More than a Galaxy Awayby SundancerChaptersArrivalAwakeningCalm Before The StormArrivalDamaya Tadro was in quite a predicament. She was piloting her single crew starship, the Imaharo, through uncharted space in the galaxy. After the Great Jedi Purge, she took to a life of exploring the vast swaths of the galaxy left unexplored. This particular sector was completely unheard of, not even idle chatter about it at cantinas. This slightly unnerved her, but she pushed her doubts to the back of her mind and pressed on, concentrating to extend her force sight. Being a Miraluka this was rather easy, seeing as she relied on force sight exclusively. Her Jedi training granted her much greater discipline, allowing her to extend her vision for thousands of kilometers through the relatively quiet void of space. She was so intently focused, however, that she didn't hear the alarm sounding on the control panel in front of her seat until she was thrown across the cockpit from the ship violently shaking. She rubbed her head as she manipulated her vision around the interior of the ship, checking for any damage, and apart from everything not nailed down being thrown onto the floor, there was only minor hull damage. She climbed back into her captain's chair as she focused on the glowing holopanel in front of her, trying to determine the cause of this interruption. She remembered to fasten her safety harness thankfully, as the ship was violently thrown around again, knocking out the power and plunging the entire ship into the red glow of the emergency lights. With a sigh she realized the attack had specifically aimed to knock out her communications and sensor relays. Thanks to her talent with force sight however, she knew that the hull was breached and she would lose life support in less than an hour. Even though she couldn't see her assailant she knew she needed to find somewhere to land, so she extended her vision again, pushing herself far beyond her limit, finding a disturbingly nearby planet that the sensors had somehow missed before. She knew she didn't have the time or the energy for a few cursory scans of the planet, but hoped it was at least moderately habitable. With all of her remaining energy, she tapped into the force to give her ship a good fling towards the planet, hoping she came down soft as she blacked out from the exertion. Meanwhile in Ponyville, resident egghead princess Twilight Sparkle was out on her balcony stargazing, recording her findings for some obscure astronomy book. As she focused her telescope on a constellation she had been observing for a few days now, she raised an eyebrow as a large flash temporarily blinded her. She recoiled from the lens with a quiet little shriek as she rubbed her eyes with a forehoof. She had seen meteors before, but never close enough to where one actually blinded her. She reckoned that it would actually impact near Ponyville, a thought which was quickly confirmed by the incredibly loud bang that probably woke up most of Ponyville. She quickly wrapped herself in a scarf and put on a fuzzy purple hat to keep warm, figuring the townsponies are probably freaking out right about now and would want answers. She quickly left the treebrary and made a beeline towards Town Hall, already seeing other confused ponies tiredly shuffle out of their homes. By the time she made her way to the center of town a large group of concerned ponies had already started raising hell to a very disheveled Mayor Mare, who was trying fruitlessly to bring order back. She spared a glance towards Twilight, breathing a small sigh of relief as she knew the townsponies would probably listen to Twilight, she is a princess after all. Twilight sped up her pace, cantering up to the back of the podium and exchanging a few whispered words with the Mayor. Her horn lit up as she amplified her voice, not quite to Royal Canterlot Voice levels, but loud enough to be clearly heard over the panicked murmur of the ever growing crowd. "Excuse me, everypony. Please, calm down. There's no need for alarm here. I know we've been through some... interesting times these last few months, but for once this is not something you all need to worry about." She smiled slightly as the crowd immediately quieted down. She glanced quickly through the crowd, noticing all her friends standing off to the side in a group, no doubt waiting to talk to her personally after she was done. Focusing back on the crowd, she continued. "I believe it is nothing more than a meteorite that has landed..." She paused as she looked around quickly, seeing the faint vapor trail barely contrasting against the night sky. "Actually it looks like it landed in the Everfree Forest. It's a rare, but not totally unheard of occurance, and I recommend that everypony just goes back to sleep." Twilight was happy to note that the crowd seemed to accept this answer, as the crowd slowly dispersed and returned to their homes. Taking a few steps from the podium she joined her friends who had been waiting patiently to the side. "So it was justa meteorite, Twilight? No weird magic hubbub, no evil baddie tryin' t' take over Equestria? Justa common, normal space rock?" Applejack asked with her eyebrow raised, not entirely convinced that for once Ponyville was subject to a natural occurrence. Twilight chuckled a bit at the farmpony's suspicions. "Applejack, I am fairly certain it's just a meteorite. I was out stargazing when it passed overhead." Rainbow Dash interjected this time, "You gotta admit though Twilight, when do normal things ever happen in Ponyville?" Twilight frowned a bit, "...alright you do have a point. We can go check it out in the morning. For now why don't we all just go back to bed." "But if it is something dangerous, don't you think that deserves immediate action? Why I couldn't stand the thought of simply going back to sleep knowing Ponyville could be in danger!" Rarity was the one to speak up this time. "Alright, alright. We'll go check it out. I didn't realize you would all be so eager to trek through the Everfree Forest at two in the morning." Twilight relented. Fluttershy squeaked out from behind Pinkie Pie, "O-oh... um... Twilight. I ah, I'm not too sure about going into the E-Everfree Forest this late. I don't even like going into it during the day... Pinkie Pie took it from here, turning around to address the cowering pony behind her. "Aw come on Fluttershy, Twilight's a princess now! She could totally like, shoot lasers at any of the big nasties in that dark old forest! Not to mention your Auntie Pinkie would be here with you!" Twilight was about speak up that she couldn't actually shoot lasers or