Featured song:
1. "If I Could Tell Her" from Dear Evan Hansen
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When Anakin woke up the next morning, he heard the sound of whinnying.
Anakin climbed out of bed and quickly slipped on his boots to go outside. And he heard the sound of whinnying again until he followed it to some familiar rose bushes. Anakin gasped when he saw what poor soul was there. It was a horse!
A beautiful pegasus mare of cerulean with sparkling wings and what looked like a little jewel on her forehead was trapped by her front legs in the rose bushes, and she looked scared. She was whinnying in pain and possibly for help.
No one else was awake yet, so Anakin immediately knew he had to help her, but he had to do it without scaring her more. So, he used what he learned about approaching horses, and first calmed himself down. Then, he approached her slowly from the side with his hand reached out. The blue mare whinnied and snorted as she saw Anakin approached.
"Shh! It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to help you." Anakin continued to slowly approach her. He looked at the state of her condition. "Ooh, that looks painful. I should know. Don't worry, Beautiful. I'll have you out there momentarily."
Anakin assessed the situation and carefully started to push the branches apart so the mare could get her legs out, but it was hard to do without getting poked himself. Now he really wished he'd brought some gloves before he went out there. Before long, the mare was free, but she was still in pain. Anakin knew where he had to take her.
To the best of his ability, Anakin helped the mare over to the clinic and banged on Obi-Wan's door until he came out and saw the state of the poor mare.
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"She's very lucky you found her when you did, Anakin." Obi-Wan said, wrapping some bandages around the mare's legs after cleaning her off and sterilizing her wounds.
"Maybe there should be a fence around those bushes or something." Anakin said, his backside hurting as he recalled falling into that same bush himself. "That one is particularly thorny. And very painful."
Anakin pet the mare's muzzle, and she snorted on him.
"I think she likes you, Anakin." Obi-Wan chuckled.
"Well, I like her too." Anakin said, petting the mare's muzzle. "And she's a real beauty. Can you talk, girl?"
"Yes, and my name is Sapphire." said the mare.
"How'd you end up in those bushes?"
"I got separated from the herd, and then I was moving too quickly, and then I got stuck in the bushes."
"It's going to be a while before you can go back out into the field." Obi-Wan said. "You'll need to stay in the stables for the next week or two so we can oversee your progress."
Obi-Wan grabbed some reins and approached Sapphire, who snorted when she saw him come with the strange thing.
"It's okay. This is only temporary." Obi-Wan said.
Sapphire, however, didn't want to cooperate and started to bite in Obi-Wan's direction. Anakin could see that Sapphire needed some calming down. So, he gently pet her muzzle and spoke to her, telling her that they only needed to put the rein on for a little bit to take her to a safe place, where they would then take it off.
To Obi-Wan's surprise, when Anakin put the rein on Sapphire, she didn't make that big a fuss.
"Good girl." Anakin said, petting her muzzle again. "Let's get you to the stables."
Anakin carefully helped Sapphire get up and walked her to the stables where he found one more empty stall that had some soft hay in it.
"Everyone, this is Sapphire." Anakin introduced once all the horses were awake. "She's gonna be staying with us for a while. In the meantime, I'm getting everyone their breakfast."
So, Anakin went and got the horses their breakfast, and some for Sapphire too, of course, then got to work on the rest of his chores.
Once Anakin got the horses into the corral, he then went to have breakfast with his family.
Over the last few days, everyone was beginning to take notice that Anakin was slowly getting better and better at taking care of the horses, and riding them too. That was shown clearly as Anakin took care of Sapphire over the next few days.
Anakin made sure Sapphire had plenty of food and water, and took her outside to get fresh air and bask in the warm sunshine. He also brushed her, washed her, and changed her bandages and reapplied the ointment Obi-Wan prescribed as she healed.
And, in that time, Sapphire began to notice things about Anakin too. Every time he walked by the Cozy Corral Motel, where Padme worked, Anakin would glance at her and get this look on his face. He couldn't help smiling sweetly, and having a bit if a dreamy look in his eyes, and he turned pink every time he looked at her. Sapphire wasn't the only one to notice either.
