//------------------------------// // Calm Before The Storm // Story: More than a Galaxy Away // by Sundancer //------------------------------// Damaya slowly awakened, she looked around, momentarily forgetting where she was. What she was not expecting, however, was a surprise glomping by Fluttershy the ninja. “Oof!” The wind was knocked from Damaya's lungs as Fluttershy continued her deathgrip around her neck. “F-Fltr...sh-ack! C-can't... breathe!” Fluttershy immediately let go and retreated across the room, hiding her face behind her mane and blushing as she stared at a particularly interesting corner of the room. “I-I'm s-sorry... I was so worried after I saw you collapse a few days ago...” Damaya looked up at Fluttershy, “Days!? I knew the technique was strenuous, but I didn't know it would put me out for days... I apologize.” “O-oh it's ok! But I'm... glad you're ok...” Fluttershy sheepishly grinned as she walked downstairs to make breakfast. Damaya was trying to determine if she should share whatever she may find from the memory core with the others, and decides it would be best not to worry them. She stretched her arms as she walked downstairs to join Fluttershy for breakfast. Damaya takes a seat at the table as Fluttershy brought her some pancakes. She eagerly dived into the stack of pancakes, devouring them like they're going out of style. “Oh Fluttershy, while you were asleep last night I decided to take a walk through that forest to the crash site. I saw a bunch of hoofprints, were you and your friends at the crash site while I was out?” Damaya chewed through another stack of pancakes. “W-well I stayed and looked after you... but um... Twilight insisted that her and the others go investigate.... I tried to tell them they should wait for you to wake up... b-but I don't think they heard me...” Fluttershy daintily nibbled on one of her own pancakes. “Oh, ok. I just was curious is all.” Damaya finally finished her share of pancakes, leaning back on her chair and rubbing her stomach. “Oh wow Fluttershy, I haven't encountered this good of cooking since I lived with my parents.” Fluttershy blushed, “T-thank you.” Damaya stood up form the table. “Fluttershy, surely you don't live in the middle of nowhere. Is there a town nearby, I would be delighted to meet the townspeo-er... ponies.” “Oh why yes of course! Ponyville is only about half a mile to the East. B-but I don't think everypony will take your arrival well...” “Well I can't just live here mooching off of you, and I can prove to them that I'm not some evil demon that fell out of the sky. Oh, I know! You can take me to see your friend Rarity so I can acquire new clothes!” “Oh, that sounds lovely, today is our day at the spa too, maybe you can join us!” Fluttershy grinned, the sound of a squee emanating from her sheer amount of adorableness. “Why, that sounds lovely. I always enjoyed the spas on Alderaan while I meditated.” “W-what's an Alderaan?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh, it's a lovely Core World planet that looks a lot like this one in fact.” “Oh, that sounds lovely.” And with that the pair set off towards Ponyville to pay Rarity a visit. They arrived at Carousel Boutique with only a moderate handful of stares from the townsponies, Damaya made sure to greet each one of them with a warm smile and wave. Some reacted with a confused wave of their own, while others freaked out and yanked their foals inside. When they reached the Boutique Fluttershy gently knocked on the door, before being greeted by a loud crash and a furious Rarity screaming. “GIRLS! What have you done!? That dress was supposed to go out today! You will help clean up this mess this instant!” “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS BOUTIQUE CLEANERS! YAY!” “No no don't use th- Oh nevermind!” Fluttershy gently opened the door, and the pair was greeted with the sight of a boutique in absolute disarray. Fabric was hanging from the ceiling, all the ponyquins were either knocked over or broken, and one dress in particular had three small lumps wiggling underneath it. Damaya chuckled a bit to herself as she knelt down and freed the three little fillies from their dress prison. The three fillies were sent tumbling out of the dress as Damaya tried sitting what was left of it on the ponyquin. They stared up at her with wide eyes as she knelt down to their level. “I hope you children aren't giving miss Rarity any trouble, I wouldn't want to have to gobble you up!” Damaya smiles widely as she ruffles their manes. The joke elicited a small chuckle from Fluttershy as she trotted up to the Crusaders. “Girls, I want you three to introduce yourselves to Damaya, she's not from around here and she's visiting Ponyville. “Ahm' Applebloom!” “My name's Sweetie Belle!” “Hi I'm Scootaloo!” “It has certainly been a pleasure meeting you three, though I do won-” Damaya was cut off by Applebloom hopping up. “Miss Damaya, why do you have them there bandages over yer' eyes?” “G-girls... I don't think it's very poli-” “No no, it's quite alright. I was quite curious