Fourteen years ago...

Indira's story was not exactly one with a happy beginning.

A long time ago, in a remote tribal kingdom somewhere beyond Maamoh-Yah, that was where Indira was born. But she wasn't name Indira when she was born. At birth, she was given the name Kanti, daughter of Chief Mannan, leader of this kingdom. But, Kanti never liked that name she was given. In other words, she was a princess. And little Kanti, she was a very observant child, too observant for this kingdom's taste.

In the kingdom Kanti was born in, unlike Maamoh-Yah, this kingdom was stuck in another century and practiced child marriage, which continued to this day. Sadly, in this practice, it meant very young girls were often forced to marry much older men. Young girls and women were basically slaves in this kingdom. Men could do as they pleased and never face consequences, including putting young girls in chains if they did not obey their husbands.

But Kanti saw a huge flaw in this system; she didn't find it fair that children were being forced into marriage, and she didn't want to face that same fate either. She wanted to be free. But her parents wouldn't have it. They would always say, "You are a girl, and you will as your men say!" And to make matters worse, Kanti's father promised her hand in marriage to a much older tribal leader, and while the girl was only six years old!

The tribal leader, named Durmukkah Aghati, demanded to be married to Kanti immediately, finding her to be the most beautiful girl in the kingdom, and she was disgusted by that, as well as terrified. But she didn't have a choice. It was either marry the guy and spend the rest of her life as a slave, or die. But, Kanti saw a third option.

On the day of the wedding...

Two men burst into the dressing room where the bride was supposed to be getting ready after the ceremony had commenced and the bride was ten minutes late. And when they did, they found she wasn't in there!

"Where'd she go?" said one man. "That door is the only way out!"

"She has to be here somewhere." said another, when he noticed an open window blown by the wind. And sure enough, when he looked out, he saw Kanti in her red wedding dress, running like hell. "Hey!"

"Stop her!" said the first man.

Kanti ran through town and didn't look back, even as the men demanded she turn back.

"Come back here, Kanti!" said one man. "Mr. Aghati is waiting."

But Kanti didn't turn back. She ran as fast as she could to get beyond the town's borders, and got into the thick jungles nearby, where she ran through any trees, bushes, and slapped a lot of mosquitoes that tried to nip her, and a few branches managed to tear off some of the layers of her wedding dress, which decreased the drag on her, and she kept on running as fast as her little legs would let her.

The little girl ran until nightfall when she eventually arrived in the kingdom of Maamoh-Yah, but the men were still coming after her. Kanti didn't have any friends she could turn to, or any family who would be willing to help her. She didn't know where she would go, but anywhere was better than being married as a child to a monster. But Kanti could only continue to go so far.

She was getting exhausted, and would be caught soon if she didn't find a new mode of transportation fast. But then, by some miracle, she spotted a cargo trader ship at a dock, the dock where things to be traded to other kingdoms were shipped on boats... away from the land. Kanti knew it was risky, and probably illegal to stow away on a cargo ship, but it was her only option at this point.

So, when no one was looking, he rushed over to the ship and hid inside a crate full of mangos, which was lucky for her, because she was starving.

Kanti fell asleep in the crate as they were finally docking to where they were being delivered... until she was woken up by a voice.

"Wait a minute, this crate looks like it's been opened." said a female voice.

Kanti opened her eyes with a gasp, and she covered her eyes from the bright light as a rusty red stallion in gold armor opened it.

"What the-"

The human girl screamed as she'd believed she'd been compromised. Before anyone could say anything else, the little girl rushed out of the box and ran again. But, not for very long, because as she was running, she tripped on a rock and hurt her ankle. And then the same guard who caught her came along.

Kanti tried to move away, but the stallion told her not to be afraid. He saw her wincing as her ankle hurt more and more.

"Ooh, that doesn't look good." said the stallion, whose name was Jalebi, like Kanti's favorite dessert.

Jalebi picked Kanti up by the back of her dress and carried her away. Kanti wasn't sure what to expect; she didn't even know talking horses existed. Storybooks with fun stories were also non-existent where she grew up, so she didn't even know what playtime meant, or how to relax, or just do things for herself. Only men in her kingdom were allowed to do anything educational or fun that all children should be allowed to experience.

And then Kanti was in for a big surprise when Jalebi took her to the castle.

Princess Reigna had been crowned queen fairly recently, and was very happy because she and her new husband Orpheus had gotten back from their honeymoon with the news that they were expecting a new baby. And when Jalebi arrived, Reigna was seeing Jalebi's wife Sarmi, who was a healer, and one of the most beautiful pegasi in all the land.

