast decided to roll on itself. She had just enough time to jump before being squashed and found herself tumbling in the dirt.

A huge, black and spindly leg rose above her.

The gryphoness was pulled back, suddenly wrapped in a greenish glow while the monster dug a hole by striking the ground right where she had been. Papyrus and her exchanged a wordless glance as she got back to her feet. They both knew that flying meant she was the one with the best chance to kill the thing. Steeling herself, she grabbed a spear lying on the ground and jumped back in the air.

The knife hadn’t done much, but her new weapon was different : Nuage buried it deep in the soft flesh, then twisted and churned without mercy. The creature shook, bucked, flailed, trying to get her off its back, but she stood strong, holding onto the spear's shaft like a sailor grabbing the mast of his ship in a storm.

The monster lurched one last time and collapsed... rolling on her at the same time. Nuage came very close to being squished like an insect and survived only through sheer luck. One of her wings still ended up under its body and it took several zebras to get her out. She couldn't tell if it was broken, but in any case, she couldn't fly for a good while.

That didn't matter, though : they had won. Nuage and Papyrus smiled at each other while the survivors cheered.

Then came the realization that many of their brethren had perished.

Then came the discussions with Papyrus. The zebras claimed that their secrets were not meant to be shared. The unicorn argued that the tribe owed its survival to their intervention...

Nuage didn't know how it happened. Maybe a misunderstanding, maybe the zebras decided that they couldn't trust Papyrus... What she knew was that one of them pointed a blowgun at him. The zebra didn't have time to understand why he could not shoot his dart. He never realized that a knife was stuck through his windpipe before he fell lifeless to the ground.

The rest of the tribe rushed at them, but the exhausted zebras didn't last long against the powerful unicorn and well-trained gryphoness. A zebra managed to strike Papyrus in the leg with a spear, but that was all the few survivors could do.

Soon, only one remained, a young mare that Nuage was trying to catch. She retreated into what was left into the camp and gathered some components, then stood to face her pursuer. Nuage was a few dozen meters away and saw the zebra mix some powders, then throw them in the air.

Fire.

Fire spread all around the camp. All around the zebra.

Nuage screamed as she saw the mare's body being engulfed in flames.

She saw the charred body. She could feel the heat, smell the smoke, hear the roars. Her eyes saw only one thing : a corpse consuming itself.

The feathers burning like fuses, curling and falling as the fire left only little hollow roots behind it. Wings twitching desperately as the last throes of agony still shook the body. One talon reaching for her... Did he want help ? Was he trying to protect her ? What could she do ? It was so hot she felt her hairs roasting already, she couldn't get closer and-

"Nuage !" Papyrus yanked her head around.

She saw her master frowning and yelling at her. "Pull yourself together. We have to run !"

She nodded dumbly and followed like a puppet the hobbling unicorn. They ran away very slowly.

As Nuage remembered the complete fiasco of their trip inside the zebras' jungles, she had to wonder if that had been when Papyrus started to change. She remembered that his injury had gotten infected, nearly killing him from the fever. Nuage was ready amputate the leg, but he refused categorically and only survived through sheer luck and stubbornness... Comparatively, she was fortunate to have ended up with a sprained wing that only kept her grounded for about a week.

Did he give up after that expedition ? She couldn't tell. Looking back to it, Papyrus didn't change completely after that day. It was a slow process, that she didn't even see happening. Year after year, he became less and less enthusiastic when he had a chance to play the hero. Nuage never realized it then, but it seemed that he only did it from habit, because it was “expected” from him... until he had had enough.

That time was well in the past now.

Nuage sighed and landed on the branch leading inside the tower-tree. At least she still had something to do. She still had her code to believe in and her master to serve. Maybe she could still influence him...

Papyrus was not in his study, as a confused Nuage soon found out. It had always seemed that he spent all of his time inside the cluttered room and this was the first time that she didn't find him here after being summoned. With a frown, the gryphoness called out. A weak response came from another room.

His room was pretty much the opposite of his study. Probably because he spent so little time in it, it was as summarily furnished as it could be : a bed, a nightstand to hold a candle and that was it. Papyrus himself was on the mattres, lying on his side. Nuage could have believed he was sleeping if his eyes hadn't been opened, but it was also hard to think of him as awake : the old unicorn was completely still, only his sides rising and falling as he breathed. Even that was faint. His breathing was barely audible, his eyes were struggling to stay opened and every tiny movement looked like a struggle. She noticed that his horn was bare, the magical strengthening device nowhere to be seen.

"Master ?"

He turned his head slowly to watch her. "Nuage... You're... here." Each word was punctuated by a weak, raspy breath.

"Yes. I-" her voice died down. Nuage swallowed, her throat feeling too tight for even her saliva, then started again. "What can I do for you, master ?"

After a few labored breaths, he answered. "Listen... Time's... running out."

"A- Are you..."

"Listen," he managed to say a little more forcefully. Nuage shut her beak and waited patiently. "I prepared... a spell... All or nothing... If it... works... I live... If it... doesn't... I die..."

Nuage gulped again. She wanted to talk, but her beak opened and closed a few times, doing nothing more than a few clicking sounds.

"If that... happens... You can... take everything... my home... is yours... Do what... you want… with it..." He smiled weakly at her. "Also... I wanted to... say goodbye... just... in case..."

Nuage blinked a few times, frozen in place.

"Come... closer..." The weary unicorn lifted his head a little, grunting from the effort.

Nuage walked the few steps separating them. Only three meters, but it felt like the longest walk she had ever made. "Thank you... For everything... you did... We made... quite the... team..."

"Yes," she answered in a whisper. "We did. I... I-" she paused to sniffle once, then shook her head. "Thank you, too, master. It was an honor and a pleasure to serve you."

Papyrus smiled warmly. "Let's hope... this isn't... the end... Hand me... that flask... on... the table..."

She nodded and turned around. On the nightstand was a small, clear glass bottle containing a blood red liquid. It could have passed for wine, but she was quite sure it was something else. With a mental shrug, she picked it up and gave it to her master. The flask was wrapped up in a greenish haze of magic and floated to his lips. Papyrus downed it in one go and Nuage took the bottle again, placing it back on the table.

"What happens now ?" she asked quietly.

"Don't know... The grimoire... didn't say..."

Nuage nodded a bit stiffly, wondering what to do. She settled on helping him get comfortable, helping him lie down on the bed and adjusting the pillow under his head. Papyrus sunk a little in the mattress, sighing as even that was an effort for him. Once he was still, Nuage took a few steps back and sat down on the floor. A few minutes passed in a silence only punctuated by the old pony’s labored breathing.

It seemed that every inspiration drew less air than the previous one, until he gasped, his eyes opened wide. One of his hooves lifted weakly, his lips moved but all that came out was a weak mumble. It only lasted a fleeting moment, just long enough for Nuage to blink twice before Papyrus went limp, his lungs emptying in one last, raspy sigh.

“M- master ?”

The pony remained still, his eyes staring at the ceiling.

“Master !”

Nuage shook him, only making his head roll to the side. She approached an ear to his muzzle and only confirmed what she suspected as she heard nothing. She tried to prod and shake him a few more times, but didn’t get any reaction. A minute or two later, Nuage stopped and slumped a little.

Carefully, she placed his forehooves on his chest. Then, with a gentleness that seemed out of place in her dangerously sharp talons, she arranged his head on the pillow and combed his mane back into an orderly shape. Finally, she closed his eyes and took a couple of steps back.

Nuage bowed down to her master for the last time.

It was over. After two decades, she could consider herself successful : not once had she failed her master.

That thought did not put a smile on her face. Instead, she let her head fall on the plush bed and weeped.

The well of tears eventually dried out, like it always did. Nuage stood up and wiped her eyes. With her shoulders slumping and her head low, she turned around. There were still a few things to do, like take care of the burial and decide what to do with Papyrus’s belongings.

Simple things. Yes, she could take care of the simple things. Those, she knew how to deal with...

Nuage walked out of the room, dragging her feet on the wooden floor. With slow steps, she walked into Papyrus’s study. The same incredible mess was still reigning, turning what was the largest space in the tower into the most cramped one. But behind the clutter, Nuage could still see the traces of the past.

