In the Senate Building on what was a seemingly peaceful morning, Chancellor Organa was signing some important documents, when he heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" said Bail.

"Delivery." said a voice.

Bail was confused as he went to answer.

"I wasn't expecting anything today." he said.

Except, when he opened the door, he saw no one. But he found a wrapped box, and when he picked it up and opened it, a bunch of fake snakes and confetti popped out, startling poor Bail and making a mess of his whole office!

"What a mess!" Bail said, looking at the chaos in the room.

Silly Filly laughed outside his window.

"What is the meaning of this?!" said the Chancellor angrily.

"I'm Silly Filly, and I just pranked it up!"

Silly Filly stuck out her tongue and spat a raspberry at him before flying away

But Bail wasn't the only victim in the Senate.

Other Senators' offices had been pranked too. Senator Mothma's office was filled with plastic balls, Senator Chuchi's was covered in toilet paper, and the bathrooms were flooding with a bunch of pink foamy bubbles.

Senator Lux Bonteri went into the hall and found a small vase of flowers, which he picked up. But when he sniffed them, he fell into a fit of sneezes caused by sneezing powder sprinkled in the bouquet.

"Achoo! What a dirty- achoo!- trick! Achoo!" Lux groaned. "But p-pre-pre-achoo! Pretty clever."

And all over town, things turned silly.

People got squirted with water at every fountain, shoes got stuck to the ground on the sidewalks, balloons flew out from random spots in different buildings, ordinary boxes were turned into jack-in-the-boxes with crazy things in it like pies that splattered into people's faces, windows turned into silly mirrors, vehicles turned into merry-go-round rides or bouncy spring rides like the ones at a playground.

"Hey, kids! Watch me prank it up." Silly Filly called as she flew over to a cop.

She offered the cops what they thought was a box of donuts, but when they opened them, they exploded with glitter sparkles, covering the police in it.

Silly Filly taunted the police and blew raspberries before taking off as the kids were laughing.
But when the police tried to activate their squad cars to go after her, the speeders' trunks popped open with confetti, and the sirens started cock-a-doodle-doo-ing, mooing, and hee-hawing.

"What the heck!" said one cop. "This thing sounds like a barnyard."

And everywhere she went, Silly Filly managed to make some children laugh, which powered her up more and more. But occasionally, she ran into someone who was afraid of clowns, which made her dash!

"One thing that isn't silly, scary clowns really give us real clowns a bad name."

The Jedi got on their horses and started to follow the trail of silly things. Sure enough, the farther they went, the sillier things got.

Rubber duckies flying south, vehicles bouncing and dancing with bubbles coming out of them, puppies flying around on little parachutes, the sidewalk started making silly cartoon sound effects every time anyone took a step, and there was one man walking with an umbrella with it snowing underneath. There were even random bursts of confetti and streamers in different places.

"We must be getting close." said Master Tiin on Hydrangea's back.

Master Koth rode Zipp through the air as they searched for Silly Filly. But then tacos started falling from the sky and a silly song about it Raining Tacos (by Parry Gripp) started playing from out of nowhere.

"Ahh!" Zipp yelped, trying to fly back down to the ground as more hard shelled tacos hit her head and body, and her rider too. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Agh! How can something so small and delicious hurt so much?" Eeth wondered out loud as he got hit by another crunchy taco. "Ouch!"

"Too bad I'm a vegetarian." Zipp said, blowing bits of meat off her nose. "Or I could eat these all up."

"This is going to be a big mess to clean up."

Inconveniently, that was when Silly Filly swooped in with another trick up her sleeve.

"Prank it up!" she sang, the little propeller on her hat spinning with magic sparkles to cast her spell.

"Silly Filly! Comedia!" Eeth shouted. "Stand down."

But, Silly Filly just blew a raspberry and sang, "Na, na, na, na, na!" and flew away.

"After her!"

Zipp began flying after the clowning caballo, but quickly crashed right into something she didn't see.

Silly Filly laughed as the Jedi and Zipp had themselves smushed against some glass that just popped out of nowhere, and slid into a pool of chocolate syrup.

