//------------------------------// // When all you've got to keep is strong // Story: The life and times of Xante, Baron of the Frozen Wastelands, First among Liches, Lord of the Dead, and Fabulous Rainbow Magic User. // by Ssendam the Masked //------------------------------// “And that is why Alchemy is awesome.  At least, when paired with me.” The trip through the Everfree had been surprisingly calm.  This gave me time to grab nearby plants, deconstruct them down to their base materials, and weave them into patchwork...well, patches for the Lich’s robe.  They even looked right!  Such a thing was intensive, and I could only work on one segment at a time, but by the time we hit Newvale, the robes at least were whole again. “You’re gonna want to hit it with a true Transmuation, though.  They’ve no actual properties of the material they’re mimicking, mainly because I’ve no idea how it works.  Still, at least your appearance has been maintained.” Xante shrugged. “It’s pretty incredible, what you’ve done for this. Alchemy back home is pretty goddamn useless- all you can do with it is transmute metals into other metals. Plus, there’s a whole heap of restrictions on what you can and cannot transmute.” I shrugged as well as we came up on the gates of Newvale.  “Yeah, well, answering the Question in...how did Typhon put it?...oh yeah, a Science-based world.  That tends to make Alchemy not-useless.  Knowing how the world works removes a lot of restrictions - If you don’t think it can’t be done, you’d be surprised what you can do.  Anyways, welcome to Newvale.” Xante looked over it. “Very nice. I think I had a fortress like that the sixth, seventh time I conquered Ranreia? I like it.” I nodded at his statement.  “Well, it’s just supposed to be a town where Adepts who dislike Celly can live a life away from her rule.  The fact that every Adept here is at least moderately competent, Mars and Jupiter moreso, tends to help with defense.” Xante scratched a chin. “Ah, like a wizard town. Never try to burn down a town filled with wizards, it never works out. Unless you’re much more powerful than they are, in which case do so.” At this, I actually laughed.  “Oooh, that’s a good one.  Yeah, the Mars and Jupiter Adepts here managed to combine their strength and hold off a freaking...I’m calling it a greater wyrm.  Lady Skycleaver.  Oh, and the rest of the Dragon Migration passed over.  You may have noticed, the town’s still here…” Xante nodded. “Dragons are indeed fearsome beasts to overcome, even for me. Wait, no. For me, a dragon’s just an overgrown lizard with wings and a brain.” I started to lead Xante through the town, taking note of the vague looks of interest we were garnering.  “Well, I can’t take all the credit.  If you want to meet...my other half, I call him.  Then we can visit the Penumbra Sanctum later.  For now, anything you’d like to see?” Xante shrugged. He managed to spot the bar and his eyes widened. “-but we should totally check out the tavern first. I need to get my drink on.” I sighed.  “Of course. Flowing Tap and Irish Charmer run the place.  Tell them ‘Old Headless sent me,’ and they’ll probably break out the good stuff.  In the meantime, I’ll check up with some community members, see if anything has been going on I should be aware of...and try to track down our resident manticore as well…” I left the lich to his drinking and began to seek what could only be termed ‘community leaders’.  There was Silver, of course, along with Shiver and Amber.  Those three had the most affinity for their elements, thanks to the whole Lights episode.  Common Grounds was also a good choice if I wanted to visit someone, and Snow Fluff was still head of our weather department. ...This was, of course, just a distraction.  I needed to go see Common, inform him of my shape changing (again!), and then… I had a memorial to build. ----- “You do live the most interesting life of all the ponies here, Auric.” I groaned a bit while Common and I walked to the town’s square.  After about half an hour of proving that I was, in fact, myself, he showed me what the town had found, nestled deep in the Everfree. A Psynergy stone.  A pretty large one. In smaller stones, the energy stored in them is enough to restore a lot of Psynergy at once, but because they’re so small, they overload themselves recharging whoever touches it with all they have.  