"Normal speech"
"Talking in Wingdings."
The trip back to the castle was much more subdued that the to Mt. Ebott. After a time of crying Chara and Asriel had fallen asleep form the emotional exhaustion. Celestia and Luna had taken them to the chariot and had the guards fly back at a more leisurely pace giving the two princesses time to think. After returning to the Castle and place the children in a room they decided to plan on what to do next.
As they entered the small sitting room Luna groaned as she walked over to a pillow and lay down. "What do we do sister?" She asked in a sad tone. "Those children have nothing left and nowhere to go."
"I still don't know Luna. I asked guard to get master, maybe he will know what to do." Celestia said as he flopped on to a pillow as well. "I asked him to bring any legends about the Monsters as well as anything he could find on Chara."
"Hopefully he can find something." Luna groaned.
A sudden knock at the door caused the two to groan again in unison. "Well, I can see you are tired. Let me guess long day dealing with the nobles?" An old wise voice asked with a chuckle.
Celestia looked up to see their mentor standing in the doorway a smile on his face. Celestia smiled sadly as she sat up. "If only that was the case, Starswirl." She said sadly.
"Come in mentor and have a seat. We... we need your help."Luna said as she rose as well.
"Oh dear, I thought this was a social visit but it seem there is actually something going on." The old mage said as his eyes hardened and the smile faded. "Start from the beginning and leave nothing out."
"First we must ask, how much do you know about the Humans war with the Monsters race?" Celestia asked.
Starswirl frowned as he pushed his glasses into place. "Vary little I fear. The humans destroyed most of the texts from around that time but from what I gather it was started by humans who were...cruel to say the least. It honestly couldn't even be considered a war more like a slaughter that ended with the Monsters being sealed under Mt. Ebott."
"Did you find anything on a Chara?" Celestia asked.
Starswirl nodded. "Took some digging but I found mention of a child that matched the description you gave. They were born in a village that was once at the base of the mountain. Chara was said to be a demon due to her extremely pale skin and red eyes however we now know this to be signs of Albinism meaning they have no pigment in their bodies.. The child was mocked beaten and raped many times before they simply went up the mountain one day and disappeared."
Celestia and Luna looked at each other in shock before turning back to Starswirl. Luna cleared her throat. "Earlier today my sister found a human child that was extremely injured and took them to the medical wing of the castle. After I healed them they revealed to be Chara Dreemurr, the Princess to the Kingdom of Monster. She showed us that the humans deceived us into thinking the Monsters were evil and then panicked about not being able to stop someone or something.
We quickly departed for Mt. Ebott and broke the seal that trapped the monsters after entering the Underground as it was called we saw another human murder the King and attempted to murder the Prince of the Underground, Charas adopted brother. After a battle with this human Chara won. It was at this point that we learned the human had slaughters every Monster leaving Asriel as the soul remaining member of the Monster Race."
Starswirl sat in silence as he thought, after a moment he looked at the two princesses. "You don't know what to do so you called me." He said softly. "This is a delicate situation."
"There is more I fear." Celestia said as she looked down at the table they were seated at. She and Luna began to tell the Mage the story Chara had told all the while Starswirl listened calmly and thought. Once the story was done Starswirl closed his eyes.
"Master," Celestia said hesitantly. "it sounds like they died and were resurrected in someway. Princess Chara was brought back as a form of ghost that watched over the murderous human till they were able to somehow return to life and a partial revival of Prince Asriel making him a soulless flower till Chara fully revived him with what looked like a liquid form of the Soul aspects that she told us about."
"Yes, I agree with this estimate however this is a true restoration. No pony has ever attempted such a thing and succeeded, I have three theories however. The first is that something or someone of greater power brought them back, the second is this Determination is far more powerful than we think. And finally, and I find this the most possible, Chara and Asriel were not truly dead merely...separated from the physical world. From what I understand monsters had an ability, though it was quite rare, that allowed them to make what some would call a wish and if it is a desperate enough situation it will be granted. It's possible that Asriels desire for his adopted sister to come back and save him was so great that it actually brought her back. When they were reunited the fragments of each other that they had collected from when they were a single being solidified and fully restored them to life. But no matter how I look at it the two are alive."
"It's not a question of whether they are alive master." Luna said. "We don't know what to do! These children have lost everything and there is nothing we can do."
"Ah..." Starswirl nodded and sat in thought. "Well I see two way to go about this. The first is to see if Chara has any way to undo what has been done, She said the Red Soul grants the ability of time manipulation though we know little of this ability. Does it allow the user to go back long period of time or only a small amount, what are the repercussions of this power?"
"We know little of this power and I am hesitant to see what it can do." Celestia said slowly. "I also felt that Chara herself knows little on what she is truly capable of doing."
Starswirl nodded. "The second option is to take them in and raise them on your own as their parents." He said causing the two princesses to freeze. "Either way you need to speak to them and decide what to do."
"Hang on, your not going to help?!" Luna cried.