"Yuck!" Eeth said. "Sticky chocolate."

"No problem," said Zipp, starting to lick her rider clean. "Hmm. This may take a while."

Meanwhile, Qui-Gon felt so good after rinsing off all the sticky lemon juice. And he felt even better now that he wasn't blue anymore. He was very grateful to Mila for her help getting un-pranked, and Mila was equally happy that the only side effect of this cure was that Qui-Gon smelled like a lemonade stand now, but it did give the young inventor an idea to create a lemon-scented perfume.

Shmi was glad when she saw her husband-to-be was okay, and she kissed him.

"Qui-Gon? Why do you smell like lemon juice?" Shmi asked, getting a whiff of her husband.

"Mila gave Grandpa a bath in lemon juice to get rid of the blue dye." Gabby said, taking another whiff of her grandfather, liking the lemony fragrance. "And now you smell really good, Grandpa."

Qui-Gon chuckled as he held his granddaughter to the mirror back to the Temple.

"I'm probably going to be smelling like a lemonade stand for a while." He said. "At least I'm not blue anymore."

Shmi accompanied her love and her granddaughter back to the Temple. When she heard of this Comedia horse who seemed to be an out-of-control prankster, she decided she might be able to help settle her down.

"Ani used to have a few temper tantrums in his earlier years." Shmi said. "Maybe I can talk to her."

"Good luck, Grandma." Gabby said. "I'm just hoping Teddy can be turned back to normal, or I'll have to change her name to Violet."

But then they saw the state of the Temple.

"What happened to the Temple?" Gabby asked, seeing how crazy everything looked.

It'd been months since they'd remodeled and rebuilt the Temple, but Gabby was pretty sure they didn't put a hall of silly mirrors. Although, the idea of having one of the most fun fun house features in one of the halls to make funny faces and be silly any time they wanted sounded like a lot of fun.

"Did you have a big birthday party in here and not invite me?"

"Nope. Comedia is a big time prankster." Gabby said. "Or as Uncle Mace called her, a comedy hazard."

Qui-Gon caught a glimpse of his bracelet and saw a green glow.

"I get the feeling Mariverde may have something to do with this." He said.

"Did we include a hall of mirrors when we added new features to the Temple?" Gabby asked.

"Not that I'm aware of."

"What a mess!" Shmi said, shaking off some streamers that wrapped around her leg.

Gabby called for her father and uncle, but found that they weren't in the Temple.

"Grandma, Grandpa! Help!" Lamenta called from somewhere.

"Lamenta? Where are you?" Qui-Gon asked.

"I'm up here." Lamenta said, stuck in a branch covered in streamers close to the ceiling.

"Lamenta!" Shmi cried, terrified seeing her granddaughter stuck so high up. "How did you get up there?!"

"Silly Filly put me up here." Lamenta said. "I'm too stuck to make my wings appear, and I dropped my phone somewhere."

"Where's Crescent?" Gabby said.

"Over here." said Crescent, his back and wings stuck to a wall covered in maple syrup.

"Who's Silly Filly?" Gabby asked.

"Comedia was clavatized." Lamenta said. "Peppermint thinks the mariclava is in Comedia's hat. And she's escaped the Temple and is making everything silly all over the city!"

"Don't worry, Lamenta. We'll get you down first, and then we'll go find this Silly Filly character." Qui-Gon said. "Where are Boba and Omega?"

"They went to help search for Comedia." Crescent said, struggling to get unstuck. "Grr! Stupid syrup."

"Gabriella."

"On it." Gabby said as Qui-Gon set her down.

While Gabby made bubbles and water to get Crescent unstuck, Qui-Gon flew up, untangled the streamers from Lamenta and carefully brought her down to the floor.

"Are you alright, Dear?" Shmi asked.

"I'm okay." Lamenta said.

Crescent shook himself dry as he was finally unstuck and syrup-free.

