Halfway across town, a rusted British model van was speeding through the night. Inside the cab were a talking magical dog, an untalkative grumpy white rabbit, another untalkative pet animal, this time an intelligent canine, and a middle-aged cheese loving inventor who’s well-known large smile had been thoroughly replaced with a somewhat scary-looking determined frown.
The van had no siren, only an orange light above the driver-side of the van, along with the freshly re-painted logo of the business of its owners.
Wallace swerved the wheel to a sharp right, sending the van to screech on its tires so hard it smacked into a handicap parking sign, causing the passengers inside piled onto him.
“Where on earth did you learn to drive?!” Spike grumbled.
“I’ll have you know that I took the best driving course I could possibly afford!” Wallace retorted.
“That’s not exactly saying much,” Spike grumbled again, under his breath.
Gromit furrowed his brow in agreement while Angel clutched his head from the angle of the dashboard, with an imprint of his face in it.
“Come on, lads! Stay focused! We’ve got a dangerous criminal to catch!”
“And we’ve got to save Fluttershy and Rarity as well!”
“Right! We’re coming up on the shelter, lads! Hold on tight!”
Up ahead through the darkness and alight from the headlights, the gargantuan road machine was roaring to life from where it was parked on the side of the road across from the Shelter.
“Oi, what are you doing with my machine?!” Wallace growled. “Go get your own All-Purpose Road Machine, ya thief!”
“Wait, is that Rarity?” Spike said. “Holy guacamole! She’s stuck in the path of the machine!”
Suddenly, all at once, Wallace drove the van right into the muck that was the spilled concoction of melted tarmac, causing it to become firmly stuck, right as Gromit and Spike leapt out from Wallace’s door, colliding with Rarity, unsticking her free from her boots, sending the three of them tumbling onto the solid tarmac right as the giant treads lumbered past them and into the distance.
“Oi, Feathers McGraw!” Wallace shouted right as he stepped out and into the melted tarmac. “D’oh, ohhhh. He’s gone and mucked up the concoction, that sneak! Feathers McGraw, come back here this minute! You are under citizen’s arrest!”
“Too late, Wallace. He can’t hear you from here,” Spike huffed.
“Why, that blooming brighter! I’ll get you yet, Feathers McGraw!” Wallace shook his fist at the departing machine, then realized he couldn’t move. “D’ohh, ohhh!” He shuffled his feet out of his shoes, “These are my best shoes!”, then stepped his stockings into the tar. “Goodness, this will set back work for a good three months.” He then heaved with all his might out of the tar, which ended up ripping both his stockings off…
…as well as his brown trousers, exposing his white and red polka-dot boxers.
Rarity flushed red as she shot to her feet, shell-shocked at the sight of the middle-aged inventor standing in the middle of the street with his boxer shorts exposed. After a few moments, she finally noticed the other companions.
“Spike? Angel? What are you doing here with Wallace and Gromit?”
“We came to rescue you and Fluttershy from the penguin,” Spike explained.
Rarity gasped. “Fluttershy! That penguin has stolen my diamonds and kidnapped Fluttershy!”
“He what?!” Spike cried, while Gromit and Angel shot their ears up in shock.
“Ohh, just when I thought he couldn’t go any lower,” Wallace seethed.
“Wait a minute, Wallace, you know this penguin don’t you?” Rarity noted.
“There’s no time! Feathers simply must be stopped!”
“I know, but what must we do? He’s got a gun!”
“Fluttershy’s in danger, Rarity!” Spike snapped, “and we’ve faced worse things, remember?”
“Spike’s right! I’ll stay behind and get this van unstuck while you lot chase after him. He didn’t get away from us before and that certainly won’t happen tonight! After him, Gromit!” Wallace ordered.
Gromit nodded with determination before hightailing down the street after the stolen Road Machine, closely followed by Angel clinging for his life on Spike, and Rarity, swallowing her fear, trying her best to keep up on hard cement while barefoot.
“Good luck!” Wallace called after them. He went to the back of the van, and began pushing with all his might. “Ohh, it’s heavier than it looks.”
Through the sea of darkness, the floodlights filled the void as the titan of machinery rumbled across the vast airfield of leathered balloons. The lights caught a sliver of the various patterns on the balloons the machine passed, however the driver had his beady eyes set on one balloon in particular.
He rumbled the machine to a stop by his destination, angling so that the cab was positioned right above the basket. Once he switched off the engine, he hopped up to open the cab door, then pushed the large sack that landed with a muffled drop into the basket. He then hopped down, catching the pulley that activated the gas tank, then onto the control panel of the balloon, chugging it to life and fiddling with the levers.
