Thunk.

"C’mon, Buttercup, you can do better’n that!"

Buttercup held back most of her groan. One thing she’d never realized during the thrilling "forbidden romance" part of her courtship, one thing that stallion had never thought to tell her, was that when you married a farmer, you married his crop. She’d grown up learning all the intricate lore and specialized techniques for handling pears, and that didn’t matter one lick when dealing with fruit so tough they could literally buck it off the tree.

It also meant she’d never learned how to buck it off the tree. Years of harvests had let her pick up enough technique to not embarrass herself, but her dear, sweet, beloved nuisance of a husband had decided that now was the time to try to cram a good ten-plus years of foalhood lessons into her hind-legs.

All because she had to show off some of what that stallion had taught her. And Bright Mac, big lovable lunk that he was, had to return the favor.

"Buttercup?"

She took a deep breath. No point in snapping at him. He really was just trying to help. "Sorry, darlin’. Just thinkin’ is all."

Bright Mac frowned. "Well Ah ain’t doin’ my job right then."

"Huh?" That stallion. Just kept surprising her since the day he knocked over the old silo.

"Ah brought you out t’ the orchard t’ get yer mind off things for a while."

Mind you, they weren’t always good surprises. "Bright, you’ve been doin’ nothin’ but remindin’ me how Ah don’t know the first thing about applebuckin’."

"Don’t want you gettin’ hurt is all. Nice thing about needin’ more bucks to clean out a tree is you can work out tension real quick." He scuffed the ground with a hoof. "An’, well, you been awful quiet since we went back to the Pear side."

Buttercup sighed. Thoughts of just how bad the orchard was looking came back to mind. "Yeah. There’s a lotta memories in those trees, good an’ bad."

"Well, Ma always says if yer head’s stuck in a problem, yer hooves can solve it."

"That’s a nice thought, but Ah dunno how well it’s workin’ fer me."

"Hmm…" Bright beamed. "Ah know! Follow me!"

She did, though she wasn’t sure where to. Buttercup knew Sweet Apple Acres well enough, but she didn’t have the bone-deep familiarity that came from growing up here. By the time she realized where they were headed, they were already there. "Methuxylem?"

Methuxylem was almost as old as the Acres, a great titan of tree, three times as wide as a pony was long and tall enough to cast shade over enough space for a dozen smaller ones. Nopony dared even suggest cutting him down, not when his apples had saved the family from starvation when Granny Smith was still in pigtails.

Buttercup sighed and started walking around the behemoth, looking for some angle that wouldn’t break her legs against it. "Lemme guess. You want me t’ buck this big ol’ tree all by myself, an’ then I’ll be too tuckered out t’ think."

"Eeyup."

She paused. "Uh, Bright?"

Hoofsteps approached her. "Yes, darlin’?"

"Now, Ah ain’t much of an Apple, but I’m pretty sure y’all never grew trees with doors in ‘em on this side o’ th’ fence."

And yet there was a door very clearly embedded in the massive trunk. Equally clear was how it was made of a different, dark-stained wood, set on hinges that had no right being in any tree. And right in the middle was a two-tone sun of red and yellow, done up in crystal.

The gas lamp sprouting out above it like some kind of fungus was just silly.

Buttercup strained her ears to make sure, and yes, there definitely voices coming from the other side. She frowned and turned back to Bright. "This ain’t a zap apple omen Granny ‘forgot’ t’ mention, did she?"

"You ain’t still mad at her fer not tellin’ you why the timberwolves were howlin’ that first year, are ya?"

She looked away and grumbled, "Ah ain’t mad she didn’t tell me. I’m mad she laughed ‘til she was sick."

"Well this ain’t no zap apple omen Ah ever seen. An’ it ain’t any other kinda Everfree weirdness neither. Long as Methuxylem’s been around, somepony woulda noticed long before now."

Both stood and stared for a few moments. "Think it’s a prank from some magic school students?" said Buttercup.

Bright shook his head. "Ah think it’s an awful long way from Canterlot just fer a buncha bored unicorns t’ do this."