Jalebi introduced the girl to his wife and set her down to be treated. Sarmi looked at the little girl and immediately saw that she was hurt, tired, and very dirty.

"Poor thing. It looks like you have been through a lot." Sarmi said. "Where are your parents?"

Kanti was scared to say anything, even as Sarmi got to healing her.

"What's your name?"

Kanti just scrunched her nose. That was enough for Sarmi to note that the little girl probably didn't like whatever name she was given at birth.

"You don't like your name?" And Kanti shook her head. "Can you talk?"

The little girl nodded.

"Where did you come from?"

"You're not gonna make me go back, are you?" asked the human.

"Back where?"

Kanti explained to the Ghodas that she'd run off from a forced marriage in a kingdom that forced little girls to marry much older men and made them abused tortured slaves for the rest of their lives. And you can bet they were horrified to learn the poor child had been through such a horrible fate by her own parents. When they told Queen Reigna about this, she was shocked as well. They knew they couldn't force the child to go back, and convincing another kingdom to change its practices was far from easy. The only solution? They had to hide the girl.

"Kanti doesn't seem to suit you either." Sarmi said, looking the child over. "How about we call you... Indira?"

Kanti, or rather, Indira, immediately liked the sound of that name, a name that meant 'splendid, beauty, and prosperity.'

So, while Indira was healing, and Queen Reigna worked out a solution to keep her safe, the queen placed Indira under the Ghodas' care.

Sarmi and Jalebi brought Indira to their cottage, gave her a bath, fed her, and made her a nice cozy place to sleep, and took good care of her. But many nights, Indira had trouble sleeping, so Sarmi took her under her wing, literally and figuratively. You see, Sarmi wasn't just a healer, she was a yoga teacher too. Most horses ran, jumped, and raced for exercise. Sarmi? She liked yoga, and it gave her some flexibility most horses didn't have. So, early every morning, Sarmi woke Indira up to do yoga with her. And over time, Indira got better and better, and she not only gained more flexibility, but a more balanced mindset.

Every day, Indira and Sarmi meditated and did yoga, Sarmi guiding her with many mantras and words of wisdom. Indira never felt more relaxed, more at peace, or just plain happy in her life. By the time she was seven, Indira really felt at home with the Ghodas. But there was still one problem: Indira's birth family could come at any moment looking for her, and they had to make sure that would never happen. But luckily for them, Queen Reigna had a solution, and by then Fantasia had just been born.

"My mother used to tell me many stories about he Equinary," she said then. "In all of those stories, it always knew how to unlock what was in a being's heart. No one said it was limited to equines."

Queen Reigna opened the Equinary to a blank page and told her to place her hand on it.

"Indira Ghoda..." Reigna began. Indira looked up at the queen curiously. "You were raised in a land where you were a prisoner, but in your heart, you wish to be free?"

"Yes. Free as a pegasus flying in the wind." Indira said. "I wanna be able to make my own choices, to find what I like to do, and live here where my other family can't find me."

And when Indira unleashed the truth in her heart, the book glowed, and so did she. A magical spell was cast from the book, and the human girl formerly known as Kanti Mannan transformed into... a beautiful pegasus filly named Indira Ghoda. But, like every pegasus foal, Indira didn't quite know how to fly yet. But luckily, she had a loving pegasus mother who teach her, and an earth pony father to catch her if she fell.

Present day...

"Since then, I led a happier life." Indira said. "My parents officially adopted me, they loved and raised me as their own, and taught me everything about how to be a horse. It wasn't easy though. Having four legs and a tail doesn't make a horse. It was through my spirit I was accepted as one of them in Equinaro. the Equinary just transformed my body. And that was how I became Indira Ghoda."

"You're a princess too?" Omega gasped.

"I didn't feel much like a princess. I was a prisoner above anything else. They might as well have called me Prisoner Kanti instead of Princess Kanti. I still hate that name."

"Indira suits you better, anyway." Carmine said.

"I had no idea you went through all that," said Hunter.

"And I thought I had it bad." Anakin said. "I can't believe there's still child marriage in the Galaxy."

"Well, like the Outer Rim, the Republic doesn't exist to certain kingdoms in Enchantra." said Indira. "But after I changed, I did eventually go back, and with the help of many friends I made in Equinaro, saved many young girls from entering abusive marriages, and many young boys from being turned into monsters like the one I was almost wed to. By now, many of those children have hopefully gone to loving families themselves."

"That was courageous," commented Padme. "Your parents must be very proud."

