Over the next couple of days, Skyward’s recovery was progressing nicely. The Haylian pony even was able to use her last two Blue Potions to help with those as well—she knew she would need to restock or find the herbs to make them somehow when next another portal opened. She was careful about using them, however—Twilight fed them to her bit by bit, mixing them in her drinks and certain foods, so it would seem to the doctors she was recovering fairly well.

It was now the day before Hearth’s Warming Eve—the Haylian mare had chosen one of the more secluded gardens for the Goddesses’ Brazier bonfire. Part of the tradition was gathering wood for it—which they did so under heavy guard. Skyward had been cleared to fight, but only just by Dr. Vital Signs, so they had to be careful; but the Haylian potions had done theirwork, as had the magic salve he had prescribed.

There were still signs of Diamond Dog activity; and Skyward was more than a little wary about that. The raid had gone badly for them, why were they still barely backing off? She read the newspapers and kept an ear out for anything suspicious that might lead to a portal location—not that the Diamond Dogs’ behavior wasn’t telling her something was up already. She brushed out her mane, braided the sides of it to keep it out of her face, then donned her armor, sans her helm.

She walked down the corridor to the dining hall; when she entered, the others were already there, munching on loaded plates of food. Off to the left, there was a massive buffet spread out on a large table, consisting of pancakes, waffles, bowls of warm oatmeal, hay bacon, fresh fruit that consisted of crystal berries, fresh apples, bananas, grapes, plums. There were also platters of hash browned potatoes covered in cheese, wheaten toast soaked in butter with jars of preserves and honey close by, and pitchers of fresh juice, hot tea and coffee waited with cream and sugar close at hoof.

The armored mare smiled at her friends’ happy greetings and seated herself, dishing herself a plate of waffles with honey, a bowl of luscious fruit, two pieces of toast and some hay bacon.

“Hey, Skyward?”

The Haylian mare looked up from her food at Spike questioningly, and he gestured at her plate. “Don’t you like syrup on your waffles?”

“Spike!”

“Whaaat? I’m just wondering, Twilight.”

“I just prefer honey to syrup, that is all. Then again, it could have something to do with the fact mine brother near burned the last batch he tried to make under Crimson Maple’s watchful eye.”

Applejack snickered. “Lemme guess, yer brother didn’ watch fer th’ bubbles at th’ edges, right?”

The bluesteel unicorn laughed. “More like he got so comfortable near the cooking fires, the featherbrain fell asleep!”

Laughter rang out at the table, and Spike chortled. “Now that had to be embarrassing. I think I remember you cooking fruit in it a couple of times…it was really tasty. I really liked the sprinkles of emerald you put on mine.”

“It is a recipe mine father made for us when we were foals, but unlike mine brother I did not grow out of eating it. Honeyed fruit is quite tasty, but gathering the honey is no small feat—courser bees can be quite fierce when angered. It generally takes a team of three to get the honey from the hive.”

“Umm…can’t you just ask the bees for some honey?”

Skyward was confused before she remembered Fluttershy could speak to animals, and she shook her head. “Sadly, no Haylian pony hast the gift of animal speech that thou possesses, Fluttershy—if anypony did, we wouldst most certainly use it. But, such is not the case, so we must harvest what we need. Fear not, however. We leave plenty for them, so they may survive to make more—unless the hive is so large we must destroy it. Courser bees, in great swarms, can kill a pony easily.”

Cadence swallowed her mouthful of pancakes, wiped her mouth daintily and spoke up. “Skyward, would it be possible if you could make any of those dishes I keep hearing from Twilight about? Most of them sound so delicious—I’d love to try that honeyed fruit.”

Skyward looked thoughtful. “T’would be mine pleasure to do so if thou wish, Princess, but some of them wilt take time—some require ingredients from mine homeland proper, and I do not know when another portal shalt present itself.”

“Not for nothin’, sugarcube; let’s hope another one o’ those thing don’ show up anytime soon, not this close t’ Hearth’s Warming.”

Skyward shrugged at Applejack helplessly—they all knew the Haylian mare could only wait and watch; she wasn’t the one opening the damn things in the first place. The bluesteel unicorn finished her food and got up to get more from the buffet table…

The windows to the right suddenly flew open to admit a Crystal Empire pegasus scout—but there was something clearly wrong with him. His flight was haphazard at best, dangerous at worst and he could not keep himself flying straight for some reason. Hearing his flapping and shouts, Skyward tried to scramble out of the way in time, but the pegasus scout was unable to stop and crashed right into her. They tumbled out of the door and down the hall before they came to a stop, the others having chased after them when the Crystal Empire scout had all but crash-landed into one of their own.

The armored mare groaned in pain, re-adjusting her helm before she glared down at the scout in irritation; she had ended up on top of him with him below her. The scout looked sheepishly up at her, offering an apologetic grin.

“Umm…sorry about that?”

