Rainbow Dash's Story

Twilight and Spike met up with Rainbow Dash, a cyan pegasus pony with multicolored hair who was napping atop a cloud. She was the first to see a shooting star fall to the ground.

"Wait - you think that shooting star is a key?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah, to the Bell Tower in the Yuyake sea," Spike replied.

"You wouldn't happen to remember where in Dream Valley it fell, would you?" Twilight asked.

"Hmmm..." Rainbow thought for a moment. "It fell at a bit of a curve, tradewind and all...I'd have to say it fell... {points north} in the Crystal Lands!"

"The Crystal Lands?" Twilight repeated. "Alright, good to know. C'mon Spike, it's gonna be a blustery trip!"

"Got it! I'll go pack the blankets and lanterns." With that, Spike ran back to the library.

"Hey..." Rainbow Dash's curiosity has been piqued. "What do you think is in that tower, anyway? Treasure?"

"Well...Nopony really knows, Rainbow," Twilight replied. "But if the keys become available once every 500 years, there must be some significance behind it."

Spike returns to Twilight and Rainbow Dash, with a large knapsack filled with essentials. "All ready!"

"Well..." Twilight Sparkle said to Rainbow, "guess this is it. We'll write to you when we get the chance. Wish us luck!"

With that, Twilight and Spike headed off toward Crystal Land. "Oh! Uh, yeah! Good luck!" Rainbow Dash called out. As the alicorn and dragon vanished into the horizon, Rainbow thought to herself on the possible treasure. "Hmmm...I wonder what that tower is hiding...Must be something awesome if everyone around the world is on a hunt for it..."

A thought then hit Rainbow Dash. "(!) Then that means Twilight's up against some serious competition! Heavily-armed competition, I bet! She's not used to fighting much...and Spike, there's only so much the tyke can do..." Reaching a decision, she pounded her forehooves together with determination. "Right! One thing to it, then!" With that, she sped off after the two.

Double clenched Pete between her hand-jaws.

Spike rejoined with Twilight with the key in hand. "So what now??"

"Well, um..." Twilight quickly checked back on the astronomy book. "It says that five keys appear on the terra firma. When they're all claimed, all that have made prolonged contact with the keys' essence will be brought to - "

Twilight was soon interrupted by a drop-kick by Valentine. "To the site of the last two keys. So I guess I can't stop you from going there now..." She then brandished several bo-shuriken scalpels. "...without taking grisly measures!"

Valentine threw them at Twilight, who blocked them with a magic barrier. However, this distracted her from Valentine's next attack - swiftly scooping the pony and dragon into a body bag! She zipped it up tight and slammed a foot down on it as she brought out her IV-stand yari. "Well, thanks for playing~" She brought the spear down on the body bag...

SHING!!

...but it got blocked by a diving hoof-kick - by none other than Rainbow Dash! The pegasus then kicked the spear away from Valentine and swiftly tackled her back. The ninja caught footing on the snow, skidding to a stop.

"No one does that to my friends!" Rainbow Dash growled. "Is this treasure so great you gotta kill for it?!"

"...I won't give my reasons to just anyone," Valentine spat. "But if you want to be in the way as well, so be it!"

Valentine and Rainbow Dash proceeded to face off in head-on melee combat, matching hand with hoof, hoof with foot. Wario, meanwhile, felt a bit numb from the toxin that Valentine injected into his posterior. "Owwwww...Mama mia...!"

Pete breaks free from the sticky grip of Double's hand-jaws and pokes her in the eyes and then kicks her rear to get ground. Pete resumes getting to the key so he can snatch it from anyone.

...What rear? What eye? What Pete jammed his fingers into is another hand, which slapped him upside the face.

Twilight had just torn through the body bag, her and Spike gasping for air. But, just then, all the combatants - Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Valentine, Double, Pete, Wario, Fawful - were engulfed in a prismatic shine.

"(!) H-Hey, what...what is this??" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"The keys...all five must have been found!" Twilight realized. "And now...!"

"Alright...now the real game begins," Valentine stated.

"{rubs sore rear} Ow...the real game?" Wario groaned.

And with that, all eight vanished with the glow...

A prismatic shine flared out atop the blue surface of the moon. When it cleared, there stood Leilanie, Claptrap, Qwark, Pete, Ganymede, Ramses, Rainbow Dash, Red, Wario, Spike, and Valentine.

"Well," said Ramses, looking around. "Here's a fine mess you people have gotten me into."

"If you're here I'd wager you CHOSE to go after the treasure!" announced Ganymede.

"Whatever floats your boat, your highness," said Ramses. "But let's get to the more pressing matter at hand, which is WE ARE ON THE MOON."

Claptrap is cowering himself in fear thinking that the Metal Koopas are about to get him. Captain Qwark pokes Claptrap to get his attention. "AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Claptrap screamed, "I'M HIT! I'm about to go to the big cloud in the skies.......... Am I dead...?" Claptrap stops cowering and looks around.

"If my memory serves me right, we are on one of the two moons! Everyone, we're in Praeniteo!" Qwark announced.

"But... what are we doing here?" Leilanie asked.

"I was about to ask the same thing." Pete crosses his arms, "So I suppose the rest of you treasure hunters are also here too."

"Oh great, you again... Don't you ever leave us alone? You're not really good at hunting you know." Claptrap replied, "And I think you should guys know that I'm gonna be the best hunter in the world."

"Ah hah hah hah~ That's cute!" Qwark chuckled, "And have you accomplished anything?"

