The Cloud in the Wind

by Bud Grazer

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 !