I know Mother's Day isn't back for another seven months, but I couldn't wait to write and post this chapter. After all, there's no rule that says you have to wait for a special occasion to honor motherly figures and all they do.
It was a very important time of year for the galaxy. A very special day to honor some very special women who took care of their children and their families, and to say thank you for all that they did. Mother's Day.
Well, it would be in three days.
For a certain boy, this would be his very first Mother's Day. Well, the first one he'd be celebrating anyway.
"You think she'll like my gift?" Boba asked his sister.
Boba looked at a little wooden box he'd been painting blue. He'd also painted little red millaflowers on the corners. Well, they looked more like red stars with a yellow dot in the middle, but he was doing his best.
"Mommy's gonna love it." Gabby said.
Gabby was currently making some frosting flowers on some little cupcakes Strawberry baked for her to practice on for part of her Mother's Day gift for Padme. Plus, Strawberry was making an extra special cupcake-related surprise for her grandmother, and she needed all the help she could get to finish them in time.
"It looks amazing, Boba." Strawberry said, placing a cupcake by the boy. "It looks like a perfect little jewelry box."
In the days before, Boba had no clue what he would give Padme. He never had a mom before her, and thus no reason to make any Mother's Day gifts. But when he got Padme as his mother, he cherished every motherly thing she did for him whether that was tucking him in at night, giving him kisses, taking care of him when he was sick or hurt, and above all loving him as her own son even though he wasn't related to her in any way like Gabby was.
Boba started getting an allowance after he was adopted, but he didn't know that Mother's Day gifts got expensive when the holiday got closer. All he was able to buy was a card, and he didn't think it would be enough. He wanted his first gift for Mother's Day to be special; something that would show Padme how much he loved her and appreciated her as his mother.
He couldn't get her jewelry because it was way too expensive for a kid to afford, even if he or she did come from a wealthy family. And Boba was no expert on gems or stones either. He didn't know how to cook Padme's favorite foods and wasn't allowed to use the oven and stove by himself now that he lived under the Skywalkers' roof. And, he wasn't sure where to get milla flowers, Padme's favorite without asking Gabby to grow them for him; he wouldn't have felt like they really came from him if he asked Gabby to grow them for him, even if he paid her for it. But, in the clearance aisle of the craft shop where Gabby found supplies for her gift, he found some things to make something with, as Gabby had said the best gifts were made by hand. He managed to find a small wooden box, some paint and paintbrushes, and glitter glue.
Boba started carefully making some little vines and leaves out of the green glitter glue and trace red glitter glue around the red flowers on the box to top off the look.
"There!" Boba smiled, having completed his project. "What do you think?"
Gabby looked at it and said, "It's beautiful, Big Brother. Mommy will love it for sure."
Now he just had to wait for the glue to dry before he wrapped the gift.
"What do you think of mine?" Gabby asked.
Gabby showed Boba a wooden carved mermaid statue she'd painted. Her mom always loved the waters on Naboo, and swimming had always been one of her favorite hobbies since she was a child. So, Gabby thought it would make sense to get her something water-related. She painted the mermaid's tail blue with blue sparkles to make it really beautiful and gave it brown hair like her mom's.
"Wow." Boba said. "How do you do that?"
"I had a good teacher to show me how to paint." Gabby said.
"I mean, how did you decide to get Mom such a great gift?"
"Simple, I know what she likes. Like how you painted the jewelry box in her favorite colors with her favorite flower." Gabby said. "I did pretty much the same thing with this little mermaid. And I picked it because Mommy is beautiful and has always loved the water, and mermaids are beautiful and they live in the water. So, how could I not pick it for her?"
"I guess you have a point." Boba said, and he noticed Carousella walking by. "Hey, Carousella. Wanna see what I made Mom for Mother's Day?"
Carousella snorted angrily and said, "Don't mention that day to me!"
And the alicorn angrily strode away.
"What's got her so upset?" Boba wondered out loud.
Gabby thought, and she knew exactly what was bothering Carousella.
"She doesn't have a mom anymore," Gabby said sadly. "She died last year, remember?"
Realization hit Boba's mind, and now he felt bad not realizing this sooner. In the same way Boba grieved for his father before and even after he got adopted, Carousella was still grieving for the loss of her mother.
Some time ago, days after the battle of Geonosis...
It was just another day in the beautiful kingdom of Equinaro.
Carousella and her brother Crescent were out in the meadow with their father and a beautiful pegasus mare with a lavender coat, a magenta mane, and blue eyes like the two siblings. Their mother, Lavendera.
"A perfect day for family flight time, right kids?" Lavendera said.
"You know it, Mom." Crescent said, stretching out his wings.
"You know the drill." Armorous said.
"Last one to the orchard is a rotten apple!" Carousella said, ready to race.
Because the whole family was winged, they had their own special thing they called Family Flight time, a fun activity where they raced through the sky and practiced their skills, taking in the sights of their beautiful home, and they always had their finish line at some fun destination like Candy Corn Cove, Musicorn Meadow, or Honeycrisp Orchard, the destination for this year.