On the corner of a desk, she saw a stack of brand new quills ready for use.

“Damn it,” Papyrus cursed as the ink-covered feather snapped on the paper. He watched it with a frown. “Nuage !”

She sighed and reached under one of her wings, pinched a feather in her beak and plucked it out. “Please be careful, master,” she said as he took it in his magic. “I need these to fly… Also, that hurts.”

“Bah. You’ve got plenty to spare. Actually, that’s why I keep you around... Which reminds me, I need a new pillow, too.”

Nuage gave him a pitiful look, until he snickered. “Just kidding, featherhead. I’ll take good care of this one,” he said while waving his newest quill.

Every object in the room had its own set of memories attached to it, from the weirdest looking apparatus to the most mundane book. Twenty years of adventures piled up in one place. In a corner, abandoned on the ground were a few bits of metal and gems.

Nuage heard a detonation coming from Papyrus’s laboratory and rushed in. The unicorn was splayed out on the floor in the middle of a bunch of papers and broken furniture, his mane singed but with a wide smile on his face.

“Master ?”

He angled his head to look at her from the ground. “Oh. Nuage. Just in time !”

“What happened ?”

“It works !” he exclaimed while waving a hoof at a bright golden disc of light shimmering in front of them. Nuage walked up to it carefully and, with great care, prodded it with the tip of a talon. Nothing happened. She pushed it with her hand and found it to be seemingly solid.

“It’s a shield spell,” Papyrus explained. “The same that I usually cast around myself. I managed to enchant a set of gemstones to reproduce it.” He walked up to the shield and gave it a strong punch. His hoof only made the surface ripple a little. “I concentrated my magic into the strongest version I could make, it’s basically indestructible !”

“This is impressive,” Nuage said as he walked behind it. “I’m sure that will be a great protection for you.” The shield disappeared into thin air.

“Not for me,” Papyrus said.

He levitated a jewel-encrusted gauntlet to her. “For you.”

“Me ?”

“I already have you to keep me safe” he told her with a smile. “Now, you can keep yourself safe, too.”

Nuage smiled sadly as she watched the enchanted gauntlet still on her left talon. It had indeed kept her safe many more times than she cared to count. Squeezing her hand let the shield appear again, still as strong as on the first day.

A shrill hum pulled Nuage out of her thoughts. The sound came from Papyrus’s room and kept turning louder and louder, almost making the walls vibrate and suddenly stopped as abruptly as it had started. Nuage hurried back into the room and froze in the doorway.

Papyrus’s corpse was glowing. A pale green light seemed to come from inside of his flesh, first appearing through cracks in his skin but progressing quickly until it engulfed his entire body. The light seemed to take shape into some sort of cloud, wrapped around Papyrus and his flesh started to disappear, progressively vaporizing and joining the green mist.

When nothing was left except for his skeleton, the cloud lifted into the air and compacted into a small sphere. It pulsed a few times, then suddenly rushed down, pouring itself into Papyrus’s horn.

Everything remained calm for a moment. Nuage released a breath she hadn’t realized had been kept in.

She yelled when the skeleton suddenly sat up, as if it was mounted on a spring.

The skull turned towards her and she saw the two empty orbits locking on her. Green light shone from inside, the only hint that there was any kind of life into the dead bones.

“Nuage ?”

The breathy voice made her hair stand on end, but it was still unmistakable… “M- Master ?”

His expression didn’t change, though she got the feeling that the skeleton was trying to smile. She gulped when she heard his disturbing chuckling.

“It worked ! It-” He brought one of his hooves in front of him and hummed in thought. After a quick inspection of the rest of his body, he shrugged. “Not exactly what I expected, but I suppose that makes sense. Stone Mane was a genius !”

“I- Is that really you ?”

“Of course,” he said, snapping his skull back to watch her.

“But… You- you were dead. I saw you dying… That was at least an hour ago !”

“Really ? Well, my body might be dead, but that’s not the important part.” Papyrus stood up in a clink of bones and jumped down from his bed. He took a few steps towards Nuage, who recoiled instinctively. “My body was nothing more than a physical shell, long past its time. It was nothing more than a weakness. A weakness that I am now finally rid of.” The undead unicorn laughed a few times. “The first of many I will remove from myself. Nuage, for ordinary ponies, death might be the end, but for me ? This is only the beginning !”

He walked past her and headed into his study. “Follow me.”

Nuage stood dumbly for a moment, then shook her head and blinked a few times. More from reflex than anything else, she obeyed.

“Master ? W- What… What are you ? This- This is… insane !”

“Don’t get put off by my appearance, Nuage. What am I ? I am simply an improved version of my former self.”

He picked up Stone Mane’s leather-bound tome in his magic and brought it front of his empty eye-sockets. “Immortality… I did it, Nuage. No... We did it. This is your victory as much as mine.”

“This ? A… victory ?”

“Of course !” he said making a grand gesture with a bony foreleg. “We defeated death itself ! From now on, nothing can stop the two of us.”

Nuage shuddered as she watched him chuckle while scanning the grimoire.

“Don’t worry, my faithful Nuage. I will not keep the spoils of our victory to myself.”

“W- What ?”

“I have given this some thought before and I finally figured out how to reward you for everything you’ve done in my service.” He spun around and faced her, the green fire in his eye sockets seeming ready to consume her. Papyrus’s horn lit up in its familiar haze.

“Let me rid you, too, of your mortality.”

Nuage gasped, but it was already too late. With her wide opened eyes, she saw nothing except for green. His magic became the whole universe, all she could see, touch, smell… The last thing she could perceive was her heartbeats echoing in her ears.

Thum-thump. Thum-thump. Thum-thump.

Thump...

Néant.

Author's Note

Well, I'm back...

Looks like this time Nuage didn't get the last word, but what can one say in that kind of situation ? Anyway, I hope this isn't too much of a cliffhanger, I hate those. Really. A lot.

This chapter and the one following it were supposed to be only one, but the next part is getting pretty big and I'm not even done with it yet, so instead of one huge chapter, I'd rather cut it into two smaller ones. It should be finished pretty soon, I hope. I've had some writer's blockyness recently.

10. Only one thing left to do now

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.

11. Who will live will see

The green haze slowly faded, leaving room for the other colors to go back into their proper places. Nuage blinked and squinted her eyes, needing a few moments for her vision to come back. She finally recognized Papyrus’s study, the undead unicorn himself standing in front of her.

“Nuage ? Nuage, can you hear me ?”

She slowly nodded. It was still disturbing to hear the voice coming out of the skeleton. His jaw didn’t even move when he spoke…

“I thought I had lost you for good,” he said, sounding relieved. “It seems that there was some… interference, but I think the spell worked in the end. Although the results are a little… unexpected.”

“What-” her voice croaked. Nuage cleared her throat a few times, then spoke again. “What do you mean ?” She held a leg in front of her eyes, sighing in relief when she saw flesh and skin, instead of a skeleton floating in the air through magic.

“Well, I expected you to come back like I did…”

“You mean… Only as bones ?”

Papyrus seemed annoyed by that remark. Maybe… It was really hard to read a skull’s expression. “I’d like to think that I am not only bones, but to put it simply… Yes, it seems that your physical body was almost unchanged.”

“Almost ?” Nuage checked herself out. Wings, paws, claws, her tail, her feathers… Everything seemed the same as before. “I don’t see any difference.”

Papyrus didn’t answer, simply using his magic to summon a small mirror. Nuage grabbed it and watched the gryphoness that was watching back.

One little change can make a huge difference sometimes... Nuage was indeed almost the same : her head was still in place, still with white and fluffy feathers, her beak was still where it was supposed to be, everything was still the same, except for her eyes.

No more white, no more golden iris encircling her pupil… Nothing but black. It looked like her eyeballs had been replaced by a pair of of obsidian marbles. She blinked a few times, watching her white lids cover the dark orbs. Using a talon, she felt one of her eyes : it was still normal from that point of view, as solid and with the same shape as before, just completely black, as if her pupil had taken over… The most surprising thing was probably that she could still see perfectly well.

“Well,” Papyrus said, “I’m not sure what happened to the spell, but it’s better that way, at least from a purely cosmetic point of view. I wonder if your body is still functional… How do you feel ?”