Meanwhile, Silly Filly continued to wreak havoc all across the city. She replaced the screens' videos of senators speaking with funny videos of cute animals doing silly things like a puppy riding a rocking horse or a kitten meowing the Happy Birthday song.

And the more anyone laughed at any of Silly Filly's doings, she became more powerful and made things even sillier.

The police tried to catch her, but they ended up cuffing each other, their weapons fired streamers and confetti, and their sirens started making animal sounds. And people kept on laughing.

It didn't help that Silly Filled spelled most of the Jedi too.

"Comedia, that is enough!" Ki-Adi shouted, going after Silly Filly again, only for her to hit him with silly string.

"Pranked it up again!" Silly Filly giggled. She blew another raspberry and crashed through a wall, leaving a perfect alicorn-shaped hole in it.

As annoying as it was to be hit with so many practical jokes, Ki-Adi still sensed something off about Comedia. He already knew like the others that so far Mariverde targeted people with great deals of anger, pain, or desiring revenge, but he found himself feeling perplexed. Comedia seemed terrified about something when she first met her rider, and now he started to get the sneaking suspicion that Comedia being clavatized was about more than just a temper tantrum for being put in timeout.

"Wow, that horse sure gets around." said Anakin, a pair of funny mustache glasses on his face.

Carmine couldn't help laughing when he saw his brother with the funny glasses.

"You-you should see how ridiculous you look, Bro!" Carmine guffawed and literally rolled on the floor laughing for a bit.

"Oh, I'm the one who looks ridiculous?" said Anakin, seeing Carmine get spelled as he picked himself up. "Look at your clothes."

Carmine yelped when he saw that Silly Filly put him in a Snow White dress.

"Ahh!"

He was so embarrassed now. And Silly Filly guffawed.

"How pretty you look, Princess Carmine."

Carmine growled and turned a bit red out of anger.

"COMEDIA!"

Qui-Gon and his younger granddaughters soon arrived on the scene.

"Daddy!" Gabby exclaimed. "Wait, which is which?"

"Right here." said Anakin. "Don't laugh."

Gabby laughed when she saw her dad's state. But Anakin covered her mouth.

"I'm serious! Don't laugh! That gives Silly Filly more power."

"Why am I not surprised?" Qui-Gon asked rhetorically, seeing Silly Filly wreaking more havoc.

"Someone's gotta teach Comedia a lesson." Gabby said, conjuring her wings. "Here I come!"

Gabby quickly flew towards Silly Filly.

"Comedia!" Gabby said, and Silly Filly turned to her, but when she did, the first thing Gabby saw was a clown! And she screamed!

Silly Filly covered her ears and became dizzy as Gabby screamed.

"Not another one!" Silly Filly exclaimed, flying away quickly.

Gabby screamed again and flew away, still terrified of clowns as she'd been since she was three.

Mariverde contacted Silly Filly at that moment.

"What are you doing?! You had one of the royal family coming right toward you!" the doresho gypsy said angrily.

"I can't exactly get her jewels if she's screaming in my ears." Silly Filly said. "Besides, I got a few balloons to blow up."

"Can you stop clowning for five minutes?"

"I could... but I won't! Ha, ha!"

Anakin flew after Silly Filly on Sapphire, when he heard his daughter screaming and calling for him. Suddenly, Anakin found that the silly glasses disappeared from his face after Gabby flew into his arms, still screaming.

"Daddy! Clown! Scary clown!" Gabby breathed heavily, Anakin hugging his daughter closely.

"Shh, it's okay, Princess." Anakin said. "It's just Comedia."

But then, Anakin realized something. He'd screamed in fright at Silly Filly, seeing a clown at first glance. Anakin couldn't explain why he found clowns so terrifying, but he did have a theory about how to defeat Silly Filly.

"If laughter makes Silly Filly stronger, then screaming in terror must weaken Silly Filly's power." Anakin said.

"That actually makes sense." Carmine said. "Her whole purpose has shown to be trying to make people laugh."

"And she's succeeded a little bit." Sapphire said. "But I imagine not everyone finds these pranks funny."

