Author's Notes:

Okay, I'll admit, this chapter was a bit of a mess. I intended to progress on from everything that has already been shown in previous entries in this universe, and following up on continuity from some of those parts, if that makes sense. However, I think I may had thrown somethin' out of left field here. You'll find out what I mean soon enough.

Still, hope you enjoy it!

Amethyst Star had no problem making it through the first challenge. The questions wee beyond easy, and it was no struggle at all for her. In fact, she felt so good that she turned on some music from her media player.

Never took this road before
Destination unknown
Oh-whoa-whoa...
Destination unknown

She turned around a corner, jumping over a desk and landing on her feet. Still on truckin', she kept on runnin'.

"Alright Markless, whoever you are, you think I'm gonna back down from a challenge? I'm not gonna back down."

She opened up another door, entering in another room. This one had a bit more wider space than the last room she was in. Within, she could see a giant glass window to oversee the work done in the factory. And if anyone were to fall, it wouldn't be too big of a fall, luckily. But it didn't help that the window glass that was once there was now completely shattered, with no window there anymore. One wrong step and she'd fall right out.

Just like before, there was a TV for the Markless to speak through. And on that TV, the single question mark flickered on screen, and the distorted voice came through again.

"Amethyst Star. Still stuck in the past, I can see."

Amethyst huffed, blowing a piece of her hair out of her eyes. "Yeah, so what? We've got our obsessions. Now what's your challenge, Jigsaw wannabe?"

"I said your next puzzle would be a lot harder. Now here's your puzzle. As you can see, behind you is a gaping windowless window. That will be your escape into your next part. But you won't be able to get down onto the ground safely without any equipment. When you pass this challenge... you'll be given the equipment necessary for making it down to that floor safely."

"Bring it on!" Amethyst cheered. "So, what's my challenge? Repair work? Trivia?"

"Your honesty."

Amethyst gave a deadpan look. "Honesty, really? You couldn't think of anything better? This is my puzzle?"

"Do you want to see your friends, or not?"

"Alright, alright. What do you need me to be honest about?" Amethyst asked, sounding less than thrilled.

The Markless was silent, but then spoke after a few seconds.

"Everyone comes from a dark past. And within every person, there's always a dark truth to their nature and identity. And you are a part of it... You were adopted, were you not?"

"Yeah, I was. My dad adopted me from an orphanage," Amethyst nodded.

"Oh sweet Amethyst... there's so much more that you don't even realize." The Markless said, a small chuckle escaping the voice.

Amethyst started to feel a chill go down her spine.

"D-Didn't you say this was a game? What's even the game here!?" Amethyst said really quickly.

"I just need you to come to grips with the reality... and you will be allowed to move on."

"W-What reality!?"

"You may have been adopted... but you were not the first child your father had. Look down on the desk."

Amethyst didn't want to, but she did it anyway. On the desk was a vanilla folder. Opening it up, she found a few pieces of text from medical journals. Her eyes skimmed through them, but only a look of horror remained on her face. The notes only got worse and worse as she read them.

"You weren't planned for adoption. Your father was happy with the family he had... until he had driven them straight into their own tombs."

"No... no... no it can't be! That's not true!"

"Your father had been feeding you lies... All of this time you were told that you were the only child he ever had. And he never had the courage to tell you the truth... The truth that he is responsible for the death of two individuals, who would never have been your family. Without their deaths... you wouldn't have been adopted. Will you accept the reality... or are you going to continue to stay in the past and let the terrors and past trauma consume you?"

Amethyst felt her head pounding. The thoughts, the memories. Everything she had remembered that was told to her... everything she remembered having lived with her father... the reality of the situation was being told to her as if it was the final note she would ever read.

A ringing hit her ears as a high frequency pitch from the television made her scream in agony. Even worse, she felt the room start to get humid. It was all too much. The noise, the memories, the heat... it was all too much for her to handle and she could see her vision become more and more blurry.

For a glimpse of a second, she swore she saw a specter of light glowing. A girl with purple skin and pigtails appearing in her vision. She gasped and panted and heaved, trying to breathe. But her vision was only getting more fuzzy. It was starting to get too much when right then, everything went black.

