It might have been the height of summer, but that did very little to warm the nights in Griffonstone. The icy air rolled down from the mountain glaciers to blanket the city, wrapping it in a deep chill that only the thickest of fur and feathers would shake. It got into every home, through the broken windows and roofs, making every griffon curl tight to stay warm as they tried to sleep.

Sleeping was exactly what Gilda should have been doing, yet she found that she couldn’t silence the thoughts churning in her mind. Instead she found herself wandering through the dark streets of the crumbling town, the only light coming from the full moon that hung low over the distant mountains. It gave the town a gloomy look, filling the gaps between the buildings with an inky blackness that seemed to seep out into the street.

“Great, now I’m getting poetic,” she grumbled to herself, shaking her head. She had spent the first half of the night tossing and turning in her bed, until she couldn’t take it anymore. She had hoped the walk would have cleared her head, but it wasn’t helping at all.

The four pony princesses would be arriving the next day, and she would have to host them. Her bakery was hardly the place for such a meeting to happen, but there was nowhere else to hold it. They would be in her home, and there they would be deciding the future of the Griffon Kingdom. A future as part of Equestria, a future with her as its leader.

Princess Gilda. It still sounded strange to her ears, yet it was her title. She was a princess, a griffon princesses. The whole thing just made her head spin. This was never what she wanted to do with her life, what she had planned to do with it, but now it was who she was. Even though she had left the crown back at her home, she could still feel the weight of it on her head.

If only she had only listened to Celestia and read the damnable treaty before signing it, she could have avoided all of this. There was no one to blame but herself; she had plucked her own feathers this time. Now she just had to do everything else that was expected of her, which was all too much.

She wanted someone to show up and tell her what to do. She wanted a way out of the mess she was in. She wanted a way to calm down so she could get some sleep.

But what she really wanted was a drink.

There was a moment went the wind rose up, whipping around Gilda’s face, causing her feathers to flutter around her, and then stilled. The wind falling quiet, the air becoming perfectly calm. It was eerie, the wind almost never stopped in Griffonstone. The world was nearly silent, the only sound coming from the distant flap of wings.

Light started to glow behind her, casting her shadow across the street. She twisted her head around to look over her shoulder, expecting to find another griff trying to sneak up on her.

She found a door. A door that had no right to exist in Griffonstone. It was wedged between two buildings where there should have been an entrance to a narrow alley, but instead there was a wall with an impossible door inside of it. A single light was glowing above the doorway, flicking softly and casting a warm yellow light over everything. The door was perfectly smooth wood that had been stained and cared for, a piece of stained glass sitting in the top of it. The glass was in the shape of a sun, split into two parts, yellow and red, that mingled in the center.

Next to the door was a sign, swinging in the non-existent wind. Even in the dim light she could recognize the image of a cocktail glass that was drawn on the sign.

Gilda stared at the impossible door for a few moments, beak hanging open. Somehow, out of all her wishes and desires, the one that was granted was for a drink.

Licking her beak, she reached forward and grabbed the door handle and put her weight against the door, pushing it open. Warm air washed over her, mixed with the smell of citrus and fried onions. She took in a long breath of it, savoring it for a moment.

Then Gilda, the princess of the Griffon Kingdom, stepped through the door.

Sunset Shimmer lined the last of the barrels and attached the tap to it, testing it briefly to make sure the brew flowed out adequately. She took a sip of the dark liquid, enjoying the hint of coffee and dark chocolate in her palate before humming to herself and starting to clean up the area.

She didn't rotate much of the stuff behind the bar often, but it was something she aimed to change. After all, taste across the multiverse was a fickle thing, and what may please a Duro would not necessarily be something a Narn would find enjoyable. And she so liked having G'kar visit.

Still, her usual sector seldom put her in circumstances where biology would be so desperately different, so there was always something to drink, even if she had to keep things available just in case. That was the fun of her bar, after all: it surprised her as much as it surprised her guests, sometimes.

At least when it behaved.

But still, she hadn't had an incident in a while, and Rarity had assured her that the bar wasn't going to go anywhere that Sunset didn't want it to. Which raised a whole bunch of other questions.

The bell rang.

Questions that she would have to delve into at another time, apparently. She brushed the front of her clothes, making sure everything was in order, then paused briefly as a familiar griffon stepped into the bar. "Welcome to Sunset's Isekai, Gilda, my name is Sunset Shimmer, and I'll be your bartender tonight."

Gilda stared at her for a full minute. "Alright, is this some sort of prank?"

Sunset leaned on the counter. "Nope. I'm real."

Gilda raised a claw and rubbed her eyes. "I've heard that leadership can drive somecreatures mad, but I didn't expect it to be this quickly." She glanced around then stepped closer to the bar itself, touching it gingerly. "Huh. It's real."

