The Game

Starlight Glimmer held her hands on her knees as she finally made it to the outside of the mine. Sweat ran down her head as she tried to pull herself together from the intense run. She looked back, praying that Trixie was still there. No. She wasn't. She remembered them splitting up to to try and throw the miner off their back.

"I'll be back Trixie. I promise."

Starlight picked up her feet and ran farther from the mine, running into the more open areas of the steel mill. Hopefully there were some girls still outside for her to get some help.

Thankfully for her there were still some girls outside. Lyra was still running around with Flash, trying to find Fluttershy. And as for Bon Bon? She was finally at the spot where Muffins had led her to.

"So, what exactly are you doing here?" Bon Bon asked.

Standing far from Bon Bon and Muffins were a few target beams that Muffins had set up. She had straightened some pieces of sheet metal, and on each one she had sprayed painted some bright colors to mark the spots she had to hit. However, what Bon Bon could plainly see was that the arrows that had been fired at the beams were all around the beams... except for the beams. Not a single one of them hit the targets. Not even a square inch.

"I said I was practicing. But I can't really hit any of my targets," Muffins admitted, shamefully. "I'm seeing double! I see one spot, I see another, and I just can't fire straight."

Bon Bon tapped her foot on the ground, looking at the targets that Muffins had failed to fire. All right in front of her, and none of them even got knocked down.

"So... this is all you're doing?"

Muffins shamefully nodded.

"Not here for anything else?"

"I don't really have anything else to do on a Saturday," Muffins replied, rubbing her head, "I would hang out with friends but they're all busy."

Bon Bon nodded. "I see."

She looked down to the ground, seeing where the bow was resting. Then off to the side, she found the quiver holding a collection of arrows was resting. A smirk came to her face and she looked to Muffins with a small smile. Picking it up, she handed the bow to the cross-eyed girl and held an arrow out for her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna help you," Bon Bon smirked. "You may be crossed eyed, but that doesn't mean you can't do this. Now come on, lock on target."

Muffins relaxed herself, and she picked up an arrow. She stretched her arm out, carefully setting the arrow into position. She closed an eye, trying to get herself ready for the attack. Muffins was about to let go, but she didn't. Her ears twitched, hearing the sound of running footsteps.

She looked to where the source was coming from, confused to where it came from. Bon Bon heard it too, and she looked back as well. Just from beyond the courtyard was Lyra who was darting head first directly to where they stood. Looking at to who was standing she moved her feet just in time and skidded across the gravel, creating a skid mark behind her.

"Hey Bonnie! Who's--DAH!" Lyra held her sword out, "Why is she here!?"

"Lyra, hey!" Bon Bon jumped. "Calm down, its okay. She's not doing anything."

Panting far behind, and holding onto his knees was Flash Sentry. He raised a hand up, gesturing he was alright. Looking back up, there was visible sweat running down his head as he looked to the three girls.

"You're not even tired? Not even a little!?"

"I've had years of hard work and training, Flash." Lyra shrugged. "I'm a ninja after all."

"I... I guess that makes sense," Flash panted, trying to catch is breath. "Just give me a sec, alright? Not all of us were born for speed."

"Hello to you too, Flash," Bon Bon glared. "Why is he here?"

"Don't worry about him. He's clean," Lyra replied, putting her sword away. "Now about Muffins...?"

"She's clean too."

Lyra and Bon Bon sat in awkward silence, everyone looking at each other. Two people who they believed were the prime suspects had no freaking clue or really anything shocking or surprising enough to be the culprit.

"Well this is going nowhere. Shall we check in with the others?" Lyra said fast, breaking the silence.

"I guess so."

"Girls! Girls!"

All four of them looked to the left. Running and heaving for air, was Starlight Glimmer. She held onto her stomach, trying to get herself to breathe and calm down.

"Boy, I'm out of shape for this!" Starlight yelled, trying to breathe.

"Where's Trixie?" Bon Bon asked.

"S-She... she's... she's still in the mine!"

"What?" Lyra and Bon Bon asked in unison.

"Trixie and I were following the Markless's instructions for the game, but when we did, we just went into a mine shaft. We found some people working there, and we panicked, and Trixie and I split up from each other! I don't know if she made it out or not, but I said I would go back to try and find you girls."

All four of them looked at her as she started to calm down, clear distress on her face. But Bon Bon and Lyra weren't really convinced. Starlight had been left with Trixie all by herself. And they didn't know a thing about Starlight, outside of being an old friend.

"So you left her alone, huh?" Lyra asked, sounding less than thrilled.

"I-I didn't want to, but she told me to run!"

"Sure she did..." Bon Bon said, sneering.

Starlight was confused. "Wait, what are you--" Starlight nearly jumped back and stepped as far as she could. Lyra held her sword out, pointed at her.

"You left her! How could you leave her!?"

"I had no choice, we were going to get captured! I don't even know who we saw!"

"You say we a lot, but how do we know you're not the one who got her into that cave?" Lyra barked.

"Why are you accusing me of all of this? I barely even know any of you, and I would never harm Trixie!"

"Just like you said. Only, we barely know you, but we know you know a lot more about Trixie than any of us..." Bon Bon said, holding her whisks out.

