The Royals' New Groove - GeminiRose22 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) (2024)

Chapter 1: Once Upon a Time

Chapter Text

Being a princess was not always an easy job. This, Kara Jinn knew. Being a parent and a royal, an even bigger challenge. Well, she wasn't a mother, but she was an aunt with six nieces and nephews now. She hadn't gotten the chance to be their aunt when they were growing up, in part because she didn't even know she was their aunt.

Today, Kara was looking after the children with Obi-Wan's fiancé Satine.

"Royal life is so often portrayed as paradise in many fairy tales, isn't it?" Kara said, putting away some books that were left lying about on the floor near the bookshelf.

"Indeed it is." Satine said. "It has it's perks, but it is far from being completely flawless."

"Because as a royal, you must be a role model, someone of exemplary character."

"Correct. And you often face many difficulties."

"But royal people usually have lots of people to help them, don't they?" Gabby asked, walking into the scene. "Advisors, guards, allies? People like that?"

"Usually they do, Gabriella." said Satine. "However, you must remember not all allies are as loyal as the ones you know. Do you remember what occurred on the Coronet all those years ago?"

Gabby thought about it and realized the duch*ess had a point.

Some of the kids were running around the room, playing around and messing about to Kara's growing annoyance. It wasn't that she disliked babysitting, but when the kids got all noisy and out of control, it was a problem.

"Was it like this back at the Temple?" Satine asked the oldest princess.

"At times." Kara said. "But there were usually more than a few Jedi to look after these little monsters."

Boba suddenly fell as he was Tigger tagged.

"Gotcha!" Lamenta laughed.

"No fair!" Boba whined. "You turned invisible to do that!"

Lamenta then found another victim in the form of Gungi. It was tackling a teddy bear. And some more younglings started messing about. And the horses were playing around too.

Gabby was also roughhousing with Omega as they were having a tickle fight, and Omega was losing.

"Okay, okay! I give!" Omega laughed.

"Alright, children." Kara called. "Everyone, stop the roughhousing!"

But when the kids didn't stop messing about, Kara had an idea. She knew exactly what got the kids to sit still. She searched among the bookshelf and pulled out a book.

"Oh, children. How about a story?"

That got the kids to sit down. Kara opened the book, ready to begin the story.

"This is a story about a kingdom that was nearly taken over by the royal family's scheming advisor."

Chapter 2: Meet the Royal Family

Chapter Text

Our story begins somewhere deep within the forest on a dark and stormy night. And thunder booms, spooking a beautiful horse.

A pegasus with a golden-brown coat, a long dark mane decorated with blue and yellow beads, and blue eyes with two gold stripes. But they were now filled with tears as rain fell and drenched the poor mare.

Sad isn't it? A beautiful horse all alone in the woods in the cold of the rain. Believe or not, that mare was once a human being. A queen. Me.

I'm that pegasus. My name is Kara. Queen Kara Jinn. People have told me I was a wonderful person, but then someone decided to ruin my life, and for my loved ones as well. So, in case you haven't guessed yet. I'm not the only victim here. But in order to fully understand, we need to go back in time.

Flashback to a five-year-old Kara playing with twin baby boys as they were crawling around and then playing tug-of-war with a teddy bear until its arms ripped off

Not that far!

But, aww! That's me as a little girl with my little brothers. Aren't they adorable?

The twins cried as their toy was ruined. But Kara shushed them until she went into the toy box and found two new teddies for them to play with, and the babies stopped crying

See what I mean? Even as a kid, I knew how to be kind, especially where my baby brothers were concerned. But anyway, that's not the time period we need to go back to.

Here's the real time it starts...

The beautiful Queen Kara sat as she brushed her long hair on this fine morning.

See that girl there? That's me now. Well, that's me two weeks ago. And see that picture on her vanity?

On the vanity sat a framed picture of Kara and two boys as teenagers with the same sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. One wore glasses and had longer hair, though. And in that picture, was a man and a woman.

That's me with my brothers, the twins Anakin and Carmine, and our parents six years ago. King Qui-Gon and Queen Shmi. After they passed away later that same year, it fell to me and my brothers to lead the kingdom of Coruscant. Since I'm the oldest, I was crowned queen on my eighteenth birthday. It's been hard to be without them.

In that time since their parents died, the twins both married, and each had a daughter.

Today marked another day in the life of the royals.

"Time for another day ruling this kingdom." Kara declared as she picked up her tiara and placed it on her head. "Better wake the others."

Kara pulled a rope to ring the bell that signaled everyone it was time to wake up.

Anakin heard the bell ringing and woke up with a yawn.

Carmine heard it too and looked for his glasses.

And the little ones, Gabriella and Lamenta were the last ones to get up.

Everyone got and got dressed and exited their rooms to go to the dining hall for breakfast.

And everywhere the royal family went, their staff greeted them with a friendly 'Good morning.'

"Good morning to you too, guys." Anakin returned.

"Looking great today." Carmine said.

And as usual, breakfast was served with excellent presentation and flavor. Their cooks Jango Fett and his wife Zam never ceased to please. And their assistant Strawberry Sundae ensured the quality of ingredients.

One thing the palace staff liked about the royal family was that they were very appreciative of all their people and took care of the kingdom. And in return, the staff took care of them greatly.

"Good morning, everyone." Kara greeted.

"Allow me, Your Majesty." Jango said, pulling out a chair for the queen.

"Thank you, Jango." Kara said, taking a seat. "Breakfast looks wonderful as usual. You are dismissed."

Jango bowed and left the family to enjoy their breakfast.

Everyone dug into their food and was excited about their day. The little ones were excited to get to their riding lessons today, while the grownups had a busy schedule today.

"In regards to tomorrow," said Kara. "I've summoned some village leaders to come see us today."

"You got the list, Anakin?" Carmine asked.

"Every name. It's all confirmed that they'll be here in about two hours. Just enough time to get ready for them."

Pretty sweet family, huh?

After me is Anakin, the oldest twin. He's a charming fellow, like one would expect a prince to be. But, he's also kind of a rebel where rules are concerned. Doesn't always listen to what he's told, acts recklessly, and has a bit of a need to show off. Since I doubt I'll produce any heirs of my own, it's been my job to make sure Anakin will be ready to be king someday. He's already got a wife and a daughter.

Carmine is married and has a daughter too, but he also has a bit of a problem with public speaking. He's always been a shy kid. Never liked giving speeches or standing in front of large crowds. But, being a prince, he has to get used to that. Yet, he somehow always finds a way out of it whether it's faking laryngitis, making up appointments, or running and hiding somewhere.

And then there's my nieces. Those cute little angels. Gabby is Anakin's little girl. Optimistic, energetic, a little ball of surprises. Loves anything brightly colored and being the center of attention. And then there's Lamenta, the shy little angel of the night. Shy like her father, but also fairly calm and laid back. Her favorite time: the night, when she can gaze up at the stars and make wishes on them.

My brother's each married good women too. Anakin married a beautiful princess named Padme from the neighboring kingdom of Naboo, and Carmine married her dance instructor Caroline. But at the moment, they were away visiting their family in Naboo, leaving us to watch over the little ones.

Later that same day, there was an older man sitting in the throne Kara usually sat in, and he was reluctantly listening to a peasant talking to him about the needs of some of the people.

Here we are, my least favorite person. Father's old advisor Sheev Palpatine. Seems nice at first, but I swear the air gets cold when you get too close to him.

And he wasn't alone either. In the throne next to Palpatine was a much younger woman with fair skin, raven black hair, and magenta eyes dressed in a really attention-grabbing red dress. Her name was Silvaria Navarro.

Lately, Palpatine has been getting into this habit of running the country behind my back ever since Mother and Father died. And I'm thinking, that has to stop. He's also been in this really weird habit of getting with younger women. And this time, he married one. Silvaria. Don't be fooled by her beautiful appearance. I swear, those red lips and that red dress of hers are a definite equivalent of a red flag of some kind. I'm telling you, this woman's trouble.

There was a big strong guy who worked for the advisors too. Jango had many sons, and this one was Wrecker. Not the sharpest guy, but he was brutally strong and kind of a big teddy bear.

A fly buzzed around Palpatine's head, and the man started to swat it.

"I got it!" Wrecker said eagerly, swatting away the bug.

Wrecker swatted the fly, and the fly landed on Wrecker's nose, and Wrecker smacked himself on the face hard enough to knock himself down.

Yup. That's Wrecker.

"It's no concern of mine whether you have... what was it again?" asked Palpatine.

"Food." said the peasant.

Silvaria laughed and said, "You should've thought of that before you became peasants. Take him away."

"Next!" Palpatine called, and the peasant was escorted out.

The couple trying to do the rulers' job sighed as they did not like the dealing with peasants part of the job.

"Peasants are stressful, aren't they?" said another voice.

"Tell me about it." Silvaria groaned.

"Ahem." Kara cleared her throat, scaring the couple out of the thrones."

"Oh! Your Majesty." Palpatine said. And he noticed the twins. "Your highnesses."

"Um, you were doing it again." Kara said,

"Oh, do excuse me, doing what?"

"Our job. I'm the queen, my brothers are the crown princes. And you are the leaders' advisor."

Palpatine went on and on about how he was only acting in the best interest of the kingdom, and Silvaria was simply assisting in such matters.

"Well, it didn't look like a very good job with that guy." Anakin said.

"Mom and Dad would never have treated anyone that way." Carmine said.

"Your Majesty," said Hunter, another one of Jango's sons who worked for the royal family. "The village leaders are here to see you."

"Thank you, Hunter." said Kara. "Send them in."

But Palpatine was sitting in Kara's chair again.

"Alright, who's sitting in my chair?" Kara teased.

"Ooh! I know! Palpatine's in your chair!" Wrecker jumped like an excited child.

"Very good, Wrecker." Kara took out a cookie she had. "Have a cookie."

"Mine!" Wrecker took the treat and devoured it like Cookie Monster.

The royal siblings laughed at how cute Wrecker was.

"And Palpatine." said Kara. "Your services are no longer required."

"What?" said Palpatine.

"We've decided to look into a younger mind of advisory." Anakin explained. "And according to regulations, it's time for you to retire."

"Just a moment. You are firing me?"

"Not firing. Just letting you go." said Kara. "You may remain in the palace until you find any new residency. But we've already found a new advisor."

And in came the new advisor. A Togruta who looked no older than eighteen years old. Her name was Ahsoka Tano.

"Sorry, I'm late, Your Majesties." Ahsoka said with a bow. "I was ensuring the leaders found their way safely."

"Thank you, Ahsoka." Anakin said. "Palpatine. Mrs. You may go now."

Palpatine stammered and felt so much anger build up in him as he and his wife were dismissed from the throne room.

And the queen and princes sat on their thrones.

And in came four new beings. Two were humans, the other two were a Kel Dor and a Togruta like Ahsoka.

The leaders were named Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Plo Koon, and his wife Shaak Tii. All of them were leaders of various villages in the Jedi district of Coruscant.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Obi-Wan said.

"We each reach received your summons to arrive here." Mace said.

"Welcome, all of you." Kara said, getting up from her throne. "You're just the people we all needed to see today."

"For what reason is that?" Shaak asked.

"We've been working on an important project together." said Anakin. "Except, there's a teeny problem with it."

"You think you can help us?" Carmine asked.

"We'll do the best we can, Your Majesties." Obi-Wan promised.

"Great." said Kara. "If you'll kindly follow me and my brothers."

The leaders followed the royals into another room, where there was a full-scale model of the Jedi District of the kingdom. Each village the Jedi looked after was important to the kingdom in one way or another.

Obi-Wan led the village of Saleucami; their village harvested the biggest crop plantations that helped feed the country some of the best fruits and vegetables.

Mace led the village of Stewjon, the village best known for creating high-quality saddles and equipment for working with and herding the equines that helped do various jobs.

And Plo Koon and Shaak led the village of Shili, where Ahsoka was from. Their village was known for being especially good at peacekeeping, and they were great builders of many simple, but functional structures that helped the kingdom too.

All of them had important jobs that helped their kingdom.

"And that's why we've asked all of you here." Kara said. "As you know, tomorrow would've been our father's birthday. It's been so long since we lost him."

"The loss still hits hard, though," Carmine said, looking down.

"He was a good king, your father." Mace said. "And a good man."

"I knew him when I was younger." Obi-Wan added. "He was a good father even to those who weren't his own children."

"And that's why we're working on something important." Anakin said. "We just need to find some good spaces. Some place that's accessible for families and has a nice view. And a place where lots of plants can grow."

The village leaders looked at the model and pointed out an empty patch of land that had plenty of soil, but nothing growing there as of yet. And, in another part of town, there was an abandoned building no one claimed yet, but it was in an area close to where a lot of families with children lived.

"What do you plan on adding to these areas?" Plo asked.