"Toldja," Sunset said.

"Right." Gilda cleared her throat and sat on one of the stools. "And you know my name, how?"

"Ah well, the long and short is that this bar can go anywhere, anytime, anyplace in any possibility," Sunset explained briefly, picking up a menu. "The only reason it appears for customers is when they need a drink and an ear to listen, be they ponies, griffons, humans, minotaurs, ghosts, or other."

"Other?"

Sunset nodded. "Many."

"Huh. Still not sold on you being real." Gilda looked down at the menu that was being handed over to her. She took it and opened it, blinking at the choices. "How come I can read this if you're not from my world?"

"Well, I technically am—"

"Trust me, if things like you were walking out there, we'd have heard of it."

"—but I'm not, because I traveled to another dimension," Sunset finished, pretending that Gilda hadn't said anything. "Besides, my menus are special, they get a sense of sorts about your preferences and provide options that you might be familiar with, as well as some you would like."

Gilda raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"Oh yes."

"And you have all the ingredients you could possibly use for any number of visitors from an infinite universe."

Sunset shrugged and turned around, motioning for Gilda to lean over the counter. When she had done so, Sunset opened her fridge and let her look inside.

"I—" Gilda leaned back. "I need to get one of those for my bakery."

Sunset snorted, closing the fridge. "I have to admit you are made of sterner stuff than I thought. The last creature I showed the fridge to started waxing poetic about how small they were compared to the grandiose nature of the universe."

"It's a fridge." Gilda paused, then rolled her eyes and nodded. "A very… large fridge. That looks tiny on the outside."

Sunset smirked. "As I said, sterner stuff."

Gilda silently glanced at the menu. "I guess I'll try this."

She placed the menu down and tapped the item with the tip of her claw. Sunset blinked, leaning closer. "A Bloody Bull," she said. "Right on it. I hope you like it spicy."

Gilda chuckled. "I'm half bird, spiciness doesn't do much for me."

"That's what they all say at first," Sunset countered, picking up a shaker and starting to sort out her ingredients. "Just for you, Gilda, I'll be using one of the very special hot peppers from Quetzalacatenango. Just remember that you're also half cat."

"Que-whatnow?"

Sunset grinned, already mixing some pickle juice, fresh black pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, sambal, an evil-looking glowing chili she levitated with magic, rather than touch, which she cracked in half and threw in, seeds and all, tomato juice and some fresh lemon juice. She started mixing. "Quetzalacatenango. The guy that sold them to me said that they were grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum."

"I think you're making that up."

Sunset shrugged. Once her mix was done, she took another shaker, picking out from the fridge some beef stock, a splash of one of her dark beers, and some vodka before straining a carefully measured amount of her other mix. "Am I?"

Gilda crossed her forelegs as Sunset broke a large piece of ice into a tall glass, filled it up with the mix and decorated it with some greens and another of those glowing chilies.

"Enjoy," Sunset said, sliding the drink up to Gilda. "So, what's eating you? I've seen other yous a couple of times, but none of them seemed half as ready to rip off somepony."

As she thought about how to best answer Sunset's question, Gilda studied the drink. It was served in a tall, thick glass with a single, large ice cube, almost-invisible in the murky, almost glowing, lava-red of the drink itself. It was garnished simply with a celery stalk, and a long toothpick running across a pickled okra, an olive and a green bean. The decorations were finished with a slice of lemon, contrasting the whole thing with its cheerful, fresh yellow color.

It screamed 'spicy'. She gingerly took a sample sip.

Wow. She could feel it! Not enough to actually burn her, but damn. It was delicious! And yet something inside her whispered that serving that to non-avians should be illegal. She glanced warily at Sunset Shimmer. Not that this bar seemed to be under anycreature's jurisdiction other than its owner's.

That line of thought, however, brought up another problem.

"I'm a prin—" She stopped. It sounded so ridiculous. "It's just—look, I didn't ask for it, but basically Celestia made me do it!"

Sunset crossed her arms. "Celestia made you do it." She tapped one of her fingers on her elbow. "What exactly are we talking about here? Because you sound like you committed a crime on behalf of the crown."

"No! I am the crown!" Gilda said defensively, before realizing what she had done. She cleared her throat. "Okay, scratch that."

"Sure thing, Dredd," Sunset said, leaning on the counter. "Take a deep breath; no one is going to judge you here, alright?"

Gilda tried to follow the advice. She took a deep breath and let it out, then took a deep gulp of her drink, the alcohol warming her up. She let herself soak it in for a few seconds before releasing her breath slowly. "Alright," she said, glancing up at the bartender. "Listen. I don't like this, but here's the deal."