He would be damned if all his hard work was to go up in flames at the last minute once again.
“Where did you think he went?” Rarity gasped.
“I think I saw him turn off onto Cloudsdale Boulevard a few moments ago,” Spike replied.
“But that leads right to the airfield! You don’t think he’ll try to escape in a hot-air balloon?”
Gromit only furrowed his brow in anger, quickening his pace against time.
The group rushed high on their feet past darkened streets, taking shortcuts through available alleyways whenever possible, and passing under lit lamp posts that illuminated the street signs. The moon shone brightly against the blackened backdrop, yet even the moon itself recognized the danger of the situation unfolding down on the earth, for a high-force gale had approached from the North, bringing a slough of clouds over the stars.
“This wind is something fierce!” Spike remarked, right as Angel struggled to keep a grip on the heightened amount of force against him. “I knew I should’ve brought my goggles!”
At one point, Rarity was not paying as much attention, ending with her smacking face-first into a stop-sign, leaving behind an indent of her face in the metal.
“Rarity!” Spike shrieked, suddenly halting with a skid, sending Angel to ring around his neck. “Are you okay?!”
Rarity staggered up to her feet, then stared up at the sign in a daze. “Who put that there?!” she demanded.
Gromit rolled his eyes.
Ignoring the muffled protests from inside the sack, he let loose the mooring line right as the balloon was beginning to lift itself free from the ground.
He hoped that the crosswind would catch and take him down to the Mexican border. If he was lucky enough, he could catch a draft all the way to Antarctica.
With all due haste, they raced across the grassy fields of the airfield past the idle baskets of cold airless hot air balloons. It was quite easy to pick out the silhouette of the stolen All-Purpose Road Machine, as the thieving penguin had foolishly left the cab lights on. However, that was also marked with the rising glow from the gas burner inflating the balloon as the basket slowly rose, marking itself as an outsider against the starry sky.
“He’s getting away!” Spike shouted.
“Fluttershy!” Rarity cried. “We need to save her, but how are we meant to follow?”
Gromit growled at the smug penguin waving farewell. It was one thing to dupe his master and best friend to steal a diamond from the museum, but it was another thing entirely to outright kidnap an innocent girl, and using Wallace’s inventions to make his escape just added insult to injury. There wasn’t a model train set around the house this time, he needed to get creative.
“Perhaps we could use one of the balloons?” Rarity suggested.
“It’d take too long to fire them up, and Feathers has the one with a motorized engine attached,” Spike rebuffed.
“Well then, where else are we going to find something that flies and is faster than a simple motor? Unless either of you can fly?”
“Oh, no! No way! I am not going on another of those flying monstrosities ever again! I don’t even know how to fly, do you?!”
“Of course not! I never concerned myself with it until now! Fluttershy’s life is in danger! This is THE!! WORST!! POSSIBLE!! THING!! TO HAVE EVER HAPPENED!!!!”
Angel tried his darndest to tune out the ensuing argument behind him, though the word choice exemplified the stakes of the matter. The dastardly penguin was getting away with each passing second, with his owner in his fiendish clutches to do unspeakable things to his malicious pleasure. The balloons would be too slow to start and neither of them could successfully fly a plane.
Just then, he noticed the balloon cart next to a batch of full helium tanks. Getting an idea, he hailed Gromit over to the cart, indicating that with enough balloons and the force of the helium tanks, the craft could be controlled and fast enough to catch up to the escaping penguin.
Gromit nodded in agreement and set to work immediately. As Angel emptied out the reserve supply of rubber balloons, Gromit worked to fill them up and tie them to the cart with such speed and versatility it was like he was a living cartoon character from the olden days. Once the balloons were tied to the cart, he took a strand of rope and tied the remaining helium tank to the underside of the cart. Right away, the amount of balloons lifted the little wooden vehicle and its passengers into the air, Gromit at the helm of the balloon strings and throttle and Angel catching the attention of the arguing duo with a loud whistle.
“What are you guys doing—?! Hey, wait for me!” Spike cried, bounding up onto the wooden wheel before being hoisted up by Gromit right as he tugged loose the canister…
“Goodness, are you actually serious that this thing will—FLYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!!!!!”
…right as Rarity leapt onto the back end of the cart, clinging for dear life and screaming like an out of tune seagull at the top of her lungs.
“HOLD ON, RARITY!!” Spike cried over the rushing wind.
“LIKE I HAVE A CHOICE IN THE MATTER!!” she cried back.