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Soon, Anakin was finally finished rebuilding the wall in the stable, and he got to move the Fetts' horses back to their own home. Sapphire now had the stable to herself. At least, until Orpheus and Harmony returned. And miraculously, when Anakin took the bandages off her legs for the fifth time... she was all better.
Anakin started brushing Sapphire before it was time for him to go have breakfast that morning.
"How long have you been crushing on Padme?" Sapphire asked Anakin out of the blue.
Anakin accidentally yanked Sapphire's hair in the next brush stroke.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry," said Anakin sheepishly. He went back to brushing and attempted to dismiss the question. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Sapphire gave him a look though.
"You forget, Anakin, horses know when you're feeling a certain way, even if you're a great actor who can fake it with your face and body language."
Anakin said nothing. He didn't say anything, but in his head and his heart, he knew Sapphire was right. There was no denying Anakin had feelings for Padme.
So, when he went to have breakfast and Padme wasn't present, the others had some questions for Anakin when they saw him staring dreamily outside as Padme was grooming Lavendera.
"When's the wedding?" Carmine joked.
"Huh?! What?" Anakin jumped, frightened. "Is she here?!"
"Carmine!" Harmony said. "Remember?"
"Oh..." Carmine felt silly now, only then recalling Anakin was still scared of being found and forced into an arranged marriage.
"I think what Carmine meant is that you've been looking at Padme in a... special way." Ahsoka said.
"When did you notice that?" Anakin asked.
"We all noticed it." Comedia said. "Horse and rider."
Everyone nodded to confirm they knew.
"I don't know why I'm looking at her this way," said Anakin, unable to look away from Padme. "I feel like something's wrong with me for some reason."
"How so?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Well, my palms get sweaty, I forget how to talk, and I've been getting what I think are hot flashes, mostly every time I'm around Padme, then I get dizzy and this weird feeling in my stomach."
Obi-Wan chuckled and said, "I know that feeling very well. It seems you're in love."
Anakin couldn't believe it. Everyone else knew he was in love before even he did. But how this was possible, he had no clue.
"I can't believe this." Anakin said. "Why does it feel so... strange? It's like, when I'm around her, I feel happy, yet really scared at the same time. Almost like my heart is racing, but the rest of me is frozen... I don't know how to describe it, really."
"That's what falling in love will do to you, many times." Caroline said, giving Carmine a kiss, her boyfriend turning a bit red.
"Have you ever been in love before?" Shaak asked, her husband wrapping his arms around her affectionately.
Anakin shook his head.
"I've been surrounded by women a lot. But, none of them really caught my eye. Well, I've met some pretty ones, and even been put up as a prize where girls could win a date with me... but they pretty much made me believe finding love would be nothing more than a dream for me."
"Why?" Omega asked. "Bad dates?"
"The dates themselves were fine. It was the women who were the problem. None of them saw... well, me. They only saw a chance to gain followers on social media, or the potential to marry someone rich and famous. I didn't need to tell them the truth that I was famous but broke to see their true colors. In other words, being famous is a bittersweet thing. On the covers of magazines and on a screen, I'm smiling, but inside I feel like crying so much of the time."

It was a sad truth. For Anakin, he thought the only woman who would ever truly love him would be his mother, but to him, if that was so, then that was good enough for him. He would rather have just his mother who truly loved him than be surrounded by millions of beautiful women who only wanted him for his fame and non-existent fortune.
"A fellow racer advised me before I got lost though, that if I wanted to find true love, I had to find a woman who either doesn't know who I am, or isn't a huge pod race fan."
"I'd say Padme fits that bill." Caroline said. "None of us knew you were a famous racer when you arrived, including Padme."
"Maybe. But, I don't even know if she even thinks I'm fit to hold the door for her." Anakin said, looking at the orange shirt with a white rabbit on it he was wearing. "She comes from one of those high class families, and I'm some slave boy who's now wearing my long-lost twin's clothes just to get out of rags."
"Be careful with that one you're wearing. That's my favorite one." Carmine said.
"Why do so many of your clothes have rabbits on them?"