She took another deep breath and rolled back her wings. She stretched her neck and rolled back her shoulders as well. She took a sip. She sighed.

"Yes?" Sunset asked eventually.

"Alright! Geez!" Gilda glared at the smirking bartender. "It's embarrassing to admit, alright?!"

Sunset smiled and held up her hands placatingly. "Okay, okay."

“I’m one of the few griffons that care about Griffonstone," Gilda said once she had calmed down. "Most are just happy to sit around and do nothing while it crumbles around their wings, but I tried to do something. Something stupid, something for myself, something to maybe make our lives a fraction better. It was just supposed to be a simple bakery, and I was going to be a baker. Instead I’m a princess.”

Sunset blinked. "Wait. you're a princess?" She stared at Gilda, who started to feel a bit self conscious. "Man I never thought about taking over another kingdom. Hm."

Gilda considered the bartender, unsure if she had heard right. "Uh. Isn't that a bit much for a bartender?"

Her host crossed her arms defensively and huffed. "I wasn't always a bartender. I almost took over the world once." She shook her head and chuckled. "But that's neither here nor there."

"No, no, if you're going to drop something like that and then expect me to just ignore it..."

"I mean, I can," Sunset said, "but we can definitely talk about that later. So, Princess, you were saying?"

Gilda narrowed her eyes, imagining all sorts of things she could do to this clawless creature. "Yeah. Well, turns out the state of the place bothered more than just a few of us, and it caught the attention of Princess Celestia, so she headed over here to see who could take charge."

"Aaand, that was you?" Sunset asked. "I mean, I know that the princess is aware you're friends with Rainbow Dash at least. It makes sense she'd try to start the conversation going with someone who's somewhat familiar with how ponies work and think."

Gilda reminded herself that this bartender probably knew everycreature well enough not to have to explain herself. It made things easier… and yet somewhat more embarrassing even. "Well, whatever her reasoning was, she ended up in my bakery and talking to me about the issues going on. She had this amazing treaty in her hooves, you see. It had all the things that Griffonstone needed and… well, I signed it."

Sunset stared at her, then slowly raised an eyebrow. "And you read it before signing it, right?"

Gilda drank more and leaned back. "It's getting warm in here, isn't it?"

"Nope. That's just the Quetzalacatenango pepper acting up," Sunset said. "So I take it you didn't read it, and that's why you say Celestia made you do it?"

Gilda didn't like the mild tone of disapproval she could hear in Sunset's voice. “It would be so easy to blame Celestia for doing this to me, but she tried to stop me. She didn’t come into my bakery planing to crown me princess, she just wanted my help to find the right griffon for the job.”

"Celestia seldom does things for no reason," Sunset said gently. "Whatever she saw in you—whatever you did or said, it would have affected her offer. I think if she had seen you weren't fit for the job, she'd outright not even offer you the treaty."

Shifting in her seat, Gilda avoided Sunset's gaze. "Maybe."

Sunset sighed, leaning over to pat Gilda's shoulder. It was done with such familiarity that oddly enough, even if she had just met Sunset, it didn't bother her that much.

"So I take it you've read the whole thing now?"

“Read it? I’ve nearly memorized the bucking thing." Despite not blaming Celestia for the ultimate decision of her being turned into a princess, she still could feel her fur bristle and her feathers puff in anger. "I’m not going to be blindsided like that again.”

Sunset nodded, humming. She paced a little behind the bar, giving her considering looks before stopping again in front of her. "I guess the main question is: do you want to help Griffonstone change for the better?"

“Of course I want to help! Have you ever seen Griffonstone? The place is a dump, and nearly every griffon living there is miserable. If my dumb bakery could make things better, that’s great. But I’m not cut out to be a leader.”

Sunset shrugged. "Celestia seems to think so, and from what I've seen of you in other worlds—well, most other worlds—I think you have it in you to not only lead, but be great at it."

“Running a bakery doesn't qualify anygriff to be a princess.”

The bartender seemed undeterred. "What makes you think you're not qualified? It's not like your bakery ran on its own, right?"

Gilda had to concede that, but it still didn't mean much.

"It's not like I do it on my own. I don’t know what I would do without Greta and Skychart. I would never have finished the bakery if wasn’t for their help. But even with their help, I have to do everything out of nothing. How do you make a government from scratch?”

Sunset smirked, tapping Gilda's beak with her soft finger. "And who says you have to do everything just because you're the princess. Delegation of duties is a must!"

Gilda briefly considered biting the finger just to prove some sort of point, but decided against it. She might need another drink after all, however annoying Sunset Shimmer could be.

