"This game will determine, you will determine whether the changelings will be thrown out of the Empire by Shining Armor and Cadance's defence system, or the changelings will win and the Empire will be plunged into a nasty war."

I cleared more room on the table, stacking used glasses and empty bowls on the floor next to the couch. The crystal heart was moved towards the center of one end of the table, and the spires were arranged around it again. I placed the five blood crystals side by side in the center of the table, then drew some more game components from the box.

"Meanwhile, consuming the blood crystals has giving the changelings among you enough power to perfectly mimic the ponies they replaced - not even Twilight could detect them with her magic. And even if she could, even if she were to tell you that for instance Applejack was a changeling, would you believe her? She could be one herself!

"The good news is that based on the number of missing crystals, and the fact that they haven't dared to reveal themselves yet, there are probably just two changelings. Which means the ponies still have the majority.
And this gives Twilight an idea, a way to make use of this majority.

"You will take turns selecting a small team. You all vote on it, and only if a majority approves, this team will take one of the blood crystals and sneak off into the night to try to insert it into one of the Shining Spires without alerting any changelings. Meanwhile, the rest of you will stay here in the cave, keeping an eye on the remaining crystals, and each other.

"Of course, you hope they will return in an hour or so, reporting that the crystal has been successfully placed into one of the spires; bringing you one step closer to saving the Empire.
What also might happen is that they return arguing, reporting that one of them has eaten the crystal while the others weren't looking, and they can't agree on who had the crystal last. Since you only have five blood crystals, this will rapidly bring you closer to defeat. Lose three crystals this way and you can no longer activate the defense system, which means the changelings win.

"If after voting there is no majority in favor of the team, it's simply the next pony's turn to select a team. Keep in mind, however, that if this happens five times in a row it's obvious the changelings have caused so many disharmony between you that the ponies automatically lose."

I dealt each of them a card, warning them to never reveal it. This card told them whether they would be a pony or a changeling. I had emphasized that the changelings are in the minority, so their only hope is to act exactly like the pony they have replaced.

I must say, I had underestimated their poker faces. Even I couldn't tell who had received one of the two changeling cards.

We proceeded to do the thing where the changelings reveal their identity to each other by having everybody close their eyes, the changelings open them and make eye contact, then close them again.
As soon as everypony's eyes opened they started looking around suspiciously. Perfect.

"Rarity, for some reason everyone trusts you a fraction more than the others, so you'll start." I ignored the looks I got, indicating that the others didn't necessarily agreed with this.
"This first team you're going to choose will consist of only two ponies. Later teams will be somewhat larger. You can of course also pick yourself as part of this team. So, who will you pick?"

I placed one of the blood crystals in front of her.

She looked around. None of the other ponies looked particularly suspicious - or rather, all of them were. Even Applejack, who returned her stare with an equally piercing one.
"I simply have no idea," Rarity said. "I mean, Pinkie is grinning as if she's a changeling, so I do not trust her. Twilight is way too quiet for my tastes. Rainbow and Applejack are throwing so many suspicious glances around they're either honest or trying very hard to look like it."
She glanced at Fluttershy, sitting to her right. "And about that, girls, maybe you could tone it down a little? I think you're scaring Fluttershy."

Rarity turned to me and asked, "So how do I choose? I have no clue who the changelings could be."

"Well, the first turn is always the toughest. That's why you only have to pick a team of two ponies. As I said, you can just pick yourself. Then just go with your instincts and pick someone to join you. As soon as everyone has voted on that team you'll have more information to base your choices on."

She looked around once more, then indicated Fluttershy. "In that case, my team will be Fluttershy and me."

I gave them ten seconds to determine their votes, then had them all reveal their vote at the same time. Besides Rarity herself only Fluttershy and Applejack had voted for the team. Three votes was not enough for a majority, so I took the crystal and placed it in front of Rainbow Dash.
I also grabbed another game component from the box; one they hadn't seen yet. It was a small crystal heart, like the one standing between the spires; but this one was very obviously broken, with a split right down the center.

"What's that?" Rainbow asked, with her nose only inches away from the broken heart. "Is that supposed to be broken?"

"Yes, it is. It represents your disharmony. I have five of them here in the box, and for every team that doesn't get a majority vote I take another broken heart and place it here on the table. If all five of them stand here, the ponies lose and the changelings win."

Rainbow looked shocked. "Wait, we can only vote against a team five times?"

"Well, if a team gets approved I will place all of them back in the box again, so it isn't as bad as you think. Rainbow, I think it's your turn to choose a two-pony team."

She was just as hesitant to pick someone. "So, I don't trust Twilight. And with Pinkie still grinning like that... No, just... no."

Pinkie's smile didn't budge a millimeter.

"I think you can't trust Applejack or Rarity," Twilight suddenly spoke up. "Applejack approved that team she wasn't even in, so she must have known that Rarity was a changeling; it also means she's a changeling herself, of course. And Rarity picking Fluttershy means that she would have had a scapegoat if the crystal had been eaten."

Rarity looked at Twilight, with a dramatic hoof to the forehead. "Oh, how unfair! You suspect me, and not Fluttershy?"

"Come on, Rarity," Rainbow said."Everypony knows you're a better actor than her. Most of the time. So," she turned to me, " that means the only pony I can trust is Fluttershy. My team is me and her."