Ergo, they shatter upon first contact. A large one never shattered.  And now we had one. Newvale would be on all the maps after this.  Once we installed it in the town square and I engraved it with what names I could.  Not...not all the djinn that had been drained had names, after all… A team of Venus Adepts kept Moving the stone until it was perfectly aligned, then stepped aside.  I walked up to the stone and put my front hooves on it, relishing in the feeling of the power that rested in the stone, but I stopped it from charging me. If it did, I might end up actually draining the damn thing.  It’d shoot me forward a lot in my quest to at least regain human form, but the town needed it more than I did. I shaped and molded the stone with my Alchemy, turning it into a four-sided obelisk with a pyramidal point.  At the top of each side, I caused a name to come forward. Talos, Moonfire, Flare, Frostfall.  Them, their Djinn, and… I also inscribed numbers.  From what the Djinn had told me, there were...at least ten of each element that were unnamed and no longer with us.  I backed up from my project and nodded at it and the words I had inscribed at the base of each side. LEST WE FORGET. Just then, there was a commotion from the bar, and I sighed.  “Xante, you’d better not be getting in more trouble than I can afford…” ----- As I galloped towards the bar, I heard Xante yelling while one pony managed to be thrown out of the window. Great, a mighty lich was not only bone drunk but picking fights with people over something trivial, most likely. "I am Xante Mugwump, Baron of the Frozen Wastelands, First among Liches, Lord of the Dead, Fabulous Rainbow Magician, the Walking Ice Age, Lord of the Dance, Three Times Winner of Best Smile in the Land, Former Mayor of Sycamore Town, the Epic Level Lich, Sorceror/Monk Multiclass, Most Fabulous Undead in all the realm, The D, Elf-Murderer, Master of Face Punch, Big Sexy, Friend to Children, Current Mayor of the Necropolis, and Maker of the Best Ever Cheese Sandwich! MY NAME IS NOT ‘ZANTE!’ THERE IS NO ‘Z’ IN MY NAME AT ALL!" After quickly checking to be sure that the pony wasn’t too badly injured, I charged into the bar to see...well.  It was a scene.  It’ll probably haunt my memories in some fashion or another.  I’ve yet to determine if that’s a good thing yet. Xante had now stripped down to his underwear and had a mug percariously balanced in top of his pointy hat. He balanced on one leg, continuously swaying near the large barrel he was guarding. As soon as he spotted me, he waved. “Nice to… nice to…” He fell on top of a table and started staring at me intensely. “Your hair is pretty.” I sighed.  “If you’re talking about my coat, then I’ve yet to figure out what makes it.  If you’re talking about my mane, we can blame the Golden Sun.  And you, sir, are stinking drunk.  How?” “S’ not a big secret. Don’ need to… don’ need to…” He tapped his chin. “Summat. You do it with your mouth...thing.” His chest wasn’t rising or falling as he spoke. I looked over to the backside of the bar, catching the eye of Irish Charmer.  “What and how much did he have?” Irish shook his head at the scene.  “We started him off easy, but he just insulted our drinks.  So me and Flowin’ pulled up the Devil’s Drink.” I winced at that; never share your ideas with a bartender.  Especially talented earth pony bartenders.  “And?” “He drank half the damn barrel before some idjet insulted his name.” Xante giggled. I let out a low whistle.  Nopony could even stand one mug of that stuff.  They typically passed out halfway through.  It was a standing bet that any pony that could drink one and stay standing would not have to pay for their drinks.  Until now, none succeeded.  “Well, guess he gets off scott free.  C’mon, ya drunken lich.  I’ve got someone I want ya to meet.” Xante belched. “BREATHING! Yes, that’s it. Dun’ need to breath. Good effect. Ver’ good for swimming.” He fell on top of the counter. “That stuff… Devil’s… thing. I got a gift for ye, hang on.” He pulled out a small bag. “This is Hell Barley. It makes really damn good bear. But keep the stuff away from metal. It does… summat to it, but it’s bad. Ver’ bad.” He tried to stand up, but fell on the floor. “S’ a ver’ clean floor. Good on you.” I rolled my eyes and looked back to Irish.  “Get that over to the farms, we’ll see about growing it later.  