"Then I’m goin’ in."

His jaw dropped. "Yer what!?"

"Now don’t you start. The foals’re in town with Granny." Buttercup pointed to the chalkboard on the door sporting a cocktail glass with that same sun on the rim. "Besides, buckin’s thirsty work. You comin’?"

Bright smiled and nuzzled her. "Buttercup, Ah’ll follow you t’ Tartarus an’ back."

She smirked and made a show of checking the position of the sun. "Bit late fer that. C’mon, let’s see what all’s goin’ on."

"I never knew Twilight was such a lightweight," Rainbow Dash grunted, shifting her passed-out friend as she shimmied under her arm to better keep her upright.

"Really darling," Rarity threw in, holding Twilight from the other side, "you should know better than to give her something alcoholic. Don't you remember last year at Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Hey, hey!" Sunset raised her hands. "I swear I didn't put any alcohol in there. She had the non-alcoholic-only menu, and I didn't spice anything."

"Then, how—" Rainbow Dash hissed, adjusting the weight again "—did she end up like this?"

"Oh! I know!" Pinkie said, turning to show them a soda can. "She drank my beer!"

"That's… not beer, Pinkie," Sunset pointed out. She then frowned and took a closer look. "And I don't remember selling you any Sunrise Sarsaparilla."

"Oh, that's just a sticker to throw off the police!" Pinkie peeled off the fake brand to show that that was indeed a beer. And not just any beer.

"Pinkie," Sunset said, carefully adding the beer to the total bill that she was fronting, "that stuff is illegal in many universes for a reason."

Pinkie looked to the can, then to Sunset, then—before any of the others could stop her—she downed the thing. "Shotgun!"

Fluttershy, who was slightly tipsy, giggled, then took a hold of Pinkie's shoulders from behind and turned her to face the door. "Okay Pinkie, let's head home."

"Thanks for having us, Sunset!" Pinkie called, looking fairly normal for someone that should be passed out already. "And don't worry about Twilight, she can't face the alcohol if she doesn't try it!"

"I don't think that's the kind of therapy she'd need in her life at all, Pinkie," Rarity commented. She turned to look at Applejack, who had remained completely from the moment they had started wrapping up the party. "Are you coming with us, darling?"

The other girl shook her head, blinking at them. "Um. Uh, sorry there, Rares, Ah spaced out," she said. She glanced over at Sunset and then back to her girlfriend. "Ah hate to ask, but do y'all mind goin' on without me? There's a couple of things Ah'd like to talk to Sunset about."

"I'll suck you all into another dimension!" Twilight suddenly hollered, laughing maniacally before slumping down into unconsciousness a second later. She then mumbled something about cuddly bears with hearts in their stomachs blasting her with rainbows of love and tenderness.

"Right," Rainbow Dash said, "I don't mind doing that. What I really don't want to do is stand here holding Twilight. She's heavier than she looks."

"Aaaaalll the potatoes!"

"...and she's not making sense. It's like hanging out at Pinkie Pie's whenever Ms. Cake makes her special brownies, only I'm not also out of it."

"Well, if you're sure you want to stay…" Rarity hesitated, then planted a small peck on Applejack's cheek. "I'll see you later then, darling."

Applejack's face split into a smile. "You definitely will."

The first ones out with little more than another "thank you", were Pinkie and Fluttershy, followed by Rainbow and Rarity, dragging Twilight.

"Let's do this again!"

"Loved the bar, Sunny!"

"Bubblegum!"

When the door closed behind them, Applejack let out a long-suffering sigh, and sat at the bar again, watching only for a second as Sunset started picking up the glasses, before she also stood up again and helped picked up the plates and remaining food.

"Hey, AJ," Sunset called out. "Do you mind if I also do the bills before we get talking?"

"Sure thing, Sunset," she replied, "Ah'll just clean up the bar on this side."