As Feathers steered the balloon through the sky, a shrill voice and hissing air caught his attention from behind. There he spotted a colorful barrage of balloons holding aloft that girl who wore the diamonds, that furry little rabbit, a purple dog, and…
That other dog.
Seeing the determined scowl on his arch-nemesis’ face, Feathers made a growling note that the poorly hamstrung craft was gaining speed at a rapid pace. He rushed over the controls, kicking the throttle into top gear, only to notice that even at maximum throttle the balloon cart was closing the gap quicker than he thought.
“Look at that! We’re closing in on him!” Spike hollered. “Woohoo!”
Suddenly, a loud crack echoed overhead as a set of balloons burst from where Feathers was perched on the basket…
…with the barrel smoking an entrail.
“Oh, shoot! He’s got a gun!”
Both Gromit and Angel’s ears sprang up in shock, no sooner as Feathers fired at them a second time, only for the bullet to be blocked from what appeared to be a trio of shining life-sized diamonds that appeared out of nowhere.
“That was close! Quick thinking, Rarity,” Spike panted.
“You’re welcome, Spike,” Rarity replied, likewise. She then noticed the looks of bafflement from the remaining animals. “Yes, I can indeed summon magical diamond shields. It’s from my geode due to Equestrian magic. I and all my other friends have a geode.”
“It’s true! I’ve seen them in action, and they’re awesome!”
Angel and Gromit shared a look of surprise, shrugged, and simultaneously gave the geode powered girl a thumbs up of gratitude, to which she smiled.
Feathers meanwhile growled, nearing a full on roar. Just what exactly had he witnessed? That fake beauty of a girl suddenly pulled up giant diamond shields that were impervious to bullets out of nowhere? It was a trick! Well, try as they might, nothing could stop him! He wouldn’t have it!
And why did it have to be a shield of diamonds to taunt him even further?
The bullets continued to relentlessly pound on the shields as Rarity took the strain.
“I can’t…hold it longer,” she groaned.
“He’s only got three shots…
CRACK!!
“…two shots left!” Spike said.
“How do you know?”
“I found Twilight reading up on the schematic differences between handguns, which is very worrying. Might be from Shining’s job as a police officer.”
“As worried as I am for Twilight, we have more pressing matters at hand!”
“Right, sorry! Anyway, the penguin’s got your standard revolver which holds a maximum of six rounds in total, and thank goodness it’s not an automac.”
Gromit nodded with a grim pit at the knowledge, and then he started thinking. Feathers fired one more round at the shield, noticing that the power was beginning to wane.
“Darlings, hurry please! I can’t take the strain anymore!” Rarity cried.
“Okay, he’s still got one more round, and if he misses it’ll take a while to reload, but that depends on how swift he is at reloading!” Spike paled. “OH MY GOD, WE’RE GONNA DIE!!”
At that moment, everything happened at once.
Right as Rarity’s shield finally dropped, Feathers fired his last remaining round right as Gromit made a violent lean to port, nearly tumbling the passengers of the balloon cart over the side but right as the bullet zipped past to miss hitting any such target.
Feathers cursed his bad luck, growling as the balloon cart finally came up right beside his stolen balloon.
“CHARGE!!!”
Without warning, Spike and Angel leapt into action as Feathers leapt to the starboard side of the basket rim, leaving the pair of animals dazed and surprised.
Just then, Rarity stumbled off the cart, narrowly catching the rim of the basket door as she dangerously dangled from a pair of weak hinges.
“GOODNESS GRACIOUS, SOMEBODY HELP!!”
She dared to look down, seeing the distant grass darkened by the height in the atmosphere as her vision interpreted it as becoming a much farther drop. She closed her eyes, trying beyond hope to keep her nerves calm despite the situation, only to look up and see the devious chicken- disguised penguin looking down on her with those emotionless beady eyes.
“You vile monster!” she cursed. “How dare you do this to poor Fluttershy! Why did you have to involve her, weren’t my diamonds enough to satisfy your greed?!”
Feathers said nothing, he just kept staring at the girl in his mercy. What did she know about greed? So what, she had enough to satisfy her lavishness. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend after all. Why did she have to care so much for the diamond-eyed girl if she had enough diamonds to her name? It was her own fault that she hid behind false beauty. If there was one thing Feathers hated in this world, it was people who falsified themselves, but the upshot were all the beautiful diamonds for him to collect; they were the only beautiful things they would ever have.