Honeycrisp Orchard was Carousella's favorite flight time destination. She and her family always found some great apples to pick and munch on, and often brought some back to the castle to be made into apple pies and all kinds of tasty apple treats.
"On your marks..." Armorous said, getting into position.
"Get set..." Lavendera continued.
"GO!" the children shouted, taking off.
"Typical of you, kids!" Lavendera playfully whined, taking off as well.
"Very out of line, everypony!" Armorous said, trying to catch up with his family.
For a family of royal guards, some of its members sure took a lot of pride in giving themselves a head start during races, rather than following strict regulations.
"Relax, Dad!" shouted Crescent. "We're not at work right now."
"Yeah, but I'm still gonna be the best general of the guard ever!" Carousella cheered, flying faster.
For a while, the family had so much fun racing through the clouds, feeling how soft and fluffy they were, and practicing barrel rolls, spins, and flips in the air. There was a lot of laughter, playful banter, and playfully competitive behavior; a perfect day for the Mareheart Family... until it wasn't.
Suddenly, a loud, alarming horn sound echoed throughout the land. The sound of the Centaur Sirens, a special horn blown by the centaur members of the royal guard. And when those horns were blown, it was never good. That sound was only made when there was a huge emergency! Like a quick-spreading forest fire, or invaders of dark magic.
But in this case, it was a Seppie attack.
The Marehearts were up in the sky when they saw the Separatist ships coming in, and battle droids came out, trying to capture the ponies. Carousella didn't know why they were attacking Equinaro, but her hypothesis: they wanted to enslave them for their alliance. Potentially, they would use Earth ponies and pegasi for transportation, and unicorns for power and ammunition, assuming they found a way to make them use their magic to the Separatists' will.
Horses were being roped or stunned, but many royal guards swooped in and fought back. The Marehearts were no exception. As General of the royal guard, Armorous had an obligation to lead the others. And Lavendera and the kids joined in.
Unicorn guards used their magical horns to fight the droids and free the trapped horses while pegasi and earth equines swooped, charged, and kicked the enemies.
Armorous flew toward a ship about to fly away with a herd of restrained horses, and Carousella and Crescent came to help him. Armorous and Carousella held the ship in a magical aura while Crescent broke the horses out and made sure they got safely to the ground.
However, Carousella and her father were so busy concentrating on the spell, they didn't notice a super droid aiming a big blaster right at them.
"CAROUSELLA! ARMOROUS! WATCH OUT!" Lavendera screamed, flying in.
And as the droid fired the shot, Lavendera swooped in just in time to push her daughter and husband out of the way, but ended up getting shot herself!
"MOM!" Carousella screamed.
The young mare immediately began soaring down to the ground to help her mother, only for more blaster fire to fill the air, which Carousella barely managed to dodge in time.
The battle got fiercer and fiercer, and some Separatists ships crashed to the ground before everything was quiet, and many clouds of dust filled the air.
Carousella coughed as she finally managed to get down to the ground. She called for her mother, but got no response.
"Mom?" Carousella called.
And then some of the dust cleared up to show Carousella a large purple figure laying on the ground. Carousella gasped and ran over to the body.
"Mom?" Carousella said.
Carousella looked at her mother. She lay on the ground, horribly wounded, her eyes closed, with no signs of movement or breath whatsoever.
Carousella nudged her mother with her muzzle.
"Mom?" Carousella squeaked, tears filling her eyes. "Mom, come on. Please. Wake up!"
Carousella nudged her mother again; she even bit her mother's ear. No response.
"No. No, no, no, no!"
Carousella broke down into a sea of tears. That was when her father and brother arrived and were horrified when they saw what had become of Lavendera.
"Mom?" Crescent gasped, nudging his mother with his muzzle.
Tears filled Crescent's eyes when he saw what had become of his mother, and even more filled when he saw the tears on his sister's face.
There were no words to describe the look on Armorous' face when he realized his beloved wife... was dead.
Present Day...
Carousella looked at a necklace of pink and purple wooden beads in the shape of beautiful roses. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at it.
That necklace was the very last Mother's Day gift Carousella had given to her mother. And now, she had no reason to make any more Mother's Day gifts because she didn't have a mother anymore.
Carousella began to cry into her pillow.
She didn't dare to cry in front of anyone else today, especially around the princess she was supposed to protect. Carousella was a royal guard; she was too busy keeping a tough image to cry and let her personal feelings get in the way of her job, much less in the way of her friends' Mother's Day celebration. So, she spent most of her time in the stable, crying.
"Carousella?" said a voice.
"Go away." Carousella whined, not looking up from her pillow.
But Carousella felt someone petting her mane.
"What part of..." Carousella looked up and saw that it was Boba petting her mane, not Gabby this time. She was surprised at that. "What are you doing here?"
"You seemed sad." Boba said.
