"You may live."

Those three words echoed in Chara's mind. What Sans had said down in that Judgement Hall had been a miracle. But then so was his life. He was alive, whole...and free. His eyes were blue again, no longer read, and his True Knife was now ion a mantle, no longer part of him save as a symbol of a heroic battle.

Now some time had passed, and Chara was laying in bed, one of three in a big bedroom in his Goatmom's home. That would soon be four it seemed, given what he had heard, and Chara could not be happier. Not with the news, not with his life, not with... anything. He was.... reborn.

More tears fell as he realized that, as he realized he had a second chance to make a new life. His old was gone forever, and apparently the powers that be had given him a fresh start.

"Morning, Chara." Asriel mumbled, turning to the side sleepily, Chara smiling.

"Morning, Goatbro." Chara said, winking. Both looked at the still sleeping Frisk, and winked. Carefully, they crept out of bed, and began to sneak up on it, ready to pounce their favorite lovable brother. They gave a wicked grin as they got ready to pounce...

As from behind the bed, Sans popped up. "boo."

Asriel and Chara screamed and fell backward, Walking Frisk up with a start as Sans gave a cute chuckle. Bad enough it was Sans, skeleton and all, but the whole hollow eye treatment made it worse.

"SANS!!!" They shouted, as Sans chuckled.

"what? i was feeling FRISKy today so i dedicaed to use my amazing CHARActer and give you two ASRIEL of a shock as possible." He smiled, giving the typical Sans shrug after three very bad puns.

"AUGH!" Chara said, shaking his head, but unable to keep from smiling.

"come on kid, you're smiling." Sans said.

"I am and I hate it!" He sighed, and stood up. "A perfectly good scare and it gets botched. I even had my creepyface ready!"

Chara smiled and did it, his smile with wide eyes from ear to ear actually creepy under most circumstances... but only really with his old red eyes. Nowadays it just looked funny, and Chara liked that. Frisk chuckled as suddenly the group broke out in laughter, content it would be a good day.

*****************

After breakfast, The three went their seperate ways as it was a day off from school. Asriel went off to go hang out with the royal guard, wanting to train to be one himself. Frisk was off to see the CMC, to help others find their purpose in life.

Only Chara was undecided. Usually on days when he wasn't going to school he would wander Ponyville, waving to everyone he saw. Some recognized him as a hero and a few little colts and fillies would trot up to him and hug, wanting to hear his story. Chara wasn't sure how to take that really, given his past, but he let his heart eventually ease into it since he did do something that heroic. After all, there are some forgiving souls in this world, and it helped a lot.

He knew that from going to the Crystal Empire and seeing the stories now present of Sombra's better acts, but that is a story for another day.

On this day, his journeys took him down a different route than usual, as he wandered right into the castle. While he was often here to see the library or to talk with the Mane Six, today fate seemed to be guiding him elsewhere. His wandering took him right into a magic lab.

And there, working hard on her spells, was Starlight Glimmer.

The lavender unicorn with a purple mane, a line of light powder blue in the middle of a tuft that went ofver her one eye beautifully, was working on some new spells, ones she had gotten from the archives of the Underground. Chara admitted he had fallen for her hard, but she was a pony and he a human, and that was a relationship not meant to be. But on the other hand they had a kinship tighter than most, so maybe what they had was, if it could be believed, one step better.She turned and saw him, and she smiled.

"Oh, Chara! How are you doing today?" She asked, smiling with a blush. Chara also blushed at her words. He rubbed his hands together nervously and chuckled.

"Not too much, just kind of wandering today. Asriel is off with the guards to fight timberwolves on the borders, and Frisk and the CMC are helping some beanie wearing colt to get his cutie mark." Chara walked in, eyeing the book. "I actually wasn't sure what to do."

Starlight smiled. "Well, I could use a test subject for a bit. You mind?"

Chara smiled, beamed even, at the question. "Not at all!"

Starlight smiled. "Ok, these are simple transformation spells I found. I guess they were made to use on humans and such, but work on anything. It's a variant on ones I do with Twilight except the objects are fully sentient."

Chara giggled. "You're up to something."

"Sort of. Fluttershy wanted to be a tree once, so I decided to give her the chance to be one for a day or so to help with some of the migrating birds. But doing so under normal circumstances is too dangerous. So I am trying to perfect this one." She stepped back. "Okay. What do you want to be?"

Chara blinked. "Huh?"

Starlight smiled. "Come on. Something you wanted to be."

Chara blushed. "Oh boy...." His first thought, being a growing boy, was not exactly proper, but being a swimsuit for Starlight would be really cool. But he thought more, and had a better idea.

"Um....this might sound weird, but can I be...a saddle?"