Nuage took her eyes off of her reflection and saw Papyrus turning around her, observing her from every angle. How did she feel ?

“Strange,” she answered in a whisper. She placed a hand on her chest. “I think… My heart is… not beating ?” The surge of panic as she became aware of that fact felt even stranger. Not having a heartbeat that could accelerate both made her want to panic and feel frustrated that she couldn’t do so properly.

“Interesting… You’re still breathing, though. Try stopping.”

“What ?”

“I’m sure it’s only a reflex. You certainly don’t need to anymore.”

Nuage blinked a few times, while the skeletal Papyrus stopped to sit in front of her. After a few moments of hesitation, she decided to give it a try and made the conscious effort to hold her breath. She waited. And waited… A couple of minutes later, she still wasn’t feeling the burning that should have taken over her lungs.

She took a breath, only so that she could speak. “I’m… really dead, huh ?”

Papyrus stood up and stared straight at her face.

“No. You are not dead and neither am I. Life and death are concepts that only apply to mortals, Nuage.” It felt like he was trying to smile… “Neither alive nor dead. We are far beyond that, now.”

Nuage watched one of her talons, closing and opening at her command, as it had always did. She could still wiggle her digits, she could still snap them. Recently deceased bodies were usually stiff and almost impossible to move… Did she even have actual muscles left ? Was she a cold corpse ? Nuage put a hand on her forehead, as if to check for a fever, but all it taught her was that her talon was neither colder nor warmer than her face…

She sighed and decided to put those questions aside. She would probably have a lot of time to answer them later and some others were more pressing... Nuage fixed her sights on Papyrus.

“What are your plans, now ?”

“Hmmm… Good question. In the immediate future, I need to find out the limitations of this new form.”

“And… In the distant future ?”

“I could see myself as the new ruler of Equestria. Princess Celestia’s vision is so… timid. Unambitious… Well, as soon as I’ll be ready, I will take her place. I may have to push her out first, but with any luck, she will realize my superiority and leave on her own. After all, I can offer everypony something even she cannot : immortality ! And after Equestria, the rest of the world shouldn’t take too long to unite under my rule.” He stood in front of Nuage, fixing her with his absent eyes. “Papyrus, the god-king of Earth. That sounds good, doesn’t it ?”

Nuage stared at him in silence. He really wanted to be a god, nothing less…

“Is there any way I can talk you out of this ?”

“Talk me… What ?” The undead pony shook his head. “Nuage, I didn’t go this far to stop now... If I had no ambition, I would have spent my life growing alfalfa, not accumulating more magic than any other unicorn before.”

“Alfalfa ?”

“Yes. Alfalfa.”

“I have... no idea what that is... Is that even a real word ? Alfalfa…”

The two silently watched each other for a while.

“It’s a plant,” Papyrus said. “A plant that ponies eat… Gah ! Forget the alfalfa, my point is that I won’t give up my plans. Not now, not ever, so stop asking. Now come on, we have things to do.”

Nuage closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. That still helped her calm down, even if the breathing part was purely unnecessary. “You’re right,” she said, fixing her gaze on the skeletal unicorn. “We do.”

What Nuage had to do was clear. The question remained as to how she should do it. Attacking Papyrus straight on would be pointless : if he was anything like the revenants she had fought in Stone Mane’s lair, physical violence would get her nowhere. Plus, Papyrus was probably able to destroy her with his magic. But on the plus side, he had no reason to suspect anything, giving her time to prepare a plan… She would need another unicorn’s help. Unfortunately, the only one she could think of right then was pretty weak when it came to magic.

Nuage observed silently as Papyrus was gathering a few books, scrolls and notes in his study. Her eyes wandered over the mountain of writings. There was enough knowledge in here to occupy a pony for a lifetime. It took a lifetime to gather, after all… Maybe something among the mass could tell another unicorn how to bring Papyrus down ? But it would take days, at least, to find anything relevant. Could she find another powerful unicorn ?

There was the princess. She was supposed to be the most powerful pony in the whole country, but would she even listen to a gryphon ? Besides, Nuage was far away from Canterlot and with all the time it would take to meet with the princess, Papyrus would have time to figure out that she was up to something and prepare for the worst… No. If she wanted to take Papyrus by surprise -and she needed to-, Nuage would have only a few hours to act, a day at most. There had to be something that could tip the scale in her favor…

Nuage’s eyes locked on the strange bridle-apparatus that they had stolen a few days ago. The one that started all of this madness... It was supposed to make a unicorn’s magic much more powerful, perhaps enough to stand up to Papyrus. The thing was just lying there, on the edge of the work table.

Nuage gave a glance at the undead unicorn… He had his back turned to her, checking some book, as always. She slunk in silence towards the device, making sure her steps were soft and slow. She couldn’t sound like she was rushing. Only a few more steps… She raised a talon to grab the apparatus.

“Nuage !” She drew her leg back immediately.

Papyrus turned around to face her.

“Y- Yes ?” she asked, doing her best to sound casual.

“Could you hand me that book, please ?”

Nuage blinked a few times before getting her mind back in order. Following his hoof, she spotted the one he was pointing at and took it to him.

“Thank you.” He immediately opened it and started reading, ignoring Nuage completely.

The gryphoness took a minute to calm herself, then walked back to the device. This time, nothing came to interrupt her. Giving another glance at the unicorn to make sure that he was still occupied, Nuage swiped the Fortior from the table and hid it under one of her wings.

Now, to get out of the tower…

“Er. Well… If you don’t need me,” she said. “I have to go… Home. To… feed the cat !” Nuage regretted her words the second they left her beak. She had never really had much practice in lying…

“Feed the cat ?” Papyrus stared at her for a long while, Nuage smiling a grin that was getting more and more strained with every second. “Is that some sort of metaphor I don’t want to know about ?”

“Whu- what ? No ! I’m talking about a real cat.”

“Since when do you have a cat ?”

“A few years… It kinda… wandered into my home.”

“And you’ve never had to go feed it until now…”

Nuage’s smile was starting to hurt her beak while she wracked her brain to find something to support her very flimsy lie.

Papyrus shook his head. “You know, if you want to be alone... just say so. You don’t have to make excuses.”

“I- Uh… Sorry.”

“I’d like to run a few tests on you, but that can wait a while. You can go, I’ll send you a message when I need you.”

“Alright… Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. See you soon.”

Nuage blinked a few times, seeing Papyrus turn back to his books and his research. He… trusted her. He trusted her completely, even as she was plotting his demise.

Nuage shook her head. She must do this. There was much more at stake than her personal feelings.

It took all of her will, but she managed to pry her eyes off of him and leave the tower. She had never felt this heavy while she flew back to her mountain.

“Always seek to improve. Never think of yourself as perfect.

Perfection can never be achieved. Keep aiming for it.”

Nuage landed a few steps away from her cave, the magic device held in her beak. Ausha was still tied up inside and glaring daggers at her. His stare slowly turned from angry and spiteful to confused.

“What the...” he said, straightening himself as much as he could. “What’s wrong with your eyes ?” He squished himself against the cave wall, trying to put as much distance between tham as possible.

“Oh… That.” Out of reflex, Nuage felt her new eyeballs with a talon. They still seemed normal, as long as she couldn’t see them… “It’s a long story and I don’t want to tell it twice. Where is that unicorn you work for ? I need her help.”

“Whut ?” He watched Nuage with a befuddled expression as she stepped forward and undid the knots on his bindings. “Her help ? Do you really think I’m that dumb ? You just want to get to her. The heavens knows what you’ll do to her.”

“No.” Nuage turned around, looking away in the direction of Papyrus’s tower. “Papyrus needs to be stopped and... I can’t do that on my own. I… I can’t.”

“You want me to believe that… you had a change of heart ? You.”

“Yes.”

“You… The gryphoness who’d rather die than betray her master… You would do
just that now ? Yeah, right.”

Nuage sighed and hung her head down. “It’s the truth.”

“What happened to your oath ? ‘Loyalty until death’, right ?”

“Well…” She faced Ausha again, making him wince when she locked her eyes on his. “I died.”

The gryphon remained silent, watching Nuage with narrowing eyes. She sighed and went to pick up his weapon, left lying on the ground since their fight, before giving it back to him. He took it with slow and cautious moves.