I have a suit of armor to introduce this guy to.” I called on Lift, and ghostly hands sprung into being before scooping the lich up in their embrace.  They followed me as I began the trek to the sanctum.  “I don’t trust you to walk right now, Xante, I’m sorry.” Xante lolled about. With a snap of his fingers, music started playing and he drunkenly started singing. “Th’ hedgehog can never, be buggered at all, the hedgehog can never, be buggered at all…” This promised to be a long, long walk. ----- “Are you certain you’re good to go in there?” We were by now standing outside the doors to the innermost part of Penumbra Sanctum.  Where my ‘other half’, Dullahan, tended to reside.  And where, thanks to Discord, the boundaries were thinnest. It would be very impressive if not for the lich standing next to me.  I swear I just saw him stagger. “It’s fine… it’s fine… er.” Xante flopped down and looked at himself, then back to me. “Exactly how many legs do I have?” I gave him my best snark.  “If you start thinking you have more legs than me, we should put this off.” Xante shook his head. “S’ alright. I just need to- hurk!” A long stream of bile shot out of his mouth. I was just thankful it had missed both me and his clothes, didn’t want the smell hanging around us. “Better out than in, I always say. Right, I feel ready.” I pushed the doors open and Dullahan visibly started at my new appearance.  Boy?  Is...by the Sun.  What happened to you? The armor clanked its way over and took a knee in front of me, giving the impression of ‘looking’ me over and paying no mind to the lich.  “It’s just a forced formshift due to breaking my immortality and draining that power, Dully.  I’ll be fine in time.” As the armor continued to look me over, I pointed with a hoof.  “Dullahan, this is Xante, with far too many titles to mention.  Xante, this is Dullahan, with a more detailed story than I can give in a sentence.” Xante staggered up. “A pleasure to meet you… er, which one are you? The one on the left or the one on the right?” He was swaying considerably, and he looked, if anything, even greener than usual. The armor looked at him, then at me.  Once again, I knew the sensation.  “Devil’s drink.  I regret ever giving the idea to the brewponies.” The armor did its version of a nod.  I remember.  It then clomped over to the lich and placed a hand on his shoulder.  Let’s try a few things.  Break! Xante staggered. “I’m sober. Huh.” He leant on Dullahan. “That is a very useful trick. I like it. Would have been very useful after some times. Now, I can drink even more of that Devil’s Drink stuff, very good.” He poked the flames. “Is this rude or… something else? I’m sorry, I don’t often meet beings like you.” The armor let out a chuckle.  Nor I you.  It’s fine.  Just a bit odd.  I have a few bits and pieces of the boys memories, and the only reason it’s odd is because a part of me keeps thinking you should be impacting a face there.  Then I remember I never had one. Xante nodded soberly. Probably the most sober he’d ever been. “That does sound odd. While I can’t really do much about that, how about something like this?” A blue ring surrounded his hand and he thrust it into the sky. Dark clouds gathered overhead, then snow started falling down. Xante grinned. “Easy to do when you have the know-how.” Dully and I looked at the snow around us.  It was he who spoke up first, though.  While there are techniques in Mercury to cause this...the question is not how.  It is why. Xante sighed. “Well, I caused a lot of chaos for you, so it’s the least I can do, both for you and for myself.” He leant on his staff. “You see, about 1,300 years ago, I wasn’t exactly the… nicest of people. I had some rather nasty beliefs, that I have always striven to get rid of. And, I guess that I was a villain. But villainy is hard. Being good is easier than being evil. And I’m not sure that I’m fully good yet.” The armor nodded.  Me and the boy were one and the same for quite some time.  We just didn’t know it, and...how did you refer to me again? I smiled.  “The little murderous voice in my head.  Well, my mind, technically.  You didn’t make a good case for yourself by Condemning Lady Skycleaver.  Or nearly bringing forth Charon on Chrysalis.” The armor waved a hand at my accusations.  Pah, the dragoness deserved it.  