The royals then added something in place of those empty spaces and abandoned buildings and showed the village leaders some plans they had to build. Where the abandoned building was now, Kara and her brothers planned to build a new school for needy kids, as one of their father's greatest goals was to ensure every child in the kingdom, regardless of race, social class, or learning struggles, received the best education they could get. And in the empty patch of land, they planned to build a new park and name it Tahl Shmi Park, using the names of both Kara and the twins' biological mothers. Their father had loved each of his wives very much and loved each of them even more when each of them gave him children. His first wife Tahl gave him Kara, and after losing her, he eventually married Shmi, who gave him the twins.

And now, their three children finally had it all planned out on how they would honor their parents' memories.

"All of those are wonderful ideas." said Mace. "Your parents would be proud you want to honor their kingdom in such a manner."

"They were amazing rulers, and good people." Anakin said. "When my mother was around, she never called herself queen. The only job she truly cared about was being a mother to her children and to the people. That was what made Dad fall in love with her, and we know he'd want the women he loved to be honored and remembered."

"So, tomorrow, we shall make the official announcements to the kingdom." Kara said. "And all of you, be sure to let your villages know that where education and keeping the kingdom beautiful are concerned, everyone is going to have a part in making it all possible. Thank you all so much for coming all this way and granting the royal family your time."

The village leaders bowed before their royal leaders and left as the guards escorted them out to their rides.

Anakin looked at the model of the park and picked up a fake daffodil from it. Daffodils were his mother's favorite. And every time he saw one, he thought of her, which was why he planned to plant lots of them in the new park; that way, lots of other families could appreciate them as much as Shmi did.

He looked up at a portrait of the royal family, back when Kara and the twins were children.

Kara put a comforting hand on her little brother's shoulder. She understood how her brother's felt better than anyone else. She never knew her biological mother, and Shmi was the only figure she'd ever called Mom. And now she and her father were gone.

"Mom and Dad were the best. No one could ever replace them." Kara said, hugging Anakin as he and Carmine started crying, missing their parents.

Even though it had been years since their parents' deaths, there were times when the royal children just started crying when they thought about them.

Kara held her brothers in a hug, and sang them a lullaby their father always sang to them whenever they were sad, hurt, or scared ever since they were little.

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You'll never know, dear
How much I love you
Please don't take
My sunshine away

It was then that Lamenta and Gabby were running around the castle with two of Jango's youngest children, Boba and Omega.

"Kids!" Kara exclaimed. "Kids, what have we said about running in the palace?!"

"We're just playing, Auntie." Gabby said before she ran into a pedestal, and nearly broke a vase before Boba caught it.

"I got it!" Boba said, carefully placing the vase back on the pedestal. "Sorry, Queen Kara. We'll be more careful."

Anakin and Carmine looked at the children. They couldn't bring their parents back, but they could pass on what they learned about being good parents from them to their own little ones. In each of the daughters, they could see bits of their grandparents in them.

Gabby inherited Qui-Gon's determination and passionate strength to make a change, while Lamenta inherited Shmi's love for the simpler things in life and not needing to have everything handed to her to be happy. All either of them needed was their family. And that was all they needed now.

Chapter 3: To the Secret Lab

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An axe was thrown at a picture of the royal family by none other than Palpatine.

"Fired by insolent little children!" Palpatine grumbled.

"It isn't fair, Dear." Silvaria said. "They do not appreciate you for all you do."

"Right you are, Wife. After their parents died, I practically raised those two boys."

"They seem fine to me." Wrecker said, playing with his Lula doll.

"What are you even doing here?" Silvaria said.

"Hey, at least you're letting it out on those pictures instead of the real royal family. You'd get in big trouble." Wrecker said.

And then, Palpatine and his wife had an idea.

"That's it, Wrecker! That's it! I'll get rid of the royal family!" Palpatine said.

"Uh... the real royal family?" Wrecker asked.

Silvaria pushed Wrecker down to the floor.

"Of course, the real royal family, you idiot!" said the scary woman. "We take out the queen, the princes, and the little princesses, there will be no heir to the throne. And thus I shall take over... with my husband of course."

"And what's that gotta do with you being tired?" Wrecker asked.

"Not tired!Re-tired. But it was more of a forced retirement in this scenario. And right now, the only ones who know about that are the six of us, soon to be the three of us."

"Uh... am I one of those three?" Wrecker asked.

"To the secret lab!" said Palpatine.

The villain couple and their assistant came to what looked like a lovely painted mural, and there were a couple of levers disguised as candlesticks.

"Pull the lever, Wrecker." Palpatine ordered.

Wrecker pulled it.

"WRONG LEVEEEEEEEEEERRRRR!" Palpatine shouted as he fell through a trap door with a bigSPLASH!

And Palpatine came through another door with a gator biting on his robes.

"I thought we got rid of that lever!" Palpatine shake, shaking the alligator off of him.

But Silvaria was laughing at her husband's expense.

"Wrecker, pull the lever."

Wrecker pulled it again, and this time Silvaria fell through the trap door, and then came back dripping wet with mascara running down her cheeks, an alligator biting on her dress. Now it was Palpatine's turn to laugh.

"Why do we evenhavethat lever?!" Silvaria said, slapping the gator and making it run away, whimpering like a scared puppy. "Get out of my way!"

Silvaria pushed her way through the two men and pulled the right lever herself, and they were pulled into what looked like a roller coaster ride.

Please remain seated and keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the cart at all timessaid the ride voice.

And thus began a ride of the craziest roller coaster ride ever with a big loop. Wrecker was whooping happily and lifting his arms in the air, but the couple just seemed bored out of their minds. Even when their picture was taken.

They landed, all dressed in lab coats and goggles. And Wrecker eagerly picked up the souvenir photo as it printed.

"Aw, nuts! My eyes are closed." Wrecker whined.

Palpatine and Silvaria looked at some various potions they had.

Silvaria was an expert in poisons and potion-making, which was part of why Palpatine married her.

"How shall I do it?" Palpatine wondered out loud.

And Palpatine thought of what he though would be a genius plan.

"I'll turn them into fleas. Harmless little fleas. And then, I'll put those fleas in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself. And when it arrives..." Palpatine cackled. "I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!"

"You sound like Dr. Frankenstein," Silvaria said.

She picked up a vial of a pinkish liquid.

"To do the job right, we shall poison them with this!" said Silvaria. "Hold this, Wrecker. Feel the power."

Wrecker held the vial.

"I feel it."

"Our moment of triumph approaches." Silvaria laughed. "It's dinnertime!"

However, they didn't know someone else knew of their plan.

A few minutes ago...

Omega and Boba were running again.

"Boba! Give me back Little Star!" Omega said angrily.

"You want her? Come and get her!" Boba teased.

But as the twins were running about and playing Keep Away, they came across the mural that served as the entrance to Silvaria's secret lab. Omega tackled her brother, but as she did, Boba tried to regain his composure, by accidentally pulling the lever that placed them into the roller coaster ride of their life.

But they were confused when they were placed in lab coats that were too big for them.

"That was fun!" Omega said. "But what was that?"

"I don't remember a roller coaster in the palace." Boba said, equally confused.

But then, the twins heard voices, and they quietly crawled on the floor as they passed through and looked to see Wrecker with the former royal advisor and his wife.

"One sip of this in their drinks, and the royal family will be no more!" Silvaria cackled.

"But the royal family are nice. I don't wanna hurt them!" Wrecker said.

"You will do as I say," Silvaria snarled, grabbing and twisting the front of Wrecker's shirt as she looked him right in the eyes. "And you will speak of this to no one, or your brothers and sister are next. Got it?!"

"Got it!" Wrecker whimpered.

The twins silently gasped at this. Silvaria and Palpatine were planning to get rid of the royal family?! They had to do something! But they couldn't let the villains know they knew. Otherwise that would put their family in danger too!

But then, Boba had an idea. He and Omega waited for the villains to leave the room for a bit, and the twins rushed in.

"If we can't stop them from spiking the drinks, we can at least replace the poison with something else." Boba said, looking into a book of Silvaria's potion recipes.

"But with what?" Omega said

"With another potion." Boba said. "These recipes say they'll give whoever drinks them the ability to sense quakes and the emotions and desires of those around them like a horse does, and give them the power to run as fast as one. And it's easy to make, and it's the same color as the poison."

"Then let's make that one. And quick!"

While Omega disposed of the real poison, Boba started concocting the fake poison and poured it into a vial that looked the same as the other one, and planted it so the villains would find it.

"Hopefully that buys some time." Omega said. "But shouldn't we tell Mom and Dad?"

"No! Then they would tell the guards, and who knows what Silvaria and Palpatine might do."

Chapter 4: Dinnertime

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Candles were lit at dinner. As instructed, Wrecker poured a few drops of poison into the wine the grownups would be drinking, and some into the pitcher of juice for the kids.

"Is everything ready for tonight?" Silvaria asked.

"Yup. Dad's cookin' everything up." Wrecker said.

"Not dinner. You know..."

"Oh, yeah." Wrecker said flatly. "That poison?"

"Yes, that poison!" Palpatine said. "I shall propose a toast, and with one sip, the royal family will be dead before dessert."

"Too bad, because I hear there's chocolate cake for dessert." Wrecker said.

Silvaria rolled her eyes at Wrecker's childishness.

The royal family soon arrived at the table for dinner.

"Alright! What's for dinner tonight?" Anakin asked.

"I'm starved." Carmine said.

"Ruling the kingdom does work up an appetite." Kara said.

The little ones got to their seats.

"I just hope it's not deep fried nuna leg again." Gabby said. "We've had that three times this week."

"Don't worry, Princess Gabriella." said Jango. "Got a much different menu tonight."

And Jango and Zam served some soup to the royal family.

"Minestrone! My favorite!" Lamenta said.

"It was your grandfather's favorite too." Anakin chuckled.

"Wrecker, would you pour the royal family a drink?" Silvaria said with a nicer attitude than usual.

Wrecker then picked up the wine bottle and poured a cup for everyone.

"No, no, Wrecker." Carmine said, stopping Wrecker from pouring the wine into the kids' cups. "They're too little to drink that stuff."

So, Silvaria, with a groan, picked up the pitcher of juice and poured some for the kids.

And Palpatine raised his cup to propose a toast.

"To the royal family, descendants of King Qui-Gon Jinn." said Palpatine. "Long live the queen and her royal family."

And the entire royal family sipped their drinks. But while the family wasn't looking, Palpatine and Silvaria just dumped their drinks into some nearby plants.

Nothing seemed to happen at first. But then, Gabby felt a pain in her stomach and so did Lamenta.

"Daddy..." Gabby said, holding her stomach. "I don't feel good."

"My tummy hurts!" Lamenta cried, prompting Carmine to take her into his arms.

"Poor baby. It might've been something you ate." Carmine said, but then he felt the same pain in his stomach. "And something I ate too!"

Soon, Anakin and Kara felt odd too!

"Good work, Wrecker!" Silvaria whispered triumphantly.

"Now, we simply wait and get rid of the bodies." said Palpatine.

But then, everyone in the royal family let out a loud burp, and they felt much better.

The kids and Wrecker started laughing like crazy.

"That was funny!" Wrecker laughed.

Silvaria and Palpatine were confused.

"I guess it was just gas." Anakin laughed along with the rest of the family.

But then, all of a sudden, black pointy ears popped up on Anakin's head. Light brown ones also appeared on Kara's head. The kids were first to notice.

Carmine noticed too.

"Um... Auntie Kara?" Gabby said, sounding scared, not knowing pink pointy ears appeared on her head.

Soon, the family started to slowly change. Anakin suddenly grew a long tail the same color as his hair, which grew a bit longer all of a sudden, Lamenta started to grow purple fur, and Kara suddenly sprouted wings! Silvaria, however, was prepared for an event that the plan didn't work, and pulled out another vial. and threw it on the ground, a cloud of sleeping gas filling the room as Silvaria got herself out of the room, and so did Palpatine and Wrecker.

A few minutes later, once the clouds dispersed, the villains reentered the room and found no dead humans. Instead, they found five horses in the room!

The first was a golden brown pegasus mare with a dark brown mane with blue and yellow beads in it, the next two were a black unicorn stallion with a sandy blonde mane and an orange unicorn with a longer sandy blonde mane, and the last ones were two little alicorns. One was purple with a black mane with silver stars in it and sparkly feathers on her wings, and the other was light pink with a chocolate brown mane and fluffy sparkly feathers on her wings too. And they were all wearing the royal family's clothes!

"What?!" said Silvaria and Palpatine.

"Horses?!" said Palaptine. "They're supposed to be dead!"

"Yeah, weird." Wrecker said, scratching his head.

Silvaria slowly glared at Wrecker and held out her hand.

"Let me see that vial."

And Wrecker handed it to her. Silvaria at first saw a skull symbol, but then realized the label was rolled up, and when she unrolled it, it showed a symbol of a horse on it.

"This isn't poison." said Silvaria. "this is extract of... horse!"

Silvaria threw the vial at Wrecker's face, hitting him in the nose as she and Palpatine groaned and panicked about this situation.

"Uh... you know, a lot of those potions look the same." Wrecker said. "Might wanna put some signs on them."

"Take them out of town and finish the job now!" Silvaria instructed.

Wrecker looked at what the royals hadn't eaten of their meal yet.

"Can I have the rest of the family's meal?"

