This story takes place between the events of the "Brainstorm" arc and before "Meet the Monroes" and the "Mama Bear" arc

This story takes on the topic healthy eating, it is not intended to mock or offend anyone of any body type or anyone who may be dealing with eating disorders. Remember, it's always a good idea to try to be healthier. Plus, learning all kinds of healthy alternatives and trying out different recipes made with all kinds of healthy ingredients can actually be a lot of fun as well as delicious.

Graduation. It was a huge milestone for everyone who's ever been in school. There's graduation from kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, and of course the second biggest milestone of all, high school graduation, right before the ultimate milestone: graduation from college!

But for now, the graduation that was completed, at least for two children in the royal family of Solaris, was an eighth grade graduation.

The twins, Boba and Omega Skywalker-Jinn, recently graduated from Windy Falls Academy. Although they'd only attended the school for one year, they made so many great memories there, as well as had some exciting adventures during that time, their graduation day being no exception. The twins got one last magical battle as Windy Falls students when their teammate Madison got so angry that she lost the race for valedictorian to Boba's girlfriend Roya that she got clavatized by Mariverde into the villain Brainstorm, and she stole high percentages of people's intelligence, leaving them with the brains of toddlers, and in some cases all common sense. But in the end, with help from their friends, as well as Goldie's new pegasus zebra friend Buttercup, they restored everyone's intelligence, and saved their teammate and their graduation.

Of course, making it to graduation was hard work. There's homework, projects, reports, tests, final exams, and of the course the ever dreaded standardized tests. But once you make the milestones, it's all worth it not just because you're one step closer to achieving the job and life of your dreams, but because your parents will typically reward you with something amazing. Like a party with the biggest ice cream cake ever!

Graduations weren't the only milestone to achieve. When you're a Jedi, the milestones you face are a little different. There are graduations, but not the kind with caps and gowns you may be used to. In the Jedi Order, you graduated from Padawan to Knight, where you had your Padawan braid removed, and when a Jedi Knight's Padawan graduates to Knight status, the former teacher then graduates to Jedi Master.

Now, the Jedi faced other milestones besides graduating to a new status, and now they witnessed other milestones too, such as adopting a child or getting married. At this moment in time, Jedi Master Mace Windu and his girlfriend Brenda Monroe-Dawson were set to be married very soon, Plo Koon and Shaak Tii were happily met with the news that they were officially going to bring their newly adopted son home in less than two months, and Master Mundi's adopted daughter Comedia was officially accepted into a great high school: Walker Prep, where Master Windu's daughter Myra went to school, and that was also where the adopted royal twins would be attending.

Of course, no milestone was easy to achieve. To get through all the hard work involved, you need a few things: sleep, stress relief, time management skills, hydration, and of course a healthy diet. There were three main things that were guaranteed with hard work: exhaustion, pressure, and of course working up an appetite.

Some folks, when they work hard, they forget to eat, which is the worst thing you can do whether studying for a test, prepping for a big job interview, or practicing for an audition. Even fun things like playing sports or going to the amusement park require energy. You gotta have energy to move, to stay awake, and to think straight. In short, energy is what makes things go, and food is the fuel you need.

Of course, not everyone eats the same things for all kinds of reasons. Some people have allergies that prevent them from eating certain foods because their body has a terrible reaction if they do, others choose not to eat certain kinds of food for religious or traditional purposes, others because they're just picky eaters, and some because they need to eat according to a specific and possibly very strict diet to be healthier.

For example, Garrett wouldn't explain why, but he ate a lot of protein, so his diet mostly consisted of meat, nuts, and any other plant protein he could get his hands on.

Anakin and Carmine, though they had the same face, they each had different tastes for food. Anakin loved bacon, but Carmine hated it. Carmine, on the other hand, could eat really spicy food with no problem, but if Anakin takes one bite of five alarm chili, spicy curry, or anything with a drop of hot sauce, he starts screaming in pain and frantically searching for anything cold or made with milk to cool off his tongue.

Padme worked a stressful job as both a politician and a mother, so she had to make sure she ate healthy, especially when she was pregnant with her three youngest children. That meant eating lots of greens and other fruits and vegetables.

