Anakin and his family arrived at the Temple as quickly as they could once they got back home from their vacation. But they also found that they weren't the only ones the Jedi called over.

"Emeraldi!" Anakin said, seeing the green pegasus in the Council Chamber. "What are you doing here?"

"The Council called me over too." Emeraldi said. "They said they needed some info on more of Comedia's past that she might not have noticed. They didn't say why, but I rushed over. And I'm not alone either."

"Is Comedia alright?" Queen Reigna asked.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Ki-Adi said. "She's fine. But I didn't want her to panic because of what we were talking about. That is why I asked Senator Skywalker to take her shopping."

"I thought Comedia hated shopping." Anakin pointed out.

"She hated shopping with our parents." Emeraldi said. "They had much snootier taste in shopping."

"Ah."

That made more sense.

"What exactly did you ask all of us to come here for?" Gabby asked.

"An interesting discovery, we have made." Yoda said. "Zatt. Explain what you found while away the family was."

Zatt took out his tablet and showed their guests a video he'd taken of security footage that showed Comedia fighting a clavatized villain in the form of Fiesta turned into a villain who called herself Cuatro, and some vines moved Comedia kicked at them, but she never touched them. And then, he also showed a midichlorian count of thirteen thousand that came from a sample of Comedia's blood.

"Comedia is a Jedi?!" Emeraldi exclaimed.

"How is that possible?" Reigna gasped.

"Are you sure that's Comedia's count?" Anakin said. "Maybe she just used magic."

"We thought that too," said Ahsoka. "But look at this again."

Ahsoka rewound the video and zoomed in on where Comedia kicked and played it again.

"Look, Comedia's horn wasn't glowing at all. Don't unicorn's horns glow when they use magic?"

"Yes, they generally do." Reigna said. "The same applies to jewel pegasi and the gemstones that rest in their foreheads."

"That is why we called you, Emeraldi." Obi-Wan said. "Clearly, you and Queen Reigna have known her much longer than all of us have. We were wondering if you recall any time from when Comedia was younger."

"Such as...?" Emeraldi said.

"Did anything odd occur when Comedia was small?" Kit asked. "Anything odd for a unicorn? Think hard."

Emeraldi started to think back to when Comedia was little.

Eleven years ago...

Emeraldi was only seven, but she was already top of her class in finishing school. She was smiling on stage, but inside she felt like a prisoner. In the Evermare Manor, she wasn't allowed to laugh at all.

According to Gentry and Cordelia Evermare, laughter was a sign of weakness, a sign that one did not take things seriously. He would always say, a queen or a king does not laugh. So, when he learned one of his daughters was a silly-corn, he was furious.

"Since clearly we cannot get rid of her, it's up to you to uphold this family's legacy." Gentry had said to Emeraldi.

"But, Daddy. I don't even wanna be queen." Emeraldi said.

Emeraldi didn't really know what she wanted to do with her life, but being queen of Equinaro wasn't on her bucket list. She loved dressing in beautiful clothes and trying all kinds of hairstyles, but she didn't like that while other foals got to play outside and run around, she was always stuck inside practicing her etiquette lessons, memorizing sonnets, and learning other languages.

The only time Emeraldi really had any fun was when her parents left her alone with her nanny and she got to play with her little sister.

On this particular day, Emeraldi walked into the nursery where little Comedia was sitting in her playpen with nothing but her pacifier.

With their parents so determined to keep Comedia from giving into her silly-corn magic when she got older, they didn't even have baby toys for her to play with. They figured, if she never knew how to play, she would never act goofy. But they forgot something: every child is born with a vivid imagination. So, Comedia didn't really need much to entertain herself. By that time, she'd already taught herself how to walk on her front hooves like a circus performer.

Emeraldi found it felt so good to laugh when her parents weren't around as she watched Comedia being silly.

"Hey, sissy. What do you say we go play outside?"

Comedia playfully stuck out her little tongue and blew a raspberry. That was how she liked to say yes at the time.

