Star Twinkle would never say that his life was exciting, even if it came more lively recently but sometimes he wished that one day was a little more quite again. In the hope of that, he laid down on his bed starting to take a nap but was interrupted by a loud knocking on his door.
“Well, so much for my quiet day,“ Star Twinkle sarcastically said to himself before he went to the door.
He opened the door and found a very hysterical Spike, who was stuttering some stuff that Star Twinkle couldn't quite put together.
“Rarity... woods... jewel... dogs... hole... taken... Save her!” said Spike before fainting in front of Star Twinkle's door, leaving Star Twinkle in a really confused state.
“What?” Replied Star Twinkle confused, clearly not knowing what this was all about.
Spike was often overreacting but this time, it looked a little too serious so Star Twinkle played safe and took Spike on his back, before gathering his friends to find out what happened.
Star Twinkle was a little worried but also a little annoyed after analyzing the situation.
Rarity seemed to be in some kind of danger. At least that is what he could make out so far. Why didn't he go to Twilight or somepony else? It was obvious that Spike didn't ask anypony else before, so why did he have to ask Star Twinkle?
Does he expect that Star Twinkle knows what to do?
He felt that it was not right to think like that when somepony was in potential danger but it still annoyed him.
Star Twinkle took Spike to the Golden Oak Library. After all, Twilight maybe knew were Spike and Rarity were going before if Spike informed her. Coincidentally Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were there too and Star Twinkle took the opportunity to tell them all that Rarity might be in danger.
They all got worried for a moment before they decided to go and rescue her. As Star Twinkle expected Twilight knew where they were going and lead the way. Twilight lead them outside of Ponyville.
Meanwhile, Spike was awake again, he explained where they all needed to go, while heavily breathing in panic. He and Rarity were looking for some gems in the woods because she needed them for some dresses for somepony named Sapphire Shores. Rarity was then captured by some guys called “Diamond Dogs” and was dragged down in a hole in the ground.
“Well, this sounds mighty easy. Just take us to that hole and we'll save Rarity,” said Applejack fully confident.
But when they arrived at the place they noticed that there were not one but several holes in the ground, making it far more difficult to find Rarity.
“Holy moly, that's a lotta holeys,” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
“I suppose you don't recognize the right one, Spike?” asked Star Twinkle while knowing the answer already by Spikes expression on his face.
So they had no choice but to check every single hole to find Rarity. But the Diamond Dogs seem to notice them and began to fill up the holes before they could look inside. Slowly every hole was filling up, making them impossible to go down anymore.
Everypony tried to go down a hole before it was closed but they were not fast enough. After a few failed attempts to go down, there were mud piles over every single hole. While nopony in the group had problems to dig through, Rarity, however, would not even touch mud, making them think how miserable her condition must be right now.
But after thinking about that, nopony decided to give up and tried to dig through the mud piles. But once again the Diamond Dogs noticed and prevented them from going down a single hole. Whenever somepony tried to dig, one of the dogs came out and either distracted or pulled them away from the holes.
That's the first time they even saw what they were dealing with. Obviously like the name was indicated, they were dogs, who wore spiked collars and jackets, filled with all kinds of gems.
“Is that them?” Star Twinkle asked.
“Yes! They are the one who captured Rarity!” Spike exclaimed
But as soon as Star Twinkle tried to approach one of them, they quickly dug underground again. They were way too fast for Star Twinkle and the others. The group got quickly exhausted by all this and took a moment to think about Rarity again.
“All those scary monsters popping up everywhere. Oh, poor Rarity must be terrified,” said Fluttershy in a worried tone in her voice.
Star Twinkle was also certain that Rarity must feel very bad, being imprisoned by those dogs but he started to wonder something.
“What do they even want from Rarity in the first place?” Star Twinkle asked out of confusion.
“They probably need her because of her gem finding magic,” Spike explained frustrated.
“What magic?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
But Twilight overheard their talk and explained it to Star Twinkle.
“It's a spell that lets you see gems in the ground, Rarity showed it to me a while back,” Twilight explained.
“So they are after gems,” Star Twinkle mumbled to himself.
Suddenly Spike was getting an idea to get to Rarity.
“I got it! I'll save you my sweet,” said Spike, before he took out a blue gem.
Nopony could make out what this was supposed to mean but Spike seemed confident enough so they watched him. He tied the gem to a fishing rod and sat nearby a hole that was not closed yet, trying to lure out the Diamond Dogs. This idea could actually work, thought Star Twinkle, while he and everypony else waited near him in case something would bite.