Even Jedi had different diets, partially because of the various species that lived in the Temple. Kit Fisto, for instance, mostly ate seafood, and he adored his sushi. Eeth Koth could eat most foods, but he was also lactose intolerant, which meant if he ingested dairy products, he got nasty stomach cramps, so he had to eat cheese, yogurt, or ice cream made from plant-based milk alternatives. Ki-Adi Mundi used to eat meat, but not much, and now he was officially a vegetarian, which was a good thing since he now had an adopted daughter who was a horse, a creature who was a vegetarian by nature. Both they and a few other Jedi lost count of how many times they'd seen one of the horses accidentally chomp something with meat in it only to spit it right back out the way Carmine spat out a bite of food if it had even a crumb of bacon in it.

Some species also ate larger amounts than others. Horses were among those who ate a lot, eating approximately twenty pounds of food per day on average, and their diets could be pretty strict too depending on the equine's medical needs, their age, their size, and if they happen to be expecting a baby. But even animals had their likes and dislikes.

Carousella, for example, loves red fruits the most, especially strawberries. Hunter's horse Indira loved tropical fruits, especially mangoes. Ahsoka's horse Fiesta loved mixing and matching flavors like salty pretzels with sweet chocolate, but her true favorite type of food was juicy stuff, namely peaches. Pinto, Banjo, and Maybelle loved all kinds of fruits and vegetables, especially as long as they were farm fresh. But there was one horse who loved snacks more than all the horses combined, and his name was Citrus Splat.

Citrus was Master Plo Koon's horse. Citrus loved to eat, and his name suggests, he especially loved citrus fruits from lemons as yellow as the patches on his white and yellow coat, or oranges as orange as his mane. But overall, Citrus just loved to eat. He loved lots of different snacks. Popcorn, graham crackers, jellybeans, bananas, apples, berries, carrots, celery, cereal, you name any snack without meat, Citrus will eat it. Except kale. Citrus hated kale. He called it spinach's bitter cousin.

Summertime was finally here, the time of year every student (and sometimes teachers) looked forward to from the day school started. But for some who'd never been to a real school, that meant preparing to go to school for the first time.

Comedia was worried about attending high school though, being that she had four legs, and when she peeked through her periscope into the windows at Walker Prep while her father did the tour (she didn't want anyone seeing her and knowing she was a horse yet), she saw that her fears were correct. All the students in Walker Prep walked on two legs. Even the one student she spotted in a hover-chair had fewer legs than her. Two legs! Comedia was sure the other students would laugh at her or just mock her for being the only one in the entire high school who got around on all-fours, which no high school student had done since they were babies. But Myra reassured her that was the least of her worries. For one thing, Comedia being a horse, she had that to her advantage, because although horses were beautiful, cuddly, and fun to ride, they could also bite very hard and kick with deadly force if provoked. It didn't help completely, but Comedia said she'd consider it. She'd used that with her birth parents once or twice in self-defense, and if throwing people off her back were an official sport, she'd qualify for an olympic version of it by now.

But, school stress aside, it was time to grab a snack.

No one was sure when it began, but Master Mundi had this odd addiction to gummy bears, so it wasn't surprising that he had a bowl of them set out for a snack. But it was surprising when he said it was set like that because he was sharing them with his daughter. Comedia loved gummy bears too. That was one of a few things the two found out they had in common. Except, Ki-Adi realized then he lost his lightsaber, and recalled putting it down when he was putting together his snack, so he went back to the snack area to get it, but when he got back to the table, the bowl was empty.

"Comedia, did you eat all the gummy bears?" Ki-Adi said.

"No. I'm as surprised as you." Comedia said.

But just to be sure, Ki-Adi told Comedia to show him her teeth. So, she did. No gummy pieces trapped between her teeth. And her breath definitely didn't smell like gummy bears. It smelled more like oatmeal and cinnamon, which made sense since she'd had that for breakfast that morning.

"If you didn't eat them and I didn't eat them, who did?" said the Cerean.

Comedia snorted when she spotted something. "Who do you think?"

Citrus was in easy view, chewing on something. Something colorful and fruity.

"Citrus!" the cerean and alicorn scolded.

"What?" said Cirus with his mouth full.

Ever since the Council got their horses, it quickly became well known that no snacks were safe with Citrus Splat around. He ate practically every edible thing in sight (except meat or kale, of course) almost as quickly as the Tasmanian devil. In other words, if Citrus is around, don't leave your meatless snacks unattended, or you'll come back to an empty plate, bowl, or bag. So, it was probably a good thing Master Mundi found another place to stash most of his gummy bears besides under his bed, where Comedia or Gabby could find them easily, while everyone else had to hide their gummy bears even better to keep them safe from him. And since Citrus wasn't a unicorn, he couldn't open most things himself.

