"What about the mine?" Applejack asks.
"They must have been to the mine. We always have... had crates full of blood crystals ready for shipping. And it's not exactly hidden either. I can't imagine them not sniffing it out."
"We could still try," Twilight says. "With so many crystals there it would be easy to miss a few. And we only need three."
You all agree. Besides, it feels very dangerous to stay in town with all these changelings flying around.
Laminary Quartz gives you directions to the mine. It isn't far. The mine is in the foothills of the mountains behind the station, up one of the valleys a bit. The road is marked with posts and should still be visible, even under a layer of snow.
The stallion also apologizes for wanting to stay home; he wants to protect his family.
It was here that I looked at the clock. The time had passed more quickly than I expected. The ponies were still captivated by the story, but it would probably be a good idea to cut out a part. Especially if I wanted to have sufficient time for the game.
Crisps and snacks had somehow appeared on the table. Pinkie must have put them there, even though I didn't see her do it.
I shrugged. Pinkie.
It is fully dark when you arrive at the mine. You find it as you expected - cold and abandoned. Broken crates and randomly dropped pickaxes indicate that the changelings have been here as well.
You all hurry inside the main shaft, and light a fire with scrap wood and broken crates. It feels good to warm your hooves again. Even though the mine is in the foothills quite a way above the fog, the night air is still freezing up here. Inside the mine it is a bit warmer.
It takes almost an hour walking through cramped mine shafts, ascending ladders and carefully descending creaking rope lifts, to confirm that the mines seem completely devoid of any blood crystals. Not even Rarity's horn can detect any.
Two shafts have collapsed; you can't tell if that happened today. There could be blood crystals behind the collapses, but there's no way to find out. It would take days to clear the rubble, all the while risking more falling rocks.
It is Pinkie who discovers a shaft that you haven't checked yet, on one of the deeper levels of the mine. After only a few meters it has been completely boarded off, and there are many old and faded but still readable signs indicating some danger that must lie beyond the barrier. It has not been disturbed, so the changelings haven't searched beyond it. But what danger could there be?
You decide to press on, to break through the barrier, to search beyond. It is your only hope.
I pause to finish off my drink. It has been a long time since I talked so much.
"I will skip here all the adventures you find behind that barrier - that's a story for a different night."
Even Rarity managed to look a bit disappointed.
"I might even make it an interactive story. Just know that you find cave systems, and an ancient underground stronghold. You encounter dark twisty corridors, and giant spiders, and difficult riddles."
During these adventures you actually manage to find blood crystals. You have an entire chest of them, so full you can only just close its lid. Maybe you only need three, but as Applejack reasoned it can't hurt to have spares.
Finally you emerge into daylight again from a ventilation shaft that ends just inside the mouth of a cave. You find yourselves a bit higher up in the mountains, with a nice view on the Crystal Empire. The goo covered palace isn't even all that far from here.
The sky is a lot more clear than it was yesterday, although you can see the fog still covering the Empire.
The angle of the sun tells you it is mid-morning, and the six of you are exhausted from climbing, walking and struggling all through the night.
You decide to take shelter for now, and sleep until night has fallen. Then you can each take three blood crystals, and try to reach the spires under cover of both the fog and the dark.
Of course, you don't know if you'll be safe in this cave, so you take turns to guard for an hour, then wake the next pony.
After an uneventful and restful day you all gather at the mouth of the cave. Guarding the cave wasn't necessary. None of you reports seeing or hearing anything suspicious.
You all feel quite well rested, though cold and hungry.
You're ready for this, even if there are a few thousand changelings between you and the Crystal Heart. You know you have to do this, because if you fail, if you cannot activate the shield, the only other option left to free the Empire is probably an all-out war between the Equestrian army and the changelings. The army would win, probably, but at what cost?
My audience visibly relaxed. If the choice was between an all-out war or the Mane Six saving the day again, they could see where this story was going to go.
I grinned. No, they couldn't.
Twilight uses her magic to lift the chest from its safe location at the back of the cave.
The chest feels suspiciously light.
Ah, that got a reaction. Rainbow just said "Wait, what?", but I could see Twilight and Rarity both thinking hard. They loved mysteries and solving puzzles.
Before I could continue the story, Twilight spoke up. "I don't get it. The chest is full when we arrive in the cave, we keep guard the entire day, and now the chest is empty?"
"Almost empty," I corrected her. "There are still a few crystals left on the bottom of the chest."
I gave them a few seconds to think on this twist, then continued.
You talk about the missing blood crystals, and look around confused. In the middle of your discussion you suddenly hear Rarity say: "Oh, dear."
They all turned to look at Rarity, who looked at me, confused, thinking hard. Then it hit her.
"Some of us must be changelings..."
They all fell silent.
Yes! My faith in Rarity was well placed. I could not have scripted this better if she had been in on it.
Of course I grabbed this opportunity, and continued...
In the silence you could have heard a pin drop. In fact, you could probably have heard it echo around the cave a couple of times.
You see everypony's eyes widen with the realization that Rarity is right. Your eyes dart from pony to pony, from friend to friend. Each of these so familiar faces could be hiding a changeling.
They all immediately recognized this bit. Rarity throws a look my way that, if I had a bit more self esteem, I would classify as "admiration."
Everything has gone wrong! Some of your friends have been kidnapped and replaced by changelings, Shining Armor and Cadance have been missing for days - maybe even weeks - and the Crystal Empire is doomed if you don't get this right.
But here you are, cold and hungry. And there are only one, two, three, four... five blood crystals left, and there is nopony you can trust.
Not Rarity. Not Twilight. Not even Applejack.
When I was counting I placed the five blood crystals from the box back on the table again.
And this, my friends, this is where the story ends...
"What?" Rainbow asks. "You can't end a story like that! I want to know how we're going to save the Empire!"
"Rainbow?" I interrupt her. "Please let me finish. Trust me."
This, my friends, this is where the story ends... and the game begins!