Assuming that each of the ponies questioned told one truth and one lie, you start with Gem’s statement. If he was lying when he said that he didn’t have the key, he would’ve been telling the truth when he said that Carver had it; however, this contradiction would be impossible. Therefore, Gem must be telling the truth that he does not have the key, and lying about Carver having it. This eliminates Carver as a suspect as well.

That leaves Geode and Pick. Geode’s statement is similar to Gem’s; if he’s lying about not having the key, then his second statement is false as well. But then your attention is diverted to Pick’s second statement: “Gem is lying when he says that Carver has it.” That is a true statement; therefore, he must be lying about not having the key.

You hope.

Taking the last crowbar, you insert it into Pick’s locker and brace yourself. With a grunt, you push as hard as you can, straining against the old, rusted metal.

With a great snap, the locker bursts open and the broken crowbar clatters to the ground. You look inside the dusty locker, rummaging through old papers and mold-eaten clothes. Beneath an ancient miner’s helmet with an oil lantern attached to the crest, you find a rusty key. Snatching it up, you hurry over to the gate, put the key into the lock, and twist.

With a beautiful click and squeak of old, oil-craving joints, the gate swings open. “Yes!” you cheer, rushing forward and gripping the ladder. You can see a glimmer of light above you, and you start climbing with all the eagerness of Dante escaping the Inferno.

This section of ladder ends at another tunnel. You dismount and see another ladder next to you. You’re about to climb up this ladder to the surface when your flashlight catches something on the ground.

A shovel is lying on the stone next to the ladder. A new one, the blade still shiny. Turning, you note other tools, including picks, chisels, a wheelbarrow and buckets lined up against the tunnel walls, all of them fairly new.

Inside one of the buckets is a chunk of silvery-white rock that seems to faintly glow with a pale luminescence. Out of curiosity, you carefully extract the stone from the bucket. You feel a strange tingling in your hoof, as if the stone is charged with static electricity.

“Sirenium,” you say to yourself, placing the stone back in the bucket. Somepony’s been mining it recently. But who and why? And was Idea Spark killed for it?

Never mind that. You need to get back to Chicoltgo, contact the City Guard and get them here. This is way out of your hooves.

You scramble up the ladder, racing towards the light far above you. Finally, with a relieved gasp, you pull yourself out of a hole dug into the mountainside and into the fresh air. You are surrounded by great oak and maple trees, noon sunlight streaming down through the blankets of leaves. Birds sing above your head and the warm air kisses your skin. The peace of the scene relaxes you and helps you clear your head after the dark, cold tunnels of the mine.

You need to find your way back down the mountain. You look around, searching for a trail or something that you can use to find your bearings.

You don’t hear the hoofsteps rushing up behind you until it’s too late. As you turn, something crashes against the back of your head. White explodes across your vision, and then everything goes black.

You come to slowly with a groan. Your entire head feels as though it’s swollen to the size of a watermelon and throbs painfully. You open your eyes, only to see nothing but blackness. You try to sit up, but you can’t move.

You slowly realize that you are tightly tied down to a rickety wooden chair with a blindfold over your eyes. You struggle, but the ropes holding you down are tied too tightly, the coarse cord biting into your skin. The room is cold and the air tastes bitter and dusty.

“HELP!” you shout as loudly as you can.

A door slams behind you. “There’s nopony who can hear you,” a low, grumbling voice speaks. “Except me.”

You listen to the sound of the hoofsteps walking around you, the wooden floorboards creaking with each step. You suddenly realize where you are: the lodge. The hoofsteps continue around you, and then there is the creak of a weight sinking into a wooden chair from the head of the table.

“You…” you start to say, struggling to keep your breathing even. “You’re with the Court of Ravens, aren’t you?”

“Not with,” the voice speaks again. “I am the Court of Ravens.”

“What did you do to Idea Spark?” you ask.

“Idea Spark cooperated with us initially,” the voice states. “But he started working against us. He got afraid. So we had to remove him.

“Now, enough questions,” the voice barks. “Why did you come to Raven Hollow?”

You swallow and lick your lips, struggling to come up with a plan. There’s nothing to be gained from lying, you decide. “His wife in Chicoltgo,” you explain. “She received a coded message from him asking for help. She hired me to come here to investigate.”

“Who else knows you’re here?” the voice asks.

You pause, suddenly realizing what you just did. What if the Court goes after Wind Walker now? And what about Open Case and the others at Pink Eye and Sons?

“N-no one else,” you stammer out.

“Who else knows?!” the voice roars.

“No one! No one! I work alone!” you cry, shivering. Your heart feels like it’s trying to leap out of your chest.

“Then there’s no reason not to get rid of you…” the Court’s leader hisses.

Your mind races, trying to think up a solution. One thought pauses in the forefront of your mind: a section from the chapter on the Court of Ravens: It is rumored that the leader of the Court kept their identity a secret from the other members: if a member could deduce the leader’s identity, they would be given a special favor…

The clues you found flash before your eyes, the suspects face flickering past like a magic lantern. Without thinking, you blurt out a name. The name of the leader of the Court of Ravens.

Who is the leader of the Court of Ravens?

Author's Note

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Boxing Day, and Kwanzaa, my lovely readers! Today, I am pleased to give you the gift of mystery.

Better hurry and deduce that name, or you may end up back in the mines...forever!

This is a test of deduction; you have all the clues you need in this story.

Congratulations to Villain in the Glasses, Magic Step, Everfree Pony and themouthofmush for solving last week's puzzle! Good luck with this one!