She would have stolen the Stars if she thought she could get away with it.  And she made a fine example for the other dragons. I pressed a bit, then.  “And Chryssy?” He actually visibly winced.  Probably not the best idea, I will admit.  But we got caught up in the- “No, YOU did.  The world would have been without a champion of Mercury if you had succeeded and I not wrested control back.” We both sighed and looked to the lich then.  “We have issues, but we mostly get along, so believe us when we say we know how you feel.” Xante frowned, and shook his head. “My crimes are a bit worse than that. Back on my world, I’m known by one simple title: The Bifrost. It’s the only title I loath. When I was young, and discovered Bifrost magic… I kind of got drunk on power. The result is that there are several cities that are unmelting glaciers now. I am the murderer of three million people.” Dullahan and I shared a Look.  I spoke up then.  “Did you mean to?  If you were in your right mind, would you have ever considered doing that?” Xante scowled. “NOW, I would never even dream of it. But back then… I believed that the strong were the only beings that should live, and they were weak. So… back then, I considered them equal to ants. And I slaughtered them like ants.” Dullahan spoke then.  I was naught more than a construct, designed to guard the most powerful summons.  Countless raiders and plunderers found my resting place.  Countless met their end at my blade.  But since the boy and I shared a mind and...well, suit, his values and mine have mingled.  So I DO understand.  The weak met their end at my blade.  Yet if I could, I would do those fights over again, sparing them and letting them flee now.  It is a wonderful and terrible thing, to grow a conscience of one’s own. “Plus,” I interjected, “That’s not counting the one murder I DO take full credit for.  The Wise One, remember?  Yeah, it was for the good of the world.  Yeah, he was cuckoo as all get out.  But...if I could have, I would do that fight over again, and merely send him away.  For good.”  I looked down at my hooves, remembering his pleas as I fractured him… Xante nodded. “As punishment, the gods of my world twisted my fate. I am FATED to become the Bifrost once again. It is FATED that my philactery is going to be snapped in two. It is FATED that I will be thrown into a volcano. I cannot die, not until that happens. All across the multiverse, every single iteration of me who ever became the Bifrost is fated to have that happen to them. And I’m afraid. Why do you think I drink? I drink to forget.” I snapped my eyes up and looked at him, then slowly walked over and held a hoof up.  “Don’t make me.  I could.  I’m learning what words to not say.  But never say that again.  Don’t forget.  Don’t try to forget.  Don’t put it behind you.  Accept it as having happened, as being a part of you.  And grow, despite it.  Or else I will twist the function of my Weapon on you.” Xante smiled slightly too widely. “You’re welcome to try. I’m a dead man walking, I don’t fear Understanding much anymore. Maybe this is how it’ll end?” His grin became manic. “I’ve felt your power. Maybe now, the earth will split under us, and the lava will flow up. Maybe my philactery in another world will snap, and you’ll hurl me in. It’s what I deserve, isn’t it?” He cackled, eyes wide, and I shook my head. I walked forward and put a hoof on him.  “There are so many ways to twist this.  But no, though you may deserve much, I will not end you.  I will merely make you understand your victim’s pain.” Xante smiled. “Do it. Show me. I want to know. I want to FEEL again. Undeath is so cold… I want to feel something. I want to feel the flesh blacken. I want to feel ALIVE again.” The hoof started to shine with an inner light, and I reached inside myself, finding where ‘my’ body ended and the ‘blade’ began.  I found what it was going to do, and it and I came to a consensus: Xante would feel the pain of his victims, that much could not be altered, thanks to what I had said.  But he would also see why those who aligned themselves with ‘good’ fought for that side.  The joys in life and the little things.  