Twilight hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep until she heard a knocking on the door. Spike jolted awake as Rainbow Dash flung open the door, but Twilight was slower to rise.
"Good morning Princess... Twilight Sparkle," Twilice thrummed.
"Morning Twilice..." Twilight mumbled groggily.
"Uh, my name's not Twilice, Twilight," Rainbow said with confusion.
"Oh right. Sorry Rainbow," Twilight yawned, taking a moment to stretch as she flopped off of the bed.
"What's going on Rainbow Dash? Usually you hate getting up early," Spike asked.
"Gilda wants us all downstairs so we can figure out how to smash that crummy ice block into a million pieces!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, taking a couple jabs at thin air before flying back down to the main room.
"You coming, Twilight?" Spike questioned.
"I think I'll be down in a couple minutes, Spike." Twilight responded.
Spike shrugged as he walked out of the bedroom, but he quietly closed the door behind him as he left. Now that it was just her, Twilight let out a long yawn and starting began to ready herself for the day.
"So, Princess... have you thought of anything that might aid in my freedom?" the eerily familiar voice of Twilice slithered around in her head.
"I have a faint idea, from something I read last night," Twilight said aloud.
"Ah yes... the history of the Crystal Kingdom... how apropos," the voice gurgled.
"C'mon Twilice, If any spell could get you out of that ice, it's a spell from the kingdom that put you there. Although it might have unintended effects, given it's not the same timeline," Twilight noted as she straightened her hair.
"You... ah, I see what you mean. I don't think that will be a problem, and after all, you couldn't make my situation any worse." the voice reassured her.
"I guess you're right," Twilight sighed. "Alright, let's find a way to get you out of there."
Twilight walked down to the living room where everypony else was gathered. Gilda and Gaine were talking about something, but stopped to look at her as she came downstairs. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Gelgen scowling at her, but she decided to ignore it.
"Morning, doofus! You ready to kick this ice back to where it came from?" Gilda called.
"Uh... I think so. As long as everypony else is ready to help."
Her friends nodded in unison, and the griffons joined in with nods of their own.
"Oh!" Gillian suddenly called out. "I actually took a sample on our trip here, gimme a sec!"
the honeydew griffon dashed upstairs. After several minutes of muffled crashing and banging, Gillian returned, practically tumbling her way downstairs with a clump of ice in her claw.
"Guess I should've listened to you sooner, Dash. Having an egghead for a friend really does have its benefits," Gilda whispered, nudging Rainbow in the arm as they laughed to themselves.
"If that there iceball's been in your room since yesterday, shouldn't it've melted already?" Applejack wondered.
"That's exactly what I was thinkin', So I tried runnin' a coupl'a experiments. Wouldn't 'cha believe it, I couldn't figure out a dang thing about what the hoot this ice's made out of."
"Do you mean to tell us that this ice isn't... ice?" Rarity crooned.
"Well from what I could figure out 'bout it's composition, It's still ice... just not, uh, normal ice," Gillian shrugged.
"Oh Boiuna, I didn't think anyone could talk as infuriatingly as you think," Twilice sighed.
"Be nice, she's one of the people trying to get you out of there." Twilight responded, being sure not to accidentally speak aloud.
"Yes, I know. I just never assumed my freedom would be at the cost of having to listen to you two talk drivel for hours on end," Twilice joked. Twilight tried her best not worry about Twilice's words, but the longer she listened to her new friend, the more she realized just how different the two of them were.
"Believe me, It's been equally odd for me as well. Do you know what it's like to have to wait fifteen hundred years just to hear another voice?" The voice complained.
"Huh?" Twilight said aloud.
"A little foggy headed today I see." Gaine commented sarcastically.
"Today? Try the past three days," Rainbow added.
"Both of you can it," Gilda scorned the two of them. "Twilight, you'll be working with the Gillian. I want you two to pool your eggheadedness and see if you can figure out what the deal with this ice, ok?"
Gillian gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, still holding the completely solid hunk of ice in her other claw. Twilight, having not focused on what Gilda had been saying, simply nodded.
Gilda nodded in return. "Good. Dash, Fluttershy, Garret, Gaine and Rarity will be going with me back to the Wall to see if we can figure out anything on our own, try and find a path to establish a new trade route, and if we're lucky we can bring you back some more samples," She proposed, which made Gillian gasp in excitement.
The griffon turned to the other ponies. "Applejack, Pinkie? You both cool with keeping an eye on the eggheads for me?"
The two ponies nodded, making Gilda huff in approval. She then turned to the elderly griffon who was snoozing in a plush armchair.
"Gelgen!"
The old, green griffon, at the mention of his name, snorted awake and nearly toppled over from the chair he was sat in. "uh, yes ma'am?"
"You're staying here with the ponies in case the eggheads or the other two need something. We'll be back in about two days, so don't do anything stupid, all of you," Gilda stated.
"With all due respect Ma'am," Gelgen tried to hide the venom in his voice, but it was easy enough for Twilight and her to notice. "Who else here knows how to drive Ms. Razor?"
"Oh drivin' her's easy. She comes with a mini manual 'n' basic auto current correction turnin'!" Gillian chimed.
The daggers that floated in Gelgen's eyes might've been able to chisel Twilice free, but Gilda didn't seem to notice.
"You stay here with them. I'm not changing my mind," She said with a tone of finality.
With a turn and a slamming of the door, Gilda, as well as her troupe, were gone. It was just the five of them now. Every creature sat still for a moment of quiet awkwardness, until Gillian finally spoke.
"C'mon Twilight, let me show you what I've found out about this stuff already!"