Comedia rolled her eyes and just grabbed a couple of apples.

"Here. These are healthier anyway." Comedia said, placing an apple in Ki-Adi's hand.

"You do have a point." Ki-Adi said, biting the apple.

At dinner that night, the Koon Family did what a peaceful family would do, even if it was just once a week: Make dinner together. Plo Koon had to eat his food in a special chamber free of oxygen, which meant he couldn't really eat with the others, but he still sat at the table and helped cook anyway so he wouldn't have to be left out.

Except, when Fiesta was helping to place the salad on the table, she noticed an empty bowl, and not one for serving food in.

"Qué diablos? What happened to the peach slices I put out?"

"Wasn't this bowl just filled with spaghetti?" Ahsoka pointed at a now empty strainer.

"Odd," said Shaak, looking at an empty cutting board. "I could have sworn there were some carrots on that cutting board just now. Sunheart? Did you eat the carrots?"

"No!" Sunheart said. "Carrots are my favorite snack, but I would never hog all of them for myself, knowing they were for everyone."

The two Togrutas and Kel Dor knew it had to be one of the horses because they were making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner that night, and the meatballs were the only thing that hadn't been eaten, and they'd made enough food for three people, and only a horse or a champion competitive eater could eat that much in one sitting. And since none of the three Jedi in this apartment were competitive eaters, it had to be one of the horses.

"Fiesta?" Ahsoka looked at her horse.

"No culpable. Not guilty."

So, if Ahsoka didn't eat everything, and Shaak didn't eat everything, and Plo didn't eat everything, and it wasn't Fiesta or Sunheart. That only left…

"Citrus!" Everyone shouted when they spotted Citrus munching on the last peach.

"Yeah?" said the earth horse nervously.

"Citrus, you ate everything!" Ahsoka said.

"Not everything!" Citrus said. "There are still plenty of meatballs."

"Yes, except Fiesta and I can't eat meat." Sunheart said.

"Great," said Fiesta sarcastically. "Canned pineapple again."

Fiesta liked pineapple, but canned wasn't nearly as good as fresh pineapple and it was the one kind of food Citrus couldn't get for himself. Mostly because the can opener was tricky for him to work.

"Citrus, that food was for everyone." Plo Koon said more calmly. "Why would you eat everything, and so quickly?"

"I was hungry." Citrus said. "I have a big appetite and very fast metabolism. I can't help it."

"Well, you need to get that snacking problem of yours under control." Ahsoka said. "The rest of us gotta eat too."

Ahsoka went to the fridge to look for more vegetables or fruit to make salad for the other horses, only to find barely anything left in the fridge.

"And, we need to go grocery shopping again."

"I'll see if there's cereal in the pantry." Fiesta said.

"Finished that this morning." Citrus said.

"CITRUS!"

Now the others were starting to think they may need to start locking the fridge and the pantries if they wanted to avoid starving.

But it wasn't just this family that had someone with a little snacking problem.

If there was one thing kids loved, it was dessert. And if there's one thing most kids hate, it's being told to eat their vegetables. Give a child carrots, most kids will usually eat those. Celery? If you put peanut butter or ranch dressing on it, maybe they'll eat it. But give them broccoli, spinach, kale, or rutabagas, they'll more likely try hiding them in their pockets or feeding them to the dogs (if they have any). But offer them a good enough dessert, they're sure to down those greens if it means they'll be getting a chocolate sundae doused in caramel and rainbow sprinkles or a big hot fresh slice of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

If you can get those kinds of desserts homemade or in any restaurant among the common folk, just imagine how amazing the desserts royal people have must be.

Most royal people had chefs to do all the cooking for them. But not the Skywalker-Jinn family. They did have droids to cook when they were too tired or too busy to do it themselves, but many of them enjoyed preparing their own meals. They found it to be rewarding, made the food taste better, but it also served as proof that although they were royal and had great wealth, they still could do things for themselves like a normal family.

And today, Qui-Gon was doing a little baking before dinner. In this house, the way dinner was served, the menu was put together through a system in which everyone got a turn to choose what food they would have, and many times they combined some family members' choices to make the meal even more delicious. Tonight, it was Mariposa's turn to choose the menu.

Having spent most of her life foraging for food, flavor wasn't a typical option for Mariposa. In other words, she had to make do with what she could find, and hope she could make it taste better. But after she got married, she got to try cooking all kinds of great stuff, and now she was going to help the kids enjoy vegetables more.