Apparently, Spike got this blue gem from Rarity after helping her finding some gems before. Twilight was proud of Spike to sacrifice one of his gems to save Rarity but Spike insisted her to be quite so that he could concentrate. As far as Star Twinkle knew dragons like to eat gems and Spike especially liked them but when it came to Rarity it was kinda obvious who Spike would choose.
Nothing happened for a few minuted yet Spike was eager to save Rarity but Star Twinkle noticed how he was lost in thoughts while waiting for something to bite. He didn't mind that until Spike's head turned to Star Twinkle with his eyes closed and his mouth formed like as if he wanted to kiss Star Twinkle.
Star Twinkle was shocked and looked at him with wide-opened eyes, while slowly moving his head away from Spike. Spike eventually opened his eyes and realized that Star Twinkle was in front of him.
“What are you doing?” asked Star Twinkle, slightly annoyed by Spikes behavior.
Spike giggled and moved his head back in embarrassment. Star Twinkle was figuring that he was daydreaming or something because he thought, heard him mumbling Rarity's name.
Suddenly, the pole was moving on its own, meaning that something was biting it. Spike tried to pull, whatever it was out of the hole but it was too strong and dragged Spike down into the hole. Everypony rushed to him, hanging into him before he was dragged down.
They were all grabbing each other's tail before being dragged down in the hole themselves, sliding down in the underground tunnels system that the Diamond Dogs dug.
Star Twinkle was second to last and hung into Fluttershy's tail while Pinkie Pie was grabbing his little tail. But after being dragged into the tunnels Pinkie Pie decided to ride on Star Twinkles back while they were sliding down.
“Wheee!” screamed Pinkie Pie in excitement.
“Hey!” Star Twinkle exclaimed, being annoyed by how Pinkie Pie enjoyed her ride.
The sliding eventually stopped and they landed somewhere on the ground. But from there, things only got more complicated. The way was splitting into different paths now. Spike who was happy a moment ago for getting closer to save Rarity let out a scream out of frustration.
“All these tunnels... How are we ever gonna find Rarity?” Twilight asked in the group.
“Guess we're just gonna have to start going down them one by one,” Applejack suggested.
“That could take forever! There's gotta be a way to narrow it down,” said Rainbow Dash to which Star Twinkle could only agree too.
“I know!” Spike exclaimed.
“I bet they've taken Rarity down the tunnel with the most gems,” he said.
That made sense thought Star Twinkle. If Rarity had to use her gem finding spell, then they most likely ended up somewhere with a lot of gems.
"But Spike, Rarity is the only one who knows how to find gems,” Twilight pointed out.
"No, Twilight. You can! You can copy Rarity's gem-finding spell,” Spike said with a little frustration in his voice.
Twilight then remembered that Rarity showed her the spell before. She just needed to remember it right in order to pull it off.
There was no other option so Twilight tried it. Her horn then began to glow and released a bright light. It seemed to work, Twilight was leading the was so could probably see all kinds of colored gems in the ground and the walls. Just as expected there was a tunnel that had more gems than usual so they followed it, in hope that Rarity would be at the end of it.
"We're getting close. I can feel it,” said Twilight leading the way while everypony followed her.
Suddenly a distant crying could be heard in the direction where they were heading. It was undoubtedly Rarity so everypony made haste and ran to the direction of the scream.
"It's coming from down here. Come on!” Said Spike who was still eager to save Rarity.
Again the Diamond Dogs noticed the group and confronted them attempting to stop them. The Diamond Dogs jumped on the backs of everypony and tied their mouths with a rope.
Star Twinkle did not approve of that and wasted no time to shake of his rider with ease.
"Yeah, I think not," he said while easily shaking of the Diamond Dog on his back. "I don't like it when somepony is riding on my back," he stated.
"You didn't seem to mind when I was on your back," Pinkie Pie said, as always being oblivious to Star Twinkles words to which he did not reply.
Meanwhile, Applejack also to threw off her rider while trying to motivate the others to do the same.
"Hoh, doggies. If you can take this bull by the horns, you better be ready for a ride. Come on, ponies! Kick 'em up, kick 'em out. Buck 'em up, buck 'em," Applejack said in excitement, showing everypony how it's done.
The others then threw off the Diamond Dogs on their backs as well. The Diamond Dogs then escaped in fear.
"Yeehaw! Get along, little doggies!" Applejack joyfully exclaimed.
They then noticed some noises behind a steel door, which was also in the direction where Rarity's scream came from.
Star Twinkle remembered them why they were there in the first place and suggested that they should go through that door next.
"Let's not get too excited. We still have to find Rarity," said Star Twinkle putting the others back on the right track again.
"He's right!" Said Spike, before he climbed up on Star Twinkles back. "I'm coming for you, milady. Hi-ho Star! Away!" He said while sitting on Star Twinkles back in excitement.
