Mona slept the night away in her new bed, and was still asleep the next morning.
But meanwhile, the grownups were debating how to proceed with her. Initially, Padme thought they should talk to CPS, but then Mariposa reminded her, "Then they might find out she's a doresho gypsy. And then someone may place a bounty on her, or worse, kill her."
"Mari is right," said Susy. "But we can't just leave her alone. Someone might be looking for her."
"Garrett," said Caroline. "You work for the Commission, couldn't you talk to someone there?"
"I wish it were that simple," said Garrett. "Even the Commission has folks prejudice towards doresho gypsies. They don't even know my wife is one."
"What creature do they think she is?" Anakin asked.
"A sorceress. But we're getting off topic."
"Maybe Tech could search the database." Carmine suggested. "He's got the smarts for it, an with R2 and Mini's help, they can find out who Mona belongs to."
"We'll talk to him about that once he wakes up." Qui-Gon said, as the Batch and the kids were still sleeping.
The conversation was ended as they heard a loud yawning, and Wrecker was walking by still in his pajamas.
"Good morning, Wrecker." Mariposa said.
"Morning."
"R2, Threepio, you mind waking the kids for breakfast?" Anakin said.
R2 beeped and Threepio said it would be a pleasure.
Except, when everyone sat for breakfast, one of the droids reported they were all out of cereal.
"Aw, I really wanted Oatty Bunches for breakfast today," said Lamenta disappointed.
"How is that possible?" said Garrett. "I distinctly remember going grocery shopping only three days ago."
"There were literally fifteen boxes in the pantry yesterday," said Padme. "How could they all be gone just this morning?"
"I ate all the cereal last night when everyone went to sleep." Wrecker blurted out. Then he was confused. "Why did I just say that?"
"You ate over a dozen boxes of cereal?" Omega gasped.
Wrecker burped really loudly as if on cue to answer.
The others knew Wrecker had a big appetite; they weren't sure who ate more, him or just one of the horses.
"Wrecker, why would you do that?" Susy said. "We talked about you controlling your eating habits."
"I was starving after the mission." Wrecker said. "And I used Tech's toothbrush by accident too. Why did I just say that?"
Suddenly, Tech was gagging and looked like he was going to throw up after hearing his brother used his toothbrush, knowing Wrecker didn't tend to floss, and with how he would eat almost anything who knows what's been in his mouth.
"You really shouldn't wear yellow, Dad." said Carmine, looking at his father's new yellow robes. "They don't do your complexion justice."
Now Carmine was confused.
"I thought you told me they looked good when I got them." Qui-Gon said, self-consciously feeling his jacket.
Carmine wasn't going to say anything else, but suddenly it felt like he had no control over his mouth, and he spoke again.
"I lied to spare your feelings. And why am I suddenly saying this stuff?"
"I've been watching Stranger Things late at night on Dad's tablet!" Boba blurted out, then slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Boba, we told you no more Stranger Things," said Anakin. "You know that gives you nightmares. And that's coming from someone who watches Starscreen videos of squirrels stuffing their cheeks on a loop- why did I just say that?!"
The kids couldn't help laughing.
"Don't worry, Uncle Anakin." Lamenta giggled. "I don't think anyone can blame you. Those squirrels are irresistible."
"Oh, did you see the one where one came with a couple of chipmunks, and all of them were stuffing their cheeks with peanuts?" Gabby said.
"Yes, I did see that one. It was pretty cute." Anakin smiled, but then got serious again. "Still doesn't answer why I just revealed that."
"I've been using Grandpa's lightsaber to roast marshmallows!" Gabby blurted out, and slapped her hand over her mouth.
"Well, that explains why my lightsaber has been so sticky lately." said Qui-Gon, his weapon still feeling sticky.
"Gabby, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, a Jedi's lightsaber is not a toy." Anakin said sternly.
"I know, Daddy." Gabby look down. "I was also playing with Mommy's makeup last Tuesday."
"What?!" Padme said.
"Why did I just say that?!"
All the horses came for breakfast too, and suddenly they were blurting things out too.
"Morning, Estrella." Omega said.
"I ate the last of Boba's Halloween candy!" Estrella said, amid freezing. "Why did I say that?"
"It was you?!" Boba said angrily. "I blamed Remix for that!"
"I told you it wasn't me!" Remix said.
"I suck my hoof in my sleep!" Pinto blurted out.
"I hid Gabby's Baby Shark CD in the basement!" Crescent exclaimed before covering his mouth with his hooves.