"I used to have a pet rabbit. Fluffy." Carmine said, taking out a picture from when he was a kid, and he was holding a little brown bunny in his arms. "I loved that little guy so much. He was my best friend."
"Rabbits do make wonderful pets for anxiety patients." Caroline said. "From what your father has shared, Fluffy really helped Carmine settle his nerves as a child."
Carmine sighed. He remembered how much he loved his pet rabbit, and how devastated he was when his beloved pet passed away. Fluffy was very soft to pet, and he always hopped around like he was dancing whenever Carmine played the piano. For a while, after he and his father buried the rabbit and plants a beautiful flower memorial garden for him in the backyard, Carmine could only play sad music on the piano, knowing his pet wouldn't be there to dance while he played anymore. Carmine was very lonely, and it didn't help that his anxiety made it hard to talk to other kids in the event that his father took him out of town to help at the farmer's market. Eventually though, while Carmine was grieving, he met Harmony, and she helped him through the process and showed him how comforting music could be to help him keep Fluffy's memory alive, and show him that he could be happy again. Deep down, Carmine knew Fluffy would've wanted him to be happy; to others, Fluffy was just an animal, but to Carmine, he held a special spot in his heart.
"It's almost like he's still here now." Carmine said. "Now I have Harmony. She's too big for me to hold, but just the right size for hugging. And she loves celery just like Fluffy did."
Carmine wrapped an arm around Caroline and pulled her closer.
"And then, Caroline came to town and opened the clothing shop with her parents. One thing led to another, and we got together."
"Before my parents passed, they said it would be best to move the business, but I chose not to. This town has a past filled with beautiful things that I know can be revived. Back in my old hometown, I used to like helping out our gardeners tend to the plants."
Caroline, similar to Padme, grew up in a rich family. Her mother was a former ballerina, her father ran a fashion business that was passed from his great grandmother for generations. Caroline was a talented dancer too. She had it all. Loving parents, went to a nice school, lived in a beautiful mansion with a staff who helped take care of it, and lots of nice clothes and toys. But, she was lonely too. Despite being a nice girl and talented, other kids at school snubbed her. So, her first friends were pretty much the house workers. So, while other kids were going to the mall with their friends or played in the park, Caroline was either helping the maids clean up, receiving cooking lessons from the chef, and most often helping the gardeners.
Caroline's mother had very fancy taste in flowers. There were orchids, peonies, tulips, and of course roses. And there was a cherry tree Caroline loved to swing on. Caroline had planted some seeds from some of the cherries to grow another one, but one day she saw it had bent over in a big windstorm, and Caroline thought her tree was ruined forever. But the lead gardener told her, "All it needs is a little attention and tender loving care. More than half the time, what once was beautiful can be beautiful again if given enough of those things, and given them properly."
"How did you end up living in the countryside then?" Anakin said, confused how yet another rich girl could've ended up in a small town.
"Well, I decided I wanted to go into business. Ever since I helped my father with planning out a surprise party for my mom on their twentieth wedding anniversary, I dreamed of owning my own party planning business. But, my parents told me I'd need to start out small. Since I already knew a lot about fashion, I started out with the clothing shop you see in this town now, and started selling them at the farmer's market too, seeing as my fashionable farming line became popular among many country folks, and even some big city folk. Sadly, party planning still hasn't come true for me... not as a professional business, anyway."
"Caroline has planned fun things for just us, though." Boba said. "Like our birthday last year."
"Boba wanted to have a beach party, but I wanted to do something more sport related." Omega explained.
Caroline worked her magic, and at a pretty lake near the town, they set up a beach party where the flying horses pulled people water skiing across the leg, and all they needed was a couple nets and balls to play volleyball and soccer on the grass. In other words, Caroline found a party that would make both of them happy. Planning a party for twins was not easy when they had different tastes, but it was even harder for quadruplets. To everyone's great surprise, Caroline rose to the challenge and created a great picnic party in the apple orchard with archery and horseback riding for Hunter, Tech, Crosshair, and Wrecker. Crosshair loved archery, Wrecker loved picnics with lots of food, Tech loved relaxing under the shade of the trees, and Hunter loved the fresh air and sunlight outside.