The pair worked in silence, Sunset passing Applejack a mop and a bucket when requested, and soon enough, the bar was as pristine as when she had walked in. With all the energy from the others, Applejack hadn't really had much of a chance to take a look at the place, other than to remark that it reminded her of the fancy bars the Oranges had gone to in Manehattan. But now that she and Sunset were alone, she started taking in just how cozy it really was.

The wooden tables and pictures took away that edge from it, making it feel more comfortable for a casual visit than she had initially thought. She studied the pictures. Most of them had Sunset in them, and there was even a drawing. She quickly found the graduation picture, and soon studied the other ones.

There was Gilda, who was standing next to... an injured Sunset? 'When did that happen?' Wait. Half the people in the pictures were not even people at all!

"Uh, Sunset?"

Her friend looked up from the pad in her hand, where she was presumably managing her bills and blinked a couple of times. "Yeah?"

"How come there's—" she motioned with her hands at the pictures "—so many creatures here?"

Sunset put down the pad and walked over to stand next to her. "What do you mean? Oh… these guys? Well, I told you this place was an inter-dimensional bar, right?"

Applejack stared at her for a solid thirty seconds. "A what now?"

"Alright, let me… uh, let me put this away, and we can talk about this as well as whatever you wanted to talk about first." Sunset said, trotting around the bar to put away her papers. "But the long and short is, this place moves around all over. Those pictures are of aliens, creatures from Equestria, and even other versions of me or the others."

"You don't say," Applejack muttered, taking a closer look of a pony-human version of Rarity dressed like a cowboy and trying to figure out how to convince her Rarity to try that.

"I do say!" Sunset replied.

"Right." Applejack sighed and turned around, walking over to the bar and taking her seat from earlier again.

"So, tell me, what's buggin' you?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow, then said with exaggerated enunciation, "Are you mockin' mah acksent?"

The pair held each other's eyes with straight faces until Sunset grinned and acknowledged her defeat. "Seriously though, what is it?"

"Ah, y'see…" Applejack shifted in her seat, licking her lips and glancing away. "Um. Rarity and Ah… we're… goin' to take things to the next level, if you catch my drift."

Even if Sunset was one of the smartest girls Applejack knew, it still seemed to take her a moment to do the math. Her eyes went wide and she grinned widely. "Oh, wow! Congratulations!"

"Heh." Applejack leaned back and lowered her hat to hide her embarrassment. "Yeah. Thanks." Her smile slipped away. "But Ah'm worried. Ah don't know what—well, Ah ,know what Granny Smith and Apple Bloom will say. Ah'm not too sure about Big Mac, but Ah think he'll be fine with it too but…"

Sunset waited for her to continue, but when Applejack couldn't find the words, she spoke up. "But?"

"Ah'm… worried Ah won't be doin' what my ma and pa would like." Applejack looked up, meeting Sunset's stunned look head on.

"Wait, what?" Sunset asked. "Why?"

"We come from a traditional family, and Ah—well, Ah can't shake the feelin' that with how times were back when they were alive… they might've not liked the idea of their daughter bein', y'know. Into girls."

Sunset hadn't answered immediately. "Oh," she said softly after almost a minute had passed. "But—" Whatever she was about to say, she had stopped immediately, and Applejack got the sense that she probably wouldn't have liked hearing it. Eventually Sunset spoke again. "I think they would want you to be happy."

"Ah know, Ah do!" Applejack said miserably, "But Ah can't shake the feelin' that it might not be the type of happiness they envisioned. Ah'm not going to have little Apples of my own… at least direct from my line. And theirs."

"AJ, I just think that—"

Whatever Sunset was about to tell her was interrupted by the silver bell at the door chiming, and Applejack turned to look at the entrance, maybe Rainbow Dash and Rarity had decided to come back to check on her.

Buttercup had expected to see a bar, and she did. That was where expectation and reality parted ways, since anypony who’d expect to see creatures like the ones in that bar were getting into what shouldn’t be gotten into.

They weren’t so terrible to look at. She’d lived next to the Everfree her whole life; she’d seen worse. It was the terribly familiar hat one wore that threw her off.