Silvaria face palmed at Wrecker's lack of focus.

"Wrecker, this is very important." Palpatine said.

"Aww! But I'm starving!"

Silvaria sighed and reluctantly told Wrecker,

"Fine! You can have a quick snack, then take them out of town and finish the job!"

Wrecker placed the royal family members into a bunch of sealed boxes on a wagon to make it easier to move them. Luckily, the crates had small holes in them that let air get inside.

Wrecker took the crates to a big river and prepared to toss them over, starting with the biggest crate, which held Kara in it.

"Okay... one... two..." Wrecker counted, getting ready to push the crate over.

"Uh... three...four...five...six...seven..."

Wrecker tried to push the crate, but found himself counting more and more instead.

"twenty-six... twenty-seven..."

Wrecker stopped.

"You're not really gonna do it, are ya?" said a voice in Wrecker's head. "Killing an innocent family with a couple of little kids?"

And a smaller version of Wrecker in a white robe with wings and a halo appeared on his shoulder.

"My shoulder angel?" Wrecker said.

"Don't listen to that guy." said another voice.

And on Wrecker's other shoulder appeared another mini version of him dressed in red leader with devil horns on his head.

"He's tryin' to turn ya to the goody-two-shoes path. I'm gonna show ya the path that's awesome!" said the shoulder devil.

"Oh, come off it." said the angel.

"Youcome off it!" said the devil.

"You!"

"You, infinity." smirked the devil.

Wrecker's angel growled in frustration.

The devil summoned a pair of glasses and a piece of paper.

"Now, listen up, big guy. I'll give ya three reasons you should just do it." said the devil. "Number one. Look at that guy, he's got that silly string thing."

Wrecker's angel glared at the devil.

"We've been over this," said the angel, holding up his instrument. "It's a harp, and you know it."

"Oh, right. That's a harp, and that's a dress."

"Robe!" corrected the angel.

"Reason number two." The devil said, doing a handstand. "Look what I can do. Ha!"

Wrecker was no genius, but he didn't see what that had to do with the situation at hand.

"You're confusing me now." Wrecker said. "So... be gone!"

And the shoulder angel and devil disappeared. But, Wrecker didn't know what to do! He couldn't let Silvaria and Palpatine find out he didn't finish the job. So, he did the first thing he thought of.

Wrecker moved all the horses into one crate, as three would catch too much attention, and he put it in a trailer and covered it with a tarp to move them somewhere else. But he wasn't sure where he'd take them.

But eventually, his trailer broke down, so he picked up the crate and moved it to another trailer. Except, Wrecker didn't realize the trailer was being pulled by a pink unicorn with red candy-cane-colored hair named Peppermint.

While Wrecker stood there, trying to catch his breath, Peppermint pulled the trailer up onto a ship, where she met with her owner Obi-Wan.

"Good girl, Peppermint." said Obi-Wan, untying Peppermint from the load as they were ready to head out.

By the time Wrecker turned around to move the crate again, the trailer was gone!

"Oh no! Where'd it go?!" Wrecker looked around and panicked. He looked all around, but he didn't see his crate. Not that he could tell anyway. Inconveniently, he was in the marketplace, and the shops were all receiving or sending out large shipments in large crates! So, Wrecker couldn't tell which one was his, and he began randomly smashing crates open.

He opened one crate; it was filled with jogan fruits. He opened another, it was filled with grain. He opened another, it was filled with horseshoes. And he opened another, and it had a bunch of teddy bears inside.

"Hello?!" Wrecker exclaimed, opening another crate. "any horses in there?!"

There were horses in the crate alright. Plush horses. But Wrecker started digging through them anyway, people thinking he was crazy.

"Anybody in there?!"

Little did he know someone else was in for a big shock of their own.

Chapter 5: Royal Equines

Chapter Text

Obi-Wan rode the ship with Peppermint as they arrived at the entranceway to their village.

"Ready, Peppermint?" Obi-Wan said, getting the bridle ready again.

"Ready when you are." Peppermint whinnied.

Obi-Wan reattached the trailer to Peppermint, and they began to pull it along. Both of them were excited to get back home to the family. It felt like forever to Obi-Wan since he'd last seen his wife and son, especially since they were expecting a new baby to arrive and Obi-Wan was worried about his bride.

The man and his unicorn continued on their way, the beautiful sights of their village surrounding them as they passed them by. But as time passed, Peppermint began to notice that the crate on their trailer was getting awfully heavy!

"Ugh! Geez." Peppermint huffed and puffed. "How much baby stuff did you have shipped in?! Do babies suddenly need bowling balls or something?"

"No. And it was merely clothing we ordered, as well as some toys and diapers." Obi-Wan said. "All of which can weigh a surprising amount when held together."

"Well, I'm not sure when babies are more trouble. Before they're born or after."

"Hush, Peppermint. We're almost home."

Meanwhile, in a beautiful house on a hill, a pregnant blonde woman was humming as she set the table for dinner, when her teenage son came in and started to do it for her.

"Mother, let me." said the boy, whose name was Korkie. "You should sit down."

Satine chuckled. Now that she was six months going on seven, the men of her home were more protective of her than ever.

"Korkie, I can handle myself." Satine said.

That was when another woman with straight red hair came in to serve dinner.

"You're getting more pregnant by the day, Satine." said the woman, named Bo-Katan. "You need to relax to make sure that baby will be safe."

"Bo, when you came to help, I didn't ask to be overprotected."

"We are simply looking out for you, Darling." said another male voice, entering the kitchen.

"Father!" Korkie exclaimed.

Obi-Wan shared a big hug with his son and was greeted by his sister-in-law. Satine got up from her chair and made her way to her husband.

"Excuse me, everyone. Wife with a baby, coming through." Satine said.

Satine and Obi-Wan kissed each other and sat down with the others to start dinner.

And as the family shared with Obi-Wan how they spent all day preparing everything for the new baby, the conversation changed after Obi-Wan said,

"Now that Peppermint and I have also picked up the other supplies, we'll be all ready for our new little prince or princess."

"Speaking of princes..." said Satine. "How was your visit to the royal family?"

"Yes. What did they want?" Bo-Katan asked.

Obi-Wan told his family about the royal family summoning more than one village leader, and that they had plans to build a new school and a new park in honor of their late parents. The family thought those sounded like very kind and charitable ideas from the royal family. Many remembered the great tragedies of the previous rulers. First Queen Tahl died shortly after giving birth to Kara, then King Qui-Gon and his new queen Shmi were lost at sea.

Princess Kara was only sixteen when her parents died, and she had to bear the burdens and pressures of being a ruler before she was old enough to be crowned queen. And her brothers had just turned thirteen at the time, and were left in the care of their big sister and their palace staff. The whole kingdom grieved deeply for their beloved king and queen, but not even all of the citizens combined suffered as much as their three children surviving them.

Obi-Wan eventually excused himself from the table so he could feed Peppermint and unpack the crate. But when he started to move the crate...

It moved!

Obi-Wan gasped.

"Whoa... What the...?"

Obi-Wan scratched his head in confusion.

He grabbed a crowbar and opened the crate, and out climbed a little pink alicorn filly with brown hair. She was groaning.

"Oh my!" Obi-Wan gasped, seeing a bunch of other horses crammed inside. "Peppermint, I think you'd better get over here!"

Peppermint came, and together she and Obi-Wan carefully began to pull the horses out of the crate and lay them on the grass.

Obi-Wan held the little pink one in his arms, finding her rather cute.

"You poor things." said Obi-Wan. "Who did this to you?"

The light brown mare was the first to open her eyes and look at Obi-Wan.

"Huh? Mr. Kenobi? What are you doing here?"

Obi-Wan gasped, the voice sounding familiar.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"What do you mean? We met earlier. You spoke to my brothers and I?"

Obi-Wan's eyes went wide at that. "Queen Kara?!"

That was also when the others began to wake up.

"What's going on?" said Carmine, placing a hoof on his head. "And when did my hands get so hard?"

Lamenta yawned and stretched out before standing on her back legs. The others began to stand up, not seeming to notice they had four legs at first. Until they looked at each other.

The twins looked at each other and screamed screams that turned into panicked whinnies. So did the girls when they looked at each other.

"You're a pony!" Anakin and Carmine exclaimed at the same time, pointing a hoof at each other. "I'ma pony?!"

The royals all looked at their bodies, finding their hands had been replaced by hooves, they all had fur, wings, and tails. And some of them had horns.

Kara caught sight of her reflection in Peppermint's drinking trough and gasped in horror. The others had similar reactions when they looked at their reflections, and they all began panicking, not knowing what to do.

"I always wanted to be a pony," said Gabby. "But now I don't wanna be one anymore!"

Anakin started chasing his tail around, not used to having one.

"This just feels weird." said Anakin, his tail whacking Carmine in the face.

"Pfft! Hey, watch it!" Carmine said. Then he intentionally shook his tail into Anakin's face.

"Hey!"

"Daddy, I don't wanna be a pony!" Lamenta cried. "I'm a little girl!"

"Alright, everyone!" Obi-Wan exclaimed. "Everyone, please just calm down. Everyone sit."

The horses all sat down.

"Okay, how did this happen?"

"We don't know." Kara said. "We're not even sure how we got here."

"We were in the palace, having dinner." Carmine said. "But then everyone got a stomachache and started burping..."

"And then there were these big clouds of gas that made us sleepy." Gabby said.

That was when the whole family had a realization.

"That means someone did this to us on purpose!" Anakin said.

"Who would turn the entire royal family into a bunch of horses?" Obi-Wan asked. "Can you think of anyone who might've tried to hurt you?"

The royal family tried to think of potential suspects. They believed they showed nothing but kindness to their staff. Some of them even had children who the princesses enjoyed having playdates with. And with the way the royal family helped so many of their staff by giving them jobs when they couldn't find work anywhere else, it was hard to imagine that any of them would try to hurt them.

But then Kara remembered someone they'd recently let go, who was not happy about it. And his wife was not any better.

"Silvaria!" Kara said.

"Palpatine!" Gabby growled with an angry snort. "Whoa. That felt weird."

"Are you sure about that?" Anakin asked skeptically.

"Think about it." Kara said. Who didn't have anything to drink at dinner?"

The others realized Kara was right. If Jango and Zam wanted to poison the royal family, they would've put the poison into their food. And Wrecker wasn't clever enough to pull off such a deed either.

But Kara knew for a fact that Silvaria had a history of working in chemistry and potions.

"If Silvaria did this," said Kara. "There must be an antidote somewhere."

Anakin also realized something.

"If they tried to poison us..." he said, getting scared. "They might go after Padme and Caroline too!"

"Then we've gotta get back to the palace now!" Carmine said, trying to make his wings work, only to fall on his stomach. "Oof!"

"Hold on." Obi-Wan said. "It wouldn't be safe for any of you to head out on your own. It's dark, and it is a long way to the palace by walking."

"Then what do you propose we do?" Anakin asked.

Some hay was set up for the royal horses to have a place to sleep for the night.

"We have to sleep here?" Lamenta said, scrunching her muzzle at the thought of sleeping on itchy hay.

"Unless you'd rather sleep standing up." Carmine said, walking around in a circle on the hay, trying to make it more comfortable.

Anakin dug his hoof through the hay like he'd seen some actual horses do once before and started to lay himself down, but had a bit of trouble.

"Allow a master to show you how it's done." said Peppermint. "Watch and learn."

Peppermint got to another pile of hay that served as her bed and slowly lay herself down, and told the stallions that they could use their wings as blankets for the little ones.

"That is how mother and father pegasi keep their babies warm." Peppermint explained.

The adults first got down, and once they mastered the ability to lay down as horses, the little ones went to their fathers and curled up beside them. And the twins each taught themselves to maneuver their wings so they could place one over their fillies and keep them warm.

Gabby and Lamenta each sighed with contentment as they felt the warmth of the feathers of their fathers' wings, surprisingly not being tickled.

The twins felt their new equine instincts kick in as they each nuzzled their daughters as they fell asleep. And they bid each other and their sister goodnight as they lay their heads down.

"Goodnight, everyone." Kara said.

But, Kara couldn't sleep. She worried so much about how things were faring back at the palace. What if the staff didn't even know they were missing yet? Even if they found them, what if no one believed it was them? What would happen to her brothers, her nieces, sisters-in-law? She'd already lost her parents. She couldn't lose the rest of her family too.

"Padme, Caroline, wherever you both are now, you'd better be careful." Kara said.

Chapter 6: Missing the Royal Family

Chapter Text

Sometime the next morning, Palpatine and Silvaria made a formal announcement to the rest of the kingdom.

"People of Coruscant." Palpatine called. "My wife and I come bearing sad news."

"Your beloved queen and the majority of the royal family... are dead." Silvaria said, feigning sadness.

Everyone gasped when they heard this news. How could this have happened? They all wondered. The princesses were so young; barely beginning to live, and the grownups were beloved so much by everyone. All of them took after their father, the beloved late King Qui-Gon.

"A terrible accident has come about, and sadly none of them survived. Therefore, in light of this tragedy, as their most loyal advisors, my wife and I have graciously decided to step in and rule in their place."