"Wow." Anakin said. "You really sound like you oughta be a wedding planner. I've seen a lot of those bridal reality shows with all the stress that can happen."
"Others looked at him oddly."
"The television in our trailer doesn't get a lot of good reception. It's either the news, kids' TV, or bridal reality shows. And a lot of the news puts me to sleep, I'm too old to be singing the alphabet, and I swear if I hear that Baby Shark song again, my head is gonna explode. Also, I guess part of me thinks that if I watch a show about people in love, it might help me find my true love. Mom always said I deserve to find a special woman to call my wife and start a family with, if I so choose. But like I said, when you're famous like me, true love is a luxury no amount of money could buy."
"Padme is a good catch." Maybelle said. "Why don't ya ask her out already?"
"How would I do that?" Anakin said. "Look at me!"
Anakin sighed and decided he needed to get back to work on taking care of Sapphire.
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"You know, Anakin." Sapphire said. "I think Padme likes you too."
Anakin groaned. "Why is everyone on my back about Padme today?!"
"It's nothing to be ashamed about, Anakin. Falling in love for the first time is scary for everyone. All you have to do is talk to Padme. Is there a reason you feel afraid? Are you unsure what you'd say to her?"
Anakin thought and said, "I do have some ideas."
"Like what? If you could speak to Padme now and not have to worry about her laughing or rejecting you, what would you say?"
Anakin thought again, and felt it in his heart, the things he would love to say to Padme, if only he knew if she felt the same way. There were so many things about her he'd noticed over the last week or so whenever he saw Padme, whether it was in the diner, out in the town, or when he walked by her office and saw her working or saw her helping out other citizens.
Anakin:
I'd say
There's nothing like your smile
Sort of subtle and perfect and real
I'd say
You never knew how wonderful
That smile could make someone feel
And I see
Whenever she gets bored
She scribbles stars on the cuffs of her jeans
Anakin also remembered a day when Padme was watching Omega and Boba, and while Boba was making paper airplanes, Padme and Omega were filling out some quizzes from magazines they'd picked up from the town where they went for the farmer's market. Padme being so good with kids somehow made Padme just that more attractive to Anakin.
And I noticed
That she still fills out the quizzes
That they put in those fashion magazines
But I keep it all inside my head
What I see I left unsaid
And though I wanted to
I couldn't talk to her
I couldn't find the way
But in my mind I say
If I could tell her
Tell her everything I see
If I could tell her
How she's everything to me
But we're a million worlds apart
And I don't know how I would even start
If I could tell her
If I could tell her
Padme was beautiful in so many ways. Her perfect hair, her beautiful smile, her voice like music, and most importantly her heart so pure and loving; it was as though she was an angel sent straight from Heaven made to light up the spirits of Naboo Springs' remaining citizens in their times of darkness.
I thought
It looked pretty cool when she put a white daisy into her hair
And I wondered how she learned to dance
Like all the rest of the world, isn't there
But I keep it all inside my head
What I saw I left unsaid
If I could tell her
Tell her everything I see
If I could tell her
How she's everything to me
Anakin had no idea, but Padme had her own bits of doubt how she would talk to Anakin. She couldn't explain it, but there was just something about him that every rich or powerful man she'd met before didn't have.
Padme & Anakin:
But we're a million worlds apart
Anakin:
And I don't know how I would even start
If I could tell her
If I could tell her
But what do you do when there's this great divide?
Padme:
He just seems so far away
Anakin:
And what do you do when the distance is too wide?
Padme:
It's like I don't know anything
Anakin:
And how do you say
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
Anakin & Padme:
But we're a million worlds apart
And I don't know how I would even start
Anakin:
If I could tell her
If I could
Anakin sighed as he looked outside and saw Padme helping Caroline with folding some clothes for the store yet again. He decided just to get to work on helping Tech with work on the cell tower like he promised. However, Anakin didn't know that the other citizens had a little project of their own to work on as well. And they gave it a special name: Operation: Racing Romance.