And it would pull them from the lives of his victims. It was eerily similar to the Moment, when I saw both the beauty and the terror of the Multiverse, all at once. Our consensus finished, Eureka let loose on the lich. Xante screamed. Magic lashed out of his form, freezing the ground beneath him in delicate snowflake patterns. Rainbow light shot out of his eyes, showing scenes- memories- from his life. A scene of him walking into a town and simply slaughtering the first person he encountered. Finding and destroying those who tried to flee, boxing them in. Striking them down with beams of rainbow light that shot from the heavens, completely tearing their bodies apart. More scenes like this played out. At the end, I saw what made him change- him seeing the death of several children at his hands. Then, the little show ended, and he collapsed. Finally, he stood up. “Well, it seems to be raining now.” I looked up. No clouds except what he’d brought with him. The tears coursing down his face told me otherwise. Dullahan looked at me, and I nodded.  We gathered our thoughts, and when he grasped my foreleg, that familiar hole opened up above us.  “In truth, I brought you here for another reason entirely, though this was good for you as well.  In this place, the barriers are thinnest.  Think you can get a bead on ‘home’ for you and Twi here?” Xante grinned. “I could have gotten a bead even without this, but it’ll help. Now, Ice Mirror!” With a wave of his hand, a single pane of reflective ice sprang up. Rainbow and blue circles collided, forming that familiar Bifrost colour. With a free-flowing script, simple, elegant runes scratched themselves onto the mirror. He grinned. “Portal spell is a go-go.” He then turned to me. “I want to thank you for the Understanding, by the way. I mean it.” I shook my head.  “Those who suffer the burden of a curse like this one...it is nothing to me to distribute it.  The trick is, finding a way to twist it so that others don’t become like more versions of myself.  If you really want to thank me, find a way to yank your Twilight along for the ride.” Xante nodded. “You use Elements, right? Then I’ll teach you one of my nastiest spells. You saw one method, didn’t you? Then I’ll show you the other.” He leant in, rainbow circles surrounding his hands. “Memory Transfer- Spell.” With that, he passed something to me. An incredibly difficult spell, that screamed Suicide spell to just about any caster. Summoning a mountain of ice to crush your foes, and a second one to ensure it did the job. When it was over, Xante nodded. “Done. You have learned Epic Level Spell: Ymir.” I blinked and shook my head a few times to get the distinct feeling of someone rooting around in my brain’s metaphorical candy dish out.  “Well.  Now I know what it feels like.  Think you can hold on with the Void-jumping until I get home and get your Twilight ready?” Xante nodded. “Sure. One more thing.” He looked dead serious. “What I just taught you is what magic users where I’m from call a Suicide spell- you use it only when you absolutely know that there’s no way out. In fact, when I finally got off my power high, I, well…” He trailed off. I shook my head again. “Our little moment wasn’t entirely one way, you know.  I caught...snippets.  Still!  Good to know.  Note to self - only bring ice age when area denial is a viable strategy and immortality has returned.  Not even, if avoidable.” I prepared myself, bringing energies in close and hoping that the Teleport I was about to attempt would not only work but leave me some energy. Xante focused on me, gathering his own energy. Wait, he can teleport as well? Xante grinned. “Lesson 1 of being a villain: always, ALWAYS have an escape plan.” The world melted around me, and soon, I was back in front of my tower.  The disorientation struck, but far less than I was expecting, and I blinked a few times at actually being able to stand and not lose my lunch. “Gonna need to figure that out later as well…” Walking in to the tower was relatively peaceful.  Walking into my room, also not bad.  Walking up to the mirror and setting it for the...co-ordinates, I suppose, in the Void Eternal where I’d first heard Xante’s voice, that was simple as well.  Just turn on the bloody thing and follow the signature of the most recent and massive work back to its origin. It was when I opened the door to the guest room that I feared for my life. Twilight smiled at me, slightly too wide. “Oh, hello mr Auric! How are you?” Her left eye twitched slightly, and her arms were folded. Taking note of that and her dishevelled ma- hair, I corrected myself, told me that her sanity was questionable. “I’m...fine.  