They all fell silent, trying to follow Twilight and Rainbow's logic.

I couldn't suppress a smile. These discussions and accusations are why playing this game is so awesome with players who really know each other.

There were several glances towards the broken heart while the ponies decided their vote, so I wasn't surprised to see this team did get a majority.

I drew some tokens from a black velvet bag and gave the two ponies on the team two tokens each. One was light blue, the color of the crystal heart, the other had the black and sickly green colors associated with changelings. I explained that they had to choose one token and, without showing it to the others, drop it in a white bag I would pass around. The other they would drop unseen back into the black bag that held all of the tokens.

Ponies could only choose to use the light blue token; changelings could choose either.

Next, I would shake the white bag, so the tokens would be really mixed, then draw them out one at a time. If any of them would be black and green the mission would fail; the crystal had been eaten. Only if all of them were light blue the crystal would be successfully placed in one of the spires.

I was surprised when the outcome of this first mission was revealed. Neither of the ponies had eaten the crystal. Then again, a changeling can choose not to eat the crystal to gain some trust from the other players.

I placed the crystal in one of the spires, then grabbed the next one.

"Congratulations, ponies. You're one step closer to defeating the changelings. Applejack, It's your turn to pick a team. This team will have three ponies, so choose wisely."

Time flies when you're having fun. The next few rounds had flown by, and before I knew it we had arrived at the last crystal.

It was quiet; tension on every pony's face. Even Pinkie had traded her smile for a narrow-eyed concentrated look.

Everybody was looking at Twilight. It was her turn to pick a team. Two crystals had already been placed in the spires, but two had also been eaten. There was only one blood crystal left.
And for this last team I had told her to pick four ponies, so her guess had to be perfect for the ponies to win, to save the Empire.

The two broken hearts on the table didn't help. I could see Twilight was actually sweating while she tried to make sense of all the clues gathered so far.

Everypony already suspected Applejack; she had been in both teams that had its crystal eaten. But who could be the second changeling?

Twilight looked at Rarity, who looked back with a raised eyebrow that seemed to say "You might suspect me, darling, but I'm not sure I trust you either."

Rainbow Dash? No, she had been acting too real, too much into the game. Almost unthinkable to think she could be a changeling.

The same was true for Pinkie Pie. Her accusations towards the other players had been loud and over the top, of course, but that made them no less real.

Besides, both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had been in teams that had actually succeeded.

But who could it be, then?

Twilight suddenly turned to Fluttershy. She hadn't even considered her; the yellow pegasus had been mostly quiet in this very social game. But this could very well be hiding her unease about playing a changeling. It would also explain why Applejack had voted for the team that included Fluttershy but not herself…
And the pegasus must have chosen not to eat the crystal in that first team, just so everypony would trust her.
It all made sense now!

With a triumphant grin Twilight indicated the team; everypony except Applejack and Fluttershy.
Now to get it through the vote...

I leaned back in my couch. It was quiet, even outside, this late at night. I looked around. With the help of Pinkie Pie the party had been cleaned up in another ten minute blur, and it looked like my house again. My house.

I sighed contently and took a sip from my glass of water. The Empire had been saved, and all of the Mane Six had cheered. Even Fluttershy and Applejack.

They had all been smiling when they said their good-nights and left for their own beds. No smile had been as wide as Pinkie's.
She had asked me to do another story and game next week. I already had a few ideas.

I leaned my hind legs on the table.

*snik*

I smiled. Life was good.

Author's Note

As you may have guessed, I'm a great fan of modern board games.

So many new and interesting mechanics have been developed these last few decades.No longer do you have to roll a die, move your pawn, and hope you don't lose. These days you have cooperative games, deck building, story telling, negotiation, push-your-luck... and a lot more.

Also, I have found that face-to-face board games are usually a lot more social and rewarding and fun than video games, even
multiplayer games.

Board games are definitely no longer exclusively for kids either. Due to complexity, required skills or, in a few cases, theme (like the excellent Arkham Horror) some have a quite high minimum age requirement.

The Resistance, the game that was used as a basis for the game in this story, has a modern game mechanic that's a favorite of mine, the Traitor. This is when a game has one or more players who have to thwart the other players, but nobody knows who the traitors are.
When adapting this to ponies it made a lot of sense to use changelings, even though I could also have used more original adversaries.

I don't know whether to consider myself a brony. I have seen and enjoyed the show, and I've been somewhat following the fandom for quite a while now (lurker only).
However, I refuse to obsess over anything as trivial as a TV show. There are more important things in life.

But I want to challenge myself. Bronies make a perfect audience for my first public foray into story writing. And the world of Equestria makes an excellent subject.

This is the third draft of this story. Although the in-game story and game do not fundamentally differ, the circumstances leading up to it and the identity of the story teller certainly do. The first version was way too complicated, with a meta story about Twilight getting accustomed to being a Princess in Ponyville, a wandering salespony, and even a lesson about playing roles. I'm simply not an experienced enough writer to pull that off.

This version should flow better, I think, although I'm still not sure in many places whether I need to add more detail or conversation, to help world building and the readers' connection to characters, or to gloss over details to prevent bogging down the story.
I probably need to learn not to be afraid of writing longer stories. Also, I just need more experience.

It also doesn't help that English is not my first language.

Any constructive criticism would certainly be appreciated.