Emeraldi giggled and got her sister out of the playpen and took her outside to their special spot. Their nanny was the only one who knew about their special secret spot.

And the two sisters were just playing under their favorite tree. It was the beginning of summer, so this tree was donning lots of beautiful pink flowers... and... the first peaches of the season.

"Peach!" Comedia said, hopping happily at the sight of the peaches growing on the tree.

Comedia loved peaches. Every time the nanny made baby food for Comedia, mashed peaches were the food she was guaranteed to gobble up.

"That's right, Comedia." Emeraldi chuckled. "It's peach season. Very soon, this tree will have lots of peaches. And Cousin Reigna always makes the best peach cobbler when we go visit her."

That had Comedia whinnying happily. She loved visiting her cousin, the queen. Her house was a lot bigger and she was actually allowed to run around when she was there, and do a lot of things her parents never let her do. But, Comedia, like a lot of little kids, preferred to have a treat immediately than wait and wait and wait. And when she saw a big, juicy peach hanging from a branch, she had a real strong hunger in her eyes like a puppy to peanut butter. She wanted that peach, but she didn't know how to fly yet. So... how would she get it?

Emeraldi looked away for a moment to pick some wildflowers, when she heard Comedia laughing at something.

"Comedia, what's-? Comedia?!"

Emeraldi looked around, and her sister was gone! She was so worried. She wasn't sure what thought she was more afraid of, her parents potentially being happy they were rid of Comedia, or that they would kill Emeraldi for losing her sister!

But then Emeraldi looked up, and saw... Comedia in the tree!

Luckily, Emeraldi did know how to fly, and she got her sister out of the tree as she was happily munching the peach she'd been eyeing.

"How did you get up there?"

"I jump!"

Present day...

"But that tree was at least twenty feet high!" Emeraldi said. "Even a full grown horse can't jump that high."

"How high can most horses jump?" Omega asked curiously.

"On average, five to seven feet." Gabby said. "Even Sapphire, one of the biggest horses, the highest she's ever jumped, according to some measurements Tech took, is about eight feet, when she's not using her wings."

"Even the strongest jumpers in my royal guard can't jump as high as twenty feet." Reigna said.

"Does this Force the Jedi have help you guys jump higher?"

"Yes, it does." Anakin said. "Gabby here always used it to an advantage in her Tigger games."

"At least I was getting a lot of practice." Gabby shrugged.

"Were there other instances of oddities with Comedia as a filly?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Well, there was that one time my parents thought the manor was haunted." Emeraldi said. "The doors just all started opening and closing randomly, and once the windows all just shattered."

Emeraldi thought again.

"Although, I think once I saw Comedia make an apple float, and her horn wasn't glowing. But, I thought that was just something unique to silly-corns or something."

And then, Kara thought of something.

"Didn't Garrett say he was a private tutor for the Evermares at some point?" she said. "Maybe he noticed some oddities when he was with her."

So, Kara called Garrett and asked him if he recalled noticing anything odd about Comedia when he used to tutor her. But, he didn't remember anything other than her being very energetic and playing about like she'd had all this silliness suppressed for a long period of time.

"But why is it only showing now?" Lamenta said. "Don't Jedi usually sense when there's a new Force sensitive somewhere?"

"Well, remember. I was nine when they discovered me, and I was in the Outer Rim then." Anakin pointed out.

Carmine tapped his brother's shoulder and motioned to himself. He was still resting his voice and hadn't gotten the all clear to speak yet.

"Oh, right. Somehow they didn't even sense Carmine when he was right here on Coruscant."

"Maybe because he spent more time using magic than the Force." Gabby said. "Or because he never stayed in one place long enough for the Jedi to find him when he was a kid."

"Whatever the reason." Qui-Gon said. "Masters, did any Jedi Masters happen to visit Equinaro or any world in the Enchantra system sometime in the last fifteen years?"

"If they had," said Emeraldi, rolling her eyes. "My parents would've just said 'take her' right away and thrown her right into their arms."