when I was their age too.” Damaya warmly smiles as she explains to the Crusaders what a Miraluka is. “Wooooow, that's so cool!” Scootaloo's eyes were extremely wide with awe. “But Miss Damaya, if you don't have any eyes, how do you see?” Sweetie Belle asked, tiling her head in confusion. “Well you see girls, all Miraluka are born with the ability to see wi-” Damaya was interrupted as a very disheveled Rarity walked in from the back room. “Girls! Oh, Damaya, you're awake! It's been ages! Girls, why don't you go crusading for your cutie marks with Fluttershy?” Rarity gave Fluttershy the most pleading look that could have ever been imagined. “Wha- Oh! Uhm, yes! Girls, you could help me visit a family of otters living in Whitetail Wood! Maybe you could get your cutie marks!” “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS OTTER CARETAKERS! YAY!!!” With that Fluttershy was immediately dragged out of the boutique. “That was pretty harsh Rarity...” “Oh... maybe you're right Damaya... I should make her some socks... she does love socks. Anyways, let us get those rags off of you, I can't stand to see you looking so drab!” “Oh alright, but let me lay some ground rules: 1. Nothing too fancy. 2. I need to be able to move freely in it. Got that?” Damaya adopted a stern look on her face. “Why yes of course darling, I'll even make a new eye covering! You can't stand to just wrap your head in dirty bandages!” Rarity led Damaya off to the parlor, instructing her to stand on a raised platform with lots of mirrors so she could get her measurements. Damaya had no idea just what she was in for, nor what was happening quite a ways away. Inquisitor Drogan disengaged the cloaking device on his small vessel, typing furiously into the console, not understanding what his sensors were telling him. He thought he had finally caught that blasted Miralukan. He shoved his fist violently into the console, causing the image to flicker and die. He had been tracking her for over 3 years. Being part of the Inquisitorius, he was tasked with tracking down and either turning rogue Jedi to the dark side or eliminating them. He knew from experience that this particular Jedi would never turn, so for the past 3 years he had been trying desperately to kill her. He has just managed to track her down and hit her ship with an MG7-A proton torpedo right to it's intake manifolds, which would certainly cripple the ship enough for him to deliver the killing blow. What he failed to understand however, was how the entire ship suddenly disappeared, without a trace! Even the debris created from the torpedo was gone, and the sensors couldn't pick up and residual readings! It was as if she simply disappeared from reality! He furrowed his brow as he turned the ship in the direction of where the Imaharo was last seen. He would be damned if he was going to let her escape again. He furiously manipulated the interface in front of him, performing every possible scan to detect anything that could allude to how that blasted Jedi got away. As he reached the point of disappearance, his ship lurched, before there was a great cracking and grinding of metal as his ship, along with any trace of it ever being there, was wiped from the galaxy. His ship, more of a crunched up ball of metal, hurled straight towards a large gray rock orbiting a planet. As the day wore on, Damaya was still standing on the platform, with Rarity fitting a hood over her head. Damaya's head immediately snapped to the right, staring through the wall towards the Eastern sky. It was just past dusk now, the Moon had just peaked the Eastern mountains, but something was off, and Damaya could feel it. “Oh Damaya, you made me mess up th-” Rarity stopped mid chide and noticed the concerned look on Damaya's face, hearing her faintly muttering to herself. “No, no no no! How could he have found me?! I don't even know where in the galaxy I am, so how could he find me!?” Damaya was now yelling, as she frantically got dressed in her old robes, as she pulled her hood over her head and grabbed her lightsaber off the table. Damaya turned her gaze back to the stupefied Rarity. “Rarity, I don't know if your society has any leaders, and if they do if you have any way to contact them, but I need you to get in contact with them as soon as possible. Tell them... tell them a great evil is about to befall this planet.” As soon as Damaya was through, she opened the door and ran through town, using the force to bolster her speed. Rarity thought to herself that she would put Rainbow Dash to shame, but quickly composed herself, trotting out of the door towards the Library, not even bothering to close her front door. As Damaya raced through Ponyville and East towards the Everfree Forest one thought kept penetrating her focus. Things are gonna get a whole lot worse before they get better. A/N: Sorry for the wait everypony, and the slightly shorter chapter but my life has been hectic and I realized I won't be able to make the daily updates I was hoping for, but fear thee not! As I have no plans to abandon this story.