"And not everyone likes clowns either." Gabby said. "Speaking as one who's still terrified of them. Thanks a lot Caleb Dume."

"And I imagine it's gonna take more than just one kid screaming to weaken Silly Filly long enough to get close enough to grab her hat." Anakin said. He thought for a moment. "I've got a plan, but it's gonna take everyone's cooperation."

Silly Filly was laughing again as she'd just filled an entire building with balloons and made it look like a huge birthday party had just occurred.

Meanwhile, all the Jedi started to sneak across down and get as many people as they could to cooperate. If enough people screamed in terror at once really loudly, it might weaken Silly Filly long enough for someone to get her hat and break the mariclava out.

Anakin contacted the others on his comm.

"Okay, everyone." Anakin whispered. "On the count of three, everyone scream as loudly as you can. I mean horror movie screams. Got it?"

"Got it!" Everyone confirmed.

Anakin and Gabby flew closer to Silly Filly and counted one... two... three.

The father and daughter gave their loudest, strongest horror movie screams. Silly Filly covered her ears and felt really dizzy when the screams happened. And she tried to fly away, but everywhere she went, people were screaming as though in a horror film and coming face-to-face with the monster.

"STOP SCREAMING!" Silly Filly begged, feeling her powers already getting weaker.

Silly Filly got dizzier and dizzier as she came face to face with more and more people screaming and found herself forced to land on the ground, where her rider grabbed her and Obi-Wan destroyed the cap with his lightsaber, allowing the mariclava to fly out.

"Luminesk!" Gabby cast the spell, hitting the butterfly.

And Silly Filly slowly transformed back into Comedia.

Comedia slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she felt dizzy.

"Huh? What happened?" Comedia asked, looking around, and saw all the crazy things that happened. She couldn't believe everything that happened. "Did... did I do all that?!"

For what seemed like the first time, Comedia was not laughing at her pranks. No one who'd been pranked by Comedia previously could believe her look of shock.

"I... I didn't mean to... I didn't-"

"You were under a spell, Comedia." said Ki-Adi. "But you were not when you were pranking everyone in the Temple."

Comedia looked down, her ears drooping as she felt so guilty. Tears came to her eyes, and she started crying, feeling so guilty about everything.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Comedia said. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. I swear. Please don't send me back to my parents! I'm begging you! I can't take it there!"

Comedia started to hyperventilate as she had the mere thought of her parents come to her mind. She started to curl herself up into a ball and started shaking a lot worse than when the Jedi first met her. This drew some concern in a few as they sensed much fear in the young mare.

Ki-Adi did his best to calm her down by petting her muzzle and got Comedia to look at him, tears in the pony's eyes.

"Comedia, I'm not sending you back. We were matched for a reason, and I intend to continue caring for you, starting with ensuring you learn that vandalism isn't funny."

Comedia sniffed and said, "I deserve whatever punishment you have for me."

"Well, for a start, you can start apologizing to everyone you pranked and clean up this mess you made." Ki-Adi said.

"Sounds fair enough." Comedia said.

"And afterwards, we have a lot to talk about regarding your behavior."

Comedia got right to work cleaning up her mess. She popped the balloons, cleaned up the silly string, got all the animals and people back to normal, and got the sirens and vehicles to stop quacking and making donkey sounds. But even with magic, it took a while for Comedia to fix the mess she'd made.

True to her word, Comedia apologized to everyone she pranked, and even gave them a sincere apology gift. And she gave an especially strong formal apology to Chancellor Organa.

"Even though I was under a spell, it's no excuse for what I did to you." Comedia said, picking up a bouquet of blue hyacinths from the floor and placing them on his desk. "These flowers are a customary apology gift where I'm from. And don't worry. They're not a trick. I promise."

And sure enough, when the chancellor checked them, they were real flowers.

"I'm so sorry, Your honor. Had I known I was causing so much trouble, clavatized or not, I would never have done it." Comedia said. "Please don't be mad."

"Well... Comedia, was it?" said the Chancellor. "Your willingness to fix the damage should be more than a fitting punishment. But if you vandalize the city again, you will face legal consequences."