The palace staff couldn't believe this. They were all devastated by the loss of their beloved royal family, and so was the rest of the kingdom as the news spread across the villages.

But Boba and Omega knew that the royal family wasn't dead. During the dinner where they would have been poisoned, they witnessed the royal family turning into equines.

"Why would you turn them into horses?!" Omega scolded her brother.

"I didn't mean to!" Boba said. "The book said it would give them the ability to sense as well as horses and run fast like them."

Omega held the book up and turned a few pages.

"How much horseradish did you add to the potion?" She asked.

"I don't know. Three handfuls?"

Omega showed him a book and held a look that clearly meant she thought her brother was an idiot right now.

"It says here,don'tput in more than one cup of horseradish, or it will turn the drinker into a horse!"

Boba facepalmed.

"We were in a rush! How was I supposed to know?" He said.

Omega looked in the book again, and there was good news. There was an antidote. But even if they made it correctly, they didn't know where the royal family was now.

"Well, how are we supposed to find them?" Boba asked.

"We'll just have to figure something out."

Palpatine and his wife did not hesitate to start calling the shots and make the staff remove everything that belonged to the royal family, and replacing it with things bearing Silvaria and his images.

Silvaria sat comfortable on a lounge chair as Wrecker served her grapes.

"Wrecker, I must admit I had my doubts about you when you mixed up the potions." said Silvaria. "But now that the royal family is dead, all is forgiven."

Wrecker froze for a moment.

"Uh... yeah. They can't get any deader than they are now." said Wrecker, chuckling nervously. "I mean, unless we killed 'em again."

Silvaria was a bit perplexed by that response.

"I suppose."

Palpatine clapped and called for the servants to bring him another drink.

Wrecker was sweating like a pig. He didn't know his little brother and sister knew about the royal family, but still. He hadn't told anyone the truth, not even his family. And he feared the worst if anyone found out. If Silvaria and Palpatine found out Wrecker failed to kill the royal family, his family may be in danger. But if he didn't tell someone, the royal family may be killed for real, and then the whole kingdom would be doomed.

"Wrecker," said Silvaria. "I need to hear the words. Tell me the royals are dead."

"Uh... in those exact words?" said Wrecker.

Silvaria knocked her bowl off the table, the bowl shattering as it hit the floor.

Angrily, Silvaria grabbed Wrecker by his ear and violently pulled him towards her face.

"They're still alive?!" she growled.

"Uh..."

Palpatine stood up and looked furious.

"You had a simple job. First you mix up the poisons, and now you've allowed the royal family to escape."

Silvaria and Palpatine both felt a great deal of fear within them.

If the royal family somehow were to return, then their reign would come to an end very quickly, and they would very likely be sentenced to death, given how furious the princes especially would be that their daughters were on the list of would-be victims.

"We must find them before anyone else does!" Silvaria said. And she grabbed Wrecker and her husband by their ears and pulled them away to start looking for the royal family.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Palpatine yelped. "I have sensitive ears, you know, Dear."

Meanwhile, the Fett twins rushed to find their brothers. And they told them everything about the potion and how no one else could know about this.

Hunter was great at tracking people down, and Tech was very intelligent when it came to strategies, so they were granted the mission of tracking the royal family before Silvaria and Palpatine found them, whereas Crosshair and Echo had to rush out as fast as they could to find Princess Padme and Princess Caroline and warn them before they would be in grave danger as the rest of the family was.

"Meanwhile," said Omega. "We have to make the antidote so we can turn them back to normal."

"Let's find the recipe and get what we need." Boba finished.

Chapter 7: Into the Woods

Chapter Text

The next morning, the royal horses woke up and stretched themselves out as Obi-Wan filled the trough with some horse feed. Grain, oats, and strawberries.

"What's this stuff?" Gabby asked, sniffing the trough.

"It's horse chow." Obi-Wan said.

The youngest horses gagged at that.

"Children, you're both horses right now. Certain human foods might not be safe for you to eat right now." Obi-Wan said. "Now, eat up. You'll need your strength for the journey ahead."

Anakin sniffed the food in the trough and took a small bite of it. It actually tasted... pretty good! And he started gobbling up the chow. The little ones tried it and started wolfing it down along with Carmine, Peppermint, and Kara.

Obi-Wan got some supplies, which he placed into Peppermint's saddle bags. He also got some ropes and started to tie them to the twins and the little ones; that way, neither of them would get lost.

"It's a long way to the palace. If we start on the path through the woods, we should be able to make it to a transport to Temple Range, and we'll only need to walk another hour to get there."

"What about our mommies?" Lamenta said. "What if the bad guys try to get them too?"

"Don't worry, little ones. I'm sure your mothers will be fine. For now, we must get through the woods before dark returns. The forest is a dangerous place to be alone, especially at night."

Obi-Wan got onto Peppermint's back, and together they and the royal horses began making their way to the forest to get back to the palace.

The path looked fairly straight. Kara led her family in front, while the little ones bit onto their father's tails since they didn't have hands to hold now.

"Ouch!" Carmine yelped. "Lamenta, that's the third time you pulled my tail!"

"Sorry, Daddy." Lamenta said.

"Ow! Gabby!" Anakin whined as he felt a tug on his tail from Gabby getting distracted by a butterfly.

"Sorry, Daddy." said Gabby.

"Take it easy back there, all of you." Kara said.

"Stay close now." Obi-Wan said. "We've got a long way to go."

The group of horses kept on walking. Anakin and Carmine agreed it best that the little ones stick to letting the rope keep them from getting lost, as they were getting tired of their new tails being yanked every time the girls slowed down for any reason.

Gabby was the last in line, and she got distracted by some pretty flowers and started to sniff them until the rope pulled on her again.

Suddenly, the bushes started to rustle, motivating the stallions to get the fillies behind them and Kara stood on her hind legs, spreading her wings, while Obi-Wan grabbed something to use as a weapon. And out from the bush came...

A cute little squirrel?

"It's just a little squirrel." Gabby giggled. "Hi, little squirrel."

The little squirrel squeaked and offered Gabby an acorn cutely.

"For me? Aw, thank you." Gabby said, taking the acorn in her teeth and nuzzling the little squirrel. And the little squirrel climbed up on Gabby's head.

"Off! Off, squirrel." Anakin said, panicking.

"Daddy! Don't hurt him!" Gabby begged. "He likes me."

"Gabriella, you don't know where it's been." Carmine said.

Anakin shooed the squirrel away, Gabby's pony ears drooping as the critter scurried away. The stallion picked his daughter up with his mouth and placed her on his back.

Gabby looked back sadly as the squirrel ran away. She lay on her father's back and munched the acorn the little guy gave her. It was surprisingly good tasting.

Meanwhile, Princesses Padme and Caroline finally arrived back at the palace.

"It's so good to finally be home." said Padme.

"I've missed my little Lamenta so much." Caroline smiled seeing the palace again.

But just as the princesses were about to enter the palace, they were grabbed from behind and dragged away by someone.

"Relax, your highnesses!" whispered a voice. "It's just me, Hunter."

"And Ahsoka." said Ahsoka.

"What are you-?" Caroline began, until Ahsoka covered Caroline's mouth with her hand.

"Shh! Not here." Ahsoka whispered. She and Hunter took out a couple of cloaks and gave one to each of the princesses. "Put these on and come with us."

The two princesses put on their cloaks and went with the guard and advisor to a home somewhere in the village.

Hunter and Ahsoka explained to the princesses that Palpatine and Silvaria recently attempted to assassinate their husbands, their daughters, and Kara at dinner the night before.

"Luckily, the poison got mixed up with a potion that just turned them into horses." said Ahsoka.

"The twins, Boba and Omega, came to our parents and explained everything to us." said Hunter.

"We've already sent out guards to locate them while the twins and their parents work on the antidote so we can change them back. But we have to keep you safe too, or they may try to kill you too."

Neither Padme nor Caroline could believe this.

"You have to let us help search for them!" Padme insisted. "The kids are probably terrified."

"It's too dangerous for you, ladies." Hunter said. "I must insist you stay with us."

"Those are our children out there." Caroline said, getting out anyway. Padme going too.

"We're going to protect our family with or without your help or permission."

Ahsoka and Hunter looked at each other and had a non-verbal agreement on what to do next.

Chapter 8: The River & the Bridge

Chapter Text

Obi-Wan continued to walk the royal family through the woods. It was still a long way to go to get to the bridge, and the little ones were starting to get tired.

"How much longer?" Lamenta whined tiredly.

"We'll be there soon." Obi-Wan said. "We just need to take this path, and we should be at the bridge within an hour."

"An hour?!" The others whined.

"My legs are killing me!" Anakin whined. "And I'm thirsty."

"Me too." Gabby agreed.

"Hmm..." Obi-Wan thought. They had been walking a long time, and Peppermint was getting thirsty too. It couldn't hurt to stop for a drink. So, he agreed to let the horses stop for some water. Luckily, there happened to be a clear river of water not too far from where they were where the horses could get a drink.

And not too long a walk later, Obi-Wan and the horses were safely at the river where there was lots of clear water, but the stream was moving awfully quickly.

"Be careful when drinking, everyone." Obi-Wan said. "the current looks pretty strong right now."

So, the grownup horses went first, being careful not to lean too far into the stream as they got themselves a drink of cool water. Gabby and Lamenta leaned in to get some water too. Lamenta's little tongue felt so relieved to get a taste of cool fresh water. Gabby, on the other hand, wanted more water, and she leaned in a littler farther into the stream, but didn't realize that...

"Gabby, be careful!" Anakin exclaimed. "That's too far into the-"

Gabby screamed as she slipped and fell into the river.

"Gabby!" The others exclaimed.

Gabby desperately tried to swim out, but the current was too strong.

Anakin immediately chewed his rope off and ran after his little girl.

"Hang on, Gabby! Daddy's coming!"

Anakin ran as fast as he could, which was not easy given that he hadn't yet mastered running on four legs. And then he decided to do something really reckless.

"Anakin! Don't!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

Too late. Anakin jumped into the river and tried to swim to Gabby, but then he got caught in the current too!

Swimming as a horse was definitely not like swimming as a human!

"Hang on, you two!" Kara said, running to find a way to save her brother and niece.

Gabby desperately tried to keep her head above the water, Anakin equally desperate to get to his daughter.

"I'm coming, Baby! Daddy's coming!" Anakin panted, trying to overpower the current as Gabby continued floating away.

Meanwhile, the others kept running and trying to find a way to save them. But as they got farther down the river, they began to hear something.

"Why is the water getting louder?" Lamenta asked, sounding scared.

"Because they're heading for a waterfall!" Carmine exclaimed.

"Can't Kara just fly out and get them out?" Peppermint said frantically. "She's got wings!"

"I don't know how!" said Kara.

Gabby and Anakin both got scared as they saw the waterfall getting closer and closer, and they were drifting towards it faster!

Luckily, Gabby saw a big rock, and she managed to grab hold of it by wrapping her forelegs around it. But keeping her grip was not easy without fingers.

Anakin tried to grab onto a rock, but he didn't grab it in time, and he whinnied as he started to drift closer to the falls... until he felt a tug at his rear.

"Yowch! My tail!"

Anakin looked back and saw Gabby biting his tail, gripping her little teeth as much as she could. As much as it hurt, he never felt so happy to be bitten by a horse. But, he was slipping, and so was Gabby due to her father's weight!

"There has to be some way to reach them!" Kara panicked.

Kara looked around quickly and saw a long branch they could chop from a tree, and she started to kick at it to try and get it off, but Obi-Wan got out a machete and chopped it right off and held out the branch for Anakin to grab.

"Grab the branch, Anakin!" Obi-Wan said.

And Anakin grabbed the branch with his teeth.

"Keep holding my tail, Gabby!" Anakin yelled with the branch in his mouth.

The two horses were both really heavy. So, Peppermint bit part of the branch and helped Obi-Wan pulled Anakin and Gabby out.

Gabby was about to scream as the stream threatened to pull her over the falls. She clenched her teeth around her father's tail harder until Obi-Wan grabbed her out of the water and set her down.

"Are you both alright?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I think so." said Anakin.

But poor Gabby was shaking, and not just from the cold water she was soaked in. Obi-Wan picked her up and wrapped her in a soft towel to dry her off.

"You must be more careful, little one. The woods are a dangerous place to be when you are unfamiliar."

Anakin started licking Gabby to comfort her the way a father horse would do his baby.

"It's okay, Gabby. Daddy's here."

Anakin nuzzled Gabby, the poor baby scared to the ends if her hooves. Obi-Wan gently placed Gabby on her father's back and tied a rope again to make sure she wouldn't fall off.

Obi-Wan looked at his map again and started guiding everyone to the bridge again.

About an hour later, the group finally reached the bridge.

"This is the bridge I typically took when I came to the palace." Obi-Wan said.

"And you're sure we'll get back to the palace quickly?" Kara said.

"All we have to do is cross this bridge then head to the North Star Port to take a transport to Temple Range, where it will be only one more hour long walk until you are home."