All lights went out. Her body came limp, and all of her weight started to go backwards. Her body went straight over the ledge, and broke straight through an old desk. Her body broke the desk on the impact, but she wasn't awake. She was unconscious. And worse, The Markless saw her fall. And they could see the place that she fell through. And none of her friends even knew.

"When you wake up, Amethyst... you'll be ready to face your final challenge. Only it'll be much more painful from there..."

Lyra kept following Flash, still on guard and still staying ready in case anything were to go wrong. Specifically, if he was gonna do something backhanded. She doubted he would, but she still wanted to stay ready just in case.

After a few minutes of walking, she followed Flash outside of the main entrance of the steel mill. Parked outside with the rest of their cars was an RV type of car. Nice and shiny paint, clear glass, it was a nice looking ride.

"You're here in an RV?"

"Yep. Well, its not my RV, its actually..." Flash almost trailed off but he came to a stop. He didn't speak anymore on that part.

"Who? Who's RV is it?"

Flash gulped. "Its, uh... Fluttershy's."

Lyra raised a brow. "I see... Now why are you here? Care to explain that?"

Flash nodded. "Of course. You see, Fluttershy and I have an assignment for our Media Arts class, and we have to take pictures of places that aren't remembered as much. So I talked to her, and she agreed to come here at this place since it wasn't really well known or even talked about as much."

Lyra still wasn't convinced. "Do you have any pictures?"

Flash reached into his pocket, pulling out a camera. Turning it on, he showed it to Lyra, showing photos that were taken of the mill area. Most of them were rather unique shots, taking them from different angles, positions, and even the lighting. But as Lyra moved to the next photo, she found a picture that she found a bit scary. Flash took a selfie of himself with a goofy grin on his face.

She looked at the guitar player with a face that screamed 'really?' Flash only chuckled nervously.

"I was on a break, I figured I might as well have a bit of fun."

Lyra rolled her eyes. "Okay, here's my other question, do you have any other reason for being here?"

"Uh, no." Flash said, quickly.

Lyra still sneered at him with a glare.

"I'm not playing games with you Flash. Why are you out here?"

"I swear, I only came here for my project!"

"Sure you are," Lyra said, flipping a nunchuk from her back. She swung it around in her arms, flawlessly throwing it around and raised it up with a tight grip. She stood in a fighting stance, making Flash back away. "The truth Flash, now!"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you the truth!" Flash said, trying to stay as calm as he could. "Look, I'll admit... I'm not proud of this but... I heard where you girls were going. And as much as I didn't want to, I thought I should follow you all and find out what exactly this 'Markless' person is having you do. As paranoid as this sounds, I was worried that he was gonna have you all kidnapped in a matter of seconds so I thought I should at least keep an eye out and see if he or she was going to do that."

Lyra could tell Flash wasn't joking. He looked her, dead in the eyes with a straight face. There was no hint of hiding the truth, he was full on honest. Relieved of any hostility feeling, Lyra put her weapons away, tucking them back into the pouches and holsters on her back.

"Well if you're here to make sure we're alive, then I suppose that's no reason to point my weapons at you. Sorry about that," Lyra sheepishly replied.

"No, its okay. I don't blame you, really."

Shrugging off, Lyra looked around. "So you're borrowing Fluttershy's RV?"

"Actually, she came with me to take photos. That's part of how I convinced her to come with me. But I haven't seen her in an hour, honestly."

"How long were you here?" Lyra asked.

"We've been here for about 45 minutes. But Fluttershy walked off, said about needing to vent her frustrations out on something non-human. But I haven't seen her since."

Lyra's eyes bulged. "Why did you let her go on her own!?!"

"I thought it was safe, there wasn't anyone else out here at the time!"

"Well then we have to find her! For all we know, she could be the Markless!"

"How could she be the Markless and arrive with me?" Flash asked.

"I don't know, my brain's not working today, and I'm stressed out, okay!? Come on!"

"Right behind you!"

Lyra began on a fast run, and Flash chased right after. Now it was time to get serious. Their footsteps hit the gravel like a pack of lions running in the Amazon.

"You're here mostly for Adagio, aren't you?" Lyra called out.

"Uh... maybe?" Flash replied, trying to keep up.

"Dang it, Flash! She's dating, we discussed this already!"