"I have so much to be grateful for thanks to them." Indira said. "But from anyone outside my family, I kept it secret that I was ever a human because I feared it would make others perceive me oddly. Be honest, how many horses have you ever heard of who used to be humans?"

"I cannot say I have heard a lot." Shmi said. "If only we could have been so lucky on Tatooine."

"Indira?" Goldie said. "Do you ever miss being a human?"

"I will confess, I do sometimes miss the days I had fingers and walked on two legs. Walking on all fours was probably the strangest and hardest part of learning to be a horse, since I hadn't done so since I was a baby, but I did feel one with the earth with every step. However, I feel much happier as a pegasus than I ever did being Kanti. Plus, I never liked meat anyway, and no one tries to make a horse eat meat."

But, the potion didn't seem like it was working.

"Seriously?!" Indira said. "I poured my heart out just now."

"Does anyone else have a truth they can share?" Garrett asked.

"Is it really worth embarrassing someone?" said Carmine.

"My middle name is Mildred!" Harmony blurted out. "AGH! Make it stop!"

Everyone started to jabber on about who should be next to say a new truth or why they were not going to be unleashing deep dark secrets that were no one else's business. No one knew what to do.

Mona looked in and saw everyone was worried. They needed someone to tell the truth in order to break the spell. But Mona had a feeling it wasn't a deep dark truth from just anyone they needed. They needed her truth specifically.

You see, Mona had a secret she was forced to keep for as long she'd been imprisoned. Her earliest memory was of her father being attacked by moths, hearing him screaming in agony, and then the screaming stopped. It was the scariest thing she'd ever seen in her life.

Mona was raised in a dark environment, where she was forced to learn everything on magic, doresho gypsies, and constantly tortured. Every day, she was taught that she should hate Solaris and its royal family, and if she made one mistake, she would be whipped, thrown against the wall, or dragged by Mariverde's glove and thrown into a tall narrow room with spikes hanging from the walls, sometimes being left there all night. But then, one of the guards left the door open while transferring her on Daro, and Mona took her chance to run and look for a way to escape. That was when she ran into the Batch and saw a bunch of magical horses, and was initially terrified one of them would do something awful to her.

In one of her sessions with the magic mirror, Mariverde told Mona those people were in cahoots with Solaris' royal family, and weren't to be trusted, so when she saw them, again, she was terrified. But when Hunter came and helped her... she was confused. If these people were bad, why did Hunter help her? And why were the others so nice to her?

Bad people didn't normally nurse injured little girls back to health... not unless it was a trick. But they didn't even know her before they rescued her, so why were they being so nice? Would they see her differently if they knew who she really was? Or would telling the truth set her free?

There was only one way to find out. So, while everyone was still bickering, Mona rushed over and shouted,

"Mariverde is my mother!"

And like that, the cauldron burst with a beam of magic that spread across the galaxy. No one had any idea what it did at first, and they didn't feel much different either. But... some of the Jedi were noticing none of them were blurting out their secrets anymore, and the same thing happened with the royal family too.

"Does anyone feel any different?" Garrett asked.

"Not really." Caroline said.

"Gabriella, try to lie about how many fingers I'm holding up." Tech said, holding up five fingers.

"Eight." Gabby said. "Hey, I was able to lie. Wow, that's the first time I've ever been happy about that."

"It looks like no one's blurting out random things anymore either." Lamenta said. "But what about my power?"

"Well, we'll try something simple." Carmine said. "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten."

Lamenta touched her father's wrist, and this time her eyes glowed.

"Four and a half." Lamenta said.

"You're right."

"I'll need another test." Lamenta looked at Garrett. "Like more about your past?"

"I think we're good!" Garrett said, backing away.

"What about Mona?"

Lamenta touched Mona's wrist, and looked into her mind. Let's just say, she was beyond shocked by what she saw in Mona's mind. It turned out, Mona was a prisoner all her life, and she was forced to watch her father die when she was only three.

The others couldn't believe it when Lamenta told them what she saw, and Mona just ran inside and cried.

"Mona, wait!" Goldie exclaimed. "Why did she run away?"

"I'm not sure," said Mariposa. "But I think it may have something to do with her upbringing by my sister."

Everyone went to look for Mona inside the palace, but Mona was hiding really well.

"If we ever find her, we gotta play Hide and Seek sometime." Gabby said, going to a closet, only for a bunch of clothes to avalanche over her. "Ahh!"

Everyone kept looking and split up across the palace. Boba looked around until he heard someone crying, and it was coming from the nursery. But it wasn't any of the babies crying.