“Please,” she said, looking down at the ground. “You have to believe me.”

Ausha still stared at her with a suspicious look. Nuage handed him the Fortior.

“This is what you were after, isn’t it ?” she said, offering the device. “Here, take it.”

“What… Why would you ?”

“This isn’t a trick. Please, just trust me… Here.” She pulled out her weapons and dropped them at his feet. Ausha picked them up, still looking unsure but at least a little reassured.

“So… Assuming I take you to see Swift Snow, what exactly do you want with her ?”

“I told you. Papyrus has to be destroyed and I can’t do it myself. It’s going to take powerful magic.”

“Humph… Well, I guess we can at least listen to your story. Fine, let’s go.”

The two gryphons did not have to fly for long. They landed near a small stone hut, the kind of open shelter that can be found in mountains, to be used by whoever needs it. Swift Snow must have heard them coming, since she stepped outside as soon as they touched down.

“Finally ! What took you so long ? I was starting to think that- that…” Her jaw made a slow descent towards the ground as she spotted Nuage. The whiter-than-ever unicorn remained stuck in place.

“You… What… What’s wrong with your eyes ? Never mind, I don’t care. Why are you here ?” She turned to the other gryphon, scowling. “Why is she here ?”

“Yeah…” Ausha scratched the back of his head, looking back and forth between Nuage and Swift Snow. “My original plan didn’t work at all, but hey ! I got your thingy !” He held the Fortior in front of the unicorn, making her gasp. Once the initial surprised passed, she quickly levitated it near her, wrapping her forelegs around it and clutching the device against her chest as if it would fly away on its own. Her eyes fixed on Nuage in a dark stare.

“Get out of my sight,” Swift Snow said, calmly and slowly.

“I- I need your help,” Nuage told her. “You’re the-”

“Shut up ! I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear you. You’re just murderers, you and that crazy old unicorn.”

“Please,” Nuage said, “I need you to-”

“I said : get lost !” the unicorn screamed, standing in an aggressive posture. “I won’t warn you again.”

“You have to listen to me ! I... glk-” Nuage’s voice turned into a strangled gurgling.

In front of her, Swift Snow was levitating Ausha’s crossbow. It was unloaded.

Nuage could feel a dull pain and a foreign object stuck in her neck. She reached up with a talon and felt the bolt sticking through her throat.

Ausha was staring at the crossbow, apparently trying to figure out how it had ended up there, while the unicorn’s eyes were still glaring at her target.

Nuage simply put her talon back on the ground and waited, enduring the pain and looking down at Swift Snow with a calm demeanor. The mare blinked a few times, then furrowed her brow and quickly magicked another bolt from Ausha’s stock.

His gaze went from the weapon to Nuage. His eyes widened when he saw her.

The second shot caught Nuage right between the eyes, making her hiss and stagger a few steps backwards. As soon as the shock wore off, she calmly walked back to her previous place, the wooden shaft making her eyes cross. She focused her sight on the unicorn to try and forget it.

“Wha ? What is-” Swift Snow tried to get a third bolt loaded, but fumbled and let it drop to the ground.

“Son of a… What’s going on here ?” Ausha took a few steps backwards, his wings spread and ready for takeoff.

Nuage saw the mare still struggling to reload the crossbow and calmly took her cuirass off. By the time she was done, Swift Snow was ready for her next shot. The weapon was shaking in the air, just like the unicorn controlling it and Nuage walked forward, slowly, until she was close enough to grab the crossbow. She held it steady, the bolt touching her chest right where her heart was.

With her eyes locked into Swift Snow’s, she reached and flicked the trigger herself.

The mare just slumped on the ground, babbling incoherently, letting the weapon fall in the grass.

Nuage similarly plopped her rump on the ground and yanked the bolt stuck in her neck out. “I had hoped this wouldn’t hurt so much,” she said with a raspy voice, now that air could once again flow through her throat. She rubbed it with a talon, finding no trace of an injury.

Reaching up, she took the one in her head out, then looked down at her chest. This one had gone deep and she had to use both hands to pull it out. As soon as the projectile was removed, Nuage saw some sort of thin, white smoke wisp out of the wound, then quickly reverse its flow and go back inside her, sealing her injury in a second, as if nothing had happened.

“What… What are you ?” Swift Snow mumbled while Nuage casually dropped the three bolts on the ground in front of her.

The gryphoness sighed. “It’s a long story… Here’s the short version : Papyrus only wanted this…” She pointed at the device that the unicorn was still clutching against her chest. “... to get to something else. A book.”

“A… book ?” Ausha asked from a few meters away, still looking ready to fly off at any second.

Nuage nodded. “A book of magic… Death magic.”

“Death magic ?” the gryphon repeated, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Do you mean… Necromancy ?”

Both gryphons stared at her silently.

“Is that an actual word ?” Nuage finally asked.

“That’s magic-speak, right ? Please translate for the poor dumb gryphons…”

Swift Snow rolled her eyes. “Necromancy is a branch of magic that focuses exclusively on death. Things like spells that can suck the life out of a pony, or the closest you can come to an actual curse... I’ve even heard stories about ponies raising the dead and such.”

Nuage nodded. “It’s exactly that… Basically, Papyrus has put his hooves on an ancient book so that he could… Well, he was about to die of illness when you saw him. And he did… But he had prepared a spell that... brought him back.”

“No.” Swift Snow glared at Nuage. “That’s impossible, necromancy isn’t a real thing ! It only works in legends and stories. Nopony has ever managed to create a working spell and any research on the subject is strictly forbidden anyway. Princess Celestia takes the matter extremely seriously. Technically, my home is not even a part of Equestria, but she still sends the royal guard every now and then to check that we aren’t studying any forbidden magic.”

I’m telling the truth…” Nuage waved at herself. “He… cast that spell on me too.”

“No way. You don’t know anything about magic. There has to be some other explanation…”

Ausha put a talon on her shoulder. “Hey, you just saw the girl take three shots that should have killed her three times… And she didn’t even bleed.”

“B- But…”

He walked up to Nuage and stuck his head against her chest, making her stiffen in surprise. After a few seconds, he moved back and turned to face Swift Snow.

“She has no heartbeat,” he said. “And she’s cold…”

The gryphoness couldn’t help but press a talon on her chest, desperately hoping to feel anything moving inside her… She shook her head, trying to get these thoughts out of her mind. “I need your help,” she said again. “Papyrus is… basically immortal now. He plans on conquering the entire world with his new powers. I think… No. I know he will do anything to reach that goal.”

“You’re serious ? You’re actually serious ? That… nutcase has turned you into a… a...”

“A zombie ?” Ausha suggested. “Hey, you don’t have a craving for brains, do you ?”

“Please,” Swift Snow said dryly, “we’re trying to have a real conversation.”

“Hey, I have the right to be worried !”

“I’m not even sure I can eat anymore,” Nuage said, looking down at the ground. She patted her chest with a talon. “That body is probably more magic than flesh… Papyrus doesn’t even have one anymore. Just… bones.”

“Bones ?”

“He’s nothing but skeleton now, held together by his magic…” Nuage took a deep breath, the now useless reflex still working to calm herself. “He’s just a monster now. He needs to be… put down, but I can’t do it on my own, it’s going to take powerful magic.” She stared at Swift Snow, making the unicorn fidget in place.

“If what you’re telling is true,” she said quietly, “we should try to contact princess Celestia. Or the royal guard...”

“We don’t have time,” Nuage answered firmly. “Papyrus is intelligent. It won’t take him long to realize that I stole the device and he will prepare accordingly. He will only fight if he is certain that he can win, otherwise he will hide. If he needs to, he will remain invisible for centuries, until he’s ready… We must strike now, before he can expect it and before he gets used to his new form.

“With that thing,” she added, pointing at the magical device in the unicorn’s grasp, “we should have a chance to stop him.”

Swift Snow observed the bridle-like apparatus, her eyes widening. “I can’t use that,” she said, staring at Nuage with a panicked expression. “I… I’ve sworn to keep it away from unicorn’s hooves, to make sure that no one could ever use it again. That includes me…”

“What’s so terrible about that thingy anyway ?” Ausha asked, scratching the back of his head.