anything of the sort, but a quick nudge in the flank from Applejack got her to stay quiet and go with it. "Not to mention if anything tries to attack us I would totally just fly up and buck it into next week!" Rainbow gave a confident swish of her tail as she straightened her posture and struck a pose. "A-alright if you guys say so..." Fluttershy quietly relented, trusting in her friend's words. As the group neared the large column of smoke emanating from the forest ahead, Twilight could make out a large crater, riddled with small fires and broken trees. Laying in the center was what looked like a large yellow... volleyball almost. There was some sort of red lettering on the side that she couldn't make out. There was other debris scattered around the area, large chunks of still smouldering metal. Twilight immediately knew this was no simple crater. "Girls... are you all seeing what I'm seeing?" Twilight looked over to gauge all of her friend's reactions. Gaping mouths and wide eyes galore. Well, at least she wasn't the only one completely shocked by this. Twilight was actually surprised by the size of the crater, it was a good 100 meters wide at least, and judging from the shockwave that nearly shattered every window in Ponyville, whatever hit was certainly pretty big. Twilight's train of thought was interrupted however when the big yellow volleyball in the middle started deflating and opening up. She could feel her heartbeat speed up and her ears twitch nervously. "Girls... I really don't like this..." Twilight slowly backed up, the rest of them following quickly as they all ducked into some shrubbery at the edge of the crater. Damaya's head hurt. She winced as she reached up to rub her head. The movement caused her to let out a wracking cough, however. She was immediately aware of the immense, burning pain coming from her abdomen. Her training was probably the only thing keeping her from screaming bloody murder. She tried to take a few shallow breaths, each one sending a lance of pain straight up her body. She couldn't see a damn thing, deeming keeping herself alive more important that focusing on establishing her sphere of vision. She reached out with a hand tentatively, grimacing at the pain of such an act, though she managed to find the release lever. She still didn't know if this planet's atmosphere was breathable or not, but hopefully the built in safeties wouldn't release the pressure if it wasn't. She held her breath and bit her lip as she pulled the lever, grunting at the physical exertion. Thankfully the atmosphere was breathable, as she felt the rush of cold air, incredibly cold air. Just her luck that it would be Winter where she landed. Grimacing yet again at the cold air agitating her many open wounds, she tried to devise a plan for removing this object from her abdomen without immediately going into shock. She could feel that the pole was attached to the pod, so she would only need to stand up to pull the pole out through her back. She figured that it was either do it really quickly and hope she doesn't pass out immediately, or sit here resigned to her fate and die slowly. Damaya was in a world of pain. She now laid a few feet from the capsule, face first in the snow bleeding out a lot more than she was a second ago. She could feel herself slipping away, even her extreme mental fortitude was nothing compared to the amount of pain she was feeling right now. A small part of her wished this was a lightsaber wound, at least then she wouldn't be bleeding so damn much. That was quite a silly thought to have as she passed out. Twilight was in a state of disbelief. She looked over to the others once again. "Girls... I really don't like this." The others just nodded dumbly as Twilight turned back to look at the... thing that had come stumbling out of the yellow volleyball. Well, that description wasn't entirely accurate anymore. She could see now that it was in fact some sort of chair that had been surrounded in some sort of protective, inflatable bubble. What worried her the most though was that the figure came stumbling out on two legs, before collapsing and remaining motionless. Twilight briefly thought that whatever this... creature is it must be really hurt. She didn't get a chance to finish that thought however as one of the ponies broke from their cover and was galloping straight for the downed figure. Twilight couldn't believe her eyes. "Fl...uttershy...? Fluttershy what are you doing!?" Twilight gawked. Fluttershy ignored the quickly rising protests from her friends. She had been scared at first, immensely scared in fact. She was worried she was going to rip out Pinkie's tail, she was clutching it that hard. When she saw that figure stumble out and collapse though, something inside her head clicked. This was a creature that needed help, she remembered back to that time an incredibly bloodied and battered fox stumbled up to her and collapsed when she was tending to her garden. Why should she treat this creature any different? Before she even knew it her hooves were carrying her faster than she thought she could gallop towards the wreckage. Twilight and the others immediately got the message, tearing out of their cover after Fluttershy, shouting garbled protests at her simultaneously. Fluttershy got there first, seeing the creature close up for the first time. She was definitely right that it was injured, blood quickly staining a large area of snow underneath it. What was odd is that she had never seen anything like this creature before. It was clothed in simple robes of differing hues of blue, though it was quickly being stained red. Fluttershy pushed all of her thoughts about what this thing was to the back of her mind, focusing instead on all of her experience mending the animals around her cottage. She could tell it was still breathing, though they were very shallow breaths. It definitely had a large puncture wound, judging from the blood stains on the robes, and the gaping hole by the largest stain. She needed to get it back to her cottage, she had a first aid kit that was fully stocked thanks to the generosity of Nurse Redheart. It was probably too injured to move all the way to Ponyville Medical. She managed to undo the sash on its robe, and use it as a sort of temporary bandage, though that was the most she could do right now. The others crowded around her, though they remained silent and let Fluttershy do her work. Eventually though, Fluttershy got to her hooves, and was immediately bombarded with questions. And of course everyone talked at the same time so Fluttershy didn't understand any of it. Fluttershy possessed an authority