"But more to the point," Sunset continued, "you won't be starting from scratch, exactly. I imagine that the treaty contains several agreements with Canterlot? I'm very sure something in there will be related to establishing a government with their aid, correct? Once you figure out who the right griff is for the job, you'll be all set."

"Yeah, well." Gilda huffed. "I just don't think I'm fit for this. Run a bakery? Sure. Do the occasional errand with ponies that have saved the world? Yeah. I can do that. But be a Princess?" She felt her beak twist into a grimace of distaste. "That's a different thing. I'll have to dress up. I'll have to attend parties with creatures that behave like pampered…" She didn't say ponies. "Fools."

"Well, I could argue that it's not like that," Sunset said, "but the bottom line is that you'll have to attend a few events and be… politically nice to some creatures. But you don't need to change to be the princess. Just look at Ember."

Gilda thought about that for a few moments before staring at Sunset straight in the eye. "Who?"

Her snark was worth it. Sunset's smug smirk slipped with the dawning realization that Gilda truly had no idea who she was talking about. For some odd reason, it felt kind of good to admit that ignorance, if only to prove to the bartender she really didn't know everything.

"Right. That's—well. You might want to meet her, she's someone you get along well with, in other universes."

Gilda raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, there's this one where you have a business with the local Rarity making beer and—you know, I think I'd rather not go there." Sunset cleared her throat. "Anyway, Ember is the Princess of the Dragons in a large percent of universes."

"So why should I think about her situation then?"

"Well, it didn't stop her from being herself," Sunset said. "At all."

Gilda felt herself smile. Perhaps she should meet this Ember.

"In any case." Sunset sighed. "I'm sorry you ended up in that position, but do you really see anygriff else actually doing the job?"

As much as she wanted to say that yes, that old bastard Gruff should do it, she had to face the reality that no, she didn't. For all their bravado, most griffons were willing to just sit it out rather than put in the effort to change things.

"And I know different worlds have slight variations," Sunset continued, "but—now that you know the treaty inside and out—would you have made a different choice?"

"I—" Gilda stared hard at the half-empty glass in her claw. In the end, who else could do the job? Nogriff in Griffonstone was going to look past their personal interests in order to really put things in order. Even Gruff couldn't do it in a way that would encourage other griffons to do their best, regardless of his hidden intentions. The old bird couldn't even tell if he was being supportive or petty half the time. "I guess not."

She looked up, expecting that smug look on Sunset's face, but there was none. She was simply smiling at her, and despite herself, Gilda smiled back. "I'm not sure how I'm gonna do it, but I guess there's no other bird that can handle the heat. So they'll have to deal with me."

"I think they could do a lot worse," Sunset replied, grinning. "If you do this with that much conviction, I think you'll be fine."

"I'm not convinced I'm the right choice, I'm just convinced I'm the only option."

Sunset shrugged. "I'll take it. And—I think—so will they."

"I can always smack their tails around if they don't follow orders," Gilda said, slamming the rest of her drink down. "Put them in their place, my way or the highway!"

Sunset's smile diminished. "Right."

Gilda snorted. "I'm joking. Kinda. They need a reminder here and there that there's now a leader in town, but it is that kind of town. So they'll be fine."

The bartender shook her head. "You know, I can kind of see now what other Sunsets see in their Gildas."

They stared at each other in silence for a moment. "Did you just—"

"By the way," Sunset interrupted, "since you've been newly crowned and everything, this drink is on the house. I feel like you've earned it."

Gilda snorted, but couldn't stop grinning. "Sure thing. Thank you." She made sure none of her drink was left, then pushed herself away from the bar, landing lithely on her paws and claws. She stretched her wings and back. "You know, I never thought talking to a bartender would help calm my nerves so much."

"It's part of the job."

"Yeah, right," Gilda laughed. She glanced at Sunset. "I think I should head back… I have an early morning tomorrow."

"Before you go," Sunset said, walking around. "How about we take a picture and I give you my card?"

Sunset had taken some liberties with this picture, sitting upright and leaning back against Gilda, who was wearing a crown they had obtained from Rarity's office. Sunset was grinning at the camera, with the traditional victory sign, while Gilda was glancing away to the left with a slightly embarrassed expression on her face.

But they both looked like they were having fun, which was all that really mattered.

As she placed it on the wall among all the other pictures, she smiled gently. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of challenges coming up. And it might seem difficult to keep things together and succeed. But I really can't wait to see where you take things, Gilda."

She took a glance around and exhaled a deep breath. She needed to vacuum and clean the tables, but after that…

"Maybe I should start planning something with the girls. It's been a while."

Author's Notes:

Many thanks to Winter Quill for letting me work on their story The 8th Rank!