"I can't help it! Look, even if she's just a friend, I don't want to see her harmed!"

Lyra just rolled her eyes, groaning as she kept running like a cheetah.

Starlight Glimmer and Trixie Lulamoon stood in complete silence. Right before their eyes, laid the entrance to a mine. Within the mountain. The sight alone had frightened them. It looked abandoned, and there laid a sign that read 'Stay Out'.

"The Markless wants us to come through here?" Starlight asked.

"That's what the clue said." Trixie nodded, nervously shaking her head.

"Oh boy...", Starlight shivered, "I don't know about you, but I'm scared to step anywhere near that mine, let alone go inside."

"As much as I don't want to either, Starlight, we have to. Our friends lives may depend on it."

Starlight sighed. "I suppose you're right."

The two of them reached into the bags that hung on their shoulders, pulling out flashlights.

"Here goes nothing," Trixie ordered, walking straight inside.

The two walked inside the mine, leaving the bright sunshine of the outdoors. The more they walked, the more dark it became. After all, they were going straight inside a mountain. Upon walking in, they could see a few typical things they expected in a mine. A few old lanterns about, some lights hung up on the ceiling, and they saw a few wooden support beams hoisting the entire place up.

"So, Trixie, is there anything special about these girls we're looking for or are they just old friends?" Starlight asked, brushing the hair out her eyes.

Trixie was about to respond but then a thought had reached her mind. She had never told Starlight about any of the Dazzlings. And for that matter, she had kept Starlight out of the loop of stuff going on in her life currently. She never told her the adventure she had with them when they first came to CHS. And for that matter, she didn't tell them that they were from a parallel dimension! And not human!

Sweat ran down her head just thinking about it. What was she going to tell her? She couldn't lie to her. But she couldn't just tell her the truth, she'd never believe her. Heck, how would she react to knowing she was dating a girl?

"Oh, they're just, uh... old friends, that's it... heh, heh..." Trixie said, clearly nervous out her skull.

"That doesn't sound like they're old friends," Starlight replied, raising a brow.

"I-It's a long story, Starlight. One that I'm sure you wouldn't believe," Trixie looked away, her eye locking on the various signs that were hanging about.

"Come on, try me. Who are these girls?"

"They're uh... Well, they're um..."

Trixie didn't finish her sentence. Her foot went forward again, and she hit her toe into something hard.

"Ow!" Trixie yelped, nearly falling on her back. She held onto her foot, feeling the pain that she had just endured. Starlight shined a light down on what she hit, and looked down. On the ground was another tool. A small pickax, to be precise. And just like the other tool that they hit, there was a metal band down the end, and a small circular hole drilled through the handle.

"Who keeps leaving tools lying around?" Starlight asked.

Trixie rubbed her hand on her toes which were within her shoe. But a small sliver of light caught her eye. Looking up, she could see that the rest of the lights in the ceiling were on. Odd, they weren't odd when they walked inside.

"We're definitely not alone in here. Come on, we better keep going."

Starlight grabbed the tool, and started to run down the mine. Not too far behind was Starlight who tried to pick up the pace with her.

The run took them around a few bends, going in several directions through the mine. They would have run more if not for the new sight that attracted their eyes. On their right, there was a giant hollow area that was dug out. Looked like it had been dug for a long time. But within that small little area, they could see things like common household items and other things were sitting there. A few cots with fresh linen sheets, a small cooler, silverware, some first aid kits, and so on.

In addition, there were a few empty bottles laying in a pile along with some candy wrappers, a lantern hanging above the ceiling, and there was a small folding table mounted up. On that table there were a few plates and forks and knives scattered about on it. But there was also a small notebook on it as well.

Curiosity enticing her, Trixie picked up the journal and flipped through some of the pages. Maybe there was something useful in here? But as she flipped through the journal, she just grew annoyed really really quickly. There was nothing of importance to be found. No identities, no pieces of information or a single clue to be found. But wait--

"You found something Trixie?" Starlight asked.

Trixie flipped through the book again, finding the page that had caught her interest.

"... Oh, here it is! Operations are going smoothly, but that one girl is starting to become a nuisance. Not even helpful. Keeps taking my tools and never gives them back. Starting to get really annoying..." Trixie trailed off, "And there's just a lot of swearing from there after."