she only ever had in situations like this. "Girls, please. We need to get this creature back to my cottage, it will never make it all the way to the hospital. Me, Applejack, and Twilight will carry it across our backs. Rarity and Pinkie Pie can lead us back out through the forest towards my cottage. Rainbow Dash, I need you to fly to Ponyville Medical and tell them to bring their trauma unit to my cottage." The other girls were a little shocked, to say the least. They had never heard Fluttershy so authoritative before, they all just dumbly nodded and followed her directions wordlessly. After many hours of very careful work, Doctor Stable (the doctor that was on call that night) was able to safely say that he had stabilized the creature. It was a little shaky at first, as he didn't even know what species he was working on (which he would later regard as the strangest call he'd ever gotten). He quickly realized that he was working on what was basically a monkey, and scowled when he questioned why they didn't call for the vet. Grievances aside, the creature was certainly an oddity. It didn't have any hair on its body besides its head, nor did it have any eyes. There were certainly sockets where eyes were supposed to be, but they were simply empty. There wasn't even any scar tissue, as if it never had any eyes to begin with. It was certainly also female, as they determined from its... well, anatomy, though it seemed far more developed than just a simple primate. He resigned to leaving it in Fluttershy's care, confidant that it was stable and knowing she had the expertise to tend to it. That, and he wasn't keen on the idea of bringing this thing into Ponyville. Fluttershy bid farewell to all of her friends, promising to let them know as soon as the creature woke up. Rainbow Dash was the hardest to convince, she kept insisting that she should stay too because the thing could very well be dangerous. Fluttershy had a feeling though, she couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but she just felt like a... an aura of goodness around this thing. She reassured Rainbow that if this thing was dangerous Angel would definitely protect her. The little rabbit hadn't left the endtable next to the bed, a carrot perched against his shoulder like a royal guard. Rainbow Dash hesitantly accepted this answer, but promised she would be back every day to check on Fluttershy. Fluttershy smiled as she finally convinced Dash to go home, smiling to herself as she returned to the guest bedroom they had set up for the creature. AwakeningDamaya grunted in pain as she slowly awakened, her vision slowly coming into focus. She looked around the room, seeing herself tucked into a small bed, and what appears to be two... small horses... in the room with her. One was asleep in the bed across the room and the other was slumped down in a chair next to her bed. Upon trying to get up she was met with an intense pain shooting through her side, causing her to involuntarily collapse back onto the bed into a coughing fit. Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, realizing she fell asleep. Upon waking she immediately noticed the creature awake and in pain. She quickly got out of her chair to grab a glass of water, and slowly lifted it up to the creature's mouth. Damaya was at first surprised this creature just offered her water, but was in too much pain to question it and graciously drank the water. She slowly lowered her head back to the pillow, drifting back off to sleep. Damaya slowly awoke, the light of the sun dancing across her face. She glanced around the room and noticed that both of the creatures that were in the room are gone, and she can hear a faint clatter downstairs. With much effort and grunting, she managed to stand up, before quickly realizing she was naked. After frantically looking around for a few seconds she found her robes folded in a near pile on the chair next to the bed. She quickly put on her robes, before realizing her lightsaber is nowhere to be found. After shuffling her way downstairs, she can now see that the winged creature was in what appeared to be a kitchen, making a meal. “I'm not sure if we speak the same language, but I wanted to extend my gratitude for so graciously caring for me. I would most likely be dead if not for you.” Damaya said as she looks around the room for her lightsaber. “Eep!” Fluttershy was startled by the sudden voice across the room, as she quickly cowered into a small ball on the floor, before cautiously peeking her eyes over her foreleg and seeing the creature smiling at her and taking a seat at the table. “Forgive me, where are my manners? I am Damaya Tadro. I assure you that I mean you no harm.” Damaya assured as she grunted from the pain of sitting down. Fluttershy quickly lifted herself back up, finishing the meal and carrying in two plates, sitting them on the table before taking a seat across from Damaya. “M-my name is... F-fluttershy...” “Then I thank you greatly for saving my life Fluttershy, I am forever in your debt. Say... Fluttershy, have you seen a... shiny metal cylinder that was strapped to my waist when you brought me here? It means a great deal to me and I would be devastated if something happened to it.” “O-oh yes... Twilight was examining it w-when she... accidentally sliced my other table in half. I... left it outside... because I thought it was d-dangerous... I'm so sorry... I-i didn't know that it was so special to you...” Damaya reached out with the force, raising her hand as she lifted the hilt through an open window, strapping it to her side. “I thank you again for your help Fluttershy, but who is this Twilight? Is that the other... uhm... horse that was sleeping in the other bed last night?” Fluttershy gets over her initial shock of seeing the hornless creature use magic, but quickly brushes her fear to the side. “Uhm... w-we're ponies... but um... y-yes, that was Twilight.” “My apologies, where is she now?” “O-oh... s-she went to get our other friends about an hour ago... she should be back any second now...” Fluttershy muttered as she nibbled on her sandwich. Damaya smiles and nods as she carefully picks the sandwich up, taking an investigatory bite, before smiling wider and devouring the sandwich in 10 seconds flat. “Oh look, it seems your friends are almost here.” “W-what how do you kn-” A knock came on the door as Fluttershy was questioning Damaya. She jumped a little, before flying over and opening the door. Almost immediately as it's opened a pony shaped blur sped through the door and was bouncing on the table in front of Damaya asking a nonstop barrage of questions. Damaya's headache worsened as she waved her hand in front of her face. “Hush now, and stand quietly by your friends.” Oddly enough, the pony complied and silently walked back to her friends, who's jaws were now resting on the ground. Immediately another pony flied up and got in Damaya's face. “Hey what's the big idea? What did you do to her? If you hurt her-” “Do not fret, I merely silenced for a few minutes, as I have an intense headache. I assure you no harm was done.” Damaya gently pushed the pony out of her face as politely as she could. “I'm sure that all of you have questions for me, and I know what most of them are: 1. You are correct, I am not from around here. 2. I am indeed not a pony. I'm a species known as a Miraluka. 