I was about to perform a spell to look into the Void Eternal.  A similar one that brought you and Xante here.  Would you like to observe?” Twilight grinned, pupils dilating slightly. “That would be wonderful, mr Auric. Especially since I wasn’t able to access your laboratories, hmm?” She tapped a hoof to emphasise the point, and I laughed a few times.  “Aheh.  Yeah.  I have that on lockdown for a reason, yanno.  It’s sorta similar to the reason why you don’t give the Crusaders a box of fireworks and matches.” Twilight frowned, a bit more of her hair springing up. “Ah, but I’m quite sure that there would be no harm in me… observing the Djinn for a bit? Just a little bit?” I sighed at that.  “They’re living beings as well, you know.  Not just spirits.  And...I had to build a memorial today.  To the fourty-odd lost ones that didn’t even have names.  I’d...like to give them today.” Twilight’s mane got considerably straighter. “Oh.” She then realised how crazy she’d been. “Oh Celestia, I’m so sorry. I… I didn’t mean it like that, I was just curious about them. You know, scientist’s perogative.” I smiled a bit at her.  “So much like my Twilight, it’s uncanny.  Tell me, dear.  If you had proceeded, and I’d done something akin to verbally tearing your life apart, but apologized, yet still felt guilty, how the bloody hell should I go about making sure you realized I meant I was sorry about it?” Twilight frowned. “So that’s why you’re shut up in here.” She sighed. “Well, let’s think. Has she- I mean, myself-not responded at all?” “Not for a few days, and I think it best we refer to her as my Twilight, to help distinguish between you two.  After the...incident in which I blew up at her, I tracked her down, apologized to her face, and...well, I think it helped, and some of the town and even a friend or two of hers have come over to try and entice me out.  But…”  I sighed and looked at my hooves. Twilight nodded. “Well, alright, I’ll try to help. Your Twilight feels bad after you ‘blew up,’ and she’s probably looked at it logically. That’s what I would do.” She sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “When I was younger, and I’d been… bullied a bit, I would usually go out for a bit and buy Pony Joe’s donuts. You know, it made me feel better. Oh, and Hayburger. I love Hayburger. I did hear that there were plans of a Hayburger being built in Ponyville… has that happened?” I blinked a few times before shrugging.  “Wouldn’t know, for reasons relating to my story.  So…”  It struck me, and I laughed.  “Oh.  Oh Sol.  Oh Sol that’s just brilliant.  Here I am, sitting in my tower, feeling guilty and not wanting to go out and see the ponies because of what I said, not until my Twilight comes to talk to me…”  I trailed off to let the other Twilight fill in. “But now you’ve realised that you should probably talk your problems out together. Close?” I smiled.  “More like, she’s probably sitting in the library, waiting for me to come to her.  Or just trying to avoid me altogether.  Holding pattern, nothing gets done that way.  Nothing useful, anyways.” Twilight grinned. “By the way, if she teleports, I can tell you that when I feel really miserable, I usually hide behind the Apples’ barn or Sugarcube Corner. Just an anonymous tip.” She winked at that. I smiled.  “Good to know.  Ready for another Void-hop?  Xante has a bead on ‘home’ for you two.” Twilight pouted. “Aw, I really wanted to see a bit more… but I guess we should get moving.” Suddenly, the time related information came back. “Oh sweet Celestia. Oh, sweet Celestia!” She gripped me and started shaking me. “I don’t know how much time’s passed! What could have happened while I wasn’t there to deal with things? Oh, what if Cerberus somehow broke free from Tartarus again? Or what if Fluttershy started being really mean to us again? Or-” “TWILIGHT!” Twilight panted, sticking a hand in her mouth and blowing on it. “Deep breaths, deep breaths…” For a couple more seconds, she blew on her hand and tried to calm down. Then, she was calm. “Sorry. I guess I overreacted again, huh.” I sighed.  “No kidding.  Okay, Void-hopping, or trans-dimensional travel, can have time dilation between when you leave and when you ‘get back’.  But.  