9 months later, Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park, Central California, sunset.

Sitting on a redwood bench overlooking Pfeiffer Beach with a throbbing taped ankle, Rainbow Dash found it sort of weird to think that only that morning she and Lt. Schmidt had graduated yet again in a tie, this time in the cockpits of FA-18 Hornets.

The graduation ceremony had started with them all filing in, salutes were made, the pledge was spoken, awards were handed out, followed by speeches.

Long, drawn out speeches.

Bored, she'd been scanning the audience of other people's family, friends and colleagues in front of her while some Rear-Admiral exercised his lungs behind the flag flanked podium about something or other in one long drawn out drone when she'd noticed a set of familiar faces.

It had taken every last bit of discipline on her part to keep from jumping up and down and whooping before running into the very polite audience and hugging all of her surprise guests.

Noticing her fidgeting, an equally bored Lt. Schmidt had given her a discreet dig with his elbow from where he sat beside her on the platform. She'd settled down, willing the highly decorated drone in the white uniform covered in gold braid behind the podium at the front of the graduation platform to hurry up and finish already!

Then just as she thought's she'd burst, it was over, salutes were made, hands were shaken, and the latest crop of certified FA-18 pilots were dismissed to mingle with family and friends as caterers handed out cake and punch at the back of the auditorium.

All but dancing, Lt. Dash had done her best to keep her cool as she pushed through the crowd, only to be all but knocked over by a very enthusiastic Pinkie Pie with Cheese Sandwich in tow.

"Eeeeeeeeeee! IknewyoucouldoitIknewyoucoulddoit!" Pinkie in human form squealed, giving Dash a bear hug. "I love your outfit!"

"Easy babe, easy!" Cheese Sandwich, appearing as a young man with long dark hair in a tail and a tie with a cheese-shaped tie clip complete with mice on tiny springs laughed as he pretended to pull Pinkie off of Rainbow Dash, "Let the rest of us have a turn!"

Dress uniform hat knocked over one eye, Rainbow Dash laughed, straightening it, only to have somebody tap her on the back. She turned, didn't see anybody behind her who looked like they wanted her attention, and then, "Down here, silly!"

More squeals, and she stooped to give Scootaloo a big hug, half-lifting the pretty teenager in a long party dress out of her wheelchair before turning and giving Fluttershy and her mother, Mrs. Shy a big hug before a little nervously shaking hands with Mr. Shy.

Or she would have, except that the really boring Rear Admiral had pulled Mr. Shy aside near the punch bowl. The two older men were slapping each other's backs and laughing over cups of punch and slices of cake, surrounded by more older officers covered in decorations than she'd ever seen in one place outside of the parade grounds.

She also noticed Mike standing stiffly off to one side, gloves off, hat under his arm looking like he'd rather in a cockpit or drinking coffee behind a newspaper in the Officer's Mess. Excusing herself, Rainbow managed to escape her friends and headed his way, acutely aware that there was nobody there in the audience for him.

"Mike, Mike! I want you to meet some friends of mine!"

"Yeah." He said, scanning the crowd, "Guess he couldn't make it."

"Who?"

"My… never mind, I want you to meet somebody." He took her arm, steering her around the groups of chattering family and classmate to where a middle-aged but still extremely attractive woman sat in a wheelchair, a large black German shepherd service dog sitting upright beside her in a bright orange vest, "Mom, you made it… where's Uncle Joe?"

"I'm sorry Mike, he couldn't afford to come – but he asked me to give you this. " The woman handed Mike an envelope, which Mike pocketed, a subtle look of disappointment flashing across his face.

He hesitated, and then said, "Mom, I want you to meet a frie…"

"Agatha, and you brought Indigo!" Rainbow stooped, giving Mike's mom a big hug, "You saved my life that night! This lady did a great job adjusting the hem of my uniform skirts at the last minute while we were at Miramar last year so I didn't get nailed AGAIN for my skirt hem coming up over my knees during inspect– I had no idea you were Mike's mom. Mike, is your dad here, too?"

"Mike's dad split when Mike was six."

"Oh. I'm so, so sorry!" Rainbow Dash backed away, face hot. Mike's face was carefully blank where he stood behind his mother's wheelchair.

The woman reached out and took Rainbow's hands in hers, a dazzling smile lighting her face, "No need to blush, hon." She had the same soft drawl, only more pronounced, as Mike. "It's an easy mistake to make!" Mike obviously got his looks from her.

"Lt. Dash." Mike frowned, "How do you know mom?"

Laughing, Agatha released Rainbow's hands, craning her neck so that she could look up at her tall son. "Mike, weren't you listening? Remember the alteration shop I opened in the exchange at Miramar just before you both were deployed last year? She came in just at closing with a panic rush job the first week I was open – all her new uniform pants and skirts were too short and she needed the whites first thing in the morning for an inspection. You must have been off dealing with that darned hoarder house you got burned on - I was up ALL NIGHT adjusting the hems on those things. Lt. Dash kept the "Orange is the New Black" DVDs and the coffee coming and took Indigo out for walks when he needed it, so I gave her a big discount." Agatha frowned, angling her upper body so that she watched something going on behind Rainbow Dash "Oh my… who's… that?" as a blast of mildew, Cheetos, and sweat reached them before the owner did.

Rainbow Dash, who was bending over to greet Indigo the service dog after asking permission, felt something hot and damp abruptly connect with her butt with a loud slap.

"Hey!" Face hot, Rainbow straightened, turned around, and glared at at the sweating man with a greasy peroxide blonde manbun straggling from the top of his balding head. He grinned up at her with orange teeth over three sagging double chins, thick legs bulging out of a pair of frayed cutoff sweatpants, belly struggling to escape a faded black sweat-soaked too-small Pokemon t-shirt, "Dashie, your savior is here – let me take you away from all of… this." With a disdainful look, he gestured expansively at the crowded auditorium with one pudgy hand while taking her arm with the other, leaving greasy orange marks on the sleeve of her white dress jacket.

"Zephyr." Lt. Dash all but snarled as she removed her arm from his grip while stepping back, "What the hell are you doing here?"