"...Uhhhhh......" Claptrap replies with a truth, "I destroyed the robot generator in Plantium's airship! HAH! He didn't notice a thing!"

"Y...Yeah, that's the craziest part about - " Rainbow Dash stopped herself when she noticed that Valentine was still here. "Oh yeah! I remember now...!" With that, she flew at Valentine at mach speed...and got held back by Valentine's hand against her head.

"Waitaminute!" Wario spoke up. "Don't tell me the treasure's here on-a the moon!"

"Doubt it," Red said. "But don't think you're taking our key! We had to face a mob of - " She reached to her pocket to show the key...but realized it wasn't there anymore. "(!) Hey, the key's gone!"

With her free hand, Valentine checked her pockets. "Mine, too...! So, my hunch was right..."

Ramses, in the meantime, pulls out a communicator and starts to dial it.

"What on earth are you doing?" asked Ganymede.

"Getting a ride off this god-forsaken rock," said Ramses. "I'm not being paid enough to be here."

"Oh, come on!" said Ganymede. "Where's your sense of adventure? Surely we were all teleported here for a reason! Don't you want to go out and find that reason?"

"No," bluntly answered Ramses. "The only reason I'm here is because I'm not getting good reception."

"HEY! My key's gone too!" Captian Qwark is confused and dejected about the missing keys, "I don't believe it! I just got it and now it's lost?"

"This has got be a sick setup..." Leilanie sighed, "Are the ancients pulling our legs or what? I want to know. Right now."

"D'oorgh....." Pete facepalms, "I don't believe this... You guys lost the keys and now we are stuck on this big giant rock. Great. FAAAAAAAAANTastic!"

"So...do you all want me to fill you in, or should I just walk off without leaving any knowledge?" Valentine said.

"Right..." Red uttered, crossing her arms. "Tell me why we should trust you, backstabber."

"I see...So you'd rather just sit here on the moon for the rest of your lives, and maybe let some other saps suffer all this as well..." With that, Valentine pushed Rainbow Dash away and turned her back to the group, as if to walk off. "Well, that's alright. You don't have to take part if you're used to living up here."

"HEEEYY.... I just realize something!! Maybe the whole teleportation gig tuns out to be another clue! If my memorybanks serves me right, the key shard is on Praeniteo."

Claptrap said with a good guess. Qwark, Leilanie, and Pete did not believe what Claptrap is saying.

"No really! I'm serious! There's another key hidden on this planet."

"How do we know you're not having malware in your system?" asked Leilanie.

"I think that a lot of us treasure hunters came in contact with the key shards, and then all of a sudden, we've been teleported to this moon while the other group teleported in that other moon. I guess the reason we got here because the ancients were worried that we would have to spend our money on rocket ships."

".....Urrgh.." Pete scratches his head, "Fine, we'll go with that theory."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" cautioned Ganymede to Valentine. "While you set foot on the ground you are vulnerable to all the might of the earth!"

"... What I'm sure his majesty MEANS is 'no, please stay,'" said Ramses, probably the only one of the group to trust Valentine (to a certain extent). "'Because I want to get off this blasted rock and can do that with much less fuss and murder if you tell us how to get off and why we got here in the first place.'"

"Nice try, Your Majesty," Valentine snarked, "but if I recall right, your powers aren't exactly effective on lunar ground. In any case, the trash can got it right. There's one more shard here on Praeniteo, as well as one on the other moon - which I'm sure our comrades are in the midst of finding right now."

Spike was worried. "Twilight..."

Rainbow Dash, uncomfortable with seeing Spike cry like this, went over and patted him on the back. "There there, li'l guy. I'm sure Twi will be alright. Heck, I bet if the two keys are found, we'll be back together in no time!"

"{sniff} Really...?"

Red steps forth. "Well, we won't find anything by standing around. C'mon, let's set out. The shard must be somewhere on this rock..."

"And I will be able to protect you all! There's nothing like a good guide to help you on your jou--" Claptrap trips on the ground, "Okay, I stand corrected! I will not protect you from anything dangerous, but I will do my best to help you guys out--"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You tried that before and now it sucked." Leilanie walks away from Claptrap along with Qwark and Pete, "Oh, and you just tripped on that little dragon's tears."

"DRAGON TEARS?!!! THEY RUST FASTER!!!!!" Claptrap screams, shakes violently and look at Spike, "YOU HAVE RUINED MY YELLOW COATING!!!!"

Leilanie throws a dagger at Claptrap. He didn't die, but he is damaged.

"AH! I'm sorry! I won't do it again..." Claptrap follows Leilanie, "AAAAAANNNNNNDDDD ONWARD!!!"

"You lie!" shouted Ganymede. "WATCH!"

Ganymede thrusts his hands skyward... and nothing happens. He stands there stunned as Ramses rolls his eyes.

"If you're done acting theatrical," said Ramses. "The only way you're getting back to terra firma is by coming with us and getting that key. Try not to die."

With that, Ramses follows Leilanie, Ganymede walking on with a slack-jawed expression.

Rainbow Dash hitched Spike up onto her back as she flew alongside Valentine. "Onward! To the key and to awesomeness!"

Red joins with Leilanie and the others (after going past Valentine and tagging something on her left leg's wrapping). "Awesomeness...sure. We'll go with that."

Wario follows Pete. "What-a mess I got bundled up in..."

"Quit your complainin', Wario." Pete grumbled, "This whole hunting shindig will be over soon."

So the group of treasure hunters are on their way to find Praeniteo's Tower Key. And they might be prepared for the Tower Key's guardian, who awaits its victims to claim it.