A/N: Holy crap! A chapter over 4,000 words!? GASP. Well, it's that time again. Got a little sidetracked, but for good reasons. I had a TON of school work to finish. Lots of 80% test grades and 9 weeks tests. With those out-of-the-way, though, I will be able to continue to type my fingers off. Unfortunately for me and you, well… maybe just you, I have retrieved a copy of Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption and I have modded the CRAP out of it. Heh… all my ships look like Halo ships. It's great. Another thing, I've been working with Google Sketchup, a free modeling software, and Blender, a free animation and rendering software, to hopefully make some CG artwork and, this is dreaming big here, some animations. As for the story, I've decided that when I do rewrite original episodes, they probably won't be in order according to the canon, and by that I mean if I have my way, we should be up to Discord in no time flat. I have reasons for it. But hey, you're reading, I'm writing. Now onto the review responses!

ShiningShadow1965: Yep. Though I will divulge some information that I hope I won't have to change. Peterson isn't going to find Michael/Star for a few chapters. Gotta decrypt those MV logs and get a crew, which (might) take a bit of time. Thanks as well.

DatAss111: Sorry for the wait. I can assure you my fingers haven't fallen off (yet). Thank you for being 'kinda' worried.

Skullcrusher206: Thanks. I hoped I got him right. I hope that you are in no way mad/disgruntled/upset that Star beat Silent. I just couldn't have it the other way around. I mean, c'mon, traveling around different universes you pick up lots of skills. Also… Y UZ HATINZ ON CHEMZ?! I really liked my chemistry class.

Bleak98: Short, simple and sweet. I like it. Thank you.

Apollyon602: Thanks. I'm glad you like it. As for your P.S., there was no way Gunner (or any Human OC for that matter) is going to avoid that mission.

PS: I'm sorry Shadow, but I can't bring the entire Dragon tears company. Just Burt and Vic. The Shroud will basically be running a skeleton crew, and that's and overstatement. She's going to be undermanned the next time she leaves the Hope, and that will, after something I have planned happens to them, be some use for the Faith.

Well, once again I managed to waste an entire page in Word to this, so I think I'll just get on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: Oh disclaimer, how can I forget thee…

Ch 10: The Ticket Master

I awoke the next morning to a noise that slightly pleased me. Silence. Nice, peaceful silence. I turned and looked at the clock. 11:00 am? Damn, I overslept, I thought as I pulled myself of the bed. I stood there for a bit recalling yesterday's events. Yelled at their princess, beat up some wood wolves, almost slit someone's throat, and came to terms of my feelings toward a certain one of these ponies. All in all, not a bad day. I definitely had seen worse. I started my way up the stairs when I noticed a piece of paper with 'Star' written on it. Hmm, Twilight or someone must have slipped it under the door.

Star, I started reading, when you wake and read this, I would like to ask you a few questions. If I'm at the library, disregard the letter. If I'm not, then I'm out with Applejack. Please come find me. Signed, Twilight.

"Gee, more questions," I muttered in false enthusiasm to myself as I opened the door. I looked around the library and saw why it was quiet. "Still must be out."

Not feeling the real urgency to answer more questions, I took some time to look over myself as I really hadn't had the time or objects to do so before. Too busy sneaking around and such. Walking over to the mirror I get a look at myself. Not bad, I thought, then turning my attention over to the cloak. "Definitely need to get it worked on."

My attention was caught by a lump in the fabric. I thought for a moment of what it was, then face-palmed, remembering the wings. How could I forget that, I thought. I removed the cloak to inspect them further, remembering one had broken in the pelican crash a week ago. As the cloak fell to the ground, I noticed the injured wing was bandaged. "Must have put it on when I was unconscious in that hospital," I thought aloud. I assumed it was healed as I hadn't noticed any pain from it in some time.

After some fumbling around, the bandages finally fell to the floor, revealing what I believed to be a fully healed wing. Curiosity took hold as I experimentally tried to move my wings. Surprisingly, both responded like second nature. Maybe I can get some use out of these. Not much use if I don't use them. My thought strayed as my eyes caught hold of something further down. When the HELL did I get a tattoo on my ass?! I thought back as to when I might have EVER gotten one.

As I was thinking, I realized that most all the ponies I had seen had one. Hmm, I'll have to look further into it later, I thought. I made my way up to the mirror so I didn't have to crane my neck to look at it and took in the details. Right on by posterior was the insignia of the UUA with United Universal Alliance spelled out under it and above, the rank of fleet admiral with the small symbol of the first fleet out beside the rank. Still definitely have to wear the cloak, I thought. They might ask what it means and I don't think I can pull myself out of that one. So I pulled the cloak back on, leaving the hood off, and made my way out the door to find Twilight.