But, the bridge they had to take was an old rope bridge that could only hold two people at a time. And since none of the winged horses knew how to fly, they had to walk across the bridge.

So, Obi-Wan and Peppermint went across the bridge first. The walk was fairly safe aside from the bridge swinging a little. Until... Obi-Wan stepped on a board, and...

SNAP!

"AHH!"

"Obi-Wan!" Peppermint and the others exclaimed.

Luckily, Obi-Wan was caught by some ropes on the bridge.

"Help me!" Obi-Wan begged.

"Don't worry, Obi. We're gonna get you out of there." Peppermint said.

Peppermint looked to the other side of the bridge and saw plenty of trees with strong branches.

"Just don't move," said Peppermint, running to the other side to find a stick to help her rider up.

"We have to help Obi-Wan!" said Lamenta.

"But how?" Gabby said. "The bridge won't hold our weight, and none of us can fly."

"Or maybe we can." said Kara, starting to spread out her wings. "Learning to fly might not be something we learned, but facing challenges is something we have."

So, the others spread out their wings and started flapping them as hard as they could to get themselves off the ground.

Anakin was the first to lift off.

"Hey, look! I'm doing it! I'm flying!" Anakin said. "Here I come, Obi-Wan!"

Anakjn flew out, but rather wobbly, as he hadn't yet mastered steering.

"Whoa! Hang on, Obi-Wan! Prince Anakin to the rescue. Whoa!"

Anakin kept getting all over the place, going backwards and upside down. But eventually, he made his way to Obi-Wan and got right underneath him just as Peppermint came back.

"Anakin...?" Obi-Wan said, sounding unsure.

"Peppermint!" Anakin called, getting the unicorn's attention. "Chew the rope off! I'm gonna catch Obi-Wan."

"Are you sure you can do that? You've never had a rider." Peppermint said.

"I've given piggyback rides to the kids lots of times. How different can this be?"

Against her better judgment, Peppermint cut the ropes with her teeth, and Obi-Wan fell onto Anakin's back and held on tight.

"Whoa!"

Anakin was quickly jerked downward as Obi-Wan's weight hit his back. Despite having a bigger, stronger back to carry things, Anakin was not used to piggybacking an adult.

"Don't worry. I got you- oh no, steering!"

Obi-Wan tried to help Anakin to steer, but only succeeded in making him practically crash land in some rocks down below, and the two of them got stuck.

Carmine ran onto the bridge, and so did the kids, but then the ropes started snapping!

"Uh oh!" Carmine yelped.

Kara quickly grabbed a rope with her teeth, but it wasn't enough to stop the bridge from dangling the other horses!

Carmine quickly wrapped his tail around one of the boards and caught the children in his forelegs.

"I got you!" Carmine said.

"But who's gonna rescue the rest of us?!" Peppermint screamed as she hung by her forelegs.

Chapter 9: Rescue

Chapter Text

With the royal family turned into horses out on the loose, Palpatine and the missus were smart enough to know going after them themselves would look suspicious. So, Silvaria, being the more cunning of the two, covertly took a trip to a rather shady part of the kingdom in one of the lower lots of a darker village. A place where cutthroats, thugs, and bounty hunters were notoriously known to hang out.

There were four bounty hunters in all. Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, IG-88, and Assaj Ventress. Four of the most vicious hunters in all the kingdom.

Silvaria showed a sketch of all five horses they sought to the group of bounty hunters.

"Five equines, ten thousand credits for each kill," said Silvaria. "Whichever of you brings back their heads will be paid by the number of heads."

The bounty hunters liked the sound of that. Each was determined to get all five of them so they could get all the money for themselves. And their targets being horses, it seemed like an easy job.

"Now remember, you must find these particular horses." Silvaria said. "Don't hesitate to get rid of anyone who gets in your way."

Meanwhile, Anakin and the others were fearing for their lives as they were dangling and hanging on for their lives.

"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?!" Anakin panicked.

Anakin looked down below the rocks and saw water... water that was filled with vicious, man-eating (or in this case, horse-eating) alligators. He panicked again, Obi-Wan trying to calm him down.

"Settle down, Anakin. We can figure this out." Obi-Wan said.

Obi-Wan looked at his surroundings and came up with a plan. First, he had Anakin lock his forelegs with his arms, and they climbed up the rocks until they were at the maximum length they could reach.

"Now what, genius?" Anakin grunted.

Luckily, Obi-Wan had some rope on him, which he tied into a lasso and used to grab a branch up above. Then, he did a little something with the other end of the rope and tied it around Anakin's muzzle.

"What are you doing?" Anakin asked.

"Trust me, Anakin. This will work. Hold onto the rope with your teeth, and I will guide you to climb."

"How exactly am I supposed to climb with hooves?"

"You're just going to have to trust me."

So, Anakin grabbed part of the rope with his teeth and swung to the other side with Obi-Wan holding on. Then, with Obi-Wan's guidance, Anakin placed his hooves onto the rocky wall and started to climb up.

"Okay, Anakin. This time, spread your wings out and fly straight up... slowly."

Anakin saw Carmine holding onto the little ones. They looked terrified, and Kara didn't look like she could hold on much longer.

As much as Kara struggled, she knew she mustn't let go of that rope, or her family would fall to their deaths.

Anakin flapped his wings and got back up to the land and quickly started to help Kara hold onto the rope. Now they had to figure out how to save the others.

This looked tricky. There wasn't any way to reassemble the bridge without the other rope, and even if they had enough rope, the boards were all very weak and could just break all over again. And after Anakin's little flying incident, they couldn't take that chance.

But then, Kara had an idea.

"Peppermint, can you use your magic to lift the others to safety?" Kara asked.

"I've lifted humanoids with magic. But I'd have to lift these guys one at a time." Peppermint said.

"Get the little ones first," said Kara. "Then Carmine, and then we'll get you."

Peppermint concentrated. Her horn started to glow as she began to use her magic to lift Lamenta away from the bridge and safely to the other side.

Peppermint repeated the process with Gabby, and then with Carmine. Now, they needed to figure out how to get Peppermint to safety.

"Obi-Wan, can you make a loop big enough to wrap around Peppermint's middle?" Kara asked.

"I believe so."

Kara had the others help her keep the bridge up while she began to teach herself to balance while flying.

As soon as the rope was ready, Kara flew over to Peppermint and wrapped the loop around her center, and the rest of it was tied around Kara, who flew Peppermint to safety, and Anakin carried Obi-Wan to the other side on his back.

Everyone was immediately relieved to be safe and alive.

"Is everyone alright?" Obi-Wan asked.

Other than being shaken up, the royals were okay.

"Come now, everyone. We best head to North Star Port. And... report that a bridge needs to be rebuilt."

"Oh, trust me, once I'm human again, that will be the second thing on my to-do list." Kara said.

"What's the first thing?" Anakin said.

"Punishing the ones who did this to us." Kara said. "Royal or not, mess with my little brothers or my nieces, they're messing with me. And it will be the last mistake they ever make."

"Well, it looks like the dangerous part is over." Peppermint said.

So, Obi-Wan and the six horses began walking again to head to the North Star Port and book a transport to Temple Range.

Sure, they probably could've just flown, but don't forget, they're still learning, and it was better to be safe than sorry. But flight by a transport or wings, Peppermint's theory of the dangerous part of the adventure couldn't be further from the truth.

Chapter 10: Shooting at North Star Port

Chapter Text

North Star Port was a little crowded today, but Obi-Wan managed to book himself and the horses a spot on the next flight to Temple Range. But, the flight would not be going on for a couple of hours. And, the horses were getting hungry. So, Obi-Wan had them wait in the animal waiting area while he went to get them some chow.

"Look, Lamenta! Toys!" Gabby excaimed, jumping on a big bouncy ball.

Lamenta started to play with some of the pony toys too. Their fathers chuckled as they saw them playing, and then they spotted a pull rope.

"Bet I can beat you at tug of war!" Anakin declared, grabbing one end of the rope.

Carmine grabbed the other end, and he and his twin started tugging at it in a game of Tug of War.

Kara chuckled at the sight of her brothers playing like children. Her nieces seemed pretty content as they were playing too. She only hoped they would make it back to the palace in time to save Padme and Caroline.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Silvaria and Palpatine just arrived back after sending out the bounty hunters to hunt down their victims.

"Those are the finest bounty hunters in the entire kingdom." Palpatine said. "They will find the horses."

"They'd better. If they fail, then we'll just have to terminate them ourselves." Silvaria said.

Echo, one of Jango's sons, gasped when he overheard this. After he and Crosshair confirmed with Hunter that Padme and Caroline were safe, he went back to the palace to keep tabs on the wannabe killers.

Quickly, he contacted the others on his tablet and let them know that Palpatine and Silvaria hired bounty hunters to hunt down the equines.

"Then we'll have to find them first," said Tech. "I've checked some of the security footage and I believe I may have a clue as to where the royal family may be."

"Can you tell us where?" Padme said.

"Affirmative. Based on what I've found, it appears the crate was accidentally commandeered by a village leader named Obi-Wan Kenobi. He lives with his family in a house on Stewjon Hill in Saleucami. If he's discovered them, he may be bringing them back to the palace as we speak. And if my research is correct, he would most likely bring them to the North Star Port to get them here."

"Then we best split up." Hunter said. "Omega and I will go with Princess Caroline to the village, Boba, Ahsoka, Crosshair, you and Princess Padme begin heading to North Star Port to search for the royal family."

"Can't we just arrest them already?" Boba said. "We all know they wanted to murder the royal family."

"It's not that simple, Boba." Echo said. "If they know we know, they'll alert the bounty hunters, and then we're all dead."

"In that case," said Ahsoka. "What can you tell us about these bounty hunters they've hired?"

Currenly, Echo only knew that they were the finest bounty hunters in the kingdom. So, Tech decided to look into the database of bounty hunters and the most dangerous criminals in the kingdom. And he found the names of all four bounty hunters.

IG-88, Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, and Asaaj Ventress.

"Ventress!" Ahsoka growled.

Ventress was formerly a great fighter among the villages, until the day she was taken under the wing of the Sith, and became a dangerous cold-blooded killer. But she wasn't the only one who had a personal connection to this group.

Boba and his siblings knew about Aurra Sing being a former ally of their parents' until they got pregnant and turned a new leaf to raise their family in a more peaceful life. And let's just say that Aurra did not take kindly to her allies going "goody-goody" as she called it.

"Aurra Sing is no joke," said Boba. "If she finds out we're after them too, we're all dead for sure."

"Then we'll have to be extra cautious during our search," said Padme.

Padme and Caroline each donned a hooded cloak to hide their identities, and the groups split up to go and search for the royal family.

But they didn't know that the bounty hunters were already getting ready to close in on their prey.

Back at the North Star Port...

Obi-Wan brought the royal family some apples and carrots to eat while they waited for their flight to call for them.

"Eat up, little ones." Obi-Wan said, petting Lamenta and Gabby's heads as they munched their snacks. "You'll need your energy."

As the royal horses ate their snacks, the grownups could hear murmurs from the people walking by. And a lot of them were about the travesty that happened in the palace.

"I can't imagine what the twins' wives must be feeling." One man said.

"And poor Gabriella and Lamenta," said the man's wife in tears. "They were so young. The poor dears."

But mourning wasn't the worst thing the royal family was hearing among the rumors.

Word on the street was that the taxes were going to be raised, and the plans the royal family had to build a school and a park in their parents' honor... those were to be changed to build new factories. And to make things worse, to build those factories, they were also going to destroy several villages, forcing many people out of their homes, and Palpatine and Silvaria weren't even planning on building them new places to live.

"The so-called new queen Silvaria," said one girl. "Told my uncle, and I quote, 'Your housing situation is of no concern to me.' It's ridiculous!"

The royal family was shocked to hear all of these horrible things that were occurring during the short time that they had been presumed dead.

Kara started to think a lot about about what her parents might say if they knew where their kingdom was at now. They'd been tricked into drinking a potion that turned them into horses by their former advisors, and now they were taking over the royals' power and abusing it.

"I knew something was off about that man from the start," said Kara. "Why did I not convince Father to get rid of him sooner?"

"You saw better than I did, though." Anakin said. "Three days ago, I used to think he would be a good mentor."

"I think what Anakin means is you shouldn't beat yourself up about this." Carmine said. "Once we're home, all will be fine again."

"But what will the people say when they learn we were tricked? I'm the queen. I should have been able to avoid being poisoned, and more importantly been able to protect my family."

Ever since her parents' deaths, Kara had placed this insane amount of pressure on herself to be the perfect queen, the perfect sister, and the perfect mother. Neither she nor her brothers had their mothers anymore, and now their father was gone too. They were all so young when their parents passed.

Kara was only a teen, barely a full grown adult, whereas the twins were still tweens at the time, and Kara was the first on the scene when the news was broken to them. She remembered holding them closely in her arms as they cried on her shoulders, not letting go even when they went to bed that night, not that any of them got much sleep then. And being the loving big sister she was, Kara took it upon herself to be the mother her brothers needed, which meant she had to grow up a little faster than she should have. Sure, they had the adults in the castle staff, but Kara had vowed at her parents' funeral to continue on every responsibility they'd left behind and continue their legacy of caring for the kingdom as a family, starting with their own family.