If a strong mind is the one making the transfer, then when said strong mind holds firmly in mind the moment it left any particular reality, then the effects of time dilation are negligible.” Twilight sighed. “Oh, thank goodness for that.” She stood up. “Lead the way, Mr Auric.” I gestured back at the open door behind me and the mirror that lay beyond.  “Right this way.  The only reason there was any time dilation when you were coming here is because I was ‘advanced’ in time as compared to when you left yours.  Which is also why you shouldn’t have left the tower - you’d probably have seen something you weren’t meant to see.  That and, two Twilights comparing theories?  Can you imagine the strain it’d put on the fabric of reality?” Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, it’d be pretty crazy if I was, like, an alicorn or something in the future. Real crazy.” She giggled a bit, and my laughter weakly joined hers a moment later. “Yeah, no kidding.  Or you might have managed to completely rewrite my Twilight’s understanding of how things work.  I don’t think I really introduced her to the Multiverse.” Twilight shook a finger. “If you want her off your case, then don’t. If I didn’t have home to worry about, I might… be tempted to image your brain.” That last bit came out in a rush, and I blinked. “Okay, two things.  One, are we talking just a scan of the brain, or a real in-depth scan of everything my brain has gone through?  And two, you probably wouldn’t want to do it in either case.” Twilight shrugged. “Well, from what you said, you Understand the whole multiverse in its entirety, so there must be SOMETHING different about your brain chemistry- just kidding, just kidding, I’m not actually going to image your brain.” She waved her hands placatingly. “See? No X-ray to use or anything.” I sighed and placed a hoof on the mirror, getting it ready to replicate its previous feat.  “The only thing different about my brain as compared to most of yours is simple.  Grew up in a Science-oriented world.  Any species that manages to answer the Question in that sort of world is something to be feared, dear.  Because not only will they figure out how their world works...but they’ll figure out how other worlds work.  Be glad I am not the summation of my species.” Twilight nodded. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. You’ve been a good host… even though I couldn’t see your labs.” I laughed a bit at that.  “Dear, if you ever find your way into the Void Eternal again, I’d be happy to pull you out and show you another lab.  But don’t take this as an invitation to go messing with Xante’s spells willy-nilly.”  The mirror showed the ‘spot’ in the Void where I’d pulled the girl and the lich out of it. Xante’s face appeared in the mirror. “Hello, Auric! Sorry, but this is kind of abrupt, but here!” A hand shoved itself through the mirror, a rainbow coloured ice cube clutched in there. “Bifrost Ice Cube. Keeps drinks at the perfect temperature, never melts, AND it resonates with my magic. Call on me using this ice cube, and I shall respond if I have the power to do so.” I nodded and placed the cube in front of the mirror.  “Thank you.  Ready to receive a Twilight on your end?  Methinks your world’s missing her by now.” Xante nodded. “Beam her up, Scotty!” I motioned to Twilight with a hoof, and she stepped forward to take Xante’s hand.  Right before she did so, however, I decided to be a bit cheeky.  “Hey, just so y’know.  I get the hunch everything will work out for you.  Call it a peek, but so long as you stand by your friends, everything’ll be fine.” Twilight smirked. “Well, thanks for the advice.” And with that, she disappeared. I smiled, now ready for the first time in days to confront the issue that was my Twilight. “So long, and thanks for all the fi- er, help.” Xante's back! I sighed. "Yes, I have pictures. It'll take a while to develop them." Twilight nodded. "Xante?" I raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" Twilight tapped her chin. "You seem... different somehow." I shrugged. "Let's just say that I had a change of heart while there." If I concentrated, I could still feel the pain. It'd been over a thousand years since I'd felt real, honest-to-goodness pain... but it'd also been about that long since I'd felt the good things in life. I needed that meeting, Auric. Thank you.