As I made my way through Ponyville towards where I remember Applejack's farm was, I noticed significantly less stares then yesterday despite the mild brawl and myself holding a knife to someone's throat. Man, either they all have pretty bad cases of memory loss, or they forgive and forget pretty damn quickly.

As I took in the surroundings while I walked, I noticed a pony who had been tailing me ever since I left the library. Upon glancing at who it was, I chuckled slightly. "You know Silent, you don't have to sneak around to keep an eye on me," I said, addressing the pony trying to blend in behind me. "Walking beside me and having a conversation would do."

Silent hesitated, then sighed before walking up to me, "Well, I suppose that would alleviate some of my hassle."

I noticed he wasn't in his armor that he was in yesterday. "What gets you out of the armor?" I inquired.

"Well," he started, "I figured it would help me blend in. Also helps with questions from the residents as to why a guard is running around here and not back up in Canterlot."

"Yeah, I bet the odd wings help with that," I motioned to his wings, "and the rather dark complexion doesn't exactly help you blend in."

He nodded slightly before continuing, "So, what are you doing?"

"Twilight left me a letter this morning to meet with her for further inquiries," I replied as we continued our way towards my destination. "I swear she is the second most questioning pe-" I quickly corrected myself, "-pony I know."

"Second? Who's the first?"

My mind fell back on someone before the UIF broke off. I smiled briefly, but it disappeared when I remember who they had become. I stopped and looked over to Silent before continuing in a more somber tone, "Someone from my past. Heh, here's hoping none of you have to meet him." I was hoping he'd drop the subject after that, but I had no such luck.

"And why's that?"

I thought for a moment, looking at Silent who seemed to be noting everything I was saying in his head. No doubt going to report it back to their princess. Sly bastard, I thought. Turned this into an interrogation. I was going to put an end to that.

"Personal reasons."

"Is every question we ask personal," he asked, slightly annoyed.

I smiled a bit, seeing him slightly annoyed at me and continued, "Everything so far."

Silent gave an inaudible sigh as he heard my answer. We continued to walk the rest of the way in silence.

As we were nearing the apple orchard, I saw Rainbow Dash dart the other direction, towards Ponyville. After the slight bit of confusion, I turned back towards where she came from only to be run over by an orange blur, knocking me onto the ground.

"Ugh," I groaned, picking myself off the ground and shaking off the slight pain in my head. "What hit me?"

I looked up, seeing Silent grinning, holding back a laugh. He gestured to his left, where Applejack was quickly picking herself up.

"Ah'm sorry Star, didn't mean to run into ya like that," she said, wasting no time getting back on her way, "kinda in a hurry."

"Hey!" I called out while she was running off, "Where's Twilight?"

"That's where ah'm goin," she called back, running full speed towards Ponyville.

I sighed and turned towards Silent, who had regained his composure. "You coming?"

"Do I even have to answer," he replied. At that, we made our way back towards Ponyville.

As we walked through Ponyville, Silent broke off, saying he had some 'business' to take care of. No doubt going to send a message to their princess, I thought. Looking up, I noticed the progressive buildup of clouds just a bit away and a familiar blue blur zipping back and forth between the cluster and somewhere else. What's she doing? I looked under the darkening cloud and noticed Twilight sitting with Spike at a table in front of what I assumed was a restaurant. Ah, there she is.

As I walked towards her, I noticed Dash had stopped flying back and forth and there was a hole in the rather large cloud, that I was now under, right above Twilight. What-? Before I could finish the thought, rain started to pour from the cloud, soaking me and the cloak in a torrent of water. I continued my trek up to Twilight, starting to hear their conversation. "- by doing me extra special favors, are you?"

"Me? No no no, of course, not," she replied quickly.

"Uh-huh," Twilight commented, seemingly not convinced.

"Seriously," Rainbow continued in her defense, "I'd do it for anypony."

I butted in at this time. "Anypony, huh?"

"Oh!" Rainbow exclaimed, blushing slightly as she quickly made her way to the part of the cloud above me and created a small hole, sunlight peeking through the breach in the cloud. "Heh, sorry."

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I really didn't mind in the first place," I said, walking from under the clear spot back into the rain, closer to Twilight. I turned the conversation towards her, "You said you wanted to ask a few more questions?"

"Um.. oh, yes I did. That is, if you didn't mind," she said, a bit of anxiety in her expression.

"Well," I started, "I don't think I would be here speaking with you about it if I didn't mind a few impersonal questions."

"Oh, thank you! Just one sec," Twilight said, now looking up to Rainbow. "Rainbow, I'm not comfortable with accepting unwanted favors, so I'd appreciate if you closed up that rain cloud right now."

Bad call, I thought.