Boba looked inside. Luke, Leia, and little Charlotte were all fast asleep in their cribs. But hiding underneath Charlotte's crib was Mona.

"Mona? What are you doing under there?" Boba whispered, not wanting to wake his baby cousin.

Mona got startled and bumped her head on the crib. "Ow!"

That was enough to wake Charlotte and make her start crying. Mona took that as her cue to flee! Boba would've gone after her, but instead he took Charlotte out of her crib and tried to calm her down.

"Shh! It's okay, Charlotte. It's okay." Boba soothed. "You're okay. Mona just hurt herself a little. She didn't mean to scare you."

"Boba, what happened in here?" Carmine asked, walking in.

"I found Mona, but then Charlotte woke up and started crying."

"Come here, Baby." Carmine cooed, taking his baby into his arms. "It's okay. Daddy's here."

Suddenly, they also heard loud babbling as Luke was now awake and bouncing happily in his crib, holding himself up on the bars.

"Luke's awake too." Boba sighed.

Meanwhile, Mona was on the run until she bumped into Qui-Gon in one of the halls.

"There you are." Qui-Gon said.

But Mona tried to run, only for the strongest Jedi to scoop her up, amid the child squirming about, demanding to be put down.

"Mona, I will put you down after you calm down."

Qui-Gon held Mona over his shoulder, but she was kicking and wiggling about to try and get Qui-Gon to put her down.

"Mona, nothing bad is going to happen to you."

"Mother said you might say something like that just before you'd try cursing me if you knew who I was."

"Cursing you?"

"Don't act like you don't know!"

"I'm not acting." Qui-Gon then held Mona so she could see his face. "Look, we are going to sit down and talk about this. I know you are frightened, and have every right to be. Regardless of who your parents are, we are here to help you, not to hurt you."

Qui-Gon let everyone know that he found Mona, and they gathered in a circle to talk. Gabby got out a big orange teddy bear. One of the things Ms. Deera had taught in the first grade class was how to talk out feelings through communication. In her lesson, the guidance counselor was a guest and brought a stuffed bear they called the Talking Teddy. The bear itself didn't talk, but in the Talking Teddy Circle, whoever held the teddy bear had the floor, and then it was passed on to whoever was next to speak and so on.

Gabby gave the bear to her mother first since she was the best speaker.

"Mona, as we all know, you just told us that Mariverde is your mother. Right now, we just want to let you know this won't change the fact that we want to help you. You've clearly been hurt and abused. You weren't happy where you were before. Were you?"

Mona just looked down and didn't say anything. Padme asked who would like to speak next. Lamenta raised her hand, and the talking teddy was passed to her next.

"Mona, you can tell us anything. We all want to help you, but we can't if you don't communicate." Lamenta said.

Mariposa took the bear next.

"Mona, now that I know we're technically family, I want to help you more than ever. If I remember correctly, I know my sister. She's not exactly the best at caring for a child."

Mona then mumbled something indistinguishable.

"What was that?" Mariposa then passed the bear to her newfound niece.

Mona squeezed the bear.

"My mom tried to replace me with a baby." Mona cried.

"What are you talking about?" Boba said.

Mona started to cry harder and replied, "My mom said I wasn't strong enough with my magic, that I wasn't smart enough, and that I was taking too long to grow wings, and she brought a new baby to our old house she said was my replacement."

Anakin then pulled up a picture on his phone of Obi-Wan with Olivia.

"Is... this the baby your mother said she wanted to replace you with?" he asked.

"Yes. That's her."

This meant... Mona was there when Olivia was kidnapped. She was somewhere in Mariverde's old hideout.

"Do you know where your mother is now?" Tech asked.

"No. She put me a box and then I was thrown into a prison somewhere. Then I got moved from one place to another, and then I saw a bunch of other people she imprisoned for I don't know why. But if was like with that baby, she tried to turn them into her partners in crime and none of them were good enough. And she said if I didn't shape up, or I saw her face, she'd get rid of me just like she did Daddy!"

Everyone was shocked by that. Mariverde had actually murdered the father of her own child?!

"Wait, you've never seen your own mom's face?"

"No, she's always hiding it. When I asked her why..." she pulled the sleeve from the back of her right shoulder, revealing a huge scar, some of which was hidden by her wings now. "She did this to me."

Despite knowing Mariverde was a psycho, it still shocked everyone to know that she would do this to her own child, treating her so poorly, never letting her be a kid or know what it was like to be happy. No one could even recall ever seeing Mona smile... except Hunter when he helped Mariposa give Mona a bath. She really liked the rubber ducky and the bubbles. Her bright blue eyes were wide with wonder then, and the way she giggled, it looked as though it was the first time she'd ever laughed.