You can probably imagine it was stressful for Kara. Being only sixteen, having to drop out of school and finish her studies via palace schooling so she could take over ruling duties such as looking over, signing, and stamping important documents, prioritizing projects to place taxes, scheduling and attending peace conferences with leaders from the villages and neighboring kingdoms, all while taking care of the twins. Making sure their grades were good, that they got through school fairly, helping them face teenage dramas of their own, and when they eventually found girlfriends and decided to get married. Even after the twins were all grown up and had children of their own, Kara still felt responsible for them and the little ones.

Kara dreaded losing anymore of her family, and when she realized that there was a large number of orphans in the kingdom, especially after a deadly disease broke out a few years back, and due to safety issues that were overlooked carelessly at various work facilities. That was the whole reason Kara prioritized building charitable facilities for needy children above all else when it came to putting tax money and traded goods to good use.

Whether it was building greenhouses for hospitals and schools to serve healthier food and concoct natural remedies, building and funding new schools for underprivileged and/or special needs students, or putting together a special matchmaking system to help set orphaned children up with just the right loving families to give the children loving homes and people who could not have babies of their own got the children they always wanted, Kara made it her ultimate goal to make sure no child was left abandoned, uneducated, or parent-less. Kara and her brothers were old enough to understand the concept of death and losing a loved one, but there were many children who lost their families when they were too young to understand, some too young to even remember their parents.

Somewhere near the North Star Port, Bane peeked through his binoculars and looked around to see a lot of horses all around. Horses pulling carts, horses giving people rides, even wild horses running in the fields farther away. None of them matched the picture the Palpatine couple gave him... until he looked at the North Star port.

"There you are." Bane said. "Fifty thousand credits for me today."

But he didn't know that another bounty hunter was on the same target.

"You're mine now, you furry carnival rides." Aurra sneered.

Flight A1 to Temple Range boarding now. All passengers please report to Gate 13.

"Sounds like it's time to get going," said Anakin.

Obi-Wan came to the pen and counted all the horses to make sure none were missing, and got them to come with him to the boarding dock. The little ones went in front; since they were smaller, they got to board first. But, just as Obi-Wan and the horses got in line to board the shuttle, a shot was fired, and everyone panicked immediately. Then another shot fired, this time much closer to the fillies.

Anakin and Carmine immediately got their daughters underneath them, and Obi-Wan and Peppermint got their magic or lightsaber for defense.

"All of you, get on the ship now." Obi-Wan said, beginning to deflect more shots.

But with all the people panicking and running, it was difficult for the horses to get anywhere, and if they tried flying, they'd become even bigger targets for whoever was trying to shoot them.

The shots kept coming, each one getting closer to hitting at least one of the horses. And as a result of these shots firing, flights had to take off quicker to get as many people as they could to safety. But in all the commotion, the royal family ended up boarding different ships that all went to different places!

The bounty hunters tried to get to the horses, but Obi-Wan fought Bane as he started to catch up to Anakin, and Padme and her group arrived just in time for Ahsoka to fend off Aurra Sing with help from Crosshair shooting the bounty hunters with stun darts while Boba and Padme rushed through the crowd to find the horses, and as luck would have it, both of them happened to see at least one of the different ships.

Crosshair and Ahsoka managed to get cuffs onto the bounty hunters and covertly called the authorities to arrest them.

Obi-Wan and Peppermint were both very shaken up by the time the bounty hunters were taken care of, but otherwise unharmed.

"Are you okay, Mr. Kenobi?" Ahsoka asked.

"I'm fine, thank you." Obi-Wan said. "But now all the horses are gone."

"You mean the royal family is gone?"

"How did you-?"

"My little twin siblings learned about the plot from the start." Crosshair explained.

Just then, Boba and Padme arrived.

"You knew about the royal family all this time?" said Peppermint.

"Yes." Boba said shamefully.

The youngest boy explained to Obi-Wan and his horse that he and Omega had overheard Palpatine and Silvaria's plan to poison the royal family, and they realized they had to do something to save them. They knew if they went to the guards or told the royal family, it would likely alert the villains and they might try a worse method of killing them. So, they did the only other thing they could think of: turn the poison into something else.

"So, we tried to turn it into a potion that would give them the strength and speed of horses... but I kinda put too much horseradish into it, and that turned them into actual horses."

"Tech and his parents are working on an antidote now," said Padme. "But we have to get them back to the palace, and that won't be easy with bounty hunters after them."

"We already know that they hired four bounty hunters, and we captured two of them already." Ahsoka said. "But we didn't see where the horses went."

"Well, on that note, me and Princess Padme saw which way they went, and we got good news and bad news." Boba said.

"The bad news is all the horses got onto different shuttles, all going to different places," said Padme. "but the good news is we got a good look at the ships and the security footage too, and we managed to find out where all those shuttles were scheduled to go."

"If we hurry, we may be able to catch them and get them back to the palace." Obi-Wan said. "Where were all those shuttles set to go?"

Elsewhere, on a shuttle...

Carmine held onto Gabby in his mouth to make sure he didn't lose her since she was so small. They had no idea where they were going, and they were scared.

"Uncle Carmine? I'm scared." Gabby whimpered.

"Don't worry, Gabby. It's gonna be okay." Carmine said. "We'll get home soon. We just need to wait until we land... wherever we're going."

Carmine tapped another passenger's shoulder and asked them if they could tell him where the shuttle went.

"It goes to Shili," said the passenger.

"In that case, I think we know someone who can help us." Carmine said.

On another shuttle...

"Excuse me," said Anakin, carefully moving across the shuttle to ask the pilot a question. "Pardon me."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lamenta said.

"Well, the sooner we figure out what direction we're going, the better our chances of getting home without getting lost again and finding the others."

Anakin soon got to the pilot's quarters.

"Excuse me, Miss Pilot?" said Anakin. "I was wondering if you could tell me where this shuttle is scheduled to land?"

"You didn't look at where you were going before getting a ticket?"

"No, we got on the wrong shuttle in that panic at the port."

"Well, if you must know, we are headed to Stewjon. So, hopefully you are not too far from where you might have been trying to go."

"Actually... I think we know exactly how to get where we were headed."

And one more...

Kara, unfortunately, got the roughest ride. A big storm was hitting the shuttle's path, and causing major turbulence and causing everything on it to move all around. Luckily, this shuttle was just a cargo ship with a droid pilot, but it was dangerous for Kara nonetheless.

The ship shook around so much as the thunder and lightning hit, and a large crate hit an emergency drop lever and opened the ship!

"Oh no!" Kara found herself slipping on the floor until she fell right off the ship.

Kara quickly found herself falling down, down, down to the ground from who knows how high! But luckily, she was able to spread out her wings and soar before she hit the ground. But, that didn't stop her from crashing into the muddy, grassy grounds of some place deep within the woods.

Rain was falling hard and drenching poor Kara. She looked all around; no sign of civilization, a path, or even a living being in sight.

And here we are, right where we started. The beautiful pegasus lost in the woods, all alone. No idea where her family is, where she is, or how she'll ever get home or back to her family.

"Will you give it a rest already?" said Kara to the narration. "They know the story."

Kara just started sobbing. At that moment, it didn't matter to her whether she got back to the palace if she didn't have her family with her.

"I'm sorry Mom and Dad. I'm so sorry!" Kara sobbed. "I should've been able to protect my brothers and now they and the kids are even more lost than before!"

The poor queen turned pegasus lay down with her face hidden in her forelegs and she cried as the rain continued to fall on her.

Chapter 11: A Kingdom is a Family

Chapter Text

Anakin knocked on the door of a house in the village of Stewjon where he believed someone who could help him and his niece get home and find the others.

The door opened and out came Mace Windu, who looked surprised to see two horses at his door.

"Where did you come from?" Mace started to pet Anakin's muzzle.

"Mace, it's me, Prince Anakin." Anakin said, surprising Mace again.

"Prince Anakin?! No. That's not possible."

"It is." Lamenta said. "And I'm Princess Lamenta, in case you didn't recognize by my voice."

"But- but what happened? Why are you...? Well...?"

"Long story." Anakin said. "We need your help."

Carmine held Gabby on his back, and the two of them looked around until they spotted a familiar couple walking through a marketplace.

"Mr. and Mrs. Koon." Carmine said. "Are we ever glad to see you."

"Uh... do we know you two?" Shaak asked.

"It's me, Prince Carmine and Princess Gabriella."

The couple looked shocked when they suddenly recognized the horses' voices. But before they could ask, Gabby said,

"Long story. We need your help."

Each pair of horses explained to the village leaders what happened at the palace with the potion, the shuttle port incident, and how they found out their former advisors were out to kill them.

Anakin:

"If we don't get back to the palace as soon as possible..."

Carmine:

"Who knows what those two might do to the rest of the kingdom!"

Anakin:

"And to our wives! We don't even know where the others are-"

Carmine:

"But assuming they made it safely to wherever what shuttles they got on-"

Anakin:

"We need your help to get back to the palace-

Carmine:

"So we can stop the Palpatines-"

Anakin:

"Find the others..."

Both:

"Change back to humans, and save the kingdom!"

"So, can you help us?" Gabby asked.

Shaak looked at her husband, and they came to an agreement.

Luckily, they knew a fast and safe route they could take to get back to the palace. And luckily for Anakin and Lamenta, so did Mace.

And as they got ready to leave, they received a transmission from none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom they notified that the royal family was all safe with at least one of the leaders. All except for Queen Kara.

"We don't know what happened to her shuttle." Padme said. "They said they lost contact with it some time last night. She could be anywhere."

"Maybe she's on her way back to the palace right now." Lamenta said.

"We'll contact Captain Yularen and have him send out as discreet a search party as possible." Hunter promised. "All of you, take the safe routes to the palace, and we'll meet you there."

"Keep Padme and Caroline out of sight!" Anakin said. "There's no telling what those monsters might do to them."

"Ani, we'll be fine. They don't scare us." Padme insisted. "Right now, we need you to get home safely so we can stop them and make sure the kingdom knows the truth."

"Be safe," said Carmine. "I just hope Kara's okay. Even if we never become human again, going home would mean nothing if we're missing one of our own."

Meanwhile, Kara shook herself dry once more after she'd finally managed to find somewhat protection from the rain from last night underneath a tree with big leaves.

Kara was cold, coughing, and filled with many emotions running through her head at once.

She'd been through so much in the last two days. Her whole family (with the exception of her sisters-in-law) had been transformed into horses, they were betrayed by their family's advisors, and now they'd all been scattered to who-knows-where with a group of bounty hunters on their tails. There seemed to be no escape from this life as a human turned equine.

With Palpatine and Silvaria in charge, things would no doubt take a terrible turn. Kara recalled very well her father disagreeing with a lot of Palpatine's advice when he was ruling, and more of the advice he'd taken had been from her stepmother Shmi. And Kara could swear she'd overheard her father saying he'd thought so many times about finding a new royal advisor, but for some reason he never did. And then came the day the king and queen were lost at sea, being survived by their three beloved children who were left to become the new rulers before any of them were fully grown.

If she went back to the palace, there was the chance her family didn't make it back or that she might never find them again. But if she didn't, the kingdom would be under tyrannical rule with its true royal family becoming nothing but memories.

It was then that Kara remembered something her father told her when she was a little girl. Kara remembered it very well.

Twenty-two years ago...

Kara was four years old, sitting down and playing with her dolls beside her parents as they sat in their thrones. Shmi was due to give birth to her and Qui-Gon's new baby any day. Qui-Gon looked contently at his daughter as she pretended she was already queen and doing things that made everyone happy.

"By order of your queen, I hereby declare we shall have a party in honor of a beautiful day to be happy and have fun!" Little Kara said.

Qui-Gon chuckled at how cute his daughter was and said, "Someday, you will be a great queen, Kara. But you must first learn and remember... being king or queen of a kingdom is more than a title and barking orders."

Qui-Gon took Kara into his lap and told her that ruling was a big responsibility.

"Such a job is not to be taken lightly. And there are those who believe all monarchy should be gone because not all kings and queens born into their positions rule fairly."

"Why?" Kara asked.

"Well, my mother used to tell me that being born into royal life isn't a birthright; it is an honor. It means that your destiny saw potential in you to make great changes from the moment you enter this world. But being placed into royal life is also a test of whether you use power for good or personal gain. You see, Kara, there are those who would use a powerful position to inspire change and help those in need, but there are also those who would sooner take from the people to fulfill their own desires regardless of the price it comes to."

Qui-Gon explained to Kara that the taxes they collected from the people went into paying for various things that helped the people in a lot of ways. Building new schools, buying medicine and supplies for the hospitals, fixing potholes in the roads after big storms, supplying emergency kits for emergency preparedness, and of course supplying for orphanages, homeless shelters, and funding charities that help people find jobs and such.

