Somewhere north of San Francisco, the trees had started and they hadn't stopped. Rainbow had time, and kept to the 101.

It had been a long, long drive up from Lemoore. Her Camaro wasn't that big, and it was crammed with as much of her stuff as she could fit. Moving sucked, but at least she could have fun with this trip. Solo, a chance to decompress.

In northern Washington, the road took a hard right turn at a town called Forks, which sounded vaguely familiar for some reason. Maybe her old college roommate had mentioned it or something. At Port Townsend, she finally broke from the highway, taking the ferry across Puget Sound to Whidbey Island.

Her journey ended there, at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, her home for the next three years.

She'd heard it wasn't a bad place to be stationed, but still had misgivings. She was going to be very nearly on her own. Still, someone had to teach fighter maneuvers to the pilots here, which was why they were sending a fighter pilot like her to a base primarily home to recon planes.

She rolled up to the gate. Her face was usually good enough, but rules were rules, so she showed her ID, too. As if there was anyone - anypony - else who looked like her.

The sailor on guard reacted as they usually did, a gushing "I can't believe it's really you!" Rainbow was used to it at this point, a celebrity on active duty. Since the two universes had become connected, she had moved over to the human realm and decided to become a fighter pilot. That had been much easier said than done, but here she was, a pony in the US Military.

She had a special grin for this, pulled from her catalog of reactions to fans, and replied, "I can't believe it's really me, either."

The guard glanced down. "Nice car, though I would have expected you to drive a Mustang."

Rainbow laughed, but only politely. Everyone thought they were the first to make the joke.

The guard returned her ID and saluted, and she drove on through the gate.

Ponies on Earth were still a little rare, but Rainbow probably wasn't the first the guard had ever seen. She was the only one who was a US Navy pilot, and her coat as bright as her name only helped to make her a figure most people recognized on sight.

Her current problem, though, and speaking of recognizing things on sight, was trying to figure out where she was supposed to go to check in. She'd never been to Whidbey Island before, and GPS was spotty on military bases. She already knew she wasn't allowed to use her own wings to fly around here - didn't want to get sucked into a jet engine if nothing else - but mostly because of rules about national security to which nobody had ever granted her an exception even given her status.

She did eventually locate the Personnel Support Detachment, because at least most things on military bases were labeled. It was like something one of her nerdy friends would do to organize things.

Odd how little moments of melancholy would hit her over the silliest things. She was a long way from home. Well, Equestria, but her last base, too.

In the parking lot, she got out of the car and had a good stretch. The seat was fitted for her. It had to be, she wasn't shaped like a human. The custom seat was comfortable, but it had still been a long drive. She was going to have to be a little creative when tabulating her travel paperwork to ensure she didn't admit to violating government regulations on miles per day.

Upon entering the building, she was treated to another fan sitting at the front desk. It sure was a good thing she was an extrovert.

"I'm checking in," Rainbow said, when the conversation eventually turned to business.

"Down the hall to the door marked 'Newcomers.'"

This wasn't Rainbow's first tour in the military, so she already understood the mountain of paperwork required when shifting to a new command and new duty station. That didn't make it any less arduous.

One of her nerdy friends had given her a tip, though, which helped. All her relevant paperwork was in a blue military-issued folder carried under her wing to have easily within reach. It saved time at places like this.

Her hooves clicked on the tile floor as she dutifully went to the Newcomers office. While they might have been glad to see her there, they at least weren't surprised; there was no way they could have missed her name on the list of expected check-ins.

They wanted to see some of her paperwork, and they had a lot more for her to fill out. Even as much as it dismayed her, Rainbow was vaguely aware that this was only going to be the first stop of many. This was the downside of being a cool fighter pilot, she had to do at least as much paperwork as anyone else in the military. She took a clipboard and had a seat.

When she was done with their paperwork, they pointed her to the next stop. "Ms. LaBelle, two doors down, handles finance." Rainbow dutifully trotted off to see her.

The door was open a crack, but she could see the lights were on. Rainbow knocked. "Hello?"

No response, so she pushed the door open.

The office had one desk, and it was empty. On second glance, however, that wasn't quite right. Rainbow frowned, staring at the feet beneath it. "Uh..."

She took a few steps to the side, and discovered a motionless woman lying on the floor behind the desk, face purple and foam on her lips.

"Help! Call an ambulance!" Rainbow shouted.

She knew a little human first aid, but already had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't really make a difference.

The small office got noisy and crowded in a hurry. Rainbow stepped back. A few of the people who came in response to her call tried CPR, but it didn't help.

In a few minutes, the medical people started arriving. They weren't able to do much, either.

To get out of the way, Rainbow had relocated to the building waiting room, but regretted it when the gurney carrying the closed body bag went by on the way to the door. What a way to welcome her to a new base.

"Did they say what happened?" she asked the front desk clerk.

"Don't know. There was apparently an open box of chocolates on her desk."

Rainbow paused, and glanced at her paperwork. "So, uh, awkward question...who's going to do my finance paperwork now?"

Author's Note

This is maybe the second time in my life I've awakened from a dream with a fully-formed story plot in my head, so I couldn't let it go to waste.

For those of you who are very focused on the Battleships timeline, maybe don't look too closely at anachronisms here. A softly-official addition to the canon.

Thanks for reading.