Skyward sighed and got up with Applejack’s help, shaking herself out, Shining Armor approaching the scout and holding out one hoof expectantly. The pale purple and silver maned and tailed pegasus looked confused before his pale green eyes lit up and he fished a scroll out of his saddlebags, handing it to his commanding officer. Cadence thanked the scout and sent him to the infirmary for his clipped wing, which had been the problem causing his crash into Skyward. But as Shining Armor read the scout’s report, the very air in the room seemed to thicken with tension, and his frown grew deeper, his ears laying back. Seeing his ears pin backwards, Cadence stepped forward to read over her husband’s shoulder, and she frowned.

“Despite us chasing out those Diamond Dogs, they still are mining large quantities of diamond quartz. What could they be doing with all of it?”

Skyward shook her head grimly. “One has an idea of why, Princess. If they are still massing quantities of diamond quartz, one needs must investigate. Alone.”

Twilight and the others looked at one another—they knew what she was implying. Shining Armor shook his head at her. “Skyward, I understand the need for secrecy, but…”

“Please, Your Highness. I beg of thee to hear one out. I believe the Diamond Dogs might be guarding a portal…a portal to mine world. If so, I must seal it—they art likely working for Ganondorf, sending him materials for weapons. But I must do this alone. I’ll not risk another Geek Out scenario, if one is seen with too many ponies.”

“That an’ we need t’ keep this quiet. We can’t jest sit on our flanks, Ah agree, but…”

The orange farmpony shook her blond mane and stomped a hoof. “This time, sugarcube, ya ain’t facin’ this alone.”

Rarity tapped the tabletop to get their attention. “Pardon me for interrupting, but Skyward, dear, can’t you take one of us with you?”

Skyward eyed Rarity and unsheathed her sword, laying it on the table in front of the ivory unicorn mare. “Art thou able to kill, Rarity? Art thou willing to shed blood in thine land’s defense? Because that, is exactly what one must do—what I hath been doing, from the beginning of this madcap adventure. Know no shame if thou cannot…but this is war, and I’ll not bring those along who cannot defend themselves…”

Cadence cleared her throat, bringing everypony’s eyes to her. “Let me discuss that with Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna first, Rarity. But she does have a point. If you go with her to Hayrule, you will likely need to kill somepony, or even some vile beast to defend yourself if Skyward is too far off to do so.”

Rainbow Dash snorted, slapping a hoof against the table. “There’s gotta be something we can do! I don’t wanna sit on my flank while Skyward’s kicking monster plot all by herself!”

“You won’t have to. I’ve got a plan that’ll help Skyward out if she’s right about all this. We need to destroy their cache anyway.”

All eyes turned to Shining Armor, who pointed at the map with one hoof. “The army can help keep the Diamond Dogs busy while Skyward goes to find the portal, if it exists. They’ve been taking the crystals to one huge cavern about five miles west of the path that leads to Yakyakistan.”

“Then let us waste no time, Your Highness. If they art feeding weapon materials to Ganondorf…well. But thou art right. We need to sever their supply line.”

Two hours later had Shining Armor, the Mane 6 and Skyward peering over a ridge of dulled crystal at a huge cavern mouth. Snow covered the ground here, and the rocks glistened with rime and frost, making the entire area glitter like a half polished gem. There were Diamond Dogs guarding the area, but not very many, which was surprising considering the number of dogs that had attacked a few days earlier. Then again, this place had been pretty well hidden…

Until now.

They hunkered down behind the ridge, the white unicorn stallion glancing at them.

Twilight Sparkle frowned, noticing the severely reduced number of guards. “Why are there so few of them?”

Shining Armor smirked at his sister in reply. “Because I sent the main battalion to attack them at their source to keep the majority of them busy. They have been attacking settlements to try to drag off ponies, so this attack is justified—and it provides us with an opening.”

“But, how are we gonna get into th’ cavern, Yer Highness?”

The Prince of the Crystal Empire shook his head at Applejack. “We’re not going into the cavern, Applejack: only Skyward is.”

“What? Capn’ Armor, sir, yer not makin’ sense…”

The teal and dark blue streaked maned stallion held up a hoof. “Just listen. Twily, you, Rarity, Spike and I will provide Skyward with a massive distraction. Applejack, you and Pinkie Pie attack that group of Diamond Dogs—lure them away from the cavern mouth so Skyward can get inside. Fluttershy, you and Rainbow Dash dive in and terminate those crates there—drop these Mini-Mana Bombs on them, okay? Make sure you don’t miss—we need those crates destroyed. You got it?”

Rainbow Dash saluted Shining Armor—Fluttershy swallowed, but nodded her head as she meekly put on the satchel carrying the explosives. Seeing this, Applejack leaned over and whispered something in the butter yellow pegasus’s ears…Fluttershy’s eyes widened, went to pinpricks, then narrowed in sheer rage.

Skyward raised an eyebrow, drawing back a bit from the now angry pegasus mare and she nudged Applejack. “What the blazes didst thou say to her, Applejack? She looks angrier than a wet Cucco, and believe me when one says those are birds ye doth not mess with!”

The orange farmpony grinned at her. “Ah’ll tell ya when ya come back from kickin’ flank, sister. That’s a promise.”