The Masters thought and thought, and then Master Kolar remembered something. He was with another master who'd passed recently, and they'd gone on a mission to Equinaro, believing a new Force sensitive was somewhere. Except, when they got there, they couldn't find anyone or anything with a connection to the Force. But... maybe it was because they never questioned any of the horses; they'd only questioned centaurs. Being it that centaurs were half human, the Jedi naturally suspected the disturbance came from one of them, not from any earth horse, unicorn, pegasus, alicorn, or even a sea equine. But the ruler of Equinaro back then, Queen Valentina just before she got sick, said they had no Jedi in their midst other than the ones visiting them. So, they left.

"Let me get this straight," said Emeraldi. "You questioned the centaurs, but not the ponies? Talk about closed-minded."

"We'd never heard of a quadruped being able to be a Jedi." Kolar defended.

"Oh, but you used to have a snake on the Council?"

"She's got a point." Anakin shrugged. "May Master Rancisis rest in peace. Anyway... now that you do know Comedia is Force sensitive, what you plan to do?"

That was what worried Ki-Adi a bit. Being of a completely different species from Comedia, there were a lot of things he couldn't teach her. Luckily, she already knew how to fly, run, and use magic. But, the Force was something she didn't seem to know a ton about yet. But... how do you teach an alicorn how to use the Force?

Comedia looked at herself in the mirror as she tried on a bunch of different hats. She thought maybe she might as well practice her apparent abilities while she was there. Padme needed to keep Comedia distracted while the Jedi was discussing what to do now that they knew her midichlorian count. Knowing Comedia had a rough past, it didn't seem too different than Anakin's past aside from the fact that Anakin had at least one loving parent.

Nevertheless, Padme knew an old saying that a cage could be made of gold, but it was still a cage. And Comedia grew up in a beautiful manor of pearl white with outlines and roofs of emeralds as green as Emeraldi. But, she felt like a prisoner because she wasn't allowed to use her talents or be herself at all. So, maybe it was totally different from Anakin; at least when he belonged to Watto, his mechanical skills were put to good use. At least, occasionally, she got to know what fun and love felt like when Queen Reigna took her in for a visit.

"See anything you like, Comedia?" Padme asked.

"Still looking, even though I know I'm only here 'cause my dad wants to talk about me behind my back." Comedia said, putting away a pink floppy hat she'd tried on. "Even I gotta agree, pink and green are not the best combo."

"Comedia... your father is only looking out for you. Besides... the Jedi are still getting used to the changed they've made in their lives. You have to remember, most of them grew up following a strict set of rules, similar to how you once did."

"Except their parents gave them away. That would've been the most decent thing my parents could've done for me years ago."

Comedia looked at a blue propeller curiously, and started to concentrate on it. If making things float was something Jedi did, a hat was a good thing to practice with, she figured.

"Urgh! Come on. Come on!" Comedia shut her eyes tightly and tried to make the hat move.

Nothing.

"Ugh!" Comedia groaned. "Why won't this work when I want it to?"

Comedia just used her magic to make the hat get on her head.

"I've lived with Jedi long enough to know that the Force works in strange ways." Padme said. "It might be that you haven't had enough professional teaching."

"I wonder if it's also part of why my parents treated me like a freak show or something." Comedia said. "I always knew I was different, but not that different."

Padme stroked Comedia's ear, her favorite place to be scratched.

"Nevermind them, Comedia. The only reason they treated you the way they did is because they're too blind to see that there's more to you than they could ever hope to be themselves."

Comedia started panting like a dog as she was scratched, making Padme laugh.

"Oh, Comedia."

Comedia snorted as she was laughing too.

"See what I mean? No one has a sense of humor like yours."

"Thanks. Not a lot of folks get me for wanting to be a comedian though. Ever since I became a princess, a lot of folks keep asking me why I still wear this thing." The propeller on Comedia's hat spun as she said that.

Padme chuckled and said, "That's just another things that's special about you, Comedia. You've clearly never been afraid to just be you. You know, even Gabby has felt uncertain. She's going to be queen of Naboo someday, and a lot of the time, behind that smile of hers, she feels a lot of pressure."