The other, the one with the mane that matched the sun on the door, spoke up, rolling out the words like they were old hat to her. "Welcome to Sunset’s Isekai! My name is Sunset Shimmer and I’ll be with you in just a moment. We’re cleaning up from an earlier party."

Bright tipped his hat. "No rush, Miss Shimmer." Always the gentlecolt, that one. "Uh, it is Miss, right?" A doofus, but a gentlecolt.

Sunset seemed to take it in stride. Hopefully. What was a smile for some creatures could just be baring teeth for others. "It is."

The other creature seemed downright poleaxed. And then she returned the favor. "Pa?" She turned to Buttercup. "Ma?"

Bright boggled, but Buttercup’s gears started turning. The voice wasn’t quite right. Not yet. But if that hide were a coat...

Sunset slipped behind the bar. Bright, bless his heart, cleared his throat and said, "Uh, Ah ain’t quite sure what yer gettin’ at, miss, but—"

Buttercup nudged him as she walked past him. She kept her focus on the creature. There weren’t quite as many freckles and no sign of a tail, but she’d know those big green eyes anywhere. "Jackie?"

"Jackie?" Bright echoed.

Applejack fell to her knees in front of Buttercup, who couldn’t help but smile. "Goodness gracious, filly. Ah knew you’d shoot up like a weed, but this seems a bit much."

"Ah-Ah…"

A thump made all three look to the bar, where a rocks glass full of something vividly green sat. "Applejack, drink this," said Sunset.

"Why?"

"You’re about to pass out."

"Yeah, that’s a good reason." Applejack staggered to the bar, slung it back, and winced.

"Sorry, can’t do anything about the aftertaste without affecting the potion itself." Sunset took a deep breath. "So, you probably all have a lot of questions right now."

Bright nodded as he and Buttercup followed her. Two of the stools lowered for them. "You could say that."

Sunset sighed. "Okay, long story short, the multiverse is a big, strange, and often confusing place. We happen to come from two worlds—more or less—that have a lot of the same people. Only in one world they’re magical ponies, and in the other they’re virtually magicless and hairless bipeds called ‘humans.’ And my bar has the ability to drift through time and space in ways that would horrify my old Ethics of Magic lecturer." After a moment, she added, "Not that I ever really listened to Professor Trolley Dilemma, but still."

"So this was a prank from Celestia’s School?" The words slipped out before Buttercup could hold them back.

"If it is, it’s the bar pranking you three. And possibly me." Sunset rolled her eyes. "It seems to enjoy that kind of thing lately. But I’m just here to facilitate. And take your drink orders, whenever you’re ready. AJ, pardon the phrase, but this is your rodeo."

"Uh… yeah. Sorry, jus’ gettin’ my head around you two as horses."

"Ponies," said everyone else in the bar.

"We’ve been over this," added Sunset. "You’ve been a pony."

"The one time. It’s hard enough seein’ Ma an’ Pa again as it is—"

"Whoa there, Jackie," said Bright. "Whaddaya mean ‘again’?"

"Ah think Ah know." Buttercup looked to Sunset. "There’s more differences between us and her than jus’ what we look like, ain’t there?"

Sunset cleared her throat and turned around, rearranging a few bottles. "That’s… not really my place to say."

"It’s... " Applejack took a deep breath, pain etched on her face. Old pain, the kind Buttercup saw in the mirror on a birthday she hadn’t celebrated in a long time. "Ma. Pa. Ah gotta ask you somethin’."

"Hold up," Sunset spoke out. "Just a couple of things. Here are the menus, and Applejack, even if you're from different worlds, telling them the future as it relates directly to them is a bad idea. We really don't know how they are going to turn out, alright?" She patted her friend on the shoulder. "Now, why don't you all three go sit down at one of the tables? I think that'll make it more comfortable than talking across the bar."

She motioned for them, picking up three menus and walking with them to the tables at the end of the bar. She set them down, and smiled. "Don't worry too much about the height, the chairs will adjust so that you're all comfortable. One of the advantages of dimensional magic."

