The Cloud in the Wind

by Bud Grazer

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 It looked like her eyeballs had been replaced by a pair of of obsidian marbles.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 !

Comments

[Equestrian Wyvern]

While that wasn't quite the ending I was hoping for/expecting, it is certainly a fine end to one of the most unique Stories I have read. Even though I may be just one of a few readers, I think your work with this story was amazing, and just barely missed the top 5 Gryphon stories from my user page. If you do decide to write a sequel I will be there; and even if its not a sequel I will probably still be there.

[Bud Grazer]

3293953
Thank you
I've been working on another, similar story for... way too long by now. If you liked this one, check out what I'll publish in the near future.

And then, I have several other ideas running around in my head for other stuff that I want to write next... I already have some vague idea of what I could write in a sequel to this one, but I'd like to get all the others done first. I really need to find a way to get these out of my brain faster, it's getting cluttered in there.

So, there's little chance we'll see Nuage again, but "never say never"...

[Dustin Lange]

I read this story a few weeks ago and loved it to death!
It made me laugh.
It made me cry.
It even made me cringe till my teeth were gone.
I loved this story so much that I actually read it in one day, put it on my NOOK, and cried that it was over.

I wan't more Nuage!

[Bud Grazer]

4203007
Thanks man (or woman). This story is actually one of my favorites amongst the stuff I've written, so nice comments like these are extra special to me Sorry about your teeth, though.

I'm not promising a sequel because I have a lot of stories in progress right now and if I start another one, nothing will ever get done. I write slowly enough already... But when those are finally done, there's a good chance I'll go back to this universe. Just don't hold your breath, because it'll take a while.

You might want to check that story, too. It's just a one-shot and more of a spin-off than a sequel, but it does take place in the same continuity and with one character coming back.

[Dustin Lange]

4203332
Hope you don't mind, but I added this story to some groups.