Nexus was unsurprised to see the entire crew either in their armor to try and keep warm and the rest wrapped in blankets. Over the helm, Nexus could see storm clouds hanging around the mountain's upper half like they were in a bad movie. Or fanficiton, take your pick. Nexus was in his armor with thick cloths wrapped around his neck and his face. Silver, Thunder Fixette and Autumn were in their full body snow suits that every metallurgist in Equestria had while Ephialtes, Hestaria and White Knight wore their armor.

"Alright, everybody but you five," Nexus said waving a hoof over the ponies in front of him. "Stay here while we head up that mountain."

"Why are we even doing this? Couldn't we just fly up there?" Ephialtes asked.

Nexus glared straight at Ephialtes and walked up into his face and sneered. "What did I tell you about snide comments?"

Ephialtes looked to either side of himself before Nexus used his horn to pick him up and toss him overboard. He shouted as he plummeted to the ground but was able to pull his Icarus half way down. He flapped as hard as he could and got back up to the ships level.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Nexus!?" He shouted angrily.

"I'm sorry!" Nexus shouted back taking off from the deck and getting in Ephialtes' face. "But when you came under my command, I was under the understanding that meant you were to do as I say when I say it? And I said when we left, no snide comments! Is that understood?"

"You're losing it!" Ephialtes said shoving Nexus in midair.

Everypony on the ship was deathly silent as this argument went on.

"You wanna try that again? I'll give you the first one for free but the next one is going to cost you." Nexus said hovering in his face.

"You're an ass-hole! You can just shove your orders up your ass!" Ephialtes said about to shove Nexus again.

Nexus batted away his forelegs, grabbed him by the right foreleg and threw him over his shoulder and back onto the ship. Ephialtes tumbled through the air and slammed, back first into a crate of hay. Ephialtes didn't have time to even gain his footing; Nexus was already on top of him with his left foreleg in his throat. He pulled back his right and drew his electrified blade.

Not allowing him to say a word, Hestaria jumped in and pulled Nexus off of her boyfriend. Nexus responded by shoving her to the other end of the ship with a gentle kick from his right hindleg; or what was considered gentle for him. As Hestaria jumped to her hoofs and Ephialtes tired to get to his, Nexus drew his new toys and leveled them at both. From two side panels on the inside of his legs, two small pistols, similar to a Thunder Storm Rifle popped out on spring loaded arms.

"I warned you." Nexus said with a harsh tone. "Now, if anypony else has any objections to us climbing that mountain, I'd like to get moving."

Everypony was still and silent. Nexus put away his weapons and got back on all fours.

"Knight, Hestaria, help Bit and Clap down to the ground. Ephialtes, get your lazy flank down there as soon as your head stops spinning."

Nexus commanded spreading his wings and leaping over the edge of the Lifeline. Nexus pulled his cloths over his face and tucked the edges in the sides of his helmet. With a deep breath, warmth filled the mask. He looked above him to see the rest of his team floating down with an unexpected passenger.

"No! Ephialtes, take him back up." Nexus demanded.

"Oh come on Lunar." Vince pleaded as Ephialtes set him down in the snow with the other earth ponies. "I'm trying to be a field reporter. What better way to learn how to work in the field, then to be in the field. Or tundra, as it were."

"Absolutely not! You're going back on that ship like it or not!"

Nexus' horn started to glow as an aura surrounded Vince.

"Oh, come on cosine! You know as well as I do that I could write you into a massive mess of legal trouble before we even get back home." he said half way up to the ship.

Nexus stopped instantly, knowing he was right. He'd done much worse to a stallion named Philthy Rich back in Ponyville. He slowly let his cosine down to the ground and undid his mask.

"It's going to be cold up there. You're going to need a lot more than that jacket." Nexus said wrapping it around Vince's face. "What about you?"

"The armor'll keep me plenty warm. Let's get moving ponies! Don't want to be anywhere near those clouds by nightfall." Nexus said as he began to lead the way towards the base of the mountain.

The sun was just starting to set by the time they were half way up the mountain. They were extremely close to the clouds that hung around the mountains. At the point they were at, a thing forest of pine trees had granted some light cover from the steady winds trying to shove them back down the mountain. Nexus had put on his glasses to cut down on the glare off of the snow and keep the snow out of his eyes. Everypony behind him had been complaining for him to set up camp, that when the sun went down, it'd be nearly impossible to move at all.

After a quick check of the map, he agreed to set up camp for the night. He did what he could to keep everypony warm as Ephialtes went out to gather wood just as the sun touched the horizon. Nexus' horn was a blaze with fire as everypony sat slightly down wind of him to get the full benefits of the heat. The sun had long since dipped down under the vast expanse of white, snow covered trees, covering the entire place in a veil of frozen shadows.