Starlight smiled, raising an eyebrow as she did so. "Really? You're boring. I would have thought you would have said a bikini." Chara blushed beet red. Starlight loved to tease Chara about his fantasies involving her, and kept it up. "Or.... perhaps a cupcake, with lemon filling, my favorite?"

Chara blushed and hid, making Starlight laugh. "On the other hand.... I'd love to wear you as a saddle. Or give you something you would normally need a saddle for."

Chara looked as Starlight smiled. "I'm sorry... I know it's wrong to... but I..."

"Who says it's wrong? Yeah we likely will not ever get smoochy-snuggly... but I think we have something better than that, where we can just hug, be together, and... you still know I love you."

Chara froze as Starlight nodded. "But... what about you and... doesn't he...?"

"This is Equestria, not Earth. Besides we're best friends. I"m.... not really the whole marrying type. reformed villian and all." She shrugged. Chara understood that easily, and the two returned to the matter at hand. "So... what will it be?"

Chara smiled. "A picnic basket.... for a day out on the Equestrian countryside."

********************

A few moments later, Chara was smiling as he and Starlight went on their picnic... well in a sense. Chara had been successfully turned into a big picnic basket, with green and yellow paint like his favorite shirt, and stuffed full of goodies. Chara felt like he had just eaten a whole thanksgiving feast, but it was a good feeling, if a little weird. better still he was being carried by Starlight, who trotted to a nice open patch of grass amongst some trees on Ponyville's outskirts.

It was a lovely day for a picnic, and after unpacking for such, Starlight spread the blanket and turned Chara back to normal. Then the two shared in the fresh cucumber sandwiches they had made, as well as cold lemonade, fresh baked cupcakes from Pinkie Pie, apples from Sweet Apple Acres, and to top it off a wonderfull custard made by Toriel. By the end of it, The two were stuffed ful, relaxing by one another on the blanket, pointing at clouds and saying what they look like.

"Chara," Starlight said, "I'm about settled. You ready for that ride?"

Chara blinked. "Really?"

Starlight gave a chuckle. "I wasn't lying when I said I was going to give you one. Hop on." She stood up, straightening up. "And don't worry, I used a spell to help in case you have been snacking on pies again." Chara stammered as Starlight gave a big laugh. Chara watched as Starlight crafted some reins for him, taking a rod in her mouth. Chara got on, taking the reins, settled on Starlights back. "Hold on." She said around the rod as she began to walk, then to trot, then slowly going into a full gallop over the grass, Chara wide eyed and excited.

"Yeeeeee HAH!" He shouted, almost as if it came naturally, which it had! He watched as the country blazed by, and the two rode into the grassy beauty around Ponyville, Starlight smiled, giving a determined look as she sped on, giving her friend the best ride of his life, speeding up to a jump and going for it as he screamed out, hands in the air.

"WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" He shouted, the two landing hard and laughing. "That was amazing!"

Starlight said nothing, but smiled, letting her friend lean close and hug her around her neck. She sighed and stood there, then began to walk back to the picnic sight to pack up for home.

As for Chara, he was soon falling asleep on her back, contented and happy. He felt as if the world had given him something better than he ever had, and he did not know how to say thank you.

***********************

That night, Chara sat at the dinner table, Everyone having fresh made cheese ravioli (Not By Papyrus, sorry.) and sharing what they did today, Asriel speaking up.

"And then BarkBark just gave a meanacing growl at the Alpha, and the rest of the timberwolves and they took off with their stumps between their limbs!" Asriel said. "Undyne was so proud he got to have fresh fertilizer for dinner."

Frisk blinked. "Ummm.... isn't fertilizer...?"

Toriel interrupted. "What about you Chara? What did you do today?"

Chara smiled, as he looked at his sleeves, still with some light purple fur on them.

"I had a picnic."

Everyone looked at him, and when they saw his look, they all smiled. Chara was grinning ear to ear, staring at the fur.

It didn't once look creepy.

*********************

In the castle, Starlight smiled as she set the last book back, heading off to bed, but smiling as she put another icepack on her back, still slightly sore. But it was worth it. Her day had been better than she hoped, and not just because the spell worked. She smiled as she recalled the picnic, the ride, and one last thing.

She looked in the basket one last time and saw the daisy he had picked for her on the way home, as a thank you. Fresh daises in the wild were a fine treat for ponies, but Starlight knew this one was not for eating. She would press it and save it, and keep it as a reminder of this beautiful day.

"Goodnight Chara." She whispered to the Flower, climbing into bed, and going to sleep.

And accross town, in a small cottage, a little boy who knew he was loved looked out the window at the castle, smiling and sighing.

"Goodnight Starlight." he whispered, as he too climbed into bed, and feel into a wonderful, happy sleep.

It felt good to be loved.