"That sound mighty convenient," Bright Mac piped in, taking a seat after both Buttercup and Applejack had sat down.

Sunset studied Applejack briefly, before squeezing her shoulder and drawing her attention. "Hey, I'll be around the whole time if you need anything okay?" she whispered, getting a nod in response, although not surprisingly, Applejack never took her eyes out of the two ponies across from her.

"Oh, these all look great!" Buttercup said. "And look! Ah think Ah know what Ah'll be drinkin'," she added with a glint in her eye and a solid smile. "Ah'd like a 'Ginger Pear Bourbon', please."

Sunset nodded, ignoring Applejack's surprised gasp, while Bright Mac quickly studied his own menu. "Ah'll have this thing… 'Washington Apple'."

Applejack merely stared silently at the pair. "Ah… think Ah'll choose somethin' later," she said softly.

"Sure thing," Sunset said. "You guys get all settled down. I'll bring your cocktails in a moment."

Applejack simply stared at the pony versions of her parents for a few seconds before she spoke up. "Ginger Pear, mom? What happened to the Apple pride?"

Buttercup blinked, confusion clear on her face for a moment before she smiled. "So you never tried any pears? Jus’ t’ see what all th’ fuss was about?"

Applejack stiffened. "N-no."

"Ah suppose the seed catalog Ah found in our Jackie’s closet don’t carry over to you then." Buttercup’s grin fell and she shook her head. "And Ah guess Ah never told you. The other me, Ah mean."

That response was not what she had been expecting. "Tell me what?" Applejack asked. "Ah'm just… well, you know we Apples never got along with the Pears right? Why, Ah still remember the lickin' Apple Bloom almost got for bringing pear jam that one time. If Big Mac and Ah hadn't hidden it from sight, who knows what Granny Smith would've done!"

Bright groaned and pulled his hat over his eyes. "Dang it, Ma…"

"Well, fer one," said Buttercup, "Ah never showed you any recipes that put apples an’ pears together t’ make somethin’ great. Fer another, Ah never told you how Ah met yer father. He was plowin’ a field, but, well…"

"Some pretty thing caught my eye, an’ the next thing Ah knew, Ah was on Pear property crashin’ into their water silo. Grand Pear chewed me out but good, but workin’ for him gave me time t’ get t’ know Pear Butter."

Applejack nodded. "Right. And what does this have to do with Ma?" Her eyes narrowed. "Ah know the Pears moved away from the area years ago. Was it because you destroyed their silo?"

Bright shook his head. "No, the Pears moved t’ greener pastures some time later. Vanhoover. An’ as for what it has t’ do with yer Ma…"

Buttercup put a hoof on Applejack’s hand, looked deep into her eyes, and said, "Sugarcube. Ah am Pear Butter."

It took a moment for the words to sink in. "Ah think Ah misheard," Applejack admitted, "Ah think meetin' you two again is a bit much to take in, or maybe it was that potion Sunset Shimmer gave me." She sighed, smiling at her mother. "Ah thought you said you were Pear Butter." She chuckled. "Imagine that."

Buttercup just kept looking. The same look that waited for a certain little girl to admit that Winona never got into the cookie jar. The same look that was willing to wait as long as it took for the truth to come out.

Applejack's smile slowly faded and she covered her face with her hands resting her elbows on the table. "Ponyfeathers."

"Language!" Sunset called from the bar, making Applejack glance at her in annoyance.

"You taught me that one!"

"But I didn't teach you to say that in front of your parents!"

She had a point, so Applejack didn't argue it. Instead she faced her not-quite-parents. There was so much she wanted to ask. So much she wanted to say… even if they weren't exactly the ones that had given birth to her and Apple Bloom. She swallowed. "Ah see." She cleared her throat, trying to find the words. "Ah never expected that, but… Ah guess it makes sense." It didn't. "But… well, Ah can't imagine either Granny Smith nor your parents being happy about it?"

Buttercup shut her eyes and started shaking. Bright Mac put a front leg over her shoulder. "He made me choose."