"We do provide for ourselves as well," said Qui-Gon. "But we must never forget, Kara, that although we hold titles and wear crowns, we are equal to the people we lead. They are family to us as well, and every decision we make with our power affects them in different ways."

"So, it's like you're their daddy too?"

Qui-Gon chuckled. "In a manner of speaking. And someday, you will be the new queen, and it will be up to you to be the mother of this kingdom. Not even just mother, but big sister to your future baby brother or sister."

"But what if I don't know what to do when I'm queen? What if I'm not good at it."

"Kara," said Shmi. "I wasn't born into the royal life. When I married your father, I felt terrified of how I would do as a queen. I worried that others would think I wouldn't be good enough, but I learned that even those who marry into royal life face challenges and have to make big decisions. And the biggest one every ruler has to make is choosing what he or she does with her power. What you decide to do when you are queen will be entirely up to you. And your heart will guide you to the right decisions."

"Your mother is right. A good ruler thinks what is best for the people not as subjects, but as a family. And if you are to become the queen we know you can be, you will make us proudest by remembering this important rule: never stop fighting for your family, no matter how hard things may get. You will face times where you're afraid, and even the bravest kings and queens have had such moments, but your love for your family will give you the strength you need to fight even the darkest of foes."

Present Day...

Kara remembered her parents' words and took them to hear.

"No. I won't let Silvaria and Palpatine win." she thought to herself. "My family needs me. This kingdom needs me. I am mother to this kingdom, big sister to its crown princes, and ruler above my fears. If anyone dared threaten this kingdom when my parents were in charge, they would never go down without a fight, and neither will I."

And so, Kara ran to the first clearing she could find, where she spread her wings and took to the skies. The moment she caught the palace in view, she began flying in that direction with no intention of stopping until she got there. Royal or not, she was not going to allow her people, her family, or anyone else to fall victim to power-hungry monsters like the Palpatines. But what she didn't know then was that her family was headed towards a new threat.

Silvaria had one of the bounty hunters come to the palace and tie Tech and his parents up, muzzling them so they couldn't scream as she looked at security footage Tech grabbed from his tablet.

"So, the royal horses have scattered to different lands in the kingdoms, have they?" Silvaria said. "Hmm. Kenobi knows of our plans, no doubt."

Silvaria and her husband looked together at some data and hypothesized that the royal family met up with the village leaders, and they would be arriving at the palace any time now.

"It appears that Kara also took a shuttle that crashed, and very likely finished the job those bounty hunters and that idiot guard were unable to do."

"Don't you dare call my son an idiot!" Zam said angrily, getting the scarf of her mouth until Aurra placed it back on.

"Shut up, you! This is what happens when you turn your back on your kind."

"This job is going to require someone of much more brutal capability." Silvaria said. "Go ahead and contact your special friend, Dearest. But tell him before he comes here that he needs to pay a visit to some friends of Kenobi's in Saleucami."

While Kara was flying and the villains were plotting, the rest of the royal family, the village leaders, and the Fetts all rushed as fast as they could to get back to the palace to find the antidote and stop Silvaria and Palpatine before they could launch a full-on reign of terror.

This kingdom was their home, and royal or not, they were going to fight for it.

Chapter 12: Which Potion?

Chapter Text

The village leaders quickly grabbed some supplies and began heading on their way to the palace. Mace took Anakin and Lamenta, while Plo Koon and Shaak took Carmine and Gabby. Obi-Wan also continued his way to the palace on Peppermint so they could aid in the search for Kara. If she was headed for the palace or was in need, she needed at least one pair from the team searching for her specifically.

Since both the Stewjon and Shili villages were in different directions to and from the palace, the journeys were also a little different.

Mace's group took a path through another forest, while Plo Koon's went down a sandy desert path.

"Ugh! I hate all this sand." Anakin whined, amid all the sand on his hooves and in his long tail as it dragged it the sand.

"Are we there yet?" Lamenta whined, riding on her uncle's back.

"Not yet, Princess." Mace said. "Be patient."

Meanwhile, the Shili leaders escorted Gabby and Carmine down the forest path, and Obi-Wan rode as fast as he could on Peppermint to get to the palace.

All three groups ran as fast as they could for hours and hours, not knowing what awaited them at the palace.

Meanwhile, Boba and Omega were just finishing the antidote. With their parents captured, and their older brothers all captured or searching for the rest of the royal family, Silvaria threatened the guards into obeying her every order. Fortunately, she and Palpatine either forgot about the Fett twins, or underestimated them because they were kids.

Already, Silvaria and Palpatine began forcing people out of their homes, throwing many palace workers into the streets knowing they had nowhere else to go, and they were preparing to send armies to invade other kingdoms that Coruscant previously made peace treaties with.

Either way, they had to finish the antidote in order to turn the royal family back into humans and restore order to the kingdom.

"Do you think this will be enough?" Boba asked, looking at the amount of potion in the bowl.

"Just one small sip should be enough for it to work." Omega said, looking at the book of potions. "But we have to get it to the royal family first."

"I am very pleased you could make it on such short notice," said Palpatine, prompting the kids to run and hide, taking the potion and a few bottles with them.

It was almost nightfall by the time the groups arrived at the palace.

Luckily, Boba and Omega weren't the only ones who knew how to get to Silvaria's "secret" lab. Lamenta and Gabby managed to help the grownups find the entrance.

Anakin walked in with a gator biting his tail.

"Okay, why do they even have that lever?" Anakin kicked the gator in its snout, scaring it off.

In small groups, everyone took the entrance to the lab, all of them running into a crazy roller coaster ride.

"That was awesome!" Anakin laughed. "Let's do that again!"

"I think not!" Obi-Wan said, nauseous.

Carmine actually threw up into a nearby plant.

The group looked around the lab, trying to find the antidote.

"What did the potion look like?" asked Mace.

"How should we know?" Anakin said.

"Just keep looking," said Lamenta.

"There's a book right here," said Shaak, opening it. "It must be in here somewhere."

"I'll check this cabinet," said Peppermint, opening it with her magic. She found all kinds of potions for transforming into different things.

Loth cats, tigers, bears, Togruta, even Twilek... but the human potions were empty.

"Looking for this?" smirked a familiar voice.

And the entire group froze and looked to see Silvaria come into the light.

"Silvaria," Anakin snorted.

"Prince Anakin, and most of your family, I see."

"Why, Silvaria?" Carmine said angrily. "Attempting to poison us? That's a felony punishable by death!"

"My, aren't we temperamental today?" chuckled Silvaria.

"Give us the antidote, Silvaria." Obi-Wan said. "There's nine of us here, and only one of you."

"That's what you think," said Palpatine. "Allow me to introduce you to some friends of ours. And a few of yours."

That was when the bounty hunters came in, and they held hostages in the form of Obi-Wan's family, as well as the Fetts, including Wrecker. And among the bounty hunters came a new hooded someone with a horned face of red and black, and he had a sword of red light.

Obi-Wan and the others immediately panicked when he saw his wife and children being held against their wills, and the royal family was even more shocked to see their friends being held in such a way.

"Surrender the royal family, or these people will be killed one by one." Silvaria said.

"You're a really bad lady!" Gabby said angrily. "Why would you do this to us and to our home?"

"Aren't we nosy?" Silvaria sighed. "Simple. I deserve to rule this kingdom. Your late grandfather was betrothed to my mother long ago. I should've been born into this palace and become the next queen. But that was all thrown away when that foolish King Qui-Gon married common girl Tahl for... love. And then that heathen Kara came along and took the crown that rightfully is mine."

"You mean ours, my dear." Palpatine corrected.

"Maul, do your thing."

Palpatine was confused for a moment, until he was literally stabbed in the back by none other than Maul.

"It's nothing personal, Sheev." Silvaria smirked. "But I needed an easy route into the palace to carry out my plan to take the throne, and you were foolish enough to fall for my natural beauty. All I had to do was seduce you into marrying me."

Palpatine was unable to answer, as he face-planted to the floor.

Anakin and Carmine each covered their daughters' ears with their hooves.

"You're a sick woman!" Carmine said.

"I do what I must to get my way." Silvaria said. "Surrender yourselves, and your friends will live under my rule."

"You're a terrible queen!" Lamenta said. "No one likes having you as queen. Auntie Kara is the rightful ruler, and does an amazing job at it."

"Your auntie is gone. Now, are you going to surrender, or must I kill another family before I kill you?"

Suddenly, another potion was thrown, and it hit Maul, transforming him into... a duck.

That was when someone or something swooped in and knocked the bounty hunters down, and two familiar princesses came in and started untying the prisoners.

"Mommy!" the littlest ponies exclaimed happily.

Padme grabbed Silvaria and tried to take the potion, along with help from the others, only for the bounty hunters to pick themselves up and start an all-out battle, where all the potions started spilling all over the place, and transforming everyone into different things. Yet somehow, the royal family managed to stay turned into horses.

"Oh yeah!" Wrecker shouted, throwing another bottle, transforming Ventress into a harmless butterfly.

Boba and Omega soon popped in with their bottles.

"Your highnesses!" Omega exclaimed. "The antidote!"

Gabby, being the closest, ran over to her friends. But just as Omega was about to open the bottle, Bane tackled the child and made her drop it on the floor. Luckily, the bottle didn't break. Unluckily, Silvaria took out a magic wand and made a bunch of potion bottles of the same color and similar colors fall onto the floor, getting them all mixed up.

"Oh no!" Omega exclaimed.

"Where'd it go?" Boba said, picking up a couple of bottles.

"Which one, which one?" Silvaria mocked, summoning the guards she'd hypnotized. "Oh, you better hurry. I'm expecting company."

The guards soon burst in, Silvaria ordering them to kill all of the horses, as well as their friends.

"Just take them all!" Kara said.

Everyone quickly picked up as many bottles as they could carry and began running, but not without Wrecker first knocking down another table of potions to transform the guards into a bunch of different animals.

But seeing as there was such a large group of people... Jango, Zam, Hunter, as well as the village leaders stayed behind to fight the guards and the bounty hunters.

"Go! We'll handle these guys!" Hunter told his youngest siblings. "Find the right potion!"

"I'll get the family to safety!" Peppermint promised Obi-Wan.

So while the others went to hold off the guards and get the Kenobies to safety, the royal family, Tech, Boba, and Omega all ran as fast as they could to test out the potions.

"Approximately thirty different bottles." Tech counted. "If each horses tests a sip of one, we can narrow down the choices much more quickly and efficiently."

Padme opened one bottle and gave one to her husband, but that one just turned him into a frog!

"I don't wanna jump to conclusions," giggled Gabby. "But I don't think that was the right one."

"You think?" said Anakin, annoyed. They a fly came by, which Anakin's tongue shot out and grabbed. "Eww! I just swallowed a bug."

"Here, girls." Boba said, giving two more to Gabby and Lamenta. "Try these."

The little ones each took a sip. But, they turned Gabby into a giraffe, and Lamenta into a chinchilla. And when Carmine tried one, it turned him into...

"Yay, I'm a human again!" Carmine cheered.

"Not quite." Kara chuckled, motioning downward.

Carmine looked at his feet to see... the tail of a fish.

"Oh, merman. Great." Carmine said sarcastically.

"Well, we're close." Caroline shrugged.

However, that was when the group heard the sound of guards transformed into animals coming their way.

"Uh oh! It's the guards!" Gabby said. "Run!"

Everyone quickly began running as fast as they could, each of them continuing to try potions as they came across many guards trying to assassinate them.

Kara tried another potion, and she turned into a beautiful hawk. The others tried potions, but they kept turning into other creatures.

The royal family had to dodge axe-throwing squids, rampaging elephants, even angry squirrels.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Carmine cried, accidentally kicking another guard, his kick being really hard, as he'd been turned into a donkey.

At one point, Anakin was turned into a Togruta. Close to a human, but not quite. Lamenta was turned into a bat, Kara was turned into an octopus, Gabby into a monkey, and Carmine... a centaur. Each time a sip of the potion didn't turn the drinker into a human, they threw the bottle away.

"Oh come on!" Carmine whined.

"Give me another!" Kara ordered Tech, and he did. But, this one turned her into a llama.

"Okay, that one is out as well." Tech said. "Only eight bottles left."

Silvaria was not happy in the least. The guards were getting nowhere with catching the royal family, Jango, Zam, and their kids killed all her bounty hunters, and so many of her potions were destroyed. But, she had one set aside for an emergency.

"If you want something done right... you must do it yourself."

The royal family had to get to a secure area to be able to keep trying potions. So, they went to the one place they figured was safe. Kara's bedroom.

Tech locked the door, and the adults all boarded it with heavy objects.

"How nice of you to finish your own trap for me," said a familiar voice.

"Silvaria, it doesn't have to be this way." Kara said.

"I tried to be reasonable about this." Silvaria took out a bottle with red liquid inside it. "But now, your gooses are about to be cooked."

Silvaria drank the potion, and a big poof of red smoke filled the room as Silvaria grew to enormous size, transforming into... a big, scaley, red and black, fire-breathing dragon!

Silvaria unleashed a mighty roar, prompting everyone to run. But Silvaria breathed fire and stuck her giant claws or her tail in the way. Tech accidentally dropped another bottle near all the members of the royal family, and it turned them all back into flying horses. Convenient.