"Where the hell is Ephi?" Hestaria asked with her wings wrapped around her. "He's been gone forever."

"Three hours." White Knight clarified.

"Not helping Corporal." Nexus scolded.

"Why are you complaining? You're the one with the fire on their head." Vince added.

"How do you think I make this spell work? I take my body heat and focus it to my horn. I'm colder than all of you."

How much longer do we have to wait on him?" Silver asked. "I'm tempted to just break my rifles and use them as wood."

"That'd be a waste of a great invention by a great woman." Thunder said with a slightly flirty tone.

Nexus was amazed to hear him even sound like that. He would have thought on it a bit more, but something else crossed his mind and line of sight. The barrel of a rifle poked out of the shadows and directly at him. The fire on Nexus' horn suddenly went out and his body vanished from the group. Only to be thrown back in seconds later as several other bipedal, winged silhouettes became visible, all holding rifles.

"Ne bougez pas!(Don't move.)" one of the figures shouted. "Nous avons votre scout!(We have your scout.)"

"Somepony want to tell me what's going on here? What the hell are they saying!?" Hestaria asked reaching for her lance.

Nexus lit his horn again and drew his pistols. In the light, he could see eight griffons in old plate armor chest plates and gloves with metal visors with two holes in them covering their eyes. Each one wielding a long, six shot rifles; all leveled at him and his team.

"They're speaking griffon." Nexus told them. "We're not here to hurt you, we're here to find somepony."

"Qu'est-ce?" the closest griffon asked.

"Uh… Parlez-vous équestre? (Do you speak Equestrian?)" Nexus asked in their language.

"Aucun.(no) Indiquer votre entreprise.(State your business.)"

"Uh… That's all the griffon I know." Nexus said nervously.

"Nous sommes à la recherche de quelqu'un. (We're here looking for somebody.)" Vince said quickly and fluently in griffon.

"When did you speak griffon?" Nexus asked.

"When you review plays, you better know more than one language." Vince clarified. "What do you have on the griffon we're looking for?"

"I have this coin." Nexus said taking the coin on the chain out of his chest plate. "Ask them if they recognize the coin."

"Alright. Est-ce que cette pièce semble familier?(Does this coin look familiar?)"

All of the griffons backed up a few feet instantly, like it was only something they'd heard about but never dreamed of seeing.

"Aquilam Cor!" one one of them shouted. "Aquilam Cor!"

From behind Silver Bit, a light brown griffon without a face mask emerged holding a wooden staff with a glowing blue crystal wrapped in the wood at the top, like it had grown that way, came out with a stern look on his beak. His ice blue eyes passed over the group with disinterest.

"Pourquoi avez-vous besoin de moi maintenant vous nigauds? (Why do you need me now you simpletons?)" He asked annoyed.

"La pièce de monnaie. (The coin.)" The only female griffon said pointing to Nexus.

Everypony but Vince back away from Nexus as Aquilam aproached Nexus. He took the coin in his left talons and examined it in the flames of Nexus' horn. His reaction was much less substantial then the rest of his group. It was almost like he wasn't interested at all.

"Qu'en est-il? (What about it?)" He asked.

"What are they talking about?" Nexus asked Vince.

"They're talking about the coin."

"I get that, but what else?"

"Vous savez ce que c'est vrai? (You know what that is right?)" the one that had thrown Nexus back in asked.

"What about Ephialtes?" Hestaria asked suddenly having her thoughts all come together.

"Qu'en est-il notre ami? (What about our friend?)" Vince asked. "Si vous voulez la médaille, nous dire où notre ami est. (If you want the coin, tell us where our friend is.)"

"Il est bien si c'est ce que vous demandez. (He's well if that's what you ask.)" Aquilam responded. "Et nous ne voulons pas la pièce. Nous voulons savoir pourquoi vous l'avez. (And we don't want the coin. We wish to know why you have it.)"

"He's okay, and he wants to know where you got the coin."

Hestaria let out a sigh, with the hope that her boyfriend was still alive, but didn't relax. She knew that alive didn't mean unharmed.

"Tell them it was given to me by Discord."

"Il nous a été donné par la Discorde."

"Comment pouvait-il avoir obtenu il? (How did he get it?)" Aquilam mumbled to himself. "Suivez-nous, nous allons vous conduire à que vous cherchez. (Follow us, we shall lead you to whom you seek.)" he said turning his back on them and starting up the mountain with the rest of the griffons.

"What'd he say?" Thunder Clap asked.

"He said to follow them." Vince translated. The six of them stood up and followed the light glow of Aquilam's staff.

Author's Notes:

A new enemy? Or perhaps a powerful ally not to be trifled with? Fine out next time on FimFicion.net