"How does she get over it?"

"Well, when I was queen, I felt a lot of insecurities too. So, I told Gabby that she just needs to remember that while making the right decision is important as a leader, she shouldn't overthink it. And most importantly, stop trying to be like everyone else. We're each a leader of our own life, and the only way we're to find out what kind of leader we are is if we ask ourselves, "How do I think this should be done?" You have a lot of ideas of your own, and you're also very smart in your own way."

"You think so?"

"I do. Your birth parents missed out on great opportunities when they chose not to embrace you as their own." Padme gently held Comedia's chin. "Even before Master Mundi adopted you, he was able to see what your birth family couldn't. That's a definite sign that he loves you, and wants only what's best. If he decides that you should be trained, it'll be because he only wants to keep you safe, like any good father wants for his daughters."

Comedia thought about what Padme said, and she realized she was right. After the Silly Filly incident, instead of being mad at her, Master Mundi asked Comedia why she acted the way she did. Most parents, sadly, if their children act out, they see a child just being bratty. They only ask "Why can't you be better behaved?" instead of asking, "Where did you learn to act this way? Why are you behaving like this?" In other words, they do not think to question where the child learned the bad behavior to begin with. Everyone learned to behave a certain way from somewhere.

In response to the incident, Ki-Adi questioned Comedia and was patient with her as they sat down to talk; he also remembered the most important step: assurance that he was there to help her, not to hurt her. And before that, unlike so many folks, he noticed that Comedia was exhibiting behavior that indicated she didn't trust strangers. And from what he knew of horses, they only tended to act like that if they were either a wild horse or were somehow mistreated. And he was the one to contact child services because he feared for her safety. If there were ever a moment an equine would choose to leave their rider or needed to for any reason, Ki-Adi did not want her to have to go back to her abusive parents; he needed to make sure they would never set hoof on her again. Even though he knew Queen Reigna truly cared for Comedia, she was a very busy mare and already had three children she barely had enough time for as it was. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he had to give the young mare a fighting chance.

Still, though. Comedia was already under pressure being a princess; being a Jedi too?

"What if I'm not good as a Jedi? I don't even know how to fight with a regular sword! How am I supposed to use a laser one?"

"I'm pretty sure that's not going to be the first thing you're going to learn as a Jedi." Padme said. "Even Anakin had to start with other things before he built his first lightsaber. Besides, you aren't the first princess to be in the Jedi."

"No, just the first with four legs." Comedia looked down at her legs as she said that. She looked in the mirror again. "I do know one thing for sure though."

"What's that?"

Comedia placed her own beanie back on.

"A purple propeller beanie is my signature look."

Meanwhile, Carmine took a moment to go to the healer's wing to have his throat checked.

One of the AZ droids scanned Carmine's throat and the rest of him too.

"Based on my scanning," said the droid. "Your throat is all better, you are in excellent health, and you can resume speaking any time you wish."

"Yes!" Carmine said... or rather... didn't?

That's weird. Carmine thought. He picked the inside of his ear and tried to say something else, but found that no sound came out of his mouth.

Carmine clapped his hands twice. He could hear the sound, so he knew his hearing wasn't the problem. He tried to say something to the droid again, and no sound came from his mouth. Then, he tried yelling. No sound again. He even tried to sing. No sound!

Carmine's eyes went wide. His voice was gone! But this was impossible! How could his voice just not be there anymore?

What do I do?! What do I do?! He thought to himself.

Carmine was terrified. He'd been unable to use his voice because of laryngitis, allergies creating too much phlegm, and even the common cold making his throat scratchy. But he'd never dealt with his voice disappearing completely! He needed help!

So, he rushed out to look for help.

Carmine ran as fast he could and bumped right into Anakin.

"Carmine!" Anakin scolded.

Carmine helped his twin up, looking apologetic. He shook Anakin by the shoulders to indicate he was distressed.