"You forget I can't get involved anymore. Besides, what can this old pony do that you can't?" Starswirl asked smiling at the princesses. "I raised you well, you're capable of this on your own." Starswirl rose from his seat and walked to the door stopping before leaving to wink at the two. "Now go and do me proud." He said and walked out the door.
The two princesses sat staring at the door in shock for several moments before Celestia sighed and Luna growled. "Bloody troll." She muttered Celestia nodding in agreement.
"Well not much we can do till tomorrow." Celestia said as she rose and walked to the door. "Good night Luna, See you at breakfast." she said before she tiredly walked out and headed to her chambers.
Luna sighed and exited the room as well heading for hers as well. "Tis been one large rut today." She grumbled.
Chara sat on one of the chars in her room thinking about what to do. She could try to RESET but if the PLAYER was still around then she ran the risk of returning to that damn time loop and suffering at the players hand. She needed to find an answer soon though. "Well it seems the barrier was finally broken." A shaky voice said causing Chara to jump and turn in surprise to see a tall skeleton with cracks in his skull and holes in his hands.
"Gaster!" She gasped before running up to him and hugging him. "We thought you were dead!" She cried into his chest.
"Not dead, just... stuck." He said as he embraced her as well before looking up looking at the bed and seeing Asriel. "Seems you managed to save him after all." He said sadly.
"Where are you, I can get you out." Chara said determined.
"Still falling." Gaster said sadly. "I can watch but it takes great will to manifest myself even this much. Sans was close to fixing to device but... well... we both know what happened."
Chara nodded. "Is their a way to fix this? Can Monsters be brought back?"
Gaster nodded. "In my research I found that Monsters could be revived by the power of Determination but-"
"It makes them amalgamates, I know." Chara said.
"Precisely!" Gaster said. "Something is still missing. We can resurrect them but can't stabilize them. If we can find the answer to this conundrum then we can bring Monsters back. However I realize the answer does not lie in the Underground but rather here on the surface."
"If it's here I'll find it." Chara said.
Gaster nodded as he began to fade. "It seems my time to visit is up. Chara find my old laboratory, it will have some of what you need as well as a formula to make your magic stronger and perhaps more." Gaster said as he faded away.
Chara returned to the chair and looked out the window. memories of working with Gaster and his son Sans on the DT Project and discovering timelines flashing through her head. Memories of the accident that resulted in the loss of so much and the cause of Char and Asriels desperate plan to free the Underground. "This time I will make no mistakes." she said her eyes hardening.
*The chance of saving the Monsters fills you with Determination.
File SAVED
The next day Chara and Asriel groggily followed a guard through the castle to the dinning hall. Calmly the guard opened the doors and nodded to the two as they entered and closed the door. Chara rubbed her eyes tiredly as Asriel leaned against her.
"I see you not ones for the morning." Celestia said as Luna hissed from under the blanket wrapped around her.
"Morning no, Mondays yes." Chara growled causing Luna to hiss again. "Is Princess Luna ok?" Chara asked concerned.
"She'll be fine once she's had some some coffee. She simply hates mornings and Mondays." Celestia said calmly as she sipped her tea.
"Mornings are appropriately named as one should morn the the loss of sleep, Mondays were created by the Devil to torture mortals." Luna hissed angrily.
"Luna your immortal." Celestia said with a smirk.
"Your point?" Luna growled as she stared at her sister wit hatred.
Chara giggled as she dragged Asriel with her to the table and took a seat. After a moment a maid walked in with a tray of food on it. Calmly she placed hem before the four seated and exited. Chara removed the cover for her plate surprised to find it contained eggs and bacon. "Huh, I thought I was going to have to tell you me and Azzy were omnivores." She said.
"We spoke with an old friend who brought us some basic information on Humans and Monsters, some of it was what you can and can't eat." Celestia said as Luna loudly sipped her coffee.
"I see." Chara said with a nod. "I spoke with an old friend as well. He was a Scientist that ended up being trapped in the Void, don't ask it will take to long to explain. However he told me that if I found his old Lab from when monsters were on the surface it may hold clues to a way to save monsters."
"And how did he get in the castle?" Celestia asked concerned.
"When he fell into the Void he was shattered across time and space making him omnipresent. He is everywhere and nowhere a the same time it is a interesting conundrum." Chara said as her voice took on the air of a scientist. "It's quite fascinating, to see all timelines, and realities with out the need of equipment. I will have to pick up the research later when I have time." Chara smiled as he continued to eat.
"I... see." Celestia said confused.
"How old are you Chara?" Luna asked.
Chara stopped for a moment and thought. "Oh, there is a question." She said.
"She's seven same as me." Asriel said tiredly. "Though there are moments where she gets like this and you get to see the other side of her, despite her being seven she is scarily smart. When she was six she and Doctor G created an antimatter generator for fun, seriously who does that?" He asked grumpily. Celestia and Luna stared at Chara in shock as she simply sat in thought before turning back to her food.