"Ma wasn’t happy with it, make no mistake," said Bright. "Stayed unhappy pretty much until yer brother was born." He scowled, even as he ran a hoof through Buttercup’s mane. "But she still let Buttercup stay. Didn’t abandon her when she stood up for herself."

"He made me choose," Buttercup said again, tears leaking through her eyelids. "Choose between family and love." She wiped her eyes. "But Ah don’t regret the choice Ah made. And if Ah ain’t no daughter o’ his, that stallion is no father o’ mine. The Apples are all the family Ah need. Not ‘cause o’ some plum foolish feud, but because that stallion took away the rest of the family we shoulda had. For a while, it was hard t’ even think o’ myself as a Pear. But Ah don’t hate th’ rest of ‘em, an’ Ah sure don’t hate the fruit." A shaky smile crept across her face. "Ah was raised on ‘em, after all."

Sunset chose that moment to come in with the drinks, placing a red drink in a martini glass decorated with a dried apple in front of Bright Mac, and a yellow drink in a half-glass filled with thin slices of pear and ice cubes in front of Buttercup. Or Pear Butter.

The surprising thing was the third drink she placed on the table, right in front of Applejack. It was a cloudy pear-colored drink with a cinnamon stick as garnish. Applejack stared at it for a moment before turning to look at her friend in confusion. "What in tarnation is this, Sunset?"

Sunset grinned, and in that instant, Applejack knew she'd have to get back at her at some point for whatever she was about to say.

"It's a Spiced Pear and Apple cocktail!" Sunset said, her eyes sparkling. "I overheard and thought you'd like to get in touch with your roots."

Eeeyup. There it was. Under other circumstances, Applejack might've tackled Sunset. But her parents were here, she'd have to tan her hide later. "You understand this means war."

Sunset didn't answer, merely turning around and waving as she left them to their drinks. Not wanting to meet her parent's eyes right now, she studied the walls and her eyes went to the pictures, and the reason she had even stayed after the others had left. But how to break to them?

"Um… how's your drinks?"

Bright Mac smacked his lips and nodded. "Good balance o’ apple an’ cranberry." He gave Buttercup a squeeze. "Ah do love it when apples mix with things fer th’ better."

"Stop, you." Buttercup’s smile had become a lot more certain. She contemplated her own glass. "Ain’t had nothin’ like it since… Since Ah got slipped a nip at Hearth’s Warmin’ one year. Was too young to appreciate it back then. He told me Ah’d find a taste for it." She took a deep breath. "Least he was right about that."

That got another squeeze and a nuzzle. "How’s yours, Jackie?" said Bright.

Applejack considered her drink. She wanted to give Sunset a piece of her mind but… at the same time, was it so bad if her mom was a Pear? She raised it and sipped it, eyes widening at the taste of the apples and cinnamon. It was stronger than she had anticipated, but she could feel the taste of apples mixing with what could only be pears. "It's… pretty good." She chuckled, then bit back a sob as she put it down and swallowed. "Ah... Ah never thought Ah'd get to have a drink with you two. Never in a million years."

There was a muffled sound, as if a human-shaped unicorn were screaming into a wadded-up bar towel. No one at the table paid it any mind.

"Yer still just a li’l thing back home," said Bright. "Ain’t got yer cutie mark yet, still believe in th’ Great Seedlin’... didn’t think we’d be drinkin’ with you fer a while yet myself." He gave that warm smile that almost no one else could. The one that made Applejack feel completely, unquestionably loved. "Ah’m awful glad we could."

"Heh." Applejack raised her glass and took another swig. "This is something Ah'll always remember…" She sighed. "Ah-Ah have a question for you two, if you don't mind. Ah've graduated from school and, well. Ah've found someone." She licked her lips. "Even if you're… from someplace else, Ah can tell you and my—y'all are basically them. Ah was wonderin' if Ah could get your blessin' to take things a bit… further."

Bright hummed and somehow stroked his chin with a hoof. "Well, Ah would at least like t’ know who yer special somepo… uh, special somehuman is."