"Enough!"

Everyone stopped. To their right was Flash who broke the silence.

"Look at all of you! One second after meeting up with someone, you threaten them! Is this what Trixie would want? Is this what any of the Dazzlings would want? I thought you were all here to save your friends, not hurt them!" Flash yelled. "I don't know who kidnapped the Dazzlings, but accusing people at random isn't going to help you find them any faster."

Lyra and Bon Bon looked back at the guitar player. Then over to Muffins who stood there, looking confused. Lastly, they looked to Starlight Glimmer, and then each other. Both of them let out a sigh and held their heads.

"What are we even doing?" Bon Bon moaned. "Starlight, look, we--"

"No, no, you don't need to apologize. I know you two are under a lot of stress right now, and I would be to if my best friends were in a situation like this."

"And Trixie's your best friend, yet you're calm."

Starlight nodded. "You don't know her like I do. She may be a bit of a scaredy-cat sometimes, but she's smart and quick. I know she'll be okay."

"If you say so," Bon Bon said, sounding unsure. "Well, either way... if none of you all are the ones who kidnapped our friends, could you maybe... help us? Please?"

Flash smiled. "I'd be happy to."

"Of course!" Muffins cheered.

"And if you're still with us Starlight?" Lyra asked.

"I wouldn't leave you girls in something like this. Never."

Bon Bon and Lyra smiled.

"Well, if we're gonna do this, we better check in with the others," Lyra said, reaching for her radio transmitter. "Amethyst, this is Lyra. Come in, Amethyst."

She waited for a reply, but she just got static out the other end.

"Amy? Amy are you there?" Lyra asked, sounding concerned.

Bon Bon decided to give the radio transmitter a try. "Octavia, are you there? Please tell me you're--"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Bon Bon was so startled she dropped the radio and everyone jumped.

"What's going on!?" Muffins panicked.

"I don't know, but we better move, fast!"

"Right! Come on girls, we better find them!"

Vinyl, having read her set of instructions, walked into a new room. An office, just as abandoned and gross like the other rooms she had wandered into. Her second challenge was about to commence any given second now.

"Miss Scratch. Welcome."

Vinyl jumped, but stopped when she recognized that same demonic tone.

"Alright, lets just get straight to the challenge, I'm getting sick of trying to understand your clues and riddles."

The Markless groaned.

"Because its a puzzle, you dummy, its supposed to be hard to solve! But because you're so eager, I suppose I could speed things along... your challenge is going to be a bit harder though. I need... your honesty."

Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Please, I can be honest all I wish. I have no secrets."

The Markless let out a chuckle. "Sure you do..."

Vinyl felt a chill go down her spine. Her body started to tense up, hearing that laugh.

"Let me ask you something, Miss Scratch. You and Octavia had a falling out a long time ago... and I know you two have reconciled and have made up, haven't you?"

Vinyl gulped and nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

"And while I think its sweet you two are friends again... there's something deep inside you know you have been hiding from Octavia."

"L-Like what?"

Spontaneously out of nowhere, a light shined on the desk. A new set of papers was shown, one in a vanilla folder.

"Read the file."

Vinyl slowly walked towards the file in the folder. She slowly started to reach for it, but she tensed up. She couldn't bear to read it. A number of things could be there for her to read, and she didn't want to be reminded of what could have been there. But she knew she had no choice.

She picked up the folder and she started to read the file.

"You and your family all agreed to never speak of this information. Not wanting to relive the pain and horror of the day this happened... but you know that this would have to be talked about again. Your mother put a member of Octavia's family away... for good."

Vinyl dropped the file and she bent over, nearly falling. She held her arms out on the desk, keeping herself from falling.

"No... no... no, please!"

"You cannot deny it Vinyl... you put Octavia's father away... and you never had the courage to tell you that you were partially responsible for his imprisonment."

Vinyl felt her heart pounding and her lips were quivering. Tears started to stream down her face, and she whimpered.

"Please... please, just stop!"

"All you have to do... is tell me right here, loud and clear--"

"--Alright! Look, her father held my parents at gunpoint in their own store! I had it all collected on tape and sent it to the authorities, and that's how we got him in jail! What could I even say to her!? Her father was going to kill my family!" Vinyl pleaded.

The Markless waited for a moment or too. Vinyl felt herself crying some more and more, holding her face.

"The guilt runs heavy in you. Something you always felt was your fault..."

A single door opened up, and Vinyl turned her head looking more scared.

"You're free to go."

Vinyl cried and sobbed some more. Picking herself up, she walked out of the room, crying even more. What was she going to do?

A hand wrapped in a black glove tapped its fingers on a desk. The Markless watched as Vinyl cried more and more as she left the room. And on another camera, they could see Octavia fleeing for dear life down a hallway, screaming in terror. But oddly enough, they could see her screaming... but there wasn't a single thing that appeared to be following her. Not one. No one.

And Amethyst? She was still knocked out, with her body sprawled in the desk she crashed through. The speakers could still pick up the music playing from her media player.

"Only three actually bothered to participate in my game... it won't matter. They'll be reaching the final round very soon. I'm sure they'll love the surprising I have in store for them..."