Days went by and things were looking better at the palace. Crosshair was finally getting along with his horse Maybelle, and they'd finally gotten to the step of riding.

Maybelle trotted around the corral with Crosshair on her back as he practiced hitting targets while she ran at different speeds.

"Great shots, Crosshair." Maybelle said. "I'd say yer fit as a fiddle when it comes to hitting targets whether they be the ones moving or ya'll."

Crosshair cracked a smile and pet Maybelle on the side of her neck, her favorite spot to be stroked.

"Good girl, Maybelle." said the Batcher.

"Yeehaw!" Wrecker shouted as he rode Pinto at the speed of a bullet in the form of a racehorse.

The speed blew Maybelle's hat off her head and messed up her mane.

Maybelle sighed. "I swear, if my little brother does that one more time I'm gonna hogtie him to a rock."

"Wrecker might just lift it and rush on him again." Crosshair pointed out.

"Not if I lassoed his rider first."

Meanwhile, Boba was practicing his water powers in a lake near the palace.

Boba was having a lot of fun being a merman and doing all kinds of tricks with the water, swimming around and even making the water move and take shapes that let him swim through the air as though it were the ocean.

And sometimes, he would use his tail to splash someone who came by just to mess around.

"Boba?" Gabby called, coming by the lake. "Big Brother?"

But the little girl didn't see her brother hiding behind a rock, and he splashed some water on her, making the girl scream in surprise and shock from the cold water. And when her legs got wet, it made her turn into a mermaid.

"Gotcha!" Boba laughed.

Gabby turned her tail back into legs and said, "You are so dead, Boba!"

And Gabby ran and cannonballed into the water and started chasing her brother around in the water, making some bubbles appear under the water, and the two splashed each other above the water too.

Boba grabbed Gabby as they were playing Tag and started tickling her, the girl laughing like crazy.

"Boba! Stop it!" Gabby begged.

But Boba didn't stop.

"You know you don't want me to." Boba laughed, blowing a raspberry on Gabby's stomach, making her laugh even more.

"There you two are." Anakin said, coming to the lake. "I've been looking for you."

"Hi, Dad." Boba said, letting his sister down.

"Did you both forget about our supply run today?" Anakin said. "You're starting school next week, and we need to make sure you're all prepared."

"Oh, yeah. I completely forgot about that." Boba said.

Boba quickly got himself out of the water and squeezed the excess liquid from his hair.

Gabby did the same, but used her wind magic to blow dry hers and Boba's hair.

Anakin, Caroline, Kara, and Carmine brought the kids to the store, where there was a big sale going on for back-to-school supplies.

"Alright kids, you've got your lists." Carmine said. "Now, it's not gonna be easy. Shopping for school supplies is a battlefield. There's all kinds of tricks stores try to pull like selling you cheap items for high prices and hiding all the good stuff behind trendy styles."

"Daddy, we know what we need to get." Lamenta said. "But there's this really cool backpack I really wanna get too."

"And we'll get you one, Little Lamb." Carmine said. "But remember the other essentials."

"Pencils, pens, notebooks, erasers, and art supplies." Gabby said. "We know that."

"Good. I just wanted to make sure you know you know. You know?"

"Alright kids, we're gonna split up to cover more ground." Anakin said. "Kara, since you're the fastest, you're in charge of basic writing supplies, Carmine, Omega, and Boba, backpacks. Gabby and I will handle art supplies. Caroline and Lamenta, check the clearance isle for anything useful."

Everyone got their carts or baskets and got ready to go in. There was practically an army of parents and kids searching for the good supplies today.

"Ready?" said Anakin.

"We're going in." Caroline declared.

Only the Skywalker-Jinn family knew how to turn a task as simple as shopping into a crazy mission.

Sure enough, it was crazy at the sale today.

Pencils and pens were going like crazy, especially the colorful and scented ones.

But Lamenta managed to snag some sparkly pens she wanted.

"Mine!" Lamenta declared. "Got the sparkly pens."

"Good job, Lamenta." Caroline said. "How do you feel about these pencils with kitties on them?"

"Ooh! I love those."

Kara zipped by with a basket filled with notebooks, pens, pencils, and erasers.

"Got all the writing materials and papers." said Kara. "All for a great deal too."

"Come on, Daddy, this isn't preschool art." Gabby said, making sure she and Anakin picked out the right supplies. "Six pack crayons won't be enough."

If there was one thing Gabby knew a lot about, it was arts and crafts and how to get the very best supplies.