Carousella thought and said, "Did you and Gabby switch bodies?"
"What?" now Boba was confused.
"Usually, Gabby's the first to jump in when someone's crying or something."
And it was true. But in this case, Boba convinced his sister to let him do the comforting for a change. He was getting better and better at being a better person every day and did his best to make up for past actions through doing as many good deeds as he could whenever the opportunity arose. Today was no exception.
"I know why you're feeling the way you are now." Boba said. "It's your first Mother's Day without your mom, and you miss her."
"What would you know about how I'm feeling?" said Carousella. "You never had a mom before to miss. Or had to watch as she was shot out of the sky and killed."
"No, but I did have to watch my father die in battle. Remember? How do you think I felt last Father's Day, before I got adopted?"
Carousella looked at Boba, tears still in her eyes.
"I didn't know your mom," said Boba. "But if she was anything like you and Crescent, she was a great mom. I know it because I see the way you make Gabby happy and you fight so hard to protect her. In a way, you kind of act like you're her mom even though you're not even the same species."
Carousella thought about what Boba was saying and believed he was right. Mother equines, royal guard or not, always protected their foals any way they could. When Carousella was matched with Gabby through the Ride of Love, it was in part because she was young and a strong guardian, but the other part was that she had a gentle, compassionate heart. And oftentimes, when she wasn't stopping an attack on her princess, she was treating her like a foal.
Like a mother pegasus, Carousella sometimes had Gabby rest underneath the warmth of her soft feathery wings. She also groomed Gabby sometimes by gently licking her or bringing her to some shallow water to give her a bath when they were out in battle. And Carousella even knew how to forage for wild fruits and plants to feed Gabby when she was hungry. And sure, Gabby could grow them herself with her botanical magic, but Carousella knew a lot of wild plants her girl had never seen before, and knew how to find the very best berries that would help her grow big and strong. And above all, Carousella loved Gabby. Blood or not, they were more than just friends, more than just a girl and her horse. They were family.
And... Gabby and Boba's mom loved her too. Padme even treated Carousella like her own child, especially during that time Gabby was trapped at the Temple before the Code was changed. She couldn't replace Lavendera though.
"No one could ever replace my mom." Carousella said, laying down sadly.
"I know how you feel." Boba said. "No one could replace my father either. But I learned that if you keep holding on to one thing, you won't be able to hold another. It was hard for me to let go of my birth father, but I eventually did, and look at the family I have now. The family we both have."
Carousella looked at Boba. When he got to be so wise, she had no clue, but she was glad he had. And she found she wasn't alone when her cousin and Crescent came along.
Crescent missed his mother too. And Remix never knew his at all; his aunt Lavendera was the closest thing he'd ever had to a mother. So, they came up with the idea to honor her memory for Mother's Day.
Carousella put on her mother's necklace and went with her family back to Equinaro, and they began working on a special altar to honor Lavendera's memory.
Boba looked at everyone he knew who'd had at least some motherly figure in his or her life. For some, it was their actual mother. For others, it was their grandmother, their aunt, an older cousin or sister, and some even found motherly figures in people who weren't even related to them. He'd lived his whole life never knowing what it was like to have a mother. He couldn't imagine what it was life to have grown up knowing it was like to have a mother and then losing her tragically. And now that he had one of his own, he dreaded losing her.
When Mother's Day finally came, children across the galaxy gave their mothers and motherly figures what gifts they made or purchased.
Some made their moms a card. Others got her flowers. Some got her pretty jewelry or clothes, maybe a gift certificate for her favorite shop or a spa getaway. Some even went as big as doing an at-home spa treatment or cooking a special meal for their mothers, writing her a song, or taking her to the nicest restaurant for dinner.
Boba and Gabby each had their own gifts for their mom, but also worked together on one.
Padme adored the crafts her children made for her, as well as the flowers Gabby grew for her. And together, with a little help from Anakin handling the oven and stove portion, Gabby and Boba decorated a beautiful little cake for Padme too.
And Carousella came back too... with a bouquet of lavender in her mouth.
Lavenders were her mom's favorite, and ever since Carousella was a filly, she'd pick lavender whenever she found it to show her mom how much she loved her. And now, she was sharing that tradition with Padme.
Padme was so happy when her kids showed her how much they loved and appreciated her, even those who weren't even her same species.
Boba hugged his mom tightly, knowing with all his heart that his very first Mother's Day would be one he'd never forget, and he wouldn't take his one and only mom for granted. Other kids would do that too easily, forgetting just how hard their mothers worked to provide for them, guide them, and raise them right.
Some mothers had a father to help them care for the children, but others had to do it on their own for one reason or another. Either way, being a mother was a difficult job. Boba was too young to be a parent, but he knew from watching his little sister that little kids could definitely be a handful. He couldn't help but wonder if he would've been as much of a handful when he was little, had he had a mother back then.
"Happy Mother's Day, Mom." Boba said. "I love you."
"I love you too, Baby." Padme said, kissing Boba's head.