"Yes, well, we would like to discuss the options we have at present with you two." Celestia said. "We have already made an announcement about the Monster Race and it's passing, we will be correcting the history books as soon as possible but that still leaves you two."
"A mass overhaul of the history books will take time and I doubt it will be easy. As for us, there is little you can do to aid us." Chara said after swallowing her food. "At present I need to locate the laboratory Doctor ☝︎♋︎⬧︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎ told me about so I will be heading for the nearest library to do some research and then move on from there. However I would ask that you take care of Asriel and help him."
"I'm afraid you can't simply go off on your own Chara your still seven." Celestia said. "And that leaves two options for this the first is to see if Chara can use the power of her soul to undo this."
"Not an option." Chara said. "The red soul had four core powers, SAVE which creates a point in time that if I die I will return to and LOAD which loads a SAVE Point. The other two are more dangerous. "The first is RESET which allows me to reset time to a certain event and the final one is called ERASE. ERASE destroys this time line entirely, this means that everything about this world will be wiped from the very fabric of reality. If I wanted I can RESET but I run the rusk of the PLAYER returning and that is something We can not let happen ever."
Luna nodded. "After what you and Asriel have gone through we can't fault you for this."
"Then this leaves us with our second option thought I doubt you will approve of it." Celestia said hesitantly. "The second option is adopt you and raise you as our own." Chara growled angrily as she rose only for Asriel to place a hand on her shoulder. Chara looked at her brother for a moment before sighing and sitting down.
"We understand that you may disapprove but given your age you most have a legal guardian and this is a better option than placing you in foster care." Luna said calmly.
Chara growled as she looked at her plate. "Chara we can't do this alone and mom and dad would have wanted us safe." Asriel said concerned.
"If we take this option there are conditions I want met." Chara said as she looked at the Princesses.
"What would they be?" Celestia asked.
"First, Asriel and I will be free to come and go as we see fit. I will not be trapped against my will and If you attempt to do this with me or my brother you will have a bad time." Chara said as her eyes glowed for a moment.
"What do you mean by 'come and go as we see fit'?" Luna asked.
"I mean just that." Chara said as she watched the two. "We can come and go as we see fit. While we won't abuse this right I will be using it to work. Second, I want access to a private laboratory and all research done past, present and future. And when I say all I mean All. In exchange I will give you access to my research and work."
"If we do this you will have to earn a doctorate or PhD, as well as follow all rules pertaining and set in place by us."
"Agreed." Chara said. "Third I want access to all historical information, I don't care how classified it is. In exchange I will give all information that I have and assist in editing the history books."
"I assume you want this so you can start looking for the Laboratory this Doctor Gaster told you about?" Celestia asked
Chara nodded. "Yes. As for my final request, In the event of an emergency or the return of the PLAYER I want you to protect Asriel even if it's with your life."
"This is acceptable." Luna said with a smile.
"I have one condition as well." Asriel said calmly. "No secrets. I know all rulers have a mask that we wear in public, Mom and Dad had one, I have one, even Chara has one. But if we accept this agreement then when we are around each other and its just us that mask comes off. That was the biggest rule with Mom and Dad and it will continue with us."
Celestia and Luna looked at each other surprised before looking at the children. "That will be hard to do." Celestia said.
"If something is easy then it's not worth it." Chara said. "It was our parents biggest rule and I agree with Azzy. If we want to make this work then we need to be open with each other."
Luna sighed and nodded. "Very well, We agree to these terms though I am curious about something. I assume that since you were the Prince and Princess of the Underground you went through training to be royals, how far did you get?" She asked.
"Chara finished quickly, actually she finished all her schooling in only a few months, heh, you could say she is a bit of a prodigy, even got a PhD and doctorate as well as some other stuff I can t remember right now but I was not to far in. I think I was in about the 8th grade." Asriel thought out loud.
"If you wish to see my credentials then I can show you. We would have to go back to... Mount... Ebott..." Chara froze for a moment before shaking her head. "Actually I'll just retake the tests and get new ones." She said in a higher than normal voice.
Luna looked at Chara for a moment before nodding. "It's understandable that you would have some pain from what you experienced."
"With that taken care of, I will have the papers set up by this afternoon." Celestia said.
Chara nodded and got up from the table. "Well I'm out of practice and need to get back into shape, want to go practice Azzy?" Chara asked causing Asriel to look up excited.
Really?!" He asked excitedly. "You used a lot of magic yesterday?"
Chara smiled. "I need a good work out." She said cockily.
Asriel smirked. "Your out of practice and you challenging me? I guess I'll have to remind you why they called me the Reaper."
Chara summoned her knife and smiled as she pointed it at Asriel. "The Reaper and Arbiter facing off once again, wonder who will win this time." She asked before turning to Celestia and Luna. "Where is the training grounds?"
"I will show you." Luna said with a smile as she roes and turned to Celestia. "Will you join us sister?"
Celestia smiled. "I suppose I can join you for a while." She said as she rose and walked over to her sister.