"I understand, Chancellor." Comedia sniffled.

It took hours for Comedia to finish cleaning up the mess, and she gave blue hyacinths to everyone she apologized to as an apology gift. She also apologized to everyone she pranked at the Temple. But she was also exhausted from all the cleanup work. It was a good thing it was nearly bedtime anyway. But, she still had something to say to the Jedi.

"At first, I was just playing around." Comedia said. "But then, I got a little carried away."

"A little?" said Mace.

"I'm a teenager!" said Comedia. "I have problems, okay?!"

"You were born with a lot of them." said a voice Comedia dreaded as a thoroughbred alicorn arrived at the scene. His name was Gentry, Queen Reigna's cousin, and duke of Equinaro.

"Dad?" Comedia said, starting to look terrified again.

"Reigna told me you were matched and been at your joking around again." said Gentry. "Why am I not surprised you messed up again? Do you have any idea how much you've embarrassed me?"

Comedia started to breathe heavily again and backed away from her father as he got closer to her.

"Always with the jokes." Gentry said. "After the way your mother and I worked ourselves to the bone to provide for you."

"Worked?! You've never worked a day in your life!" Comedia said angrily, flying up to tower over her father. "And you never cared a lick for me! You give Emeraldi all the best clothes, she gets to go to real school, have big balls for her birthdays, and go out to see her friends, but not me!"

"Get down immediately you little brat!" Gentry used his magic to hold Comedia down. "How I ever got stuck with you for a daughter, I'll never know. I don't know what hare-brained idea Reigna had putting you here, but I've already found a better place for you in reform school!"

"No! No! You can't make me go!" Comedia said, struggling to escape her father's grip. "HELP!"

Gentry started to take Comedia away. But then, some other force started to pull her away, to her and Gentry's shock.

Comedia was shocked to find that Ki-Adi pulled her over with the Force, and the young mare hid behind him. Ki-Adi couldn't believe the way Gentry spoke to his daughter, and he was not about to let him force her into reform school.

"I understand if you are upset, but that is no way to speak to your child." said Ki-Adi. "And reform school is a little drastic."

"She is not a child anymore. She is fourteen."

"That doesn't matter, she is still your daughter, and she deserves another chance."

Gentry snorted. "That thing is not my daughter. The only reason I kept her is because of my cousin. But, if you insist, she's your problem now."

Comedia just started crying again and ran off.

"There we go again." Gentry shook his head. "Crying and running off, like you always do. Unlike your sister, who is a model compared to you!"

Qui-Gon didn't like the way Gentry was speaking about his daughter. But Shmi was the one to speak.

"Excuse me, Gentry, was it?" Shmi said. "That is no way to speak to anyone's child! Comedia is young and will learn, and I have not known her very long, but she is a very sweet young filly, and if you cannot see that, you don't deserve her anyway."

"Exactly." Qui-Gon said, putting his foot down. "Now you better leave immediately. That's an order."

Gentry turned his nose up at the others and left to go.

"Keep that little brat. She's damaged goods."

"That guy is Comedia's father?" Anakin said, unable to believe it.

"The poor girl." Kara said. "If that's how she's treated every day, I can't say I blame Comedia for being afraid of trusting anyone."

Suddenly, the others started to feel bad for Comedia.

Ki-Adi looked around for Comedia after she'd run off; she did not look okay after the way her father spoke to her. But he also sensed there was more to it than that. He also noticed Comedia looking at first aid kits in between moments of pranking, putting ice on her shoulder, even trying on some of the larger Jedi robes at one point... until finally she asked Gabby for a kiss.

"Comedia, where are you?" Ki-Adi called, entering his apartment. He got no answer. But then, he heard the sound of someone crying.

Ki-Adi approached the closet and opened the door. And there he found Comedia hiding in the closet, crying.

"Comedia, why are you in the closet?" Ki-Adi asked.

Comedia turned away and hid her face behind some boots.

