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.

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...

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 ?"

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 ?"

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.

"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.

“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.

“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.”

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.

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.

“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.”

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

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

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

“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 ?”

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.

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

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.

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 ?”

“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 ?”

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.”

“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 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.”

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.”

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.”

“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.”

“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.

The Cloud in the Wind

by Bud Grazer

4. You have me