"So it was you who took my CD!" Gabby said. "Where in the basement did you put it?"
"In a small blue box." Crescent mumbled. "Stop talking, Crescent!"
While Gabby rushed down to the basement to find her lost CD, and Indira especially took that as her cue to flee, Mariposa noticed Mona was the only one absent.
"Has anyone seen, Mona?" Mariposa asked.
"She is still asleep." Tech said, coming back after finishing rinsing his mouth. "And I need to get a new toothbrush, thanks to Wrecker, who can be a big child sometimes." But Tech covered his mouth from that last part, amid Wrecker looked like he would start crying.
"I'm sure he didn't mean that, Wrecker." Omega said, hugging her biggest brother.
"I think Crosshair's too insensitive still," said Hunter, then he slapped his hand over his own mouth.
"Normally, I wouldn't show it." Crosshair said. "But that really hurts."
"And I'm afraid of balloon animals." Hunter turned red in the face, amid Wrecker laughing at him.
However, that was when Anakin got a call on his comm from Ahsoka.
"Master, something weird is going on here on Coruscant," said Ahsoka.
"Same is going on here, Snips." said Anakin. "What's the 'something weird' you're talking about?"
"Well, one minute everything is fine, but the next, I find out Master Plo is afraid of cupcakes, Citrus is afraid of dogs, and now everyone knows I secretly keep a pink diary."
"I wouldn't have guessed you like pink."
"And I wouldn't have said that if this something weird wasn't happening. Everyone keeps blurting out random things I'm pretty sure were supposed to be kept secret."
"You know, the same thing's happening here." Anakin said. "I wonder why. But I have a hunch Mariverde has something to do with this. Lamenta, you're coming with me to the Temple."
"Okay, Uncle."
Just like Ahsoka said, it was getting crazy on Coruscant. It wasn't just in the Temple, though. All around town, people were randomly blurting out all kinds of embarrassing, shameful secrets. Sales people couldn't stop shouting out the flaws or defects in products they advertised or how unreasonably priced they were, lawyers literally couldn't lie in court (though that was helpful for getting the truly guilty convicted), and people were randomly shouting their opinions they would normally keep to themselves, ultimately insulting other people randomly.
"This is getting nuts!" Ahsoka said, seeing all the chaos as she and Fiesta rode through town.
"Si. Esta muy loco." Fiesta shook her head. "I haven't seen such chaos since mi hermanos Maraca and Benito started arguing over the last piece of pastel."
"Your brothers sound like real troublemakers."
"Believe me, they are, and Sombrero is my favorito." Fiesta froze. "Don't tell any of my brothers I said that."
"Your secret's safe with me... as long as we don't have to visit your brothers until after I can keep my mouth shut again."
The Jedi Council gathered, and many were trying desperately to hold their mouths shut so they wouldn't blurt out any deep dark secrets.
"I sleep with a plush kitten!" Master Koth blurted out, covering his mouth.
"I bite my nails when no one is looking." Master Luminara blurted out.
Even younglings in their classes were blurting out random secrets.
"I broke my Master's tablet!" Caleb said.
"Ganodi has a crush on Boba!" Katooni blurted out. Now she wasn't sure what she was ore afraid of, blurting out an embarrassing secret of her own or how mad Ganodi would be when she learned her friend told her secret.
"Ahsoka wasn't kidding when she told me everyone was blurting out everything." said Anakin, Lamenta sitting in his lap. "It's getting insane out there."
"And in here too," said Zipp. "And what's worse, friends can't even keep secrets they promised to keep."
"I said I was sorry a million times!" Magenta said. "And I used Obi-Wan's hair brush to scratch my back."
"So that's where my brush disappeared to!" Obi-Wan said, Olivia giggling in her father's arms.
"I snuck into an R-rated movie when I was thirteen!" Master Windu exclaimed.
"Daddy!" Myra scolded. "And here you go telling me I can't watch scary movies?"
"I was young and foolish then."
"I have a boyfriend!" Comedia exclaimed.
"What?!" said Ki-Adi in shock, standing up. "Who is he, Comedia?"
Comedia just stuffed her hat into her mouth and ran out of the room.
"Comedia Adira Evermare-Mundi, get back here! You know you are not old enough to be dating."
"She's almost fifteen," called Crescent.
"Are you her new boyfriend?" Lamenta asked.
"No. She's not my type."
"Okay, now we see yet another problem caused by this," Ahsoka said.