Deciding he wanted to make a special surprise for everyone, Qui-Gon figured everyone would love cookies to make ice cream sandwiches for dessert tonight. He'd just taken the freshly baked peanut butter white chocolate chip cookies out from the oven when his four oldest grandchildren, and Goldie, peeked over the counter, and all of them made puppy eyes at him. He knew exactly what they were doing. There was no hiding sweet stuff from these children.

Most kids usually tried sneaking cookies from the jar. These kids? They tried begging their grandpa, him being one who often let them do things their parents wouldn't whenever he babysat them, even the one that wasn't his granddaughter.

Qui-Gon chuckled and said, "Not until after dinner, children."

The kids all groaned with disappointment.

"But they smell so yummy!" Lamenta whined. "Can't we have just one little cookie?"

Lamenta batted her lashes; it was cute, but Qui-Gon stood his ground.

"They'll taste even better after you all eat a hearty and nutritious dinner." Qui-Gon said. "You don't want Grandpa getting in trouble with your mommies, do you?"

Of course not. The kids loved their grandfather more than they loved dessert, and they loved their moms too. All the moms in the Naboo Palace, they knew how to keep the kids and their husbands in line (mostly because they were scared to rebel).

"It took forever for me to learn how to do my eyes like that." Omega said.

"Come on, guys. Those cookies are too hot to eat right now, anyway." Gabby sighed, leaving the kitchen.

Qui-Gon chuckled again. He loved his grandchildren, and he loved spoiling them, but he'd already gotten a lecture from all three moms, and his wife, in this palace about spoiling the kids' appetites. And Gabby was right; Qui-Gon most certainly didn't want any of the kids to burn themselves.

Dinner was yummy as usual tonight. Since it was Mariposa's turn to organize the menu for tonight, she introduced everyone some recipes she knew, and everything but dessert was made from fruits and vegetables from the garden. So, it was pretty healthy tonight; thanks to Garrett's contribution to the menu, everyone was sure everything was likely going to be healthy food, which the kids were not exactly eager for; they were sure it would be kale salad and broccoli, basically greens, not their most favorite meal. But they were happily surprised when they saw what was actually served.

Caroline, being very close to her due date now, had to eat very healthy for the extent of her pregnancy to ensure her own and her baby's health. Unfortunately, it meant she needed to avoid certain foods, namely raw fish, herbal tea, and of course undercooked meat and unwashed vegetables. Avoiding alcohol was easy, since she wasn't a big drinker, but it also meant she had to go without her beloved chocolate espresso frappuccinos until after the baby was born.

The first time she was pregnant, Carmine helped Caroline with all her cravings, and making sure she was healthy. When things got harder where food was concerned and eating healthy, and losing the baby weight after Lamenta was born, Carmine helped Caroline out by eating the same things she did on her diet so she wouldn't be alone. So, this time, Carmine encouraged the others to do the same, because unfortunately, Caroline liked a few foods her husband disliked, and he couldn't pretend he liked them all, no matter how much he loved his wife. That was easier for the grownups than the children though…. Until tonight.

There were black bean meatballs, sticky sesame cauliflower, spinach and ricotta ravioli with homemade tomato sauce, and broccoli roasted with fresh herbs and garlic butter. Normally, most of the kids would make a fuss over eating vegetables, but tonight, this healthy food was actually scrumptious. Everyone enjoyed their food tonight, but nonetheless, the kids still saved room for dessert.

"Now that the kids have finished their veggies," said Shmi. "I think they've earned a sweet surprise."

The kids felt victorious now. They couldn't wait to dig in and have ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Except, when the waiter droid came, it told everyone that the entire batch of cookies Qui-Gon made for dessert was missing.

"WHAT?!" all the kids exclaimed.

"Children, did I not tell you not to touch the cookies until after dinner?" Qui-Gon crossed his arms.

But the kids looked appalled at that; they wanted cookies badly and had tried begging Qui-Gon to just let them have a taste earlier, but they wouldn't take them all for themselves.

"What? It wasn't us!" Boba said.

"Yeah, we stayed out of the kitchen since you told us not to eat any cookies," said Gabby.

"I can safely vouch for them, King Qui-Gon." Threepio said. "All the children were coloring or working on assignments from Garrett for the last two hours before dinner."

R2 beeped and showed a holo-recording of each of the kids doing their various activities as Threepio had said. And the timestamp of each recording added up. So, if the kids hadn't eaten the cookies, who did?

