Palpatine frantically raced up the stairs as he shouted for his stepsons.

"Yes, Stepfather?" The twins said, arriving from different places.

"Where are Maul and Savage?" Palatine asked frantically.

"I think they're still sleeping." Anakin said.

"Correction: they are." Carmine said. "I could hear Maul snoring while I was sweeping."

"Both of you," said Palpatine. "Just get the breakfast trays ready and up here immediately!"

"Yes, Stepfather." the twins said.

Palpatine rushed upstairs and woke up his sons from their slumber.
Savage and Maul both woke up rather grumpily.

"Boys, this is your chance." Palpatine said. "You have a second chance to marry at least one of the princesses."

The stepbrothers were shocked and confused.

"Father, what do you mean?" they asked.

"The princesses. They are in love with the two mystery boys who danced with them." Palpatine said. "The king has declared they shall become grooms to his daughters, should they fit a glass or gold slipper left behind."

That was when the twins arrived with the breakfast trays. They knew exactly what this meant!
But as soon as they put the trays down, the twins were practically buried under a mountain of clothes their stepbrothers threw at them, demanding them to be ironed, starched, washed, steamed, and to find what went together.

However, Palpatine noticed the twins seemed unusually happy as they did their chores.
And just as they were heading for their room, the royal carriage was arriving. But before answering the door, Palpatine decided he needed to ensure his sons got first try with the slippers.

____________________________

Anakin and Carmine went to their room and went through their trunk to find the other slippers. They knew it would be the best way to prove it was them who danced with the princesses.
However, the two of them didn't see Palpatine locking the attic door from the inside until it was too late, and Palpatine closed the door.

"Oh no!" Carmine exclaimed. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Please!"

"You can't do this!" Anakin shouted, banging his fists on the door. "Let us out!"

The twins both tried shouting for help, but no one could hear them. Then, they looked out the window. Obviously, it was too far down to jump, and there wasn't anything for them to grab onto to climb down. But, there was someone down there who could fly up to them.
Anakin and Carmine shouted for their horses. But... they didn't know that the horses were restrained too.

____________________________

Sapphire struggled as she was roped down, as was Harmony, and there was a ball attached to the end of Harmony's horn so she couldn't use her magic to untie them. Apparently, Palpatine thought the twins might use their horses to get out. But, he'd forgotten about four other animals.

____________________________

While Anakin and Carmine were trying to figure a way out of the attic, Rex, Cody, and Jesse quickly scurried through the walls to find Artoo.

Meanwhile, Palpatine answered the door, and Lieutenant Kenobi and Jedi Guard Mace Windu were there.

"Greetings, Lord Palpatine." said Mace. "We are here in search of the mystery princes who danced with Princesses Padme and Caroline."

"Any young men in your home, by order of his Majesty King Ruwee," said Obi-Wan. "is to try on these shoes."

And Mace held the pillow with both of the shoes on it.

Maul and Savage both were very eager to try the shoes on. Maul grabbed the one made of glass and Savage the one made of gold. However, when they tried to fit them on their feet... they didn't fit. So, they switched, and the opposite shoes didn't fit either, as each shoe was also the same size as the other.

"I think that's quite enough!" Obi-Wan said, taking the glass shoe before Savage could break it, and Mace took the gold one.

"Are there any other young men in this house, Your Grace?" Mace asked Palpatine.

"No, Sir." said Palpatine. "It is just me and my sons."

"I don't believe that's true." said a female voice.

"Neither do I," said another.

The guards looked and bowed when they saw it was Padme and Caroline.

"Your highnesses." Palpatine bowed, as did his sons.

"Where are the twins?" Padme demanded

"I-I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Princess Padme." Palpatine said.

"Don't play dumb with us," said Caroline. "Your stepsons told us everything. Had our father or the guards thought to actually recall certain details, and do a bit of research, this search wouldn't be necessary."

Just then, there was the sound of a dog barking, and Artoo ran in, barking like crazy.

"Bad dog!" Maul said, pushing the dog away.

Artoo came to the princesses and started barking again, but Palpatine grabbed him by his collar.

"Apologies, Princess." said Palpatine, struggling to hold onto the dog. "Artoo is an excitable pooch."

Artoo barked more and started to pull Palpatine around.

"Let him go." Padme said. "He's trying to tell us something."

And sure enough, once Caroline yanked Palpatine's hand from Artoo, the dog quickly ran towards the stairs, barking and motioning like he wanted the princesses to follow him upstairs. So they did.

But what no one knew was that Anakin was positioning himself very precisely.

____________________________

"Are you sure this'll work?" Carmine asked worriedly.

"I'm a black belt, and I karate chopped a cinder block." Anakin said.

"Yeah, five years ago. You might be a little rusty."

"Look, I'm gonna get us out. And that depends on you letting me concentrate so I can knock the hinges off this door."

Anakin took a deep breath and focused. He only had one shot at this. He positioned himself, and with two powerful kicks, he knocked the hinges off the door both on the first tries, making the door easier to kick out of the frame.

And as the door fell, that was when the guards and princesses and Artoo arrived.

Artoo barked and jumped on Anakin, licking him.

"Artoo!" Anakin laughed. "Good boy!"

"Good boy, Artoo! You got help." Carmine praised and got the dog to roll over so he could rub his belly.

"Wait a minute," said Obi-Wan. "I know these two. You're Qui-Gon Jinn's sons."

"Yes, that's true." Anakin said. "We were also the ones at the ball, Carmine and I."

"In that case," said Mace. "We'll need you to try these shoes on."

Anakin and Carmine both removed their shoes and let the guards help them put the slippers on. Both were a perfect fit! And, the twins also revealed that they had the matching shoes.

Padme and Caroline, however, didn't need the shoes to recognize their princes.

Padme and Caroline each embraced their respective princes.

"It's you." Padme smiled.

Anakin smiled as he looked into Padme's eyes. And he leaned in slowly until he and Padme were kissing.

Caroline and Carmine were also kissing.

It was a very happy, touching reunion.

However, Palpatine and his sons were all going to face some serious punishments for their treatment of the twins, as well as cruelty to the horses.

____________________________

Sometime later, the church bells were ringing throughout the kingdom in celebration of a momentous occasion.

A royal double wedding.

The twins ran down the stairs with their new wives, happily heading on their way to their honeymoon.

Everything had finally changed for the better. The twins were no longer slaves, but princes with wonderful brides, they now lived in a castle, their horses become official members of the royal stable, and Artoo became the royal family's new royal pet.

Have faith in dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving,
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true

As the couples rode away in their carriages, they waved to the people, and as they disappeared into the sunset... the couples each once again shared a long, passionate kiss.

____________________________

"And they all lived happily ever after." said Qui-Gon, closing the book. "The End."
And the kids were fast asleep. Nothing like a story ending happily to help a child sleep and dream sweet dreams.