3. Yes, I know I have no eyes and yes, I was born without them. I suppose that about settles all of the major questions, please let me know if I missed any. My name is Damaya Tadro, as I was telling your friend Fluttershy before you all arrived.” The pony Damaya observed as being the one sleeping in the bed last night stepped forward, clearing her throat. “How did yo- nevermind. My name is Twilight Sparkle, the one you just met was Rainbow Dash, the one you uhm... silenced was Pinkie Pie, that is Applejack, that's is Rarity, and you seem to have already met Fluttershy.” Twilight pointed at each of them in turn, each of them giving their own greeting, the one known as Rarity took the chance to step forward when her name was called. “My my, darling, your clothes are utterly ruined. You simply must let me design you some new clothes! I would absolutely love to design clothes for an entirely different species!” “I would be delighted, but I'm afraid I won't be doing much moving around for at least the next two days. How bad were my injuries?” Fluttershy walked up. “W-well you had a lot of cuts and bruises... and a metal pole impaled in your side...” “Well then, I should thank you again Fluttershy, I would not be alive without your help. I don't mean to be rude everyone, but I'm going to get some rest...” Damaya slumped her way back up into the bedroom. “So uh Twi', do you think this here 'Damaya Tadro' is somepony to worry about?” Applejack spoke up as Damaya moved out of earshot. “Well, she does have that strange... device, it could be a weapon. Let's keep an eye on her, I still want to know how she got here.” “Well alrighty then, ah gotta git back to the farm. See ya later everypony!” Applejack waved off her friends as she trotted back to Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually they all returned to their duties, leaving Fluttershy alone again in her cottage. She decided that she should continue to watch Damaya in her sleep, to make sure she was ok. She trotted upstairs quietly, expecting to sit down quietly until Damaya woke up, however Damaya wasn't asleep. She was sitting on the floor, legs crossed and arms resting on her thighs, taking deep, steady breaths. Fluttershy wasn't sure what she was doing, however her interest was piqued as Damaya started slowly lifting off of the ground, until she was levitating about 2 feet. Fluttershy noted that she seemed to be giving off a faint glow of some sort, until suddenly Damaya collapsed, her limbs splaying out as she slammed back into the ground. Fluttershy immediately flew across the room, mustering all her strength she looped her forehooves under Damaya's arms and lifted her back into the bed. Damaya's breathing seemed less raspy and all of the smaller cuts on Damaya's face were gone. Fluttershy pondered if she had used some sort of healing spell, which was confirmed when she gently removed the bandage around Damaya's abdomen to reveal a perfectly healed wound. She smiled warmly as she once again took a seat next to the bed. A few hours later (or what felt like a few hours to Damaya at least) she awoke, greeted by the sight of the bedroom once again from the perspective of the bed. She noticed Fluttershy slumped once again in the chair next to the bed with dark bags under her eyes and an unkempt mane, almost as if she hadn't slept for days. Damaya couldn't help but smile at the immense kindness from a complete stranger as she gently lifted Fluttershy with the Force into bed. Damaya decided to take a stroll outside, pulling her hood over her head and stepping outside into the cool air of a late Winter night. She reached out with the Force, trying to determine the direction of the crash site, and walking off into the Everfree Forest, hoping she could salvage the reserve memory core in the ship's main computer (a sort of “black box” if you will) to try and determine the cause of her crash. She's was secretly hoping that it wasn't the doing of someone she had been running from for so long. As she arrived at the crash site she could tell that something seemed off, there were hoofprints all over the crater and all of the smaller debris had been cleared. She reached out with the Force once more, making sure she was alone while also hearing the faint hum of the computer clinging on to the last bit of power from it's ruptured power pak. Once again this seemed odd to her, as the power pak had more than enough power to last for days, even when damaged. She raised a hand and concentrated, grunting as she bent the metal plating out of the way, revealing a faintly glowing sphere. She walked up and carefully pulled a small object from a port located under the sphere and placed it in one of the pouches fastened to her belt. Her ears perked up as she could make out the faint sounds of rustling in a nearby bush, turning her gaze on it as a strange reptilian creature with the head of a... chicken... pounced out of the bush. The creature fixed it's red-eyed gaze on her, almost as if it expected something to happen. Damaya was intrigued by this odd creature, walking up to it and dropping to a knee, matching it's gaze with one of her own. She reached out with a hand and stroked the creature's scaly back. The creature, while at first surprised by it's prey's apparent lack of fear, melted into putty in her hand, a look of satisfaction spread across it's face as she stroked it's back. “Greetings little one, I apologize for intruding upon your territory, but I required something here. I promise not to intrude again.” Damaya said as she stood back up again, and turned towards the cottage. The creature gave her a quizzical look, but turned and eagerly dived into the wreckage, intent on turning it into it's new home. Damaya returned to the cottage and silently slipped inside, hoping not to wake Fluttershy. She quietly slipped back into her bed, descending into her dreams. Calm Before The StormDamaya 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.