The grownup royal horses took this as their cue to pick up the humans and start flying away!

"Oh, are we playing a game now?" Silvaria taunted. "Alright. Looks like I'm it!"

Silvaria immediately began flying after the royal family, shooting balls of fire from her mouth, them quickly exploding or burning out from the rain pouring down.

"Split up! Now!" Kara ordered everyone.

Anakin, carrying Padme and Boba, flew West with Gabby, and Carmine, carrying Caroline and Omega, flew East with Lamenta. And each of the twins took four of the remaining potions.

But Silvaria didn't go after the twins. Kara was her primary target, this the queen knew, and she flew as fast as she could with Tech on her back.

"I have to get you to safety, Tech." Kara said. "I'm the one she's after!"

"Don't worry about me, Your Majesty." Tech said. "It appears that if we wish to turn you human, we must first take care of Silvaria."

"But my training never prepared me or my brothers to fight a dragon! What if she's right? How can I call myself a good leader if I can't even face such a beast?"

"Listen to me, Queen Kara. You have been a fantastic leader since day one. You took my family in when my parents couldn't find work after having a background as bounty hunters, you helped many people who had nowhere else to go by providing them with work, shelter, and most of all a home where they felt safe and loved. And you do it all while raising your own family. And you have never been afraid to take chances in order to create peace between our kingdom and many others. You are a leader. If there's one thing working for you has taught any of us, it's that any task takes more than one being to complete, including leadership."

Kara suddenly started to remember that being remarkably like what her parents used to tell her and her brothers when they were little, and then she had an idea.

As soon as she found a safe spot, she swooped down to the ground and dropped Tech off.

"Go to any villagers you can find. Tell them the true royal family requires their assistance in defeating its greatest threat yet! Silvaria wants to use potions to fight us, we need to beat her at her own game!"

Meanwhile, Anakin and Gabby flew their group down to a farm they came across.

Padme knocked on the door.

"Someone, please open up!" Padme begged.

Someone did come to the door, a Twilek woman named Suu Lawquane.

"Princess Padme?" bowed the farmer. "What can I do for you?"

"We need a place to hide. May we come in?"

"Of course."

Padme and Boba, as well as the horses rushed inside.

"Okay, we got four potions here." Boba said. "If none of these changes you back, Prince Carmine or Queen Kara must have the one that will."

"Potions?" Suu said, sounding confused. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Long story short," said Anakin. "I'm actually Prince Anakin, the little one here is Princess Gabriella, our royal advisor Silvaria murdered her husband after failing to kill the entire royal family and instead turning us all into horses, and now she's turned herself into a fire-breathing dragon, so now we have to figure out a way to stop her and to turn ourselves back to human."

Boba fed Anakin and Gabby each a different potion, but they only turned Anakin into an owl, and Gabby into a griffin.

"Okay, not those." Boba said.

"Why did you have to get the cooler animal?" Anakin whined.

Boba opened the other two phials and fed the potions to the two animals. Gabby turned into a lioness cub, while Anakin turned into... a winged zebra.

"Oh come on!" Anakin groaned.

"Okay, it wasn't any of those."

Meanwhile, in an abandoned building somewhere...

"Try this one!" Omega exclaimed, feeding Carmine another potion, only for it to turn him into a woodpecker.

Caroline gave Lamenta the other potion, only for it to turn her into a black poodle.

"It must be one of these then," said Omega.

Omega gave one more potion to Lamenta, but it turned her into a purple Twilek. Closer to human, but not quite.

"Assuming Anakin doesn't have it, this one must be the one," said Caroline.

Carmine took a sip of the potion, and he turned... into a human.

Carmine looked at what he thought was probably going to be paws, hooves, or feathery wings, but... they were human hands!

"I'm human again!"

But the youngest girls screamed, quickly looked away and covered their eyes.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Sweetie, you're naked." Caroline said.

Carmine turned red when he suddenly felt the cold breeze on his skin, and he quickly crawled behind a big box that happened to be nearby.

"This is so embarrassing!" Carmine whined.

Luckily, Caroline spotted a tarp that was on some abandoned furniture. She dusted it off and helped Carmine wrap it around himself like a toga.

"You can look now. I'm decent." Carmine said.

"At least we know now this is the one." Omega said.

Caroline also found another tarp, which she ripped a bit to make it the right size to fit Lamenta before she took a sip of the potion.

Lamenta and Carmine were so happy to be back to normal... except they both suddenly realized they needed to relearn how to walk on two legs.

"What do we do now?" Lamenta asked.

"We have to find the others and stop Silvaria before she destroys our home more than she already has!" Caroline said.

Chapter 13: Happily Ever After

Chapter Text

Kara kept flying as fast as she could, doing her best to lure Silvaria as far away from the villages as she possibly could. She didn't know how much time she had, nor if her brothers managed to get to safety, but she knew she had to give them at least a fighting chance.

Silvaria chased Kara all the way to the dark woods at the far edge of the kingdom. The dragon continued to blast fireballs, attempting to hit the pegasus queen. And she barely missed her for the fourth time since arriving at the forest, when Kara crashed into a tree and hurt her wing!

"Agh! My wing." she winced.

"It's over, Kara! I have you right where I want you." Silvaria cackled. "Once I get rid of you, eliminating those bratty little brothers and nieces of yours will be all too easy!"

Kara quickly started to dodge Silvaria's claws on hoof, rushing underneath low branches, rocks, even thorny bushes... anything she ran into that could obstruct Silvaria's blows. But Silvaria continued to throw balls of fire at the trees, setting some on fire briefly. With the lightning storm above, that fire started to grow!

Kara continued to run, just barely managing to escape the falling flaming branches, and the black smoke that came not just from those flames, but from more of Silvaria's fire breath as well.

Back on the Lawquane Farm...

Suu and her husband Cut were kind enough to help Anakin and his group by lending a cart they could hide in to get back to the palace quickly. If there was a way to weaken and defeat Silvaria in dragon form, there had to be something in what remained of her lab. As for Carmine's group, they managed to get a couple of horses to ride back to the palace, having the same idea as Anakin's group.

Sometime after that...

The rest of the Fetts and the village leaders managed to find a potion that broke the guards out from Silvaria's spell. And, as it turned out, everyone else was shocked to learn that the royal family was actually alive, and Silvaria was the one who'd tried to kill them, and she murdered her own husband in the process, having only married him solely for the purpose of getting into the palace.

"Seriously. How long has this woman been planning this?" Crosshair said.

"That doesn't matter now." said a familiar voice.

And in came Anakin with Gabby and Boba. Except, no one recognized them at first... until Boba told them it was them.

"We didn't have the right potion." Gabby said before suddenly coughing and hacking something nasty. "Hairball."

"But we did," said Caroline, walking in with two of the royal family members turned human.

"Prince Carmine, Princess Lamenta!" Peppermint exclaimed. "You're humans again."

"Although..." Omega began, looking at the others. "You might wanna put something on before you drink it."

"Where's Queen Kara?" Mace said.

"I don't know." Anakin said. "We all split up so Silvaria couldn't get all of us."

But then, the twins came to a horrible realization: if Silvaria didn't chase after either of their parties... then she must have gone after...

A big "Oh no!" entered everyone's minds.

Anakin decided to hold off using a potion, and flew out to get a better view, and he gasped in horror when he spotted a forest fire, and Silvaria blowing more balls of fire! That could only mean one thing.

"Kara's in trouble!" Anakin exclaimed to the others. "We have to save her now!"

"There's gotta be a potion here that'll help us!" Gabby said, looking in the spell book. Well, as best as she could with paws.

"I'm afraid there's only one potion appropriate to use at this point." Anakin said, finding a green phial with a skull and crossbones on it. "The kind that started this whole mess."

"You mean... you wanna poison her?" Gabby said. "But aren't we being just as bad as Silvaria if we do that?"

"Unfortunately, it's the only choice we have. That woman is a murderer, and she was willing to kill innocent children to take over the kingdom."

"Prince Anakin is correct." Mace said. "She's too dangerous to be kept alive. She is trying to murder your aunt as we speak."

"It's gonna take more than just us to defeat her though." Anakin said. "We need all the help we can get, namely with containing those flames!"

Kara could barely keep up anymore! She was exhausted, in pain, and there was so much smoke she could barely breathe properly.

Kara climbed over another rock and tried to hide herself, only for Silvaria to place her giant claw over her and hold her down. It was too heavy for Kara to push off. Even if it weren't Kara was too weak.

"Not to worry, Kara. You will be seeing your parents again very soon."

But just before Silvaria could breathe fire again, something black and white swooped at her face. And then, a few more colorful somethings swooped at her in the form of multiple flying horses.

Silvaria tried to swat away all the equines, but there were more things thrown at her. Guns were fired, big rocks from catapults, even sharp syringes with pesticides were shot at Silvaria by the villagers, and many of the guards, so many people loyal to the royal family.

"For Coruscant! For the royal family!" the people kept chanting.

Silvaria attempted to hit the villagers with fireballs, but firefighters were fighting the blazes everywhere they went. Anakin carried Crosshair on his back, them having the most important job. All they needed was for Silvaria to open her mouth again.

While Silvaria distracted by the villagers, Wrecker rushed in and lifted Kara out of there and began getting her to safety.

Kara was barely conscious at the moment, but Wrecker continued to run in order to save the queen.

Crosshair, on the other hand, waited for just the right moment. And as Silvaria began to open her mouth to breathe another fireball, Crosshair aimed his blaster and counted... one... two... three!

The phial of poison was shot directly into Silvaria's throat, immediately choking her. If it wasn't the poison choking her, the bottle hitting her throat was enough to do the job.

Kara, however, felt herself getting weaker and weaker as Silvaria began roaring in agony. But before she could catch the finale of this battle, her eyes fell shut, and everything went black.

Kara felt her head throbbing as she finally started coming to. There were the sounds of beeping and people talking. She cracked her eyes a bit, her vision blurry.

"Shh! Quiet!" whispered a familiar voice.

"Is she okay?" said a voice, sounding a bit echoey.

"Look, I think she's waking up!" said another.

Kara slowly opened her eyes.

"Kara? Kara, can you hear me?"

Kara groaned and placed a hand on her aching head. Wait! A hand?

Suddenly, Kara was much more awake. She rubbed her eyes to clear her vision and looked to see she had hands again, and up in front, surrounding her was her family, all of them looking so happy to see her alive and well.

"What happened? Where am I?" Kara gasped.

"In the hospital, Your Majesty." said a doctor, coming in to check her blood pressure. "You suffered a few burns and some serious smoke inhalation. You were very lucky to survive."

"We gave you a dose of the potion once we got the all clear," said Carmine.

"There was a bit of damage to the palace," said Padme. "But its reparable.

"What happened to Silvaria?" Kara asked.

"She won't be bothering anyone anymore," said Anakin. "The people of our kingdom came to our aid to fight her off for good after you heroically swooped in to protect the villages. Without their help, none of us would be here now."

Kara's nieces both crawled onto the bed and gave their aunt a hug. Kara was so happy to see her girls safe and sound, and she was even happier to hear that she could go home soon.

After Kara was checked out and dressed, she was happily surprised to see a large crowd of people outside cheering to see their queen made a safe recovery, and praising her for the way she was willing to sacrifice herself to save her people. People brought flowers for Kara, and many also held signs that said, "We love you, Queen Kara" "Long live the Queen/Royal Family" and "The witch is dead!"

Kara felt happy tears come to her eyes when she saw how much the people of the kingdom she called her family appreciated her and the royal family as a whole. With Silvaria and Palpatine gone, the kingdom would be that much safer. Sadly, their journey was not left without some damages. Thus, Queen Kara immediately declared plans were to begin posthaste to mend the damages to the kingdom.

They would rebuild the homes that were damaged due to Silvaria and the storm, plant new trees to replace the ones lost in the fire, and of course she would see to it that the Fetts, the village leaders, as well as the Lawquane family were greatly rewarded for their assistance in ensuring the safety of the royal family in their desperate time of need. She especially honored Boba and Omega with special medals for uncovering the murder plot and saving the royal family from being poisoned, thus allowing them to discover their former advisors' true colors.

Of course, Kara and her brothers did not neglect their original plans to honor their late parents' memories.

One year later, the palace and the village were fully repaired, and Queen Kara finally cut the ribbon at the openings of the new school and park. The kingdom was more beautiful than ever before. Families everywhere felt safe again, the Kenobi family got to welcome their new baby girl into a safe and happy world, and the two youngest princesses could now grow up into wonderful young women and someday future rulers of Coruscant.

"So an important lesson to take from this," said Kara, still reading. "is that people close to you may pretend to be allies, and betray your trust. Nothing is for certain when it comes to finding who's true and who's not, but one thing that is for certain, those who stick by you during the darkest moments and are willing to fight for you when you need it most, are the ones who truly are not just your friends, but family."

The kids cheered when the story was finished.

"I love a story with a happy ending," said Gabby.

"I liked when they fought the dragon." Omega said.