"Any clue for who kidnapped the Dazzlings?"

"No, nothing. All the journal says is that there was a girl who's becoming a bother to them... and I have a feeling that our girl may just be The Markless." Trixie said, rubbing her chin.

"And also... wait a minute." Starlight said. She looked down at the tool Trixie held onto, and then looked onto the ground next to some crates. A few more tools all strapped together with similar looking bottom ends all were in a row. "This tool matches just like the others. Metal band, perfectly cut circular hole."

"But why would anyone have their tools have those specific details?" Trixie asked.

"I don't know. Maybe its..."

Starlight turned her head, and she stopped talking. Down the mine where more light was shown, she heard the sound of a metal piece slamming against something hard. Then another pound. And another, and another. Even so, she could hear the sound of some music.

"Someone's here." Starlight whispered.

Trixie jolted her head up and looked down the hall where Starlight was looking. She could hear the music as well. Slowly, but not so much to waste their time, she got back up and walked out of the hollowed out room. Her feet walked right back onto the gravel, and she slowly started to tip-toe down with Starlight right beside her.

At the end of the hall, they could see an even bigger area than before. They weren't in any hallways anymore. They were standing in what looked like a big cavern to them. There were some more support beams holding the place up, a few more lanterns, and they saw what appeared to be some tracks with a mine-cart sitting on them. And in the cart, they could see several amounts of diamonds and crystals piling up.

Their eyes looked around, in awe of the underground facility. They had never been in a real life mine before, so this was all new to them. But as they listened to the sounds some more, they nearly gasped in shock. With a knee out, there appeared to be someone who was digging into one of the rocks, trying to break it apart. They couldn't see much but they did see a bit of gray skin with hair reaching the shoulder length behind the head. There was also a headlight strapped to her head, shining the light on the rock she was breaking apart.

"Oookayyy, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, we just came into this place uninvited," Starlight shivered.

"We better get out before we're spotted," Trixie whispered.

She took one step behind, and unfortunately she stepped on a piece of rock. The sound made a crackling noise, grabbing the attention of the miner who rose their head up.

"Go, go!" Trixie whispered.

Not even thinking for another second, the two girls started to run as fast as they could down the mine, running in the complete opposite direction from where they were. They picked up their feet as best as they could, not wasting a second of time in the cave.

"Where do we go!?" Starlight cried.

"Back outside, back outside!"

But just as they made another turn, the two of them came to a halt. They didn't realize it when they walked through, but they came out of a single hall on their walk inside. And it was out of two passageways that they could have come from.

"What do we do now!?" Starlight panicked.

"Split up! If you make it outside before me, try to find the others, anyone you can, tell them I'm inside the mine!"

"Okay!"

Trixie ran into the left mine, while Starlight ran into the right. Now the two had split up from each other. Trixie held her flashlight up to provide her guiding vision as she ran. But it didn't help that there was barely any light for her as she was running. She could only guess that the miners never went down the passageway she was running into.

Without realizing it, she felt herself bumping into a few parts of the wall, rubbing against some rocks. She grunted from the pain, but she still kept going. And without even seeing, she tripped on a stone. She would have saved herself, but she hit her head against a part of the wall, and found herself falling straight down a few more rocks into a bigger cavern.

She moaned as her body hit some more rocks until she landed right on her stomach in the pit of the cavern. She tried to pull herself up, but she didn't have the strength to get back up again. And a few seconds later, the lights around her began to go dark and her eyes slowly closed.

Fortunately for her, a flash of light shined on her. But she wasn't awake to see who it was. The sounds of feet sliding down on some of the rocks and landing on the ground with a perfect landing echoed throughout. Once the feet had landed, they walked forward looking at the passed out girl who fell.

"Hmmm..."

But as the figure shined the light some more, they moved towards some of the sparkles on the wall. Moving towards it, the figure stopped as the sparkles hit her eyes. The light shined on the some of the rocks, and the sound of metal clapping together made the new sound. Two handles like a pair of tongs reached forward, plucking a piece of the shiny material off the rock. With a whirring sound, the tongs moved around like it was on a turntable, moving it so most of the material was facing towards the figure's face.

The figure looked down at the shiny geode, to which a smile flashed a sparkle of gold.

"Excellent."