Buttercup nodded. "Tell us about ‘em, Jackie. Who’d you find for yerself?"

"Yeah, uh." Applejack took a deep breath. "Her name's Rarity and we've come to really care for one another for the last few years." She didn't dare look up from her glass. "She's a designer, very artistic and completely different from me. Ah figure… Ah'm sure y'all wanted me to find some nice man to marry an' start a family with…"

"Oh, Jackie." That at least got her to glance up. None of the love had left Buttercup’s eyes. "You ain’t got nothin’ t’ worry about there. If ya love ‘er an’ she loves you back, that’s all that matters." She smiled. "An’ you may have noticed that yer father an Ah ain’t exactly all that concerned about tradition when it comes t’ who you love."

"Plus, y’ ain’t the only one who can carry on th’ family line. Big Mac an’ Apple Bloom..." Bright paused and shuddered. "You gettin’ hitched is strange enough. Imaginin’ li’l Bloomy as a mama..." He shook his head. "Point is, they’re there too. An’ even if both of ‘em don’t have any foals o’ their own, if you got even a quarter o’ th’ cousins our Jackie does, there’ll be more Apples in th’ next generation than nicks on an old plow."

Applejack chuckled. "Ah have to admit, Ah expected you both to be a bit more… resistant. Granny Smith isn't against it at all, but she never told us about you Ma, or Ah think Ah'd be a lot less worried about it." She smiled. "Rarity cares a lot for me. And even though she's a bit dainty, Ah can't help but love her back."

"Think Ah’m gonna have a few words with ‘er when we get back…"

Bright shook his head. "Don’t go tryin’ t’ outstubborn Ma, Buttercup. That don’t ever end well."

Buttercup gave a very equine snort. "Ah suppose." She brightened up. "But Ah’m so happy to hear you’ve found somehuman y’ care for that much. Ah know you were awful scared t’ tell us, an’ Ah’m proud o’ you for doin’ it."

"Same," said Bright. "Ain’t easy thinkin’ yer goin’ behind yer kin’s backs. Love makes it worth it, but…"

"But we ain’t gonna make you choose." Buttercup got out of her seat, going around the table and embracing Applejack. "An’ Ah know we wouldn’t if you could ask us where you come from."

"Now, don't be too hard on Granny Smith," Applejack jokingly scolded, fake-glaring at her parents. "She's done us right and raised us as best as she could. And she ain't against me and Rarity. Ah think-Ah think it hurts her, even after all this time what y'all had to go through. So if you talk to your Granny Smith, make sure she knows to tell us all the good and the bad."

She sighed and leaned back. "Ah always tried to make you two proud, you know. Takin' care of the farm, tryin' to set an example for Apple Bloom to look up to. Workin' as hard as Big Mac and takin’ care of Granny Smith when she's not watchin'." She smiled. "Ah'm glad Ah get this chance to tell you that we're all in good hands…" She trailed off and looked at them. "Uh. Hooves."

"Yer the one with hands, Jackie." Buttercup sighed. "An’ Ah… suppose Ah can understand Granny. It hurts when you lose ‘em, even if they hurt you. Ah’ll let her know what y’ said."

"An’ Ah don’t think you could ever not make us proud," said Bright. "Ah may not know humans from hippogriffs, but Ah can tell yer as good, strong, an’ beautiful as yer ma. An’ Ah know the other me thought th’ same. You wouldn’t have that hat otherwise."

Applejack's hand went up to touch the brim of her hat, and she found herself smiling despite her best attempts at being solemn. She pulled it down a little. "Ah guess that's right."

She was about to say something else, but a knock on the door made everyone in the bar pause.

"Huh," Sunset said walking around the bar. "That almost never happens. Creatures usually just barge in. You guys finish your drinks, I'll check what's going on."

Applejack turned to face her alternate parents. "Ah guess we could have ourselves a little toast then. To happy couples?"

The two shared a look, nodded, and held up their glasses. "To happy couples," they said together.

Applejack downed the rest of her drink, just as Sunset walked back in. "Hey AJ? Rarity's here."