"Dad?" Omega said, looking at Anakin. "We all know about your notorious sweet tooth."

Now Anakin became appalled as he was being interrogated.

"Wait, you think it was me?" Anakin said. "I may have disobeyed Obi-Wan a bunch of times, but do you really think I would disobey my actual father when he tells me not to eat cookies before dinner?"

"Was it you, Anakin?" Kara asked firmly. "I saw you walk out of the kitchen drinking milk earlier."

"Of course not. They looked delicious, and yes I did drink some milk earlier, but not for eating cookies. Besides, did any of you see any traces of crumbs on my face any time today?"

It was true. Anakin was a very messy dessert eater, so if he had eaten even one of the cookies, his face would've been stained with crumbs, and he would have traces of them on his clothes too. And his clothes and face were clean. Although, Kara did note she'd seen him with a milk mustache earlier, but other than that, no sign he'd eaten cookies.

But pretty much everyone else had an alibi, and none of the horses had been in the kitchen either.

"I didn't know they were for dessert," said Wrecker awkwardly.

"Wrecker!" Everyone scolded.

"Wrecker, do you have any idea how long we waited to have cookies?!" Goldie said angrily.

"For once, I actually didn't mind eating veggies," said Boba. "But still, I wanted cookies too!"

"Not to mention I slaved over a hot oven for over an hour to make those for everyone," said Qui-Gon.

"You got droids for that! Why don't they make more?" Wrecker tried to defend.

"Because home cooking tastes better, for one," said Gabby. "But Grandpa also worked hard to make something special for everyone, and your greedy guts ruined that for us."

"Don't worry, children." Shmi said. "I'm sure there's still ice cream in the freezer. Assuming Wrecker hasn't eaten all of that too."

"Uhh…."

Everyone groaned again.

"Great," said Gabby sarcastically. "We all got grounded from dessert tonight."

"Wrecker, I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm concerned about your diet lately." Hunter said. "You've been eating a lot of junk food lately."

Hunter was right, of course. At the twins' graduation party, Wrecker practically hogged the entire chocolate fountain for himself. Then, when the family was having pizza for dinner a few days ago, Wrecker ate half a dozen slices and finished the garlic knots in a swoop second. And at breakfast that morning, Wrecker was found wolfing down a box of sugary Frosted Praline Crunch cereal.

His brothers were all concerned. Wrecker didn't used to eat like that, but after moving into the palace and having easy access to a fridge full of all kinds of food, as well as royal balls, birthday parties, potluck dinners, and holiday dinners, he got exposed to all kinds of temptations. Wrecker would eat almost anything, including packaged foods.

"I'm fine. I'm not eating that much stuff."

"Wrecker, have you looked at the ingredients on some of the packaged foods you eat?" Padme said.

"No, why?"

"We learned about that in biology class," said Omega. "A lot of packaged foods have chemicals that can make you sick if you eat too much of them."

"Why do you think we always give the kids homemade lunches to take to school?" Anakin added.

But Wrecker didn't think it really mattered what he was eating that much. He'd spent most of his life eating the same things all the time. What was wrong with enjoying a bunch of other stuff? But enjoying food was one thing, having too much of a good thing is another.

The kids were too upset over Wrecker robbing them of dessert tonight to sit at the table anymore.

"Don't worry, kids." Anakin said. "After the charity event tomorrow, how about we all go get some frozen yogurt?"

That sounded pretty good to the kids. Nothing better than a big cup of froyo on a hot summer day. But first, they had to get through an important charity event tomorrow.

What was the charity, you may be wondering?

Well, you know Count Crescendo? Naturally, he came across many other celebrities too. Usually, other famous singers, bands, and actors too. But occasionally, he crossed paths with TV show hosts, famous reporters, even celebrity chefs. And one of Crescendo's old colleagues was Gina Dean-Lorraine, who was a very famous and amazing cook with great restaurants across the galaxy that many famous people liked and reviewed, including Count Crescendo. Carmine swore to his family they hadn't lived until they tried her ricotta stuffed meatballs.

And tomorrow, that very same chef was working for a charity to help out people in need and giving them food that tasted better. Just because they didn't have much money didn't mean they should have to eat literal garbage. Plus, this lunch was also taking place by the Bespin Orphanage where Boba used to live. On top of being a great chef, Gina was also famous for being a mom of many adopted children, and according to what Carmine knew, this event was to help raise awareness on how important it was to help these children find loving homes and help create jobs to decrease the number of people living on the streets.