“It gives its user so much power… they can do pretty much anything they want.” She shook her head. “The unicorn who created it went crazy, he… He actually used his magic to enslave the minds of dozens of ponies. It took my entire order to stop him and most didn’t survive. Almost a hundred unicorns…”

Ausha shrugged. “Well… You could use it for a good purpose, this time....”

“I don’t know…”

“We need to decide now,” Nuage said. “As I said, Papyrus will figure things out soon.”

“You could always bring that thing back, before he notices it’s missing,” the other gryphon suggested.

“No !” Swift Snow hugged the Fortior like a foal would clutch his favorite doll. “No. We can’t let that psycho have it.”

“I agree with her,” Nuage said with a nod. “He’s dangerous enough without it. If I take it back, he will use it.”

Ausha shrugged again. “In that case…”

Both gryphons stared at Swift Snow. The unicorn’s eyes shifted from one to another, then the device. After a minute of hesitation, she took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright… Alright. This goes against everything I’ve ever been taught... but I’ll do it.”

Wrapped in the pure white of her magic, the Fortior floated before her eyes for a moment, until she closed them and guided the device in place. It slid around her horn and she tightened the straps easily. The instant it was done, Swift Snow gasped, her eyes opening wide.

“You okay there ?” Ausha asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Huh ? Oh… Yeah. I never… I didn’t think it would be so…” She shook her head. “My magic feels so much more powerful now…” Swift Snow looked around, until her sights locked on the small stone hut. It shone a pure white, the same that was now wrapped around her horn. The whole structure was lifted in the air, rotated on itself a few times, then landed safely on the ground.

“Wow…” The unicorn’s voice sounded dreamy. “I knew it was powerful… but this is incredible ! I could only lift a couple of these stones without the Fortior.”

“Well… Good for you,” Ausha said. “Now that I got your amazing thingamabob back, you just have to pay me and I’ll get out of here.”

Nuage stared at him. “We need all the help we can get to fight Papyrus. You can leave after we’re done.”

“Ha ha…” He stared at her with an unamused face. “Nope. I was hired to do a job, it’s done now, end of story. I’ve seen enough of your crazy master for a lifetime.” Ausha stepped towards Swift Snow, holding an open talon in front of her. “Pay up, mare.”

“That’s it ?” Nuage asked, while the unicorn levitated a bag of bits out of her saddlebags. “All there is for you is money ?”

He jingled the bag, weighing it in his hand. “Money and making sure I stay alive long enough to spend it. I’m not going to risk my life, just to earn honor or some nonsense like that.”

“You can’t earn honor,” Nuage told him, glaring down from her full height. “You can only lose it. The only way to die with honor is to live with no fault.”

“Pfft ! Then it’s already too late for me, so you can leave my poor dishonored self alone.”

Nuage growled at him. “What’s wrong with you ? Don’t you have any pride at all ? Any valor ? Do you even know anything about gryphon traditions ?”

“Cut the act, would you ?” He slid his purse safely inside his quiver and used his now free talon to poke at Nuage’s chest. “You’re not a noble and heroic warrior, okay ? You’re just a broken, delusional and perverted gryphoness who won’t accept reality. I’m not going to waste my time listening to you.”

Swift Snow tilted her head on the side curiously. “Perverted ?”

“I didn’t do anything ! Shut up !” Nuage shook her head. “That’s not the point. We need to destroy Papyrus !”

“You. Not ‘we’, ‘you’. I don’t owe anything to either of you girls and don’t even think about using me to-.”

“I. Didn’t. Do. Anything !” She took a step forward, growling and poking him with a talon of her own. “You know what ? I should have ! Then at least you would have been useful for something !”

“I’m done here.” He swatted her hand away, dropped the weapons she had surrendered to him earlier and turned his back to her.

“You’re just... running away…” Nuage seethed. “You call yourself a gryphon ?”

Ausha snorted and went to pick his own weapon up. “Think what you want,” he said over his shoulder. “I don’t care.”

He jumped in the air and flapped his wings, gaining altitude quickly.

Nuage ran after him, but stopped after a few steps, growling as he flew higher and higher. Filling her lungs as much as she could, she shouted loud enough to be heard for miles away.

“Minable ! Moins-que-rien !“

Ausha simply kept flying.

“You hear me ? You’re less than nothing !”

She stopped yelling as he gained distance, becoming a single small dot in the sky. Huffing, Nuage turned around and walked back to Swift Snow.

“What did you do to him ?” she asked with a frown.

“Nothing !”

The unicorn simply sighed. “Fine… So, do we go to meet your master now ?”

“He’s not my master anymore and no, we don’t need to go anywhere...” Nuage picked up her gear and put it all back on. Once she was done, she pulled out an amulet from one of her pockets. “I can use this as a signal,” she said, showing it to the mare. “Papyrus will teleport here. Let me know when you’re ready...”

Swift Snow raised an eyebrow. “That’s it ? You don’t have any kind of plan ?”

“Uh… Not really.” Nuage rubbed the back of her head. “I guess… Hit him with everything you can ? I’ll try to protect you.”

“I feel so safe…” The unicorn rolled her eyes. “It would really help if I knew what kind of magic is keeping him alive, then I could work on dispelling it. Maybe if I could get a look at that book...”

“I’ll never be able to steal that one discreetly… unless you let me take the device back, then maybe I’ll have an opportunity to-”

“I said no !” The mare put her hooves on her head protectively. “I’m not taking any chances… I guess we’ll just have to improvise, then. How powerful can Papyrus be without the Fortior anyway ?”

Nuage nodded. “If you’re sure…”

The unicorn nodded back.

Nuage activated the amulet, laid it on the ground and waited. A minute later, a flash of green magic preceded the appearance of the skeletal unicorn. He was facing Nuage, his back turned to Swift Snow.

“What is going on ?” Papyrus asked with his unnatural, raspy voice. “I thought you wanted to be alone…”

Nuage took a deep breath and stared right in the absent eyes of her former master. “I lied.”

“You… What ?”

“I lied... I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go on.”

“Go on with what ? What are you trying to say, Nuage ?”

“She means,” Swift Snow said, her voice high and clear behind Papyrus, “we’re going to kill you now.”

The undead unicorn slowly turned around. To Swift Snow’s credit, she didn’t flinch when he faced her. His soulless gaze went up and down her form and stopped on her head.

“How did you get that ?” He pointed at the device secured on her horn.

“I gave it to her,” Nuage answered, making Papyrus turn around once more.

“Would you explain me what’s going on here or do we have to play charades ?”

Nuage’s eyes drifted down for a second, but she shook her head and held Papyrus’s gaze. “What you want to do… is completely insane ! I’m sorry, but I can’t let you turn the world into some… undead nightmare.”

“You’re… betraying me ? You ?” Even after twenty years, Nuage had never heard him sound so genuinely surprised... “Is it some sort of joke ? You always said you’d rather die than disobey me.”

“No. I would never fail my oath… but I swore to serve you until death.” She stared right at him, taking on her most serious expression. “We’re both beyond that, now... You said so yourself.”

“That’s it ? You’re using some sort of… of technicality as a way out ? I thought you placed your loyalty and honor above everything else ! I’m not dead. I am eternal ! And so are you, thanks to me !” He pointed at himself with a skeletal hoof, emphasizing his point. “I gave you immortality !”

Nuage burst, shouting at him as strong as her undead lungs could manage. “I never asked for that ! It’s… It’s not a gift. You didn’t give me anything, you stole my death from me !”

“Wha-”

“You can’t have a proper life without a proper death. You’ve ruined everything ! Look at yourself !” She pointed a shaking talon at the skeleton standing before her. “You’re an abomination now. And… And so am I.” She let her leg fall back to the ground, as if it was too heavy for her. Her shoulders slumped, some invisible weight dragging them down. “I have to fix this.”

Swift Snow had not wasted time while Nuage and Papyrus were talking. With her eyes closed and a look of concentration on her face, she had built up magic, making her horn shine a brilliant white. The mare opened her eyes to glare at the undead unicorn in front of her.

“This is for Cool Shade and Ivory,” she said coldly.

Papyrus barely had time to face her before a huge blast of pure white energy washed over him. Nuage squinted, but even with only a thin slit left between her eyelids, the light was still too bright to see anything. It didn’t last for long and when the spell ended, about half of the skeletal unicorn was gone, completely vaporized.