"How do we even know any of this stuff is true, anyway?" Peppermint said. "How do we know people aren't just randomly shouting things out because of some spell that just make people say crazy stuff?"
"That is a good point." Mace said. "Lamenta, I assume you know what to do?"
Lamenta got up from her uncle's lap and walked to Obi-Wan first. She held his wrist and closed her eyes, ready to scan for the truth. But, to her great surprise... nothing was happening.
"Huh. That's weird." she said. So, she tried again, and nothing happened. "Nothing's happening."
"What do you mean nothing's happening?" asked Hydrangea.
Lamenta tried truth scanning Anakin next, then Yoda, then Luminara, and then Peppermint too. Nothing happened.
"My truth power!" Lamenta gasped. "It's not working!"
"There is another way we can test it," said Anakin, holding up two fingers at his former Padawan. "Ahsoka. Try to lie about how many fingers I'm holding up."
"Okay... you're holding up thr- you're holding fi- two!" Ahsoka covered her mouth. "I... I couldn't lie... no matter how hard I tried."
"I guess that confirms everyone's only telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
But then, Lamenta started to feel like maybe she was finally free of the curse that came with seeing the truth all the time.
"Hey," Lamenta started to smile. "I guess that means I won't have to deal with finding out disturbing stuff about people anymore."
"That may be so, Princesa." Fiesta said. "Except it doesn't answer why no one can stop saying their secrets."
"If you ask me," said Magenta. "Now that I think of it, this seems a little strange to be a coincidence. I mean, all of us blurting out our innermost secrets, and Lamenta suddenly can't see the truth anymore?"
Magenta had a point; it did seem too weird to be a coincidence.
So, the Jedi checked on other worlds in the Republic and in Enchantra. It turned out, the same thing was happening everywhere! Suddenly, everyone knew that griffin prince Gus was a vegetarian, Queen Reigna cheated on a math test once as a young mare, and Queen Sophia was addicted to chocolate marshmallows. Everyone also knew that Chancellor Organa and his wife were planning to adopt a baby (which was supposed to be kept quiet so reporters wouldn't swarm their new baby until they'd had time to settle in), and that Senator Kin Robb watched kids' shows under her blankets at night.
"Maybe everyone should tape their mouths shut for now."
"Comedia, slow down!" Ki-Adi said, running down the hall after Comedia, who still refused to reveal her secret boyfriend's name.
Tech was looking into the birth registry database and doing some research on what was currently happening, and conveniently, Mila came to visit. When she heard what was happening, she offered to help by doing a little scanning of what was in the air.
So far, Mariposa, Goldie, and Mona seemed to be the only ones not affected by this truth spell, which was likely because the spell was done with Doresho magic, and doresho gypsies were best at fighting off that kind of magic or were immune to it entirely.
Mona, however, was terrified. She had a secret she didn't want anyone to know about, and she was worried what everyone might do if they found out.
"Tech, look at this," said Mila. She held a small jar with a sample of air she'd gotten with a cotton ball and some scientific liquids from a chemistry set to see if there were any contaminants anyone might've breathed in. "There's some kind of purple glitter particle substance in the air. It's not like anything I've ever seen in any air samples I've studied before."
"Odd. Where such particles come from I have no data on why," said Tech, checking on his tablet for more on Mona. "And what's even stranger... I cannot find any record of anyone named Mona Sommers in the birth registry records of the Republic or in the Enchantra database. However, I took a sample of her DNA while she was sleeping, and I've discovered her DNA matches closely to Mariposa's."
"So, either Mariposa had another baby she didn't tell any of us about... or..."
Mona sat in the kitchen eating some orange slices. It turned out, like Goldie, she had a human tongue too, indicating she had to be half human or something.
"Mona, there you are." Mariposa said, coming to the counter where Mona was sitting. "I see you're recovering nicely."
Mona silently nodded.
"I understand it's probably a little scary right now, Mona. A strange new world with a bunch of strange people. It will take some getting used to, but we are all here to help you. And whoever has been hurting you, we will make sure they face the consequences of their actions."
Mona was silent again.
"Do you want to tell me where you're from?"
Mona just hid herself in her wings.
"Your wings... they look brand new. They're so beautiful too."
"I just hatched from my chrysalis a week ago." Mona mumbled nervously. "I don't know how to fly yet though."
"Well, I can teach you if you like."
"Why are you helping me?" Mona asked in another mumble. "The royal family are the ones who ordered all Doresho gypsies killed on site."