Feathers calmly walked across the rim before ferociously pecking one of her hands loose, letting her dangle by a few fingers as she wailed and screamed in terror. To make matters more dire, she grabbed the door as the top hinge broke off. Now by a single screw, Rarity looked through her tears at the wiggling sack in the corner, no doubt scared and confused as to what was occurring.
To Rarity, she could only see how she had failed her friend: how she was too much of a coward to stand up against the villainous penguin, letting her fear take over to allow Fluttershy, the kindest person who could have ever existed, to be taken away by a greedy criminal.
She could have…
She could have…
…but she didn’t.
And Fluttershy was the price to pay.
As the final screw became loose, she cried in pain.
“I’m…I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you when I could, that I was too scared for my own life to protect your’s, and I was too late to save you. I can only…ask…beg for forgiveness…before it all ends…”
She let strands of tears bleed her mascara, accepting her fate.
“Goodbye…”
And yet again, everything happened at once.
One moment, Feathers was overlooking the soon to be dead Rarity, and the next he was pulled back into a brawling fisticuffs fight with an enraged Angel. The killer bunny wasted no time in hamming it out against the wicked bird, wrestling his opponent like he was a rubber balloon or some indestructible fidget, which was to say that the penguin was nowhere near as such, only treated as such, and not caring a dime it the villain was battered to death accidentally maliciously. Caught unawares, Feathers could only block the occasional attack from the fluffy advancement, until he was pinned down and at the mercy of a pair of strong fluffy paws slapping his face this way and that, knocking off his rubber hat.
“Get him, Angel! You’re knocking him dead!” Spike cheered.
Soon enough, both dog companions hauled Rarity into the safety of the basket as Angel kicked the penguin away to be held up by the neck into the raging and growling eyes of Gromit.
Rarity wasted no time in releasing her friend from her prison. The poor girl was wet from crying and her body was shaking all over.
Like lightning, she undid her bonds. “Oh, Fluttershy!” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from that horrid penguin! I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…I’m sorry…”
Her words were lost between the ensuing sobs from both friends. Neither could say another sentence as they sobbed out the terror they had both experienced. Their animal friends shared their sentiment, both Spike and Angel snuggling both girls to soften the agony.
Gromit sniffled, wiping the tears from his eyes deathly glaring at the villainous penguin in his grasp. He kept his concentration on the fiend, even as he slowly diminished the gas burner and switched off the motor. The whole trip down stank of burning gasoline.
Down below, the balloon landed on a dark empty street. It was one of the roads that led away from the outskirts of town, therefore saw little of passing by motorists, which added to the eeriness.
“I-I-I don’t l-like it here,” Fluttershy shivered.
“It’s alright, Fluttershy,” Rarity consoled, yet her voice betrayed her.
“It shouldn’t be that much of a walk back into town,” Spike hoped. “Come on, I know these roads like a map, mostly because Twilight leaves her roadmaps out and I read them from sheer boredom.”
Angel grumbled in annoyance while Gromit rolled his eyes, the little criminal still squirming in his roped bonds.
Suddenly, a pair of headlights enveloped the group as the engine of the vehicle wined down. Fluttershy grasped Rarity at the sight, who protectively stood before her.
“Whoever you are, we want no quarrel with you,” she warned, with the animals getting into a stance.
The headlights then clicked off to reveal, sitting in the driver’s seat…
…was a relieved Wallace.
“Oh, thank goodness that you girls are alright,” he sighed, getting out. “That must have been quite the experience.”
Rarity sighed in relief as well. “Yes. Yes it certainly was.”
Fluttershy meanwhile flushed red. “Um…w-why is Wallace…in his…boxer shorts?”
Wallace carried on like he heard nothing from the shy girl. “Still, at least you managed to rescue Fluttershy and nabbed the bloke behind it all.” He turned his attention to the penguin, who stared blankly back at the man in his briefs. “We meet again, Feathers McGraw. I see that prison time hasn’t made you a better penguin just yet. You’re going back away for another long time I can guarantee you that. Prison is just the kind of place thieving little buggers like you belong.”
“Wallace?” Rarity asked. “Would you mind if you would drop us all off at our homes?”
“Oh, of course not! I will get you all home by my word or my name’s not Wallace!”
“That’s great, but for the love of God you are not driving!” Spike snarled.
The group laughed at the little bit of humor as they all crammed into the two-door cab of the rusted van. Gromit drove the second time around, playing some soft classical music over the radio. Fluttershy got into the music, lightly humming and swaying to the instrumentation.
