//------------------------------// // Ebb // Story: In Reflection, The Same // by Faedelaide //------------------------------// Twilight sighed. Yet another spell, and they were no closer to undoing the ice's magic. The remaining piece of ice, now a small, smoothed ball steaming with bright cyan smoke, hadn't so much as budged from any of Twilight's spells. "I know this spell is old, but I didn't expect it to be so... foreign. This is a completely different kind of magic than anything I know of." Gillian, who had her head laying tiredly on the table, raised it slightly. "You don't have any other books'r nothing? Nothin' on different kinds'a magic?" Twilight rubbed her eyes frustratedly. "If I do, I didn't pack it, cuz why would I ever need some foreign spell that some magician made up a hundred years ago?" She let her head fall onto the table with a loud thud. The ice rolled away from its original position and stopped at the tip of her horn. She could feel the coolness of it on her head, and conjured a small blast of energy to push it away. The coolness of her horn refused to leave, however, so she raised her head to cast the spell again. A small spark of lavender energy flowed from her horn and pierced into the ice, where it dug into its core and faded away almost instantly. "Huh," she uttered. She took the little ball in her hoof, inspecting it closely. "Somethin' th' matter, Prin-uh... Twilight?" Gillian asked as she flipped through the book in defeat. "No, I don't think so. I think I'm just gonna get us some more samples to test with." "Oh. Can I, uh... Can I come... with you?" Gillian asked quietly, trying her best not to make eye contact. "I don't-" Twilight began. "Absolutely not. You cannot let her join you," Twilice growled suddenly. "Why not? I thought you wanted me to bring my friends to you so that they could help you escape." Twilight wondered. "I will explain it to you once you return to gather more ice, but you will not allow her to join you." Suddenly, a pressure formed in Twilight's head, her once coherent train of thought melted into a warped, blurry stream of conciousness that made any concrete thought incredibly difficult to hold on to. It made her feel as if a pair of hands were crushing her brain. "Alright, fine, ok," Twilight tried to think. Fortunately, it was enough to make the force dissipate. She focused back onto Gillian, who look at her with apprehensive confusion. "I think it'd be best if you keep looking through that book to find some more spells we might be able to test on it." "Oh," Gillian's face fell slightly. "Yeah that makes sense. I'll keep lookin' for ya." "I'll be back in a couple-" "An hour." "-in an hour, I promise," Twilight assured the slender griffon, to little success. "Ok," Gillian muttered as Twilight closed the door behind her. The sun shone in Twilight's eyes as she left Gillian's room, she was surprised at how long they had spent trying to figure out the ice's mysteries. Good lot all that did, now it was early afternoon and they might as well have just loafed around with all the progress they'd made. Deciding not to let her frustration get the better of her, she made her way downstairs and into the main room. She looked around at the empty room when she heard the muffled murmurs of her friends. She groaned as she realised that, yet again, Gelgen and her friends were talking in the kitchen. She turned to head towards the door, but Twilice's presence coiled around her head. "Your politeness might befit your status as princess of friendship... but whatever could they be discussing now?" Twilight growled under breath and, despite her best efforts, she turned around and leaned onto the kitchen door. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to believe your princess is always this deranged? Is this just some shared pony personality trait?" Gelgen hollered. If Twilight didn't know any better, she'd have thought that he wanted her to hear him. "Hey, you watch what you say about our friend, buster!" Pinkie snapped back. "Now hold on, both'a y'all," Applejack interrupted. "Now I don't much appreciate your attitude towards Twilight, but we can't deny that she ain't been acting like herself at all recently." "Yeah, you don't have to tell me about how she acts at night," Spike said. "At night? What does that mean?" Twilight thought to herself. "You do have a tendency to sleeptalk, Princess," Twilice admitted. "About what? Why didn't you tell me about this? How long has that been happening? Why hasn't Spike-" "Princess, enough! I hate it when you think like this," Twilice snarled. A pressure invaded Twilight's mind again, but this pressure was softer. Instead of crushing her, Twilight's mind felt slow, smoothed. Nothing seemed urgent anymore, everything was pleasantly soft on the eyes, and her mind slowed until she was almost completely pacified, "How... are you doing... that?" Twilight slurred. "Doing what, Princess?" Twilice asked. The cloud of passiveness receded, and Twilight regained her senses. "That isn't you doing that, Twilice?" "Princess, I'm not sure what you're referring to. Are you alright?" "I... I don't know. What just happened?" "It seems like you nearly passed out from... uh... ah, exhaustion. Perhaps you should grab some samples and sit with me. We can talk and take your mind off things." "No, no. I need to figure out what the deal is with this ice. I can't waste any more time fooling around and talking to mysterious other versions of myself." "Twilight, I believe that understanding Aether magic would be paramount to the furthering of your of understanding of this magical ice. Why don't we-" "No. I need to find out what is wrong with this ice, and I will be doing research with Gillian, and that is final!" Twilight shouted. "… So be it... Princess Twilight Sparkle…" Twilight could feel Twilice leave her head. Now she was truly alone with her thoughts. Twilight sighed as she reached for the cabin's front door. "Finally some peace and quiet." But before she could even twist the knob, the door flew open, narrowly missing her snout and slamming into the wall. Twilight looked at the door in shock, then turned back to see six figures standing in the snow. Deep gashes and reddened bandages covered the brown and white griffon that stood closest to Twilight, as well as an incredibly unhappy expression. "Princess... get Gillian, get your friends, and meet us outside. We gotta talk."