Shining Armor tapped his hoof on the ground. “Skyward; if there is no portal in there, I want you to destroy any crates containing the material in question. Am I clear, soldier?”

Skyward nodded, saluting him crisply, and he returned it before looking over the others.

“You all ready?”

He got varied nods and ‘yes’s from everypony. Skyward readied herself as Shining Armor teleported himself, his sister, Rarity and Spike right into the open, and unleashed a powerful surge of magic, knocking most of the dogs to the ground. The three unicorns attacked: Shining Armor, true to his name, threw up a shield, while the two mares opened up with barrages of magic mixed with emerald dragonfire—the dogs howling and yelping as they ran from the unexpected assault. The Diamond Dogs at the cavern mouth began to run towards the group of ponies and one dragon…

“Hey, where ya goin’, furball? Ah wanna introduce ya t’ mah two friends!”

The right hoof dog turned—only to get nailed in the head with a powerful buck from two strong Earth Pony legs, both colored a bright orange.

“That there’s Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee! How’s that fer a ‘howdy’?” Applejack sassed as the dog fell to the ground, concussed from the strike. The left dog was about to pounce on her when a loud SQUEAK coupled with an explosion erupted from behind it…

A shower of confetti rained from the sky as the dog was piledrived backwards into the ground, courtesy of one bouncing pink party pony, who was giggling madly as she readied her party cannon once again.

Skyward snickered under her helm at the chaos unfolding before her—untrained or not they were warriors in their own right, her friends, never mind Shining Armor’s own prowess! Echoing booms and sizzling warned her of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s attacks, and she broke from cover, teleporting right to the cavern entrance and running inside.

(Good luck, all of thou…may the Goddesses smile upon all of thee,) she thought as she pelted into the cavern.

It wasn’t dark inside the vast tunnel—the dogs clearly had glowing crystals to light the way—the supply line was pretty clear from here, what with the carved channel leading all the way to a much larger cavern from the mouth proper.

Sure enough, close to the back of the cave, slightly to the right of two massive crystalline stalagmites, Skyward saw the familiar vortex of twisting violet energy. She eyed the crates stacked near it---this cavern could have easily held about fifty ponies, perhaps even a third of Din’s Battalion if they wanted to fit in here. The crates themselves were plentiful in number, and when she passed by one, using them as cover to get to the portal, she saw the diamond quartz pieces the dogs were mining. What puzzled Skyward was why the Diamond Dogs were mining worthless pieces of stone—worthless to them, when they primarily wanted gems? What could possibly be of worth to them?

A shadow crossed close to her hooves and she ducked out of sight behind another crate. She saw a giant hand, a deep green in color, overgrown claws sprouting from the diseased, smelly digits hop from the portal and grab some of the boxes. It dragged them in—then returned again, clutching something. The clatter of wood told her these were more crates—smaller ones, but still crates.

The new shipment of boxes wasn’t what gotten her attention, however. The thing passing through the portal was a Wallmaster—a zombified hand like creature that could drag a pony to their death, or crush the life out of them if they got too close. They hung about in shadowy, abandoned caverns, or ancient ruins deep underground. Skyward readied her sword, crouching as she waited—pricking her ears for the telltale noise of ‘howling wind’ that would signify its coming…

The shadow dropped right in front of her…it’s ‘wrist’, since it had no back, or face to speak of, was facing her, the claws reaching out for more crates…

Skyward pounced, driving her sword deep into the wrist of the vile creature. The Wallmaster had no mouth to utter its agony, but its huge hand shook and quivered in pain, stinking brown blood dripping onto the cavern floor as the Haylian mare’s sword hacked and hewed pieces of it clear off. It tried to skitter away, to rise back up, but she was having none of it as she pinned it to the ground by one of its fingers, driving her sword right through the digit.

Skyward’s horn ignited as she invoked her Dance of Blades spell—a rain of foul flesh and evil smelling fluid splattered all over the crates, and over her, as well. All that was left of the beast was on the floor in quivering shreds—a small, controlled Backdraft Burst took care of that. The Haylian unicorn crossed to one of the new crates, cleaning off her sword with a water spell, then using the tip to pry the lid off…

Only for her eyes to be met with enough wealth to perhaps match a fourth of the Hayrulean royal treasury!

Dozens upon dozens of her own world’s currencies met her eyes from the inside of the crate—green, blue, purple, silver, orange, red, even a few gold ones…

Snaffles, unlike Bits, were not gold in color—their value and denomination were determined by the color of the piece in question—and that unlocked another mystery entirely. The Diamond Dogs were clearly being paid for their work—paid in her own land’s money, that was entirely useless here! Even if they looked like gems, she knew they were not, and the dogs were dumb enough to not be able to tell the difference.

She scooped up some of them to put in her satchel—she would need them to show to her friends the reason why they were collaborating with the enemy. Scowling, she glared at the portal, and looked around for another focus. Deciding on one of the stalagmites, she attuned herself to it, and brandishing her sword, stalked through the portal once more...