Hunter left for a bit and came back with something.

"Remember this?" Hunter made a rubber ducky squeak for Mona in an effort to make her laugh.

Mona took the rubber ducky into her hands and rubbed it against her cheek like the other kids often did with their stuffed animals.

"She really likes that rubber ducky, doesn't she?" Caroline said.

"I never had one of these before." Mona said. "Mother said toys were for good kids who obey their mothers, not for disappointments from the tube."

Mariposa found it to be no surprise that her sister would use a cloning process using her own DNA and a man's DNA to have her child instead of carrying her herself. Mariverde was not willing to give up her body for a baby.

"You are not a disappointment, Mona." Mariposa said. "If anyone is a disappointment, it's your mother. She's the one who's been unfair to you by denying you a loving family and not allowing you to have a proper childhood."

"And especially for what she did to your dad." Boba said. "I know exactly how much it hurts. You see, Omega and I were adopted. But before that, I had a dad, and I lost him when I wasn't much older than you. I really fell apart when it happened. No on can ever replace the people you love, but that doesn't mean you can't let other people into your life, especially those who want to love you and care for you."

Anakin ruffled Boba's hair at that.

"Dad!"

Mona looked at Anakin messing with Boba. She couldn't remember the last time she'd experienced a loving parent-child moment like that.

"You are not your mother, Mona." Kara said. "You can make your own decisions. But while you're young, you will need care and guidance in order to make the best decisions. And we can provide you with that."

Mona looked at everyone, still a little unsure.

"We'll all take good care of you, Mona." said Mariposa. "Just like we do with the other kids. You're part of this family now, and not just your biological family."

That night, Carmine and Anakin worked on a little something for Mona while Qui-Gon got the children gathered for story time.

"Grandpa Qui-Gon is the best storyteller ever." Lamenta said.

"Come here, Mona." Qui-Gon said. "Sit with me."

"Why?" Mona asked.

"Lap time is something we do here." Gabby said.

"When we do that at story time, we get to turn the page as he tells the story." Goldie said.

Mona walked up and sat with Qui-Gon as he read the storybook; it turned out to be a lot of fun getting to turn the page whenever he finished the one before it so they could hear what happened next in the story. And by the time Qui-Gon finished reading the book, Anakin and Carmine had their surprise ready for Goldie.

"Mona, we have a little surprise for you." Carmine sang.

Mona wasn't sure what to expect.

"Have you ever had a stuffy of your own before?" Anakin asked.

"What's that?" asked Mona.

"That's what some of us call the cuddly toys kids like to sleep with sometimes."

Mona realized all the kids in the palace had one, even some of the grownups. Gabby had Teddy Bear, Lamenta had Lammy the sheep, Boba had Fuzzy Lion, Omega got Little Star her unicorn, Goldie had Dotty the Caterpillar, and Wrecker had Lula. But... Mona never had any toys, much less a cuddly plush.

"No, I never did have one."

"Well, in that case. I think you'll like this."

"Ta-da!" Carmine presented a cute plushy of a yellow ducky with cute black button eyes and an orange ribbon tied around its neck. "We made this ducky just for you."

Mona took the ducky into her arms.

"You like him?"

Mona was silent for a bit as she took in the sight of the cute duck plush. It felt so soft, its button eyes were pretty cute, and it felt squishy. She giggled and hugged the ducky tightly. She absolutely adored the ducky. All the other kids gave their stuffies names, so she decided to call her duck Squishy.

Mariposa tucked Mona into bed while she cuddled with Squishy. Even kissed her goodnight, which surprised Mona. Mariverde never kissed Mona, not even when she was a baby. But her aunt, she was everything Mona ever needed in a mom. She tucked her in, gave her kisses, and made sure she was snug as a bug in a rug like she always did with Goldie, and turned out the lights for her. But, just in case... Padme put a little sunflower nightlight in Mona's room so she wouldn't be scared of the dark.

The family had a list of things they definitely needed to do to help Mona feel more comfortable. Soon, they were going to get her some new clothes, including a cloak to hide her wings, some new sheets for her bed, and some toys and books of her own. Everything a child needs to make their room feel like their own. And since they were accepting her as part of the family now, they needed to add getting her a pretty dress to the list so she could attend her first big event, which was coming very soon.

What event was that exactly?

None other than the royal wedding between Qui-Gon Jinn and his long-time love Shmi Skywalker.