Swift Snow smirked. “No matter what anypony says, revenge does feel good.”

Nuage eyed the few remaining bones falling to the ground, as if gravity had suddenly remembered that it was supposed to pull them down. That was easier than she had thought...

“Actually,” the white mare said, “maybe I’ll get a little more of that.” She fixed Nuage with a vicious grin. The light building up again on her horn drowned her eyes in shadow, giving her an eerie look, very much like Nuage’s own…

The gryphoness waited stoically, not making a single move to escape or fight back.

Movement caught the corner of Nuage’s eye, but she quickly focused back on Swift Snow’s glowing horn. The light became brighter and brighter, until everything besides her face looked dark in contrast. Static-like noise started to come out of the huge blob of magic surrounding her horn.

“I know you were only following orders,” the mare said, “but… I’m sure you understand.”

“I do,” Nuage answered. She took another deep breath and stared straight into her eyes. “Go ahead.”

Swift Snow only nodded and pointed her horn straight at Nuage. For a second, the gryphoness lowered her eyes to the remains of Papyrus.

The mare unleashed her spell.

Nuage only had a split second, but it was enough to activate her shield. The impact pushed her back, her claws digging trenches in the ground.

“You changed your mind ?” Swift Snow asked, her brow furrowing. “Fine, we’ll do this the hard…” She trailed off, her eyes following the talon Nuage was holding in the air. “... way... What the hay ?”

Nuage was pointing at the pile of bones on the ground... that was wrapped in a green mist-like cloud of pure magic. It grew into the vague shape of a pony as the skeleton reformed itself.

Papyrus’s voice resonated in the air. “Not bad for a little filly.” As his reduced physical form finished recomposing, he turned around to face Swift Snow. The undead unicorn let out a few dark chuckles when he saw the living one stumbling back a few steps. “What ? Did you really think that pathetic blow would be enough to destroy me ?”

Swift Snow hurriedly let loose another blast of magic, but without taking any time to prepare it properly, it ended up as a meager ray. Papyrus erected a barrier around himself that blocked it without difficulty and vanished right afterwards.

Nuage saw his horn light up and dove forward, knocking him down just in time to mess his aim : a bolt of green magic zapped the ground near Swift Snow, causing an explosion that blew the mare to the ground. Thankfully, she got up quickly, apparently unharmed and only a little disoriented.

Nuage used all of her weight to keep the undead unicorn pinned to the ground and yelled to get Swift Snow’s attention.

“Hit him now. Hurry !”

The white unicorn shook her head and focused on Nuage and Papyrus, tangled on the ground. She charged her horn but seemed to hesitate.

“Don’t worry about me,” Nuage shouted, “just shoot !”

Papyrus grunted, trying to use his magic to lift Nuage off of her, but she broke his concentration by punching his horn. “Gah ! You’re crazy, Nuage !”

The light coming off of Swift’s horn was blinding. The mare unleashed her spell.

Everything became green for a second.

Nuage blinked, trying to focus her eyes on something. Before she could understand what had happened, she was propulsed in the air, landing in a heap soon after. She groaned and mumbled, trying to get up, rubbing her head.

The sounds of magic fizzing in the air helped her mind to focus again. She turned around to see the two unicorns exchanging bolts of pure energy in an all-out mage duel.

Nuage had never gotten used to teleportation, the spell ruining her balance every single time… It took her a few seconds to be able to stand without wobbling.

Swift Snow was holding her ground, her artificially boosted magic blasting again and again, but it only bounced on the skeletal unicorn’s shield and digged craters all around him. Papyrus was counter attacking just as fast, forcing the mare to jump and dodge his attacks.

Seeing him fight so efficiently made Nuage realize just how much his old age had hampered his abilities. Papyrus wasn’t stronger than when he was alive, he was fighting exactly like he did when she had first met him. A unicorn powerful enough to fell a dragon… Swift Snow could not hold him off on her own, Nuage knew that.

She flapped her wings, diving forward and landing next to the mare in a blink. With her gauntlet-shield activated, she made herself a rampart to protect Swift Snow, deflecting Papyrus’s attacks and giving her time to prepare her next spell.

The skeletal stallion soon abandoned his barrage and stared at his two opponents. He shook his head and sighed, lighting up his horn. A green bubble appeared around Nuage and Swift Snow, a small trickle of magic flowing from Papyrus’s horn to the spell to keep it up.

Nuage tentatively hit it with her flail and wasn’t surprised when it simply bounced. She turned to face Swift Snow. The mare had her eyes locked on Papyrus, a look of pure fury etched on her face. Her horn glowed even brighter...

The raspy voice of the undead unicorn echoed from outside the magic bubble. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

With a scream, Swift Snow unleashed her spell. Instead of going through or shattering the shield, it ricocheted and bounced all around, forcing the mare to dive to the ground.

The magic bolt ended up landing on Nuage’s back and throwing her forward. She landed in the dirt, feeling a surprisingly diffuse pain in her lower body.

“I warned you,” Papyrus said flatly.

Swift Snow didn’t answer, her mouth agape and her eyes locked on Nuage. The gryphoness tried to get up, struggling to keep her balance. She looked back at herself and froze.

She didn’t know what was the most horrifying part in what she was seeing : that her rear end was lying on the ground a couple of meters away from the rest of her, or that it was slowly dissipating into a thin trail of white smoke, floating back to her and recomposing in its “normal” state. It took less than a minute before Nuage was good as new.

Papyrus stepped closer to the shield. “You two seriously need to cool down.” He tapped a hoof on his chin. “Heh. Let’s make that literal.” His horn took on a second layer of green magic.

Nuage could not really feel the difference, but judging from the puffs of steam coming out of Swift Snow’s muzzle every time she breathed, the temperature had dropped to a freezing level. She started shivering only a few seconds later and Nuage wrapping one of her wings around her didn’t help much.

“Don’t worry, Nuage you’ll be fine. I may not kill her either,” Papyrus said, pointing a hoof at the mare. “I could use some living test subjects for my new spells…”

Nuage watched him sadly. “You’re crazy… You’re completely crazy.”

“You’re just confused right now,” he answered. “Probably a side effect of the resurrection spell. I’m sure you’ll come to your senses eventually, my friend.”

Nuage glared at him. “Friend ? Friend... Why don’t you listen to me if I’m your friend ? Stop this madness !”

Papyrus only shook his head sadly, as if he was speaking to a little foal unable to understand words too big for him.

“No… You’re not my friend,” Nuage said flatly. “Not anymore, Papyrus… I don’t even know what you are !”

He stood still, his empty eye sockets locked on Nuage.

“You…” His voice sounded almost distant. “You called me by my name ? You never did… In twenty years, you never called me Papyrus.”

“I can’t call you ‘master’ anymore.”

The two stared at each other for several long minutes. Nuage could not find anything else to tell…

“Is that it ?” Papyrus eventually said. “I don’t want to kill you, Nuage.”

“Neither do I,” she answered sadly.

She would do it anyway. She didn’t need to say it. They both knew that she would.

Papyrus let out a long sigh. “This is such a waste… But you give me no choice.”

Nuage could only watch as the undead unicorn took a step back, more and more magic gathering around his horn. Swift Snow was unable to help, curled up on the ground, shivering and helpless under the gryphoness’s wing.

Nuage sighed and stood up, her grip tightening on the handle of her flail. The heavy metallic head spun faster and faster, until it hit the shield at full speed. The magical bubble didn’t budge.

Nuage hit it again. And again. And again...

“What are y-y-you d-doing ?” Swift Snow asked through her chattering teeth. “It w-w-won’t w-work.”

Swift Snow was probably right, but the other choice was to sit and wait...

She striked once more, stronger than ever. Nothing happened...

Nuage pulled her arm out again, getting ready for another hit. When she swung again, her weapon encountered nothing.

She blinked dumbly a few times. The shield had vanished.

In front of her, most of Papyrus’s skeleton was crushed under a huge stone.

“Don’t just stand there !”

Nuage lifted her eyes to find the source of the male voice and saw a brown gryphon hovering in the sky. “What are you looking at ? Do something !”