Star Twinkle was about to throw off the little dragon but he decided to not get to rough and talked to him.
"Excuse me?" Said Star Twinkle almost as if he was asking him to get off of him.
"Please, Star Twinkle. Just give me this,” Spike begged.
Star Twinkle was not amused but he gave in and let Spike have his moment for now.
"Alright but that is the last time that somepony is riding me for today," he said before he ran through the steel door where the noises came from with Spike on his back.
"Lady Rarity, I'm here to save you!" Said Spike heroically after entering the room.
But then three dogs rushed to Star Twinkle and Spike, crawling on their knees and begging. They both got confused and listened to what they had to say.
"Save us!" Said one of them
"Please save us!" Said another one of them.
Star Twinkle and Spike were both surprised by this sight. The dogs did everything to stop them rescuing Rarity and now they want to be the ones to be saved.
"Um...we are not exactly here to save YOU guys," Said Star Twinkle who was unsure what exactly was happening right now.
"So picky,”
"And critical,"
"She won't stop talking,"
"And crying,"
Those were only some words that Star Twinkle could make out of this situation.
"We, uh, give her back. Yes," said one of them.
After that "rescue" Rarity showed up behind the dogs, much to the relief of everypony.
"Rarity! You're safe!" Said Spike in relief who rushed to her site hugging her.
She looked more than just safe. In fact, she looked relatively unharmed to Star Twinkle.
"Why, yes. Hello, girls. Star Twinkle. You arrived just in time to assist me," she said to whole group showing them some carts packed with gems.
"You're letting her leave with all these... jewels?" asked Spike while looking at the carts with mesmerized eyes.
The Diamond Dogs insisted or rather begged that they should take back Rarity. Meanwhile, Star Twinkle had no idea what was going on anymore and just dealt with it. They each grabbed one of the carts and got out of the tunnel again.
That sure was some waste of time, thought Star Twinkle, almost saying it out loud. It did surprise him though that Rarity could handle the situation all on her own, He was sure that she would at least have some trouble with the Diamond Dogs.
“I can't believe you got all these gems!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.
“I can't believe you tricked all those dogs,” said Rainbow Dash surprised.
Star Twinkle couldn't believe that Rarity wasn't scared at all getting dirty but he didn't say it out loud.
“Just because I'm a lady doesn't mean that I can't handle myself in this sticky situations. I had them wrapped around my hoof the entire time,” explained Rarity.
“I can't wait to write to Princess Celestia to tell her what you taught me today,” said Twilight to Rarity.
“Me? What did I teach you?” asked Rarity confused turning her head to Twilight.
Twilight then stated what she would write in one of her reports, that she always writes to Princess Celestia.
“Just because somepony is ladylike doesn't make her weak. In fact, by using her wits, a seemingly defenseless pony can be the one who outsmarts and outshines them all,”
Everypony was listening to her report, even Star Twinkle was carefully listening and thinking about this words.
"Outshines" is right,” said Spike. “Now you have enough gems to cover Sapphire Shores' costumes,” he added while
“Not if you eat them all, Spike,” said Rarity jokingly, levitating the gem out of Spikes hands again.
Everypony was laughing at that, except Star Twinkle who thought about Twilight's words.
“A defenseless pony can outshine them all...” mumbled Star Twinkle to himself.
“What was that?” asked Rarity who overheard his words.
Star Twinkle didn't think that anypony would hear him and got startled in surprise. He looked away and pretended he didn't say anything. Rarity believed him and didn't mind him any longer, who then continued her talk with Twilight.
Still, the words that Twilight said were still in his head and bothered him on his way back to Ponyville with the others.
He was wondering if he could have manage the situation if he was captured by the Diamond Dogs. Could he have outsmarted them? Could he have outshined them? Thinking about all that, he realized that something was bothering him.
“Outshine them all,” mumbled Star Twinkle, this time making sure that nopony else heard it. “Why does that sound so familiar?” he wondered.
It was a relatively quiet trip back to Ponyville from his side but nopony seemed to wonder. Maybe they were already used to how Star Twinkle was the quiet type and didn't want to bother him. Either that or he was making the impression that he didn't want to talk to them, which was true to some degree.
After delivering the gems back to Rarity's Boutique, Star Twinkle went home. For him, the whole trip was some kind of a waste of time. If Rarity could handle herself, then there was no need for them to go and rescue her. But it already happened so there was no use thinking about that anymore.
He tried to think about what he could have done in her situation, which kept him busy until nighttime. But he decided to give up and slept without getting an answer.
“Outshining them all,” were the last words that he said at this day.