ArrivalDamaya Tadro was in quite a predicament. She was piloting her single crew starship, the Imaharo, through uncharted space in the galaxy. After the Great Jedi Purge, she took to a life of exploring the vast swaths of the galaxy left unexplored. This particular sector was completely unheard of, not even idle chatter about it at cantinas. This slightly unnerved her, but she pushed her doubts to the back of her mind and pressed on, concentrating to extend her force sight. Being a Miraluka this was rather easy, seeing as she relied on force sight exclusively. Her Jedi training granted her much greater discipline, allowing her to extend her vision for thousands of kilometers through the relatively quiet void of space. She was so intently focused, however, that she didn't hear the alarm sounding on the control panel in front of her seat until she was thrown across the cockpit from the ship violently shaking. She rubbed her head as she manipulated her vision around the interior of the ship, checking for any damage, and apart from everything not nailed down being thrown onto the floor, there was only minor hull damage. She climbed back into her captain's chair as she focused on the glowing holopanel in front of her, trying to determine the cause of this interruption. She remembered to fasten her safety harness thankfully, as the ship was violently thrown around again, knocking out the power and plunging the entire ship into the red glow of the emergency lights. With a sigh she realized the attack had specifically aimed to knock out her communications and sensor relays. Thanks to her talent with force sight however, she knew that the hull was breached and she would lose life support in less than an hour. Even though she couldn't see her assailant she knew she needed to find somewhere to land, so she extended her vision again, pushing herself far beyond her limit, finding a disturbingly nearby planet that the sensors had somehow missed before. She knew she didn't have the time or the energy for a few cursory scans of the planet, but hoped it was at least moderately habitable. With all of her remaining energy, she tapped into the force to give her ship a good fling towards the planet, hoping she came down soft as she blacked out from the exertion. Meanwhile in Ponyville, resident egghead princess Twilight Sparkle was out on her balcony stargazing, recording her findings for some obscure astronomy book. As she focused her telescope on a constellation she had been observing for a few days now, she raised an eyebrow as a large flash temporarily blinded her. She recoiled from the lens with a quiet little shriek as she rubbed her eyes with a forehoof. She had seen meteors before, but never close enough to where one actually blinded her. She reckoned that it would actually impact near Ponyville, a thought which was quickly confirmed by the incredibly loud bang that probably woke up most of Ponyville. She quickly wrapped herself in a scarf and put on a fuzzy purple hat to keep warm, figuring the townsponies are probably freaking out right about now and would want answers. She quickly left the treebrary and made a beeline towards Town Hall, already seeing other confused ponies tiredly shuffle out of their homes. By the time she made her way to the center of town a large group of concerned ponies had already started raising hell to a very disheveled Mayor Mare, who was trying fruitlessly to bring order back. She spared a glance towards Twilight, breathing a small sigh of relief as she knew the townsponies would probably listen to Twilight, she is a princess after all. Twilight sped up her pace, cantering up to the back of the podium and exchanging a few whispered words with the Mayor. Her horn lit up as she amplified her voice, not quite to Royal Canterlot Voice levels, but loud enough to be clearly heard over the panicked murmur of the ever growing crowd. "Excuse me, everypony. Please, calm down. There's no need for alarm here. I know we've been through some... interesting times these last few months, but for once this is not something you all need to worry about." She smiled slightly as the crowd immediately quieted down. She glanced quickly through the crowd, noticing all her friends standing off to the side in a group, no doubt waiting to talk to her personally after she was done. Focusing back on the crowd, she continued. "I believe it is nothing more than a meteorite that has landed..." She paused as she looked around quickly, seeing the faint vapor trail barely contrasting against the night sky. "Actually it looks like it landed in the Everfree Forest. It's a rare, but not totally unheard of occurance, and I recommend that everypony just goes back to sleep." Twilight was happy to note that the crowd seemed to accept this answer, as the crowd slowly dispersed and returned to their homes. Taking a few steps from the podium she joined her friends who had been waiting patiently to the side. "So it was justa meteorite, Twilight? No weird magic hubbub, no evil baddie tryin' t' take over Equestria? Justa common, normal space rock?" Applejack asked with her eyebrow raised, not entirely convinced that for once Ponyville was subject to a natural occurrence. Twilight chuckled a bit at the farmpony's suspicions. "Applejack, I am fairly certain it's just a meteorite. I was out stargazing when it passed overhead." Rainbow Dash interjected this time, "You gotta admit though Twilight, when do normal things ever happen in Ponyville?" Twilight frowned a bit, "...alright you do have a point. We can go check it out in the morning. For now why don't we all just go back to bed." "But if it is something dangerous, don't you think that deserves immediate action? Why I couldn't stand the thought of simply going back to sleep knowing Ponyville could be in danger!" Rarity was the one to speak up this time. "Alright, alright. We'll go check it out. I didn't realize you would all be so eager to trek through the Everfree Forest at two in the morning." Twilight relented. Fluttershy squeaked out from behind Pinkie Pie, "O-oh... um... Twilight. I ah, I'm not too sure about going into the E-Everfree Forest this late. I don't even like going into it during the day... Pinkie Pie took it from here, turning around to address the cowering pony behind her. "Aw come on Fluttershy, Twilight's a princess now! She could totally like, shoot lasers at any of the big nasties in that dark old forest! Not to mention your Auntie Pinkie would be here with you!" Twilight was about speak up that she couldn't actually shoot lasers or anything of the sort, but a quick nudge