"Carmine! What are you doing?"

Carmine stopped shaking his brother and motioned to his throat.

"Oh, you're upset because your throat is still hurt?" Anakin said. "Is that what's got you so upset?"

Carmine shook his head and tried to yell out (though muted) to show Anakin that his voice was gone. But Anakin didn't understand what that was supposed to mean.

"Carmine, what are you trying to say?"

And then, Carmine had an idea. He started tickling Anakin, making him laugh like crazy.

"Carmine haha! Hahaha- stop it!" Anakin laughed. "You know I'm- haha- ticklish!"

Carmine stopped and got Anakin to look at him. And he pointed to Anakin and then to himself.

"You... want me to tickle you?" Anakin said, confused.

Carmine nodded, and he stood still.

"Uh... okay."

So, Anakin tickled Carmine under his arms, knowing he was really ticklish there. And Carmine definitely wiggled and squirmed about, and looked like he was laughing, only... no sound of laughter was coming out. This, Anakin found strange; Carmine was a lot more ticklish than Anakin was, especially on his feet, that was the spot that really made him go crazy.

"Wait a minute." Anakin stopped, allowing Carmine to catch his breath. "Why didn't I hear you laughing?"

Carmine motioned to his throat and gave a look that basically said it all.

"Wait...are you saying your voice is... gone?"

Carmine nodded again, looking more distressed this time.

"I don't need words to know what that means. We gotta get help."

Anakin took his brother's hand and rushed to one of the briefing rooms, where Garrett was showing some of the Council a presentation of what he'd found out about doresho hunters so far.

After learning that Mariposa's father was alive and that there were more doresho gypsies in hiding, Garrett decided they had another mission to add to the list: save the doresho gypsy race. Not only did they have to rid the galaxy of dark doreshos, but they had to get rid of all the doresho hunters too; with them around, not even the good doreshos would be able to walk the streets safely.

"As you can see," said Garrett. "Mahani has managed to uncover how all the most dangerous of doresho hunters' weaponry works based on what we found in our uncle's lab. And thanks to my father-in-law's thirty years' worth of witnessing inventions of new weaponry created, we can find a weakness in each of them, which will be essential to-"

"Garrett!" Anakin exclaimed, running in with Carmine in tow.

"Not now, Anakin. I'm busy."

"But this is an emergency!" Anakin said. "Carmine can't speak!"

"Minka did say he would to rest his voice for-"

"No! I don't mean his throat hurts. Carmine, show them..."

Carmine tried shouting out. No sound. But no one seemed to understand. Carmine motioned to his throat and tried to sing, and no sound came out. Still, no one seemed to get it.

Carmine face palmed, but then had an idea. He started using sign language.

"Does anyone here understand sign language?" Anakin said. He was still learning sign language.

"I admit my sign language is a little rusty," said Obi-Wan. He watched Carmine for a bit and translated. "I got confirmation from a droid in the healers that my throat is healed... but my voice... is... gone."

"What exactly do you mean by 'gone'?" asked Luminara.

Carmine signed, "I mean that it's literally not in my throat." That, Garrett translated, as he'd taught a class at a school for the blind and deaf before.

"How exactly do you explain that happening?" Garrett asked.

Carmine scratched his head and then had a another idea. He used a conjuring spell and brought a book. The Little Mermaid.

"What exactly does a book about a mermaid have to do with this?" Mace asked.

"Wait," said Garrett. "I recognize that book. My mother used to read this story to me often when I was a kid."

Garrett knew that book by heart, and he recalled one important detail from that very story. In the book, the mermaid traded her voice for human legs. But in this scenario, it seemed Carmine had his voice taken from him against his will. In a word: stolen.

"Carmine, are you trying to say your voice was taken like the mermaid in the story?"

Carmine smiled and nodded, tapping his nose like in Charades to say "You got it!"

"But how is that possible?" Anakin asked.

"Obviously, someone had to cast a spell for it." Garrett said. "A spell known as sirena laryngita, which has been used to disarm rogue sirens in the past, since their voices are the very source of their powers."