"Not this family, Mona. Sadly, their ancestors did do that, but they were wrong. And the royal family today is working really hard to make it so doresho gypsies can safely walk among others without needing to hide their wings. As for your question, we are helping you because it is the right thing to do. Do you have parents anywhere?"
Mona looked like she would start to cry at that moment. That seemed to be enough to give Mariposa a hypothesis.
"It's okay, Mona." Mariposa hugged Mona and held her as she cried.
Mariposa suddenly heard a beep as she received a text message, asking her and everyone else to meet Tech and Mila at the Maruader.
So, everyone did meet at the Marauder, but Indira had taped her mouth shut and tied a scarf around her muzzle so she wouldn't blurt anything out.
"Smart idea to keep your mouth closed." Teatra commented. Indira simply nodded as a thank you.
"I sing in the shower." Crosshair blurted out, slapping a hand over his mouth as his face turned red.
"A lot of people do that Crosshair." Carmine said.
"I tried on some of your crowns when we were hiding them!" Garret exclaimed. "This had better be good information to how to stop this before anyone reveals something really embarrassing."
"I wet my pants on stage during a fifth grade performance!" Carmine exclaimed.
Anakin held both hands over his mouth to keep from laughing at his twin.
Carmine covered his mouth and turned redder than ever mortified.
"Too late." Susy sighed.
"Garrett, I'm gonna need a memory erasing potion when this is all over!" Carmine squeaked, tears threatening to fall.
"I used my super speed to speed through assignments when I was younger!" Kara exclaimed.
"Before anyone else says something they might regret..." Mila said. "Tech and I found two very interesting things. One, there are some particles in the air that neither Tech nor I recognize. I've taken samples of the air around here before, and never seen anything like this."
"And..." Tech pulled up the information on Mona. "I cannot find any record of Mona Sommers' existence."
"It make sense, though." Mariposa said. "A lot of doresho gypsies now don't have their birth records in a database. We have to do those in a shadow market registry now."
"You mean like the black market?" Gabby said.
"Kind of, but just for birth records. It was created to protect descendants of kingdoms or species under deep threats so their enemies wouldn't be able to detect them."
"I did run some tests on Mona's DNA," said Tech. "And it looks remarkably similar to Mariposa's."
"How is that possible?" Garrett looked at his wife. "I thought you said you never dated anyone else."
"I didn't. Goldie is the only baby I ever conceived."
"Did you ever donate your eggs or something?"
"I thought I came from Mommy's tummy, not an egg." said Goldie.
"Not that kind of egg, Goldie." Garrett said, getting nervous. Goldie was not old enough for that talk yet. "I'll explain it when you're older."
"No, I didn't." Mariposa said. "That would mean... Mona belongs to one of my sisters!"
Everyone gasped in shock.
"I have a cousin?"
"It appears you do," said Tech. "But we do not know which of Mariposa's sisters conceived her, or why she was imprisoned on Daro."
"Well, she probably got her blue eyes from Mariposa." said Anakin. He looked at the woman in question. "Do either of your sisters have light hair like Mona's?"
"No. Gray's was light, but it was silver gray, which she inherited from our great uncle. And Mariana had dark hair like mine. Neither of my parents had blonde hair either. Light hair isn't very common in my family."
"I did find something else, however. When I searched more matches to Mona's DNA, a name came up. Ollie Sommers, who disappeared five years ago."
"I think I heard that name before." Garrett said, he stopped to think. "Yes, I remember now. I believe I worked alongside him once when I was training to be a teacher. Interesting fellow, but a bit of a player. He always had this thing for mysterious women."
"And Mariverde is mysterious, alright." Mariposa said. "When we were young, she would always bring different guys home before our parents divorced. It didn't end well for any of them."
"Not well how?" Boba asked.
"Let's just say that although she is part butterfly, Mariana was more like a spider when it comes to men, who to her look like flies."
The guys seemed grossed out and scared by that.
"Glad I knew who I was marrying when I was a kid." Anakin said, wrapping an arm around his wife.
"I can do scary things too, Ani." Padme said. "Remember when I had to save you?"
"I don't doubt it, Hon."
"Do you think Mariverde killed Mona's dad and then took her?" Omega said.
"It sounds like the kind of thing she would do." Padme said. "By the look of it, Mona was taken against her will and tortured for a long time."
"But wait," said Lamenta. "None of this explains why no one can stop blurting out random secrets, or why my truth seeking power isn't working."