"Ugh, fine," Rainbow replied before closing up the cloud. Twilight nodded in approval, only to have the smile wiped off as rain began to pour down on her head not a moment after, effectively soaking her.

"Welcome to the party," I said jokingly, Twilight smirking at the joke as she got on her hooves. "I think this conversation would be better to have inside," I suggested.

"I think so as we-" Twilight wasn't able to finish agreeing as she was cut off by a familiar fashion-obsessed marshmallow white unicorn.

"Twilight, it's raining" Rarity stated.

What gave you that idea, I questioned mentally towards Rarity's rather obvious statement. Twilight was apparently thinking the same thing as she didn't keep her sarcasm to herself.

"No, really?"

Rarity either didn't notice the sarcasm or ignored it completely as she continued, "Come with me before you catch a cold."

I was about to object to this, but as I opened my mouth to speak, Twilight quickly spoke up, "Actually, I was about to head back to the library so I can ask Star a few more questions."

"But, Twil-" Rarity began.

I was surprised to find myself being pushed along by Twilight while she was rapidly spouting out words. "I'm sorry, but I've got a lot of stuff to do and all on top of speaking with Star." By now, the rain had stopped and the clouds were being cleared away. "Also, I'm pretty hungry and was going to eat some lunch at the library."

"Did somepony say lunch?"

"You've got to be kidding me," she said under her breath.

I started to tone out the conversation, as all the stops and 'favors' were getting pretty annoying. Obviously Twilight thought they were too as I heard her finish an exclamation not long after. "In fact, I'm less sure now than I was this morning!"

She started to walk off and I took this as my cue to follow. After walking in silence for a bit, I decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, what was that and all the favors about?"

"Well, this morning, when I was finishing helping Applejack, I received a letter from the Princess and two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala," she started to explain.

Gala? Must be some big fancy dance. "So, only two?" I inquired further.

"Yes, and since… wait, you're not going to ask for the ticket, are you?" She asked, donning a nervous expression.

"Oh no. I have no interest in going to a gala. I really don't consider myself a dancer," I replied, Twilight relaxing instantly.

"Oh good. That's what this is about. All my friends have really good reasons to go, but I only have the two tickets. I can't choose, and constantly getting favors from them isn't helping," she further explained.

"Well, I hope you find a relief soon," I said as we arrived at the front door of the library.

"Thanks," she replied, opening the door. We both looked inside to see Fluttershy humming to a tune and cleaning with a few animals.

Twilight gasped slightly before asking, "Fluttershy, not you too?"

Oh, boy. "Well," I started. "I'll be on my way and let you handle this. Plus, this doesn't really seem to be a good time for questions with all this."

Twilight nodded and walked closer to Fluttershy, striking up a conversation as I closed the library door.

Now what to do, I thought to myself. After walking aimlessly for a while, I decided that I could check up on the pelican and maybe get started on repairs. Plus, I hadn't changed back in a while, and fingers sounded like a blessing at the moment.

By the time I reached the crash, the sun was getting pretty close to setting. I'll start heading back when it gets dark. I gave the ear communicator, which I was surprised Twilight or anyone didn't notice it, a slight tap before saying, "Fi, do you read?"

There was a short pause before the AI's familiar voice came out the ear bud, "Loud and clear. You know, it's getting pretty lonely up here. No one else to talk to."

I smiled a bit, "Sorry about that. Anything new?"

"One or two things," she replied. "The MAC's gun is cleared and the drones are finishing up repairs, and we have slip-space capabilities again. The MV drive is a different matter. Most of the damaged parts are irreplaceable with what we have. Long story short, we're stranded till we're picked up."

"That's problematic," I said half to myself. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Let's first off get me ship side before we worry about that." I turned and started walking towards the pelican before continuing. "Fi, are the Faith's sensors picking anything nearby?"

Another short pause. "Yes, lots of animal life. None of them matches any species of ponies. Why?"

"Because, I'm going to start working on the pelican, and for that, I need hands," I replied, taking the cloak off and changing myself back to my familiar, bi-pedal self, silently thanking the clothes somehow stayed. After flexing a few joints and stretching, making sure everything worked, and receiving a few pops and cracks in response, I got to work on the pelican.

{-}

"Piece… of… SHIT!" I exclaimed, throwing the tool to the ground. "Nope, I am DONE with this right now!"

The past few hours hadn't been pleasant. What looked like simple fixes on the diagnostics had turned into a crap fest of problems that were going to take a lot longer to fix than anticipated, and having something break right after fixing another problem wasn't helping.

I looked up to the sky and saw that it had gotten dark, the lights on the pelican keeping me from noticing it earlier. Might as well head back.

With that, I changed back to Star, threw the cloak back on, and made my way back to the library.