Nuage shook her head. Ausha had only bought them a little time and she had to make good use of it : the heavy rock was already being wrapped in green magic. Nuage dashed to Swift Snow’s side and pulled her up.

“This is our chance, get ready !”

“W-W-What ?”

Nuage pointed a talon at the green haze around Papyrus’s bones. “He’ll be up in a minute, get your magic ready !”

“I- Uh… R-Right.” She nodded, or at least shivered in a way that looked similar.

While the mare was preparing, Nuage ran to where Papyrus was slowly rebuilding himself. The stone had been heaved out of the way and the green mist was mending every broken bone before putting them back in their proper place.

Nuage activated her shield and twirled her flail, getting ready to strike. As soon as Papyrus’s skull floated back in place, a well-placed hit sent it flying away. The rest of his skeleton still stood in place, so she scattered it too with a series of quick strikes. As expected, Papyrus began gathering himself back again, but Nuage could at least buy some time. For several minutes, she kept pummeling the bits of Papyrus every time he got up.

She spared a glance at Swift Snow. The mare looked like she was almost ready, at least as far as Nuage could tell…

As Nuage was waiting for Papyrus’s magic to gather his remains again, she was surprised to see a ball of green light concentrate and dive to the ground at her feet. The next thing she knew, Nuage was sailing through the air along with a large amount of dirt, rocks and other debris, ending up landing head over heels a few meters away from the explosion. By the time she had gathered her wits, Papyrus had managed to go back to his “normal” state.

He stared right at Nuage and growled.

She looked at Swift Snow, shouting at her to attack now. A white ray of magic shot from her horn, only to meet Papyrus’s shield spell. As soon as it was down, he charged his horn for his counter-attack.

It missed, but only because Ausha swooped down and grabbed Swift Snow, flying to a safe distance.

Papyrus roared, his anger reaching a boiling point. “I’ve had enough !” He stomped closer to Nuage. “You ! I’ll deal with you later. For now, sit still.” His horn lit up again...

Fire.

A wall of flame appeared before her. Nuage’s first reaction was to turn around and run, but behind her was another wall of fire. And to her right. And to her left… Nothing except fire. Babbling in panic, she did her best to put as much as distance between her and the blaze, ending up curled in a little ball on the ground, with her eyes screwed shut and her head buried under her arms.

Wrapped in a fetal position, Nuage managed to calm down a little. She could not really feel the heat, just like she was unable to feel the cold earlier, so she could ignore the flames when she didn’t see them. She had to ignore them. Papyrus was still about. She couldn’t just stay there…

Nuage cracked one of her eyes open, only to screw it shut instantly. So much fire…

She stayed on the ground, unable to move, doing her best to motivate herself. She knew that the flames could not even kill her. But every time she saw them, she saw the dragon, she saw her family dying, she saw herself alone and crying on the floor… Nuage tried to move and failed…

She was about to give up and accept whatever would come when she heard something other than the crackling of the flames. A… whine ?

She heard it again, it was close to her… Forcing her eyes open, she saw the beast.

It wasn’t physically there, a shadow that Nuage could see through, but she recognized its grotesque shape easily. This time, though, it was only watching her sadly, the flames inside its empty orbits almost extinguished and looking more like a candle than the wild fire they should have been.

The beast whined again. It didn’t use words, but she understood what it said... It was sad to see her like this. It wanted her to get up and fight. Nuage gave the walls of fire a glance and couldn’t help herself. She buried herself under her talons again, sobbing and moaning.

“I can’t,” she said, not even stopping to think about whether the beast could understand her or not. “I can’t fight this.”

The beast told her that it could fight with her, if she let it do so.

“How ?”

It only cocked its head to the side, locking its burning gaze onto her eyes.

Nuage recalled what Stone Mane had said. “You’ll be a part of the beast now…” How much of that was true ? The fact that she could understand the wordless snarls of the creature seemed to prove him right… With nothing left to lose, Nuage chose to trust the monster.

“What do I do ?” she asked softly.

The beast turned around and reached a paw at the fire. It opened, as if a hole had been dug in the solid wall of flame. The creature went back to sit in front of Nuage, his demonstration finished, then dissipated into thin air while the wall closed again.

Nuage gulped and stood up on shaky legs. She didn’t even have real muscles anymore, but still shook like a fledgling… Mentally berating herself, the gryphoness groaned and forced herself to stand still. She couldn’t really tell, but it probably took her a whole minute to get her right talon off the ground and near the fire. All she had to do was touch it... That was what the beast had done…

Slowly, slowly, Nuage got her talon closer to the flames. There were only a few centimeters left, but she found her arm completely frozen. She wanted nothing more than to take it back and go back to panicking…

She pictured Swift Snow and Ausha being turn into undead monsters. Through her mind, images of the future rolled. Papyrus at the head of an army of skeleton ponies, pursuing the living and converting them... The world’s tyrant, insane and unstoppable.

She pictured the unicorn when he was younger, ready to help ponies in danger… Why did things had to turn out like this ?

With a scream of rage, Nuage shoved her hand through the fire. Her scream turned into one of pure terror when she saw the flames reach up and consume her arm. She flailed it around, trying to put them out, but only quickened their spread. Her shoulder, her chest, her head, the rest of her body… It took only a few seconds before she was entirely engulfed in flames and only a few more before her “flesh” had disappeared, leaving only her bones behind.

She would have shed a few tears at the loss of her body, if she still had eyes to cry with. For some odd reason, the fire didn’t burn her gear, leaving her armor and weapons intact. It also didn’t die out, even after there was nothing left to consume. The flames stuck to her skeleton, as if taunting her and her fears. Or maybe showing her that there was nothing to fear…

Nuage tried to take a few deep breaths to calm herself. She could not.

She tried to sigh. She couldn’t either.

What she could do was move. She took a step forward and the wall of flames parted to let her out.

Once free of her blazing prison, Nuage took a look around. Papyrus hadn’t defeated Swift Snow and Ausha yet, the latter carrying the former around while she was casting spells left and right. Despite her best efforts, she could not beat the undead pony, unfortunately.

No… Nuage would have to do it. She gave her talon a look. Bony claws poking out of the armored gauntlet. Bones flexing and turning at her command, as if they were a real limb, flesh and blood. And all around, clear yellow flames, dancing around and refusing to leave her.

She grabbed her flail and found out that she could make the fire- her fire wrap itself around the head. The flames were… eager to fight. Eager to burn the undead pony...

Nuage set her gaze on Papyrus, who was too busy with the others to notice her. She flapped her fiery wings and took off, heading straight for him. Her flail twirled in the air, creating a ring of fire around her fist. She hit Papyrus near his rump and shattered all the bones.

He fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

Nuage winced at the inequine shriek and landed behind him. Papyrus turned his head to see what was happening.

“Nuage ? Gah...” His horn lit up and his magic wrapped around the fractured bones.

This time, they did not mend and he remained stuck on the ground, his hind legs now useless.

“What ? Why is it not… What did you do ?”

Nuage only watched him sadly. It probably didn’t reflect on her features, since she didn’t have any. The fire had consumed his very essence... She knew it, without knowing it. She could feel the flames hungering for more, eager to devour every single morsel of him.

Papyrus growed and lit up his horn again, intending to cast a spell. Nuage simply swatted at it with a talon. The fire danced around the horn a few seconds before flying back to her.

The green glow was gone. Papyrus screamed again.

“Why ? This… This hurts. It can’t hurt !” Without proper magic spells to defend himself, all he could do was try to crawl away from the burning gryphoness. “What did you do to me ?”

The fire wanted more, but Nuage quenched that. Using every bit of willpower she had, the gryphoness forced herself to calm down. She pushed the urge away and locked it deep inside her.

The flames around her began to reduce, going from a bright yellow to a dull red, before extinguishing completely in a puff of white smoke. The cloud settled down on her, recomposing her body. Nuage blinked a few times but didn’t even question her transformation. She simply lied down in front of Papyrus, staring at him.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I have to do this.”

“Why ?” Papyrus did his best to straighten himself. “Why ?!”

“You’re a monster. You need to be put down… If-” She choked on her words and had to clear her throat to continue. “If I didn’t stop you… No. I can’t let everypony remember you like that.”

“What ?”