Suddenly, Garrett paused.

"Wait a minute."

Garrett then remembered something his family had said about going past the cove just before he'd gotten clavatized into Tropi-Callous.

"Anakin, when I was clavatized, were any of you past the cove of my family's beach?"

"Yes. I was, and so were Boba, Lamenta and Carousella. But we all have our voices still. And then Carmine came and used a Sonar Wave to get us out of the bubbles we were trapped in."

"Odd. I'd better contact my parents and ask them about this whole issue with going past the cove."

So, Garrett did contact his parents over video chat.

"Garrett, how nice to hear from you again so soon." Mr. Heartwood greeted.

"Hi, Dad. I wish I were calling under better circumstances," said Garrett. "I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the currents past the cove at our beach and why they're so dangerous."

"What do you want to know, exactly?"

"Well, what kind of strange things have happened past the cove? Has this been happening for a long time?"

Mr. Heartwood started to think, and then he told Garrett that actually, he'd only noticed it happening fairly recently. According to him, some family friends came to visit a few months ago, and they went sailing on the ocean, but as soon as they got past the cove, they heard... music. And when they heard it, the captain fell under some kind of a trance and started steering the ship towards some rocks! Luckily for them, the captain's teenage daughter was wearing her headphones and noticed what was happening, and had watched her father sailing long enough to turn the ship around before they could hit the rocks and end up in a watery grave. But some others were not so lucky.

Another day, Mahani brought her husband Micah and their boys for a visit, and they went wind surfing, but when Micah surfed past the cove, he nearly surfed right into a whirlpool to drown. Fortunately, Mahani was a great swimmer and managed to rescue him. But, similar cases happened at beaches nearby too, all of them happening within twenty miles of the cove. That seemed strange.

"Did all of them hear music?"

"All the ones we heard, anyway." Mr. Heartwood said.

So, Garrett decided to contact his brother Koa to start an investigation of everyone who'd been attacked in the water recently. Koa made some calls and quickly found that many did hear the flute music, but only one person saw who was playing it.

According to the description, the person they saw playing the flute was a woman with silver white hair, aqua colored skin, and a necklace with a white conch shell on it.

Garrett decided to check the database to see if any of the escaped convicts fit the description. And sure, enough... it did.

Garrett gathered the royal family to show what he'd found.

"The description Koa got matches that of an escaped convict by the name of Crescenda Allegris. A mute born siren, apparently."

"How can a siren be mute?" Gabby asked. "Aren't their voices what their known for?"

"Yes, and that's just the thing. Crescenda doesn't have a voice of her own. No one could explain why, but she channels her siren magic through musical instruments instead, namely a flute. According to her records, she was known to steal other sirens' voices and then use them to lure unsuspecting victims to a watery grave."

"Like in that book of magical legends we read in our last lesson?" Gabby asked.

"Precisely. Crescenda must have heard Carmine using his sonar wave and then hypnotized him long enough to steal his voice."

"But how come she didn't do the same thing to us?" Lamenta asked.

"Yeah, we were out past the cove too." Boba added.

"Victims are only affected if they hear her music." Garrett said.

"And we were all covering our ears when Carmine sang to free us." Anakin remembered.

If Carmine didn't look worried before, he certainly looked worried now.

Shmi hugged him to comfort him and asked if anything could be done.

"According to this," said Garrett. "Crescenda keeps all the voices she steals in that conch shell in her necklace. If we can get it from her, we can return Carmine's voice to him."

"And if we can't?" Omega asked worriedly.

"Well... sadly it means Carmine simply won't have a voice anymore. He'll be mute... which also means..."

Garrett couldn't bring himself to say it.

"It means he'll never be able to sing again?" Lamenta squeaked.

That thought alone immediately brought tears to Carmine's eyes. Music was the only thing he loved as much as he loved his family. Is was the very essence of his soul. Without music, who was he?

That immediately had Carmine running off, not wanting anyone to see him crying.