"Comedia... I want to help you." Ki-Adi said. "It's become clear your behavior is a cry for help. But I cannot help you if you won't tell me what is wrong. Why do you prank people? Why do you fight against authority figures?"

Comedia was silent for a bit.

"This was... how I used to get away from my father back home." Comedia said.

The green alicorn took out a picture of her family from back when she was a small filly. Back then, Comedia actually dressed more poised and gracefully. She even used to wear a tiara instead of her propeller hat. In the picture, there was Comedia's father, her mother, and a very pretty green pegasus.

"That's my sister, Emeraldi." Comedia said. "She's been the golden child her whole life. My parents give her all the best beauty treatments, the best outfits, and she never gets in trouble for anything. I could do the same thing she did, and no matter how well I did, nothing was ever good enough. They always said, 'Emeraldi does it more gracefully,' 'Your sister would never get that wrong,' 'when Emeraldi was your age, she was reciting poetry in Latin from memory'!"

It frustrated Comedia so much that her parents favored her sister over her. Nothing she ever did was good enough. She made a special painting for her mom for Mother's Day, she tossed it aside but marveled at a painting Emeraldi made. Comedia did a very cute little dance, but Emeraldi trotted like a graceful dressage horse, and she got praised.

"The saddest part is, we used to be so close when I was really little. But then one day, she just shut me out and started treating me really badly, just like my parents did."

Comedia got so frustrated, she ran off one day when she was seven. She trotted through the village and thought to herself for a while. But then, she spotted something she had never seen before. A joke and gag shop.

Little Comedia walked into the store and took a look around. She saw all sorts of fun looking stuff. Wind-up toys, scare pranks, funny glasses, joke books, and all sorts of fun gags.

The shopkeeper saw little Comedia and shook hooves with her, only for her to get joy buzzed. At first, Comedia didn't like it, but then she found it kinda funny.

"It's a classic, and one of our biggest sellers." said the shopkeeper. "Pranks can be a lot of fun, and a pretty harmless way to get back at annoying brothers and sisters by making them look silly."

And suddenly, Comedia got an idea. She asked the shopkeeper if he could teach her about pranks.

So, every day after school, Comedia told her parents she was getting tutoring, but really, she was getting lessons on how to prank people. Jokey Jackie, the shopkeeper, taught the little filly how to prank people in all sorts of ways, and Comedia proved to be a natural-born prankster. And when she told jokes from some of the joke books she read to her friends, she found out she really liked making people laugh.

Jackie even gave Comedia his first joy buzzer. But Jackie gave Comedia a warning. "Whatever you do, don't let yourself be seduced by joking juice."

At the time, Comedia didn't know what that meant. But, once she practiced enough small jokes, she got to playing a big prank on her sister Emeraldi at a fancy party at her house.

At the party, Emeraldi sat on a whoopee cushion, spilled punch on herself after drinking form a dribble cup, and sneezed during the family photos thanks to some sneezing powder on her scarf.

"For once, I actually looked better than Emeraldi, and I got a good laugh." Comedia said. "And the next day, I pranked her by putting orange dye in her shower gel and purple dye in her shampoo. It felt really good to see her feel as humiliated as my parents made me feel every day. Then, I just started pranking with little jokes for fun. But, sometimes I got carried away. Mostly when someone made really mad or embarrassed me, and I decided to teach them a lesson."

"Is that why you were pranking everyone here?" asked Ki-Adi.

"Yes." Comedia said. "You see, my dad tried to give me to a rider himself instead of going to Cousin Reigna to ask the Equinary. He didn't care if the people would love me. He just wanted me disciplined or air quote 'fixed'. So, I played a bunch of pranks to test everyone I was given to. And like I expected, they gave up on me within forty-eight hours. One even tried chaining me when I wouldn't eat the pellets they gave me to eat. I'm not a hamster."

Comedia looked down.

"My parents were very abusive to me growing up. Anytime I wasn't with a rider, they'd do all sorts of terrible things to me if I even so much as giggled or did anything that was fun or silly. They'd hit me, yell at me, or make me go to bed without supper. Lots of times, they just left me at the manor all by myself, and I had to learn how to take care of myself. They didn't even teach me how to do anything. Emeraldi used to teach me things, but since she shut me out, I had to figure out everything on my own."