in the flank from Applejack got her to stay quiet and go with it. "Not to mention if anything tries to attack us I would totally just fly up and buck it into next week!" Rainbow gave a confident swish of her tail as she straightened her posture and struck a pose. "A-alright if you guys say so..." Fluttershy quietly relented, trusting in her friend's words. As the group neared the large column of smoke emanating from the forest ahead, Twilight could make out a large crater, riddled with small fires and broken trees. Laying in the center was what looked like a large yellow... volleyball almost. There was some sort of red lettering on the side that she couldn't make out. There was other debris scattered around the area, large chunks of still smouldering metal. Twilight immediately knew this was no simple crater. "Girls... are you all seeing what I'm seeing?" Twilight looked over to gauge all of her friend's reactions. Gaping mouths and wide eyes galore. Well, at least she wasn't the only one completely shocked by this. Twilight was actually surprised by the size of the crater, it was a good 100 meters wide at least, and judging from the shockwave that nearly shattered every window in Ponyville, whatever hit was certainly pretty big. Twilight's train of thought was interrupted however when the big yellow volleyball in the middle started deflating and opening up. She could feel her heartbeat speed up and her ears twitch nervously. "Girls... I really don't like this..." Twilight slowly backed up, the rest of them following quickly as they all ducked into some shrubbery at the edge of the crater. Damaya's head hurt. She winced as she reached up to rub her head. The movement caused her to let out a wracking cough, however. She was immediately aware of the immense, burning pain coming from her abdomen. Her training was probably the only thing keeping her from screaming bloody murder. She tried to take a few shallow breaths, each one sending a lance of pain straight up her body. She couldn't see a damn thing, deeming keeping herself alive more important that focusing on establishing her sphere of vision. She reached out with a hand tentatively, grimacing at the pain of such an act, though she managed to find the release lever. She still didn't know if this planet's atmosphere was breathable or not, but hopefully the built in safeties wouldn't release the pressure if it wasn't. She held her breath and bit her lip as she pulled the lever, grunting at the physical exertion. Thankfully the atmosphere was breathable, as she felt the rush of cold air, incredibly cold air. Just her luck that it would be Winter where she landed. Grimacing yet again at the cold air agitating her many open wounds, she tried to devise a plan for removing this object from her abdomen without immediately going into shock. She could feel that the pole was attached to the pod, so she would only need to stand up to pull the pole out through her back. She figured that it was either do it really quickly and hope she doesn't pass out immediately, or sit here resigned to her fate and die slowly. Damaya was in a world of pain. She now laid a few feet from the capsule, face first in the snow bleeding out a lot more than she was a second ago. She could feel herself slipping away, even her extreme mental fortitude was nothing compared to the amount of pain she was feeling right now. A small part of her wished this was a lightsaber wound, at least then she wouldn't be bleeding so damn much. That was quite a silly thought to have as she passed out. Twilight was in a state of disbelief. She looked over to the others once again. "Girls... I really don't like this." The others just nodded dumbly as Twilight turned back to look at the... thing that had come stumbling out of the yellow volleyball. Well, that description wasn't entirely accurate anymore. She could see now that it was in fact some sort of chair that had been surrounded in some sort of protective, inflatable bubble. What worried her the most though was that the figure came stumbling out on two legs, before collapsing and remaining motionless. Twilight briefly thought that whatever this... creature is it must be really hurt. She didn't get a chance to finish that thought however as one of the ponies broke from their cover and was galloping straight for the downed figure. Twilight couldn't believe her eyes. "Fl...uttershy...? Fluttershy what are you doing!?" Twilight gawked. Fluttershy ignored the quickly rising protests from her friends. She had been scared at first, immensely scared in fact. She was worried she was going to rip out Pinkie's tail, she was clutching it that hard. When she saw that figure stumble out and collapse though, something inside her head clicked. This was a creature that needed help, she remembered back to that time an incredibly bloodied and battered fox stumbled up to her and collapsed when she was tending to her garden. Why should she treat this creature any different? Before she even knew it her hooves were carrying her faster than she thought she could gallop towards the wreckage. Twilight and the others immediately got the message, tearing out of their cover after Fluttershy, shouting garbled protests at her simultaneously. Fluttershy got there first, seeing the creature close up for the first time. She was definitely right that it was injured, blood quickly staining a large area of snow underneath it. What was odd is that she had never seen anything like this creature before. It was clothed in simple robes of differing hues of blue, though it was quickly being stained red. Fluttershy pushed all of her thoughts about what this thing was to the back of her mind, focusing instead on all of her experience mending the animals around her cottage. She could tell it was still breathing, though they were very shallow breaths. It definitely had a large puncture wound, judging from the blood stains on the robes, and the gaping hole by the largest stain. She needed to get it back to her cottage, she had a first aid kit that was fully stocked thanks to the generosity of Nurse Redheart. It was probably too injured to move all the way to Ponyville Medical. She managed to undo the sash on its robe, and use it as a sort of temporary bandage, though that was the most she could do right now. The others crowded around her, though they remained silent and let Fluttershy do her work. Eventually though, Fluttershy got to her hooves, and was immediately bombarded with questions. And of course everyone talked at the same time so Fluttershy didn't understand any of it. Fluttershy possessed an authority she only ever had in situations like