I was thankful no one was out at this point, because I really didn't want to answer any questions as to why I was out. I laughed to myself. Silent is going to have a field day trying to figure out where I was. Then the thought hit me in a different way. Damnit, Silent is going to have a field day trying to figure out. I pushed the thought aside, deciding I was going to burn that bridge with napalm and a ton of C-12 when I got to it.

As I arrived at the library, I heard multiple happy voices coming from inside. Must have figured out their ticket dilemma, I thought as I opened the door. All heads turned towards me as I walked in. Twilight spoke up shortly after that.

"Hey Star! Where have you been?" She inquired, all the others looking me down, waiting for an answer.

"I've been… working on something," I replied as I made my way to the door of the basement.

"On what?" She continued.

Oh please drop it. "Personal stuff," I said.

Thankfully she didn't dig further, just simply nodding. As I opened the door, though, I was interrupted. "Oh Star. We have something for you."

With that, Spike walked over and handed me a piece of paper. Before I could read what it said, Twilight took the liberty to explain what it was. "You know how I only received two tickets for the gala and couldn't decide who to take?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, when I wrote the princess back in my friendship report, sending the tickets back, she sent enough tickets for all of us to go, including you. So, that's your ticket," she said, quite happy with her explanation of events. "So, will you be going?"

I stared down at the ticket. "Uh… I don't know…" I looked back up to the girls, and guilt washed over me upon seeing their faces. Damnit, I'm going to regret this later. "I'll think about it."

By the expression on their faces, I could tell it wasn't exactly the answer they wanted, but it was enough to get them to stop pouting at me. As they turned back towards each other, I made my way down the stairs and into the bed. Before I could completely relax, I heard the door open and once again Rainbow came down the stairs.

"So, is this going to become a regular thing or something?" I joked as I turned slightly upright and faced her way. At that, she blushed furiously and quickly looked towards the ground. "No, I didn't mean… I mean I didn't-"she started to ramble.

I laughed slightly before cutting her short. "Don't worry about it."

"Well, I came down here to ask you, if… um… you could…" she started, but quickly started stuttering.

"If I could what?" I inquired, trying to get the rest of the request out of her mouth.

After rubbing one of her hooves on the ground for a bit she continued, "…if you could go to the gala with... with me?"

The question hit me like a ton of bricks. Shit, I thought. Before I could get another thought in, Rainbow continued, "I know you said you would think about it, but I just wanted to know." She turned and continued, "It's fine if you don't answer."

As she started to walk off, my mind was racing. I like her, and it's apparent she has feelings for me, but do I feel the same. This would be basically like a date. She reached the stairs. What would others think if they ever found me, well, when they find me? Why do I care what they would think? Half way up the stairs. I'd have to tell her the truth at some point. Fuck, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

"Rainbow."

At the sound of her name, she came back down to the bottom of the stairs. I took a deep breath and sighed before continuing on with my answer.

"I'll… I'll go with you."

Not moments after the answer had left my mouth, I found myself tense as Rainbow held me in a hug. After a few seconds of being tense from the sudden embrace, I relaxed and, slowly, returned the hug.

After a few seconds, she pulled away, and after a quick 'thank you', she quickly made her way up the stairs and out the door. As I heard the door shut I laid back down and got ready for some shut-eye, but was once again interrupted, this time by Fi's voice over the communicator.

"You know you'll have to tell her at some point."

I let out another sigh. "I know," I said, rolling over. "I know."

{-}

Princess Luna stared at the night sky through her telescope on top of one of Canterlot's towers. This would be one of her favorite past times, staring at her nightly creation. This time though, she wasn't simply looking, she was searching.

Ever since she had gotten back, she had felt something else in her nightly domain, and every now and again, it made itself more prominent. So for the past week, every night she had been looking up to the sky to find this unfamiliar object, so far with no luck. Every time she knew she was close, she lost it.

Not this time, she thought as she continued to feel and scan the sky, determined to find her mystery object. As she passed over the sky above Ponyville, where she had felt it the strongest, something caught her eye. Something shiny, and, as she zoomed in on it, big, REALLY big. What is that?! As she increased the magnification on the telescope, she saw more details on the giant. It had what looked like numerous holes, protrusions, and burnt spots dotting its surface. As she made her way up the side, something caught her eye again. Writing, and not some unreadable markings. Right on the side, three words were written in Equestrian plain as day on the side.

"Tia!" She called out to her sister. As she rushed through the castle, three words were running through her head.

Column of Faith.

Well, another chapter. This was more difficult than anticipated. On top of school work, just when I thought I was done typing, I thought of more stuff to add. So yeah, great time. Also, working with the actual transcript and changing it to fit the story was harder than expected. Well, that's all for now. Arwingmaster1, out.