“You’ve changed, Papyrus. You should be remembered as a pony, not…” She waved a talon at him. “... like that.”

They silently stared at each other a while.

“It took me too long to realize it,” Nuage continued. “I’m sorry… Maybe… Maybe I could have saved you if I realized... But I didn’t see it. Not until it was too late.” She had to pause for a few seconds, to get her breathing steady. Even with that unnatural body of hers, she couldn’t help but sob as she talked. “You are not the pony you used to be. You are not the pony I used to call master. The pony I admired. The pony I respected. The pony I… I loved.”

“Nuage ?”

“I used to be proud to serve you ! It was all I could wish for. I… I was happy with you. You used to be a great master…”

Papyrus sighed. A long, raspy sound… “You’ve always wanted me to be a hero…”

“You were one, back when-”

“No,” he cut her off. “No… You wanted me to be a hero, but I’ve never been…”

Nuage laid her head on her talons, looking like a beaten dog. “I’m sorry.”

“You did your best, Nuage…” Struggling a little, Papyrus put one of his hooves on Nuage’s hand. She put her other talon on top of it, holding it gently.

“If somepony told me you would be the one to destroy me…” The old unicorn slowly shook his head. “You never gave me a proper answer… All these years ago, why did you come find me ?”

Nuage blinked a few times, watching him curiously. “I… I wanted to serve you…”

“I know that,” he said softly. “But why did you want to ?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie to me, Nuage. Not now... And don’t lie to yourself either.”

Nuage had always refused to ask herself that question, to make sure she would not have to answer it… She had always known the answer.

“I… I wanted… No. I needed my life to have a meaning.”

“I see,” Papyrus said, turning his head to look up at the sunny sky. “I see. So did I… Maybe it was too much to ask.”

“Maybe...”

“I suppose there’s nothing left to add. Let’s finish this.”

Nuage nodded slowly and got back up.

“Goodbye,” Papyrus said while waiting patiently on the ground. “Goodbye and good luck, Nuage.”

“Suzanne.”

“Pardon ?”

“My real name,” the gryphoness said. “You wanted to know. It’s Suzanne.”

She heard a faint chuckle coming from Papyrus. “Suzanne,” he repeated. “You know what ? I think Nuage sounds better… You keep that name.”

She smiled faintly and nodded. “I will. Goodbye, Papyrus.”

Nuage searched for the strange feeling of the hungry flames and let it all out. In a second, her body had once again turned into fire. This time, instead of holding it back, she pushed it forward and the flames rushed away from her skeleton and onto Papyrus’s.

He did not scream this time, only a faint hiss letting her know that anything was happening at all. Before she knew it, everything was over. The pile of bones that had been magically animated fell to the ground in a heap and the flames died out, turning again to smoke.

The white cloud shaped itself like the monstrous beast, standing in front of her. Nuage reached with a talon, to pat it on its head and the thing let out a single whine.

It puffed into smoke, flew back to her and reformed her lifeless body.

Nuage sat down and looked at the sky.

A lone cloud drifted in front of the Sun.

On Mount Saddle, in front of the cave she used as a home, Nuage was sitting on the grass.

Ahead of her stood a single heavy stone, white and smooth. It was set at the edge of a small mound of dirt.

She had been sitting in front of the grave for a whole day when she heard the ruffling of wings behind her. Ausha walked to her side and sat down, too. The two gryphons remained quiet for a long while.

Nuage finally broke the silence and turned her head to watch her visitor.

“Why did you come back ?”

Ausha shrugged. “I was curious. Wanted to see what you’d do now.”

“No... I meant why did you come back, yesterday ? You didn’t want to fight.”

“Oh… Well, I intended to just leave everything to you girls. That was reasonable, I think. But…” He made a motion with his talon. “I guess I’m not reasonable. I couldn’t leave like that… Looks like I’m more than nothing, huh ?”

Nuage chuckled quietly. “Thank you, then. We would have failed without you.”

“Yeah, you would have, right ? I’m the big hero here !” The gryphon grinned goofily, making Nuage smile a little.

“Seriously,” he said, grabbing a pebble and twirling it between his digits. “What are you going to do now ?”

“Why do you care ?”

Ausha shrugged again. “Just being friendly. Having an immortal friend can’t hurt, you know ?”

Nuage sighed. “I think… I will go back to Papyrus’s tower. There are still a lot of artifacts and powerful magics in there... I’ll guard them. Make sure no one makes use of the dangerous ones.”

“That’s it ?” He tossed the pebble over his shoulder. “You’re going to spend eternity inside some old tower ?”

“That must be my destiny,” she said softly.

“You don’t actually believe that, do you ? I mean, sure, someone should keep an eye on that stuff, but it doesn’t have to be you.”

“I know.”

He groaned. “You’re still going to do it, huh ?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a strange one…”

Nuage was the one to shrug, this time. “What about you ?” she asked him. “Are you going back to the life of a mercenary ?”

“I suppose. A gryphon’s gotta pay the bills… Maybe I’ll come back here from time to time, to visit. You shouldn’t stay all alone, you know. It’s not good for you.”

“That’s it ?” she shot back. “You’re going to spend your life earning money to pay your bills ?”

Ausha chuckled. “Hah. Who knows what I’ll do ? Maybe I’ll do something different, maybe not. I don’t ask myself so many questions.”

“Maybe that’s true wisdom,” Nuage said, staring up at the clouds, drifting idly in the sky.

“Or not,” Ausha added. “There’s only one way to know the future.” He got up and spread his wings. “You know what they say…”

Nuage nodded and turned to watch him take off and leave, waving as he went. With the ghost of a smile on her beak, she whispered to herself.

“Qui vivra verra.”

FIN

Author's Note

And that's all for this story, which means it's time for me to rant for a while !
Have some relevant music to make this more bearable :

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for reading this. I enjoy writing for writing's sake, but it doesn't hurt to have actual readers... And since this story had barely any of those, every view, favorite and thumb up is so much more precious to me. If it weren't for those, I would never have bothered finishing things up. So, thanks again to all of you, I hope you enjoyed the read. Many thanks to FerrousSpark for the cover, too. Seriously, it's awesome !

If you feel like it, leave me a comment to let me know what you thought, now that the story is wrapped up. Feedback is always appreciated, even if it's to tell me that my writing is terrible. I can't improve if I don't know what I do right and what I do wrong.

Now, some "behind the scenes" stuff about the story... If you didn't pick up on that, the whole thing was inspired by a movie : Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. If you never saw that movie, you should find it, it's awesome.

Watch out ! Spoiler stuff now !!!!
Nuage was originally completely based on Ghost Dog (the character). In the movie, Ghost Dog was saved by a mafia boss (Louie) and decided to put himself in his service to repay his debt. He follows the code of bushido to the letter and never betrays his "master", ever. The movie ends with Ghost Dog letting Louie kill him willingly, because the mob had ordered him to and it was the only proper thing left to do.
The reason Nuage speaks French is not just because I myself am French, I swear ! It's also linked to the movie, actually : Ghost Dog's best friend is Raymond, a haitian man who speaks only French. Since Ghost Dog speaks only English, they never understand what they actually say, but still understand each other anyways. I've always loved that aspect of the movie and originally thought of having the same thing, with Nuage and Papyrus not speaking the same language although I didn't keep that. It would have made things too complicated in the end... Or maybe I was too lazy ? Meh... At least, you guys must have learned a few words and phrases. That's good, right ?
The "code" I added in is also something from the movie. The difference being that I made stuff up while the movies quoted actual excerpts from the Hagakure.
That's about all for the similarities, I didn't completely rip the movie off ! The plot is vastly different, the relationship between Nuage and Papyrus is not really the same as the one between Ghost Dog and Louie and all the other characters have pretty much nothing in common...
!!! End of the spoilering !!!

I think I'll stay away from flash fic events from now on. I'm a really slow writer and submitting a third of a story is not really the point... Whatever. I write what I feel like writing, when I feel like writing, so I may change my mind in the future. We'll see.

There's enough room for a sequel, although I really doubt it will happen. Sorry if you wanted more, but I think I'll focus on stories that get more readers...

I guess that's it. Everything must end at some point. Thank you all for your time, take care of yourselves and see you on my next fic !