this. "Girls, please. We need to get this creature back to my cottage, it will never make it all the way to the hospital. Me, Applejack, and Twilight will carry it across our backs. Rarity and Pinkie Pie can lead us back out through the forest towards my cottage. Rainbow Dash, I need you to fly to Ponyville Medical and tell them to bring their trauma unit to my cottage." The other girls were a little shocked, to say the least. They had never heard Fluttershy so authoritative before, they all just dumbly nodded and followed her directions wordlessly. After many hours of very careful work, Doctor Stable (the doctor that was on call that night) was able to safely say that he had stabilized the creature. It was a little shaky at first, as he didn't even know what species he was working on (which he would later regard as the strangest call he'd ever gotten). He quickly realized that he was working on what was basically a monkey, and scowled when he questioned why they didn't call for the vet. Grievances aside, the creature was certainly an oddity. It didn't have any hair on its body besides its head, nor did it have any eyes. There were certainly sockets where eyes were supposed to be, but they were simply empty. There wasn't even any scar tissue, as if it never had any eyes to begin with. It was certainly also female, as they determined from its... well, anatomy, though it seemed far more developed than just a simple primate. He resigned to leaving it in Fluttershy's care, confidant that it was stable and knowing she had the expertise to tend to it. That, and he wasn't keen on the idea of bringing this thing into Ponyville. Fluttershy bid farewell to all of her friends, promising to let them know as soon as the creature woke up. Rainbow Dash was the hardest to convince, she kept insisting that she should stay too because the thing could very well be dangerous. Fluttershy had a feeling though, she couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but she just felt like a... an aura of goodness around this thing. She reassured Rainbow that if this thing was dangerous Angel would definitely protect her. The little rabbit hadn't left the endtable next to the bed, a carrot perched against his shoulder like a royal guard. Rainbow Dash hesitantly accepted this answer, but promised she would be back every day to check on Fluttershy. Fluttershy smiled as she finally convinced Dash to go home, smiling to herself as she returned to the guest bedroom they had set up for the creature.
AwakeningDamaya grunted in pain as she slowly awakened, her vision slowly coming into focus. She looked around the room, seeing herself tucked into a small bed, and what appears to be two... small horses... in the room with her. One was asleep in the bed across the room and the other was slumped down in a chair next to her bed. Upon trying to get up she was met with an intense pain shooting through her side, causing her to involuntarily collapse back onto the bed into a coughing fit. Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, realizing she fell asleep. Upon waking she immediately noticed the creature awake and in pain. She quickly got out of her chair to grab a glass of water, and slowly lifted it up to the creature's mouth. Damaya was at first surprised this creature just offered her water, but was in too much pain to question it and graciously drank the water. She slowly lowered her head back to the pillow, drifting back off to sleep. Damaya slowly awoke, the light of the sun dancing across her face. She glanced around the room and noticed that both of the creatures that were in the room are gone, and she can hear a faint clatter downstairs. With much effort and grunting, she managed to stand up, before quickly realizing she was naked. After frantically looking around for a few seconds she found her robes folded in a near pile on the chair next to the bed. She quickly put on her robes, before realizing her lightsaber is nowhere to be found. After shuffling her way downstairs, she can now see that the winged creature was in what appeared to be a kitchen, making a meal. “I'm not sure if we speak the same language, but I wanted to extend my gratitude for so graciously caring for me. I would most likely be dead if not for you.” Damaya said as she looks around the room for her lightsaber. “Eep!” Fluttershy was startled by the sudden voice across the room, as she quickly cowered into a small ball on the floor, before cautiously peeking her eyes over her foreleg and seeing the creature smiling at her and taking a seat at the table. “Forgive me, where are my manners? I am Damaya Tadro. I assure you that I mean you no harm.” Damaya assured as she grunted from the pain of sitting down. Fluttershy quickly lifted herself back up, finishing the meal and carrying in two plates, sitting them on the table before taking a seat across from Damaya. “M-my name is... F-fluttershy...” “Then I thank you greatly for saving my life Fluttershy, I am forever in your debt. Say... Fluttershy, have you seen a... shiny metal cylinder that was strapped to my waist when you brought me here? It means a great deal to me and I would be devastated if something happened to it.” “O-oh yes... Twilight was examining it w-when she... accidentally sliced my other table in half. I... left it outside... because I thought it was d-dangerous... I'm so sorry... I-i didn't know that it was so special to you...” Damaya reached out with the force, raising her hand as she lifted the hilt through an open window, strapping it to her side. “I thank you again for your help Fluttershy, but who is this Twilight? Is that the other... uhm... horse that was sleeping in the other bed last night?” Fluttershy gets over her initial shock of seeing the hornless creature use magic, but quickly brushes her fear to the side. “Uhm... w-we're ponies... but um... y-yes, that was Twilight.” “My apologies, where is she now?” “O-oh... s-she went to get our other friends about an hour ago... she should be back any second now...” Fluttershy muttered as she nibbled on her sandwich. Damaya smiles and nods as she carefully picks the sandwich up, taking an investigatory bite, before smiling wider and devouring the sandwich in 10 seconds flat. “Oh look, it seems your friends are almost here.” “W-what how do you kn-” A knock came on the door as Fluttershy was questioning Damaya. She jumped a little, before flying over and opening the door. Almost immediately as it's opened a pony shaped blur sped through the door and was bouncing on the table in front of Damaya asking a nonstop barrage of questions. Damaya's headache worsened as she waved her hand in front of her face. “Hush now, and stand quietly by your friends.” Oddly enough, the pony complied and silently walked back to her friends, who's jaws were now resting on the ground. Immediately another pony flied up and got in Damaya's face. “Hey what's the big idea? What did you do to her? If you hurt her-” “Do not fret, I merely silenced for a few minutes, as I have an intense headache. I assure you no harm was done.” Damaya gently pushed the pony out of her face as politely as she could. “I'm sure that all of you have questions for me, and I know what most of them are: 1. You are correct, I am not from around here. 2. I am indeed not a pony. I'm a species known as a Miraluka. 