Gabby grabbed the 64 color packs of crayons that had crayon sharpeners in the boxes, scented markers, glue sticks instead of liquid glue, as it was less messy, colored pencils, extra soft bristled paintbrushes, safety scissors in her and the other kids' favorite colors, and books of stickers.

"Hmm. At this point I can't tell if we're shopping for your art classes or setting up to open our own art studio." said Anakin.

"Creativity is serious business, Daddy." Gabby told him. "Sometimes you gotta make do with what you got, sometimes you absolutely, definitely, positively need certain supplies.

"This one is mine." Boba declared.

Boba chose a backpack that was green and white with some brown straps on different pockets.

Carmine selected a backpack he just knew his daughter would love. Purple with lots of sparkly stars on it. He even found a cute little white lamb plush keychain for it.

"I want this one." Omega said, picking up a black backpack with red rose patterns on it.

"Good choice, Omega." Carmine said. "Now what about Gabby?"

Boba looked around and found a pink bag with little unicorns on it, it even had lots of sparkles on it. That was a perfect bag for his little sister, knowing how much she loved unicorns and glitter sparkles.

Boba went and picked up the backpack, but another hand grabbed it to.

"Oh, sorry. But that's for my sister." Boba said.

"I touched it first, kid." said the girl who grabbed the bag.

"Do you know who I am?" Boba said.

"Do I look like I care?" said the girl with attitude.

And the two kids started a tug of war with the backpack.

Boba even used his water magic to spray the girl in the face.

"What the heck?!" the girl said.

"Go find another backpack. This one is for my sister."

"You're gonna regret that!" said the girl.

Boba rolled his eyes.

"Sales really do make people crazy." He said.

The Skywalkers and Jinns met at checkout to make sure they all had everything on the list.

"What a pretty backpack." Gabby said, admiring the bag her big brother found for her.

"I figured you'd like it." Boba smiled. "Had to fight someone for it, but you're worth it."

"Thanks, Big Brother." Gabby kissed her brother's cheek.

When the kids got home, they got to setting up their supplies and packing their backpacks.

"I'm so excited for the first day of school!" Gabby said. "Our first time in a real school in real classrooms."

But then, Boba thought of something.

"I'm excited to go to a real school too," said Boba. "But... I just realized this means we won't be taking lessons together anymore. Omega and I are going into the eighth grade, and you and Lamenta are in first grade."

"You're right." Gabby said.

Suddenly, Gabby and the others got worried about going to school.

There would be classrooms filled with kids none of them knew, the play areas would be different, the teachers would be different, and the kids were also thinking of signing up for different extracurriculars and/or sports.

Gabby wanted to do art, music, basketball, and dance. Omega was interested in the robotics club and cheer. Lamenta definitely wanted to join the astronomy club and music too, maybe even the soccer team. And Boba was going to try for cheer squad and drama club.

This meant the kids would be in their own paths in school, and probably not to spend as much time together as they used to. And what about when they met new people? Would anything between them ever be the same?

Gabby and Boba had both been no strangers to change. A lot changed for both of them when they first met and then became siblings. And then more changed when Lamenta entered the picture. Now Omega was the newest member of the family, and soon another member would be added in about two months.

And Omega and Boba's birthday ball was a mere month away.

"Guys," said Carousella. "Sure, a lot is gonna change."

"We can't even go to school with you." Crescent said. "Horses aren't allowed in school. So, this is a big change for us too."

"It's so not fair." Remix said. "Why can't we go to school?"

"Because we're horses, and we're already educated in what we need." said Estrella. "Besides, this is a school strictly for bipedal beings."

"But other than that..." Gabby said, looking down. "What does it mean for us?"

"It just means you're growing up." Carousella said. "It's part of life. You're not gonna be a little girl forever. You gotta remember, all our parents were once kids like us. They had to go through a lot of changes over the years. But, they pulled through them and found many great things. And so can you guys."

"Sure, school is gonna be hard at first with all the new experiences." said Crescent. "But remember what Anakin always says..."

"Your best teacher is experience." the kids said together.

"That's right." Carousella said. "And no matter what you go through in school, at the end of the day, you're still family and friends. Besides, maybe you can sit at lunch together."

"That's true." Lamenta said. "I didn't read any rule saying we couldn't."

"Well, let's just hope all goes well." said Gabby.

"I just hope Mila's teaching was enough to prepare me for classes." Omega said.

"Learning is what school's for, Megs." Boba said. "We'll learn as we go along."

Now the kids were ready physically for school. They only hoped they were ready mentally too.