"Your power isn't working?!" Boba said.
"Yes. I tried seeing if anyone was really saying the truth or just blurting out random things, but nothing happened."
"Hmm. We'll have to run some magical tests." Garrett said. "Lamenta, come."
So, Garrett took Lamenta to run some tests on the particles, and figure out why her power wasn't working.
A few hours later, Garrett was shocked by the results. It turned out Lamenta's power had left her body and spread into the air.
"How does that even happen?" Qui-Gon asked, picking up his granddaughter.
"If Mariverde had something to do with this, a really powerful spell." Garrett went to get his spell book. "I'm not sure whose family is more complicated, mine or Mariposa's."
"Where is your family from anyway?" Lamenta said.
"An island paradise called Lokahi-Hana." Garrett said. "And I ran from my family when I was sixteen."
"What?! Why did you run?"
Garrett covered his mouth.
"Can we get back to this? Lamenta... did anything strange happen before you realized your power was gone?"
"You mean other than everyone blurting random secrets out?"
"Did anything happen yesterday?" Qui-Gon asked. "Something out of the ordinary."
Lamenta started to think, and she thought really hard.
"Wait. Last night, before I went to sleep. I was talking to Lammy about how I thought it seemed strange that Indira never lets me touch her or ride her at all like she doesn't want me seeing some kind of secret. Then, I started wishing for one day I wouldn't have to see the truth all the time."
"So now everyone just blurts out the truth, so you don't have to scan them." Crescent said. "Are you kidding me?! We're stuck shouting out the truth until tonight?"
"Maybe not." Garrett said. "But knowing Mariverde, she may have went on to making this go on for more than one day. Truth finding is one rare type of power. Therefore, we will need a special type of ritual in order to reverse it, which as luck would have it, I happen to have a phial of the required potion for an emergency such as this."
So, everyone gathered at a cauldron set up in the backyard. Garrett decided to use this as a teaching opportunity too by having the kids measure out the ingredients to put into the cauldron. Some dandelion fluffs, clear crystal water, and some glowing fungus. Then the potion Garrett had.
"Okay, now there's only one more thing this spell requires to work." Garrett said. "But it might not be easy."
"Why not?" asked Goldie.
"Because for this ingredient, someone has to tell the truth at their own will. A deep, dark, truth."
"Oh boy." Anakin said. "Alright. Someone's gotta spill something."
"I think Indira should." Lamenta said.
"Hmm?" Indira's eyes went wide.
"Indira, I may not be able to look inside your mind, but I know you're hiding something. Ever since you first came here, I'm the only one you wouldn't let ride or even pet you, and that makes me feel excluded. Did I do anything to upset you?"
Indira shook her head. But Hunter had a hunch.
"Are you worried that if we know whatever your secret is, we'll see you differently?" Hunter asked.
Indira looked down for a moment, and she nodded.
No one could believe Indira, the most level-headed, calmest horse they knew, was scared of being seen differently. But, it doesn't take a genius to know that even the nicest, calmest people have their limits.
"Indira, you're our friend. We would never treat you differently just because of a secret." Hunter said. "No matter what it is. It can't be that bad."
"Yeah, and we love you no matter what." Gabby said. "Come on, who was the one to show us all the varieties of lotus flowers and make everyone lotus flower crowns when Mommy threw that garden party?"
"And who helped me with meditation when I was nervous about that big math test and couldn't sleep or concentrate on studying?" Omega added.
"And who's the one who always tells us that it's through telling the truth we find out others' true colors?" Boba said.
Indira started to think. She looked down again, and she bumped Hunter to ask him to get the scarf and tape off her mouth.
"You want the truth? Here it is." Indira took a deep breath. "I'd hoped I wouldn't have to reveal this to anyone, but... the truth is... I wasn't born a pegasus."
That seemed to surprise everyone.
"So, you were born an Earth pony and then earned wings?" Boba said. "Or drank a potion that gave you wings?"
Indira shook her head. "No. That's not it either."
"Then what?"
"I was... I was born... a human."
That had everyone gasping.
"I did not see that coming!" Wrecker said.
"But... how?" Hunter said. "What happened?"
"Did a witch or warlock cast a spell on you?" Gabby asked.
"Did you drink a potion or spill one on yourself?" Goldie asked.
"How long have you been like this?" Lamenta asked.
"Alright, everyone!" Mila exclaimed. "Give Indira some space. Let's just let her explain."