3. Yes, I know I have no eyes and yes, I was born without them. I suppose that about settles all of the major questions, please let me know if I missed any. My name is Damaya Tadro, as I was telling your friend Fluttershy before you all arrived.” The pony Damaya observed as being the one sleeping in the bed last night stepped forward, clearing her throat. “How did yo- nevermind. My name is Twilight Sparkle, the one you just met was Rainbow Dash, the one you uhm... silenced was Pinkie Pie, that is Applejack, that's is Rarity, and you seem to have already met Fluttershy.” Twilight pointed at each of them in turn, each of them giving their own greeting, the one known as Rarity took the chance to step forward when her name was called. “My my, darling, your clothes are utterly ruined. You simply must let me design you some new clothes! I would absolutely love to design clothes for an entirely different species!” “I would be delighted, but I'm afraid I won't be doing much moving around for at least the next two days. How bad were my injuries?” Fluttershy walked up. “W-well you had a lot of cuts and bruises... and a metal pole impaled in your side...” “Well then, I should thank you again Fluttershy, I would not be alive without your help. I don't mean to be rude everyone, but I'm going to get some rest...” Damaya slumped her way back up into the bedroom. “So uh Twi', do you think this here 'Damaya Tadro' is somepony to worry about?” Applejack spoke up as Damaya moved out of earshot. “Well, she does have that strange... device, it could be a weapon. Let's keep an eye on her, I still want to know how she got here.” “Well alrighty then, ah gotta git back to the farm. See ya later everypony!” Applejack waved off her friends as she trotted back to Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually they all returned to their duties, leaving Fluttershy alone again in her cottage. She decided that she should continue to watch Damaya in her sleep, to make sure she was ok. She trotted upstairs quietly, expecting to sit down quietly until Damaya woke up, however Damaya wasn't asleep. She was sitting on the floor, legs crossed and arms resting on her thighs, taking deep, steady breaths. Fluttershy wasn't sure what she was doing, however her interest was piqued as Damaya started slowly lifting off of the ground, until she was levitating about 2 feet. Fluttershy noted that she seemed to be giving off a faint glow of some sort, until suddenly Damaya collapsed, her limbs splaying out as she slammed back into the ground. Fluttershy immediately flew across the room, mustering all her strength she looped her forehooves under Damaya's arms and lifted her back into the bed. Damaya's breathing seemed less raspy and all of the smaller cuts on Damaya's face were gone. Fluttershy pondered if she had used some sort of healing spell, which was confirmed when she gently removed the bandage around Damaya's abdomen to reveal a perfectly healed wound. She smiled warmly as she once again took a seat next to the bed. A few hours later (or what felt like a few hours to Damaya at least) she awoke, greeted by the sight of the bedroom once again from the perspective of the bed. She noticed Fluttershy slumped once again in the chair next to the bed with dark bags under her eyes and an unkempt mane, almost as if she hadn't slept for days. Damaya couldn't help but smile at the immense kindness from a complete stranger as she gently lifted Fluttershy with the Force into bed. Damaya decided to take a stroll outside, pulling her hood over her head and stepping outside into the cool air of a late Winter night. She reached out with the Force, trying to determine the direction of the crash site, and walking off into the Everfree Forest, hoping she could salvage the reserve memory core in the ship's main computer (a sort of “black box” if you will) to try and determine the cause of her crash. She's was secretly hoping that it wasn't the doing of someone she had been running from for so long. As she arrived at the crash site she could tell that something seemed off, there were hoofprints all over the crater and all of the smaller debris had been cleared. She reached out with the Force once more, making sure she was alone while also hearing the faint hum of the computer clinging on to the last bit of power from it's ruptured power pak. Once again this seemed odd to her, as the power pak had more than enough power to last for days, even when damaged. She raised a hand and concentrated, grunting as she bent the metal plating out of the way, revealing a faintly glowing sphere. She walked up and carefully pulled a small object from a port located under the sphere and placed it in one of the pouches fastened to her belt. Her ears perked up as she could make out the faint sounds of rustling in a nearby bush, turning her gaze on it as a strange reptilian creature with the head of a... chicken... pounced out of the bush. The creature fixed it's red-eyed gaze on her, almost as if it expected something to happen. Damaya was intrigued by this odd creature, walking up to it and dropping to a knee, matching it's gaze with one of her own. She reached out with a hand and stroked the creature's scaly back. The creature, while at first surprised by it's prey's apparent lack of fear, melted into putty in her hand, a look of satisfaction spread across it's face as she stroked it's back. “Greetings little one, I apologize for intruding upon your territory, but I required something here. I promise not to intrude again.” Damaya said as she stood back up again, and turned towards the cottage. The creature gave her a quizzical look, but turned and eagerly dived into the wreckage, intent on turning it into it's new home. Damaya returned to the cottage and silently slipped inside, hoping not to wake Fluttershy. She quietly slipped back into her bed, descending into her dreams.
Calm Before The StormDamaya 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.