Ki-Adi couldn't believe Comedia went through all that. All that fuss because her family treated her so badly. After meeting her father, the Cerea Jedi could tell Comedia must have inherited more of her personality from Reigna. And even worse, who knows how many other families Comedia was given to who gave up on her immediately after discovering she was a prankster?

"Why didn't you ever ask for help?" Ki-Adi asked.

"I've tried. Cousin Reigna doesn't believe me. And I've been trying to get evidence for years. But I haven't gotten anything credible. I asked Fantasia, Dream Heart, even Forsythia. They couldn't help me either. All I could do was run and fight."

"Comedia... I am so sorry that happened to you." Ki-Adi said. "I don't believe you are a burden. You just have a lot of energy, and we need to discover another outlet other than reckless pranks. Some jokes are funny, but some of those you performed could hurt someone if you aren't careful."

"I know." Comedia said, looking down.

"I don't know a lot about raising a teenager. Much less a horse. But I can certainly do my best to be a better father figure to you. Starting with getting you out of this closet."

Comedia got out of the closet and moved to the spot where Ki-Adi placed a rug and some pillows for her to sleep on while her rider went to retrieve something.

Conveniently, Ki-Adi ran into Carousella as she was passing through the hall with some warm milk.

"Carousella, can I ask you a favor?" Ki-Adi asked.

"Sure. What is it?" asked the guard alicorn.

"I need you to contact Child Protective Services. Tell them Master Mundi has some concerns regarding the Evermare family."

"That's Comedia's family, isn't it?" Carousella said. "I've met her dad before. Not a pleasant guy."

"No, he is not. And I believe Comedia may be in danger."

"Say no more. I got a family friend in the Equinaro sector of that service. I'll contact him now."

Comedia walked around three times on the rug and made herself comfortable while she waited for her rider to return. And to Comedia's great surprise, he came back with a panda bear plush from the playroom.

On her first night, Ki-Adi noticed Comedia had been tossing and turning, like she'd been having a nightmare, no pun intended, and she was even crying in her sleep. Another classic sign of trauma in one's waking life. And after what she went through, Comedia needed some form of comfort. The other kids had stuffed animals that helped them when they were emotionally distressed, so Ki-Adi figured Comedia might like one too.

"This is for you, Comedia. To help you sleep tonight." said Ki-Adi, placing the bear in front of Comedia.

Comedia couldn't believe this. She nuzzled the panda bear, liking its soft furry texture. Her parents never gave her anything so sweet, so cute, or so thoughtful. She licked her rider and thanked him, feeling a lot better now. Unlike everyone Gentry had tried to dump her on, Ki-Adi hadn't given up on the royal horse even after all the trouble she'd caused. Instead, he learned what provoked her behavior and decided to give her any emotional support he could.

As Comedia cuddled up with her panda bear and fell asleep, her rider placed a blanket over her. And while Comedia was sleeping, Ki-Adi got to work making some contact with a vet, a teen therapist, and social services; he was going to make sure Comedia's parents couldn't lay a hoof on her. But, he also emphasized that this had to be kept on the D.L. from Queen Reigna and her family until they had sufficient evidence.

"We can start the process immediately? Wonderful. Thank you, I will." Ki-Adi said, hanging up.

Ki-Adi got up and went to check on Comedia. Sure enough, she was sound asleep, cuddling with her panda bear. And this time, she was smiling. Even though he'd only known her two days, Ki-Adi felt something magical inside him; he had no idea when Comedia had last smiled genuinely, and not from laughing at a prank she pulled.

The Jedi gently stroked Comedia's soft curly mane.

"Sleep well, Comedia, Dear." Ki-Adi whispered. He kissed her head and then quietly went to bed himself.

Things looked like they were going to be better for the two new friends.

Now if only Strawberry could help Mace a little more easily to get along with her.