Rarity sat in uncomfortable silence. The music was soothing to the ears, but the object twiddling between her fingers was the subject of her discomfort. It was a beautiful diamond, given to her especially by her grandfather, a true rarity if anything. And yet, after the adventure she had gone through opened her eyes.
Why was she privileged with such lavish jewelry when her friend was in despair? That criminal had lusted after dear Fluttershy and her grandfather’s prized diamond, content to leave the Animal Shelter to dry up its funds and leave the animals all homeless, begging on the streets for love and food, reduced to their primal states when they had a chance to be loved.
She scowled. It wasn’t fair that she had all the wealth while her friend suffered. The shining beauty in the stone had deceived her. Clenching the diamond in her fist, she knew exactly how to fix the entire predicament.
“Right! Here we are, Fluttershy!” Wallace said as the van came to a stop.
Angel got in one last conk on the penguin’s noggin before he hopped out of the van and through the doggy door.
“I’ll get off here too,” Rarity said. “I can walk the rest of the way.”
“Suit yourself, Rarity. Gromit and I will just be dropping off this pilfering penguin at the police station after we’ve dropped off Spike.”
“Goodnight, girls!” Spike waved.
“Goodnight, Spikey-Wikey!”
God, I hate myself for doing that. Nevermind it now, the moment's passed.
She waved as she watched the van disappear into the night, but not before it made a violent swerve.
“Ooohh, both paws on the wheel, lad! Concentrate!”
She giggled good-naturedly. It really was a good thing that Wallace and Gromit were such reliable friends, and that they were absolutely friendly to be around.
The moment ended for Rarity much sooner than she wanted. She still had one more thing to do, otherwise she would have regretted it and never forgiven herself.
“Fluttershy?”
“Yes, Rarity?”
Rarity stammered for a moment. “I…I want to give you something. Something that will help the Animal Shelter.”
“R-Really?”
Rarity nodded, then she breathed. No turning back now, this was for her friend.
“Yes. I’ve realized now that this thing isn’t as important as my friendship is, and I regret that I didn’t realize it sooner. That I could have saved the Animal Shelter before, but now I aim to rectify that.”
Fluttershy felt sorry for her friend, but in that moment, her eyes glittered with surprise at the diamond in Rarity’s outstretched hands.
“R-Rarity? Is…is that…?”
“Yes,” was the choking reply. “It was the diamond that was gifted to me by my grandfather. It’s a very unique mineral, he told me. Unlike anything he had ever seen. It’s worth millions.”
“M-M-M-Millions?!”
“And I want you to have it. You can use the money to find investors for the Shelter.”
Fluttershy stared in shock, unable to make a single squeak from her mouth. One of the world’s most expensive diamonds, gifted to Rarity by her grandfather, and she was giving it to her?
“Oh, Rarity…that’s v-very nice but…I-I can’t accept this. I-It belongs to y-you.”
To her surprise, Rarity shook her head. “Nonsense, darling. You need it more than I do. Besides, I’ve got plenty of other jewelry to choose from.”
There was a shred of reluctance, but it was easy to miss and forgotten as the moment passed. Rarity handed the large diamond, with Fluttershy looking right dead center into the jewel. It glowed in the moonlight as if it were a lantern in a sea of darkness. A beacon of hope, but that hope came from her friend, who sacrificed this wonderful diamond for her sake, for the sake of all those animals who could lose their home.
“It’s the least I could do,” Rarity said, becoming somber. “I only regret that I didn’t realize it sooner. It could have prevented this entire mess from ever happening.”
Fluttershy could no longer hold her tears back. “Oh, Rarity…”
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy…I’m sorry that I was foolish enough to let you be taken away by that villain,” Rarity choked. “The diamonds would have been enough, but…I should have…I should have done something…”
In one swift motion, Fluttershy wrapped her arms around her friend in a caring hug while sobbing into her shoulder. Rarity returned the gesture, likewise crying out her regrets. They stood there under the moonlight like that for a few moments.
Fluttershy was the first to let go. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, Rarity. It wasn’t your fault.”
“But I—”
“No.” The firmness in her voice was startling, as it was every time. “You have nothing to blame yourself for. It was my choice. I-I just…I couldn’t let him kill you!”
Rarity hugged her again. “I accept your forgiveness. Let’s just put this behind us and look ahead. We’ve got our graduation coming up.”
“O-Oh, yes. I guess in all the excitement, I forgot.”
“Remember: this diamond is worth a fortune. Promise me that the money will go to the Shelter, for all of those animals?”
“I…I promise. Thank you so much, Rarity.”
“You’re welcome, Fluttershy. After all, what are friends for?”