"Well now." Bright Mac slid out of his own seat. "We should prob’ly get goin’."

"Can’t ya stay just a li’l longer?"

"Maybe long enough to meet this Rarity o’ yours, Jackie, but not much after that." Bright Mac slapped her on the back hard enough that she needed her geode to stay on her feet. "You got a life an’ a degree an’ a bride-to-be! You don’t need us breathin’ down yer neck. We got our own Applejack, an’ we’ll have to try our hardest to be half as good to her as your parents were to you."

"Hello?" The unmistakable voice of Rarity called from the entrance, and soon enough it was followed by the girl herself, who blinked in surprise at them. "Oh my, Applejack. I thought I'd check on you, but I didn't expect you to be having another round of drinks."

Applejack felt herself blush a little. "Well. Some unexpected things happened and, well. Here we are." She stood up and motioned to her parents. "Rarity, Ah'd like you to meet my Ma and Pa."

Rarity's eyes widened and she approached them. "Well. It's an honor, I thought… well." She cleared her throat and placed a warm hand on Applejack's shoulder. "It's an honor to meet you both."

Bright tipped his hat. "Honor’s all ours, Miss Rarity."

"You best be good to Applejack," said Buttercup. "If there’s one thing Ah know, it’s that Apples love deep an’ true. Ah’d never do anything t’ hurt mine. Ah trust you wouldn’t either."

Rarity almost took a step back. "Darling, I'd never hurt Applejack!" She turned to smile at her. "If anything, I want quite the opposite."

Bright nudged his wife. "Now, y’ wanna try that again without threatenin’ her?"

She smirked and gave Rarity a wink. "One other thing Ah know is that mothers-in-law are right bi—"

"Okay! Good seein’ y’all, but we really should be goin’. Great place you got here, Miss Sunset."

Sunset chuckled. "Glad you like it. How about a picture of all of you before you leave?"

Buttercup nodded. "Ah think that sounds mighty fine."

Buttercup looked up as they walked out of the Isekai. The sun seemed to be right where they’d left it, just as Sunset had promised. "You think we’ll do right by our Applejack?"

"Ah think every parent asks themselves that every day." After a moment, Bright Mac added, "Least the good ones do."

Buttercup nodded, still looking up at the sky. "How much time you think we have left?"

"Don’t matter."

That brought her gaze whipping back to Bright. "Don’t matter? Ah can think o’ four ponies who’d be awful interested in that answer."

"If we’re gonna do right by ‘em, it don’t matter how much time we have to do it. What matters is makin’ sure we do it well enough that they’ll get by when we’re not here to do it no more."

Buttercup considered that for a few moments and turned around.

"Where you goin’?" he said behind her.

"Gonna ask Sunset for that recipe." Buttercup made a show of feeling around Methuxylem’s door-less bark, disregarding the business card they’d left with. "If a Washington Apple can make a goofball like you into somepony that wise, Celestia only knows what it can do for most."

Bright Mac chuckled and kissed her on the top of her head like when they were still teenagers. Then they set out together to track down the rest of the Apples. It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, perfect for a family outing.

Applejack's phone buzzed, and she opened the file that Sunset had sent her. The first picture was the one that didn't have Sunset herself in it, it was just Applejack, Rarity and two amazing ponies who happened to be the counterparts of her parents. The next had Sunset in it, which was the one that would go on the wall of her bar, and the last was just Applejack and her pony parents.

For a moment, she didn't know what to think or feel. She had gone to bed that night, after dropping Rarity off, and closed her eyes thinking how surreal it all had been. When she'd woken up, she half expected it all to have been some sort of feverish dream… but it had happened… all of it. It still sort of felt like a dream, even knowing that Equestria existed and that there was another Applejack there living her own life.

She could hear Apple Bloom and Big Mac already moving around the house, and if the smell of pancakes was anything to go by, Granny Smith probably had several stacks of them already on the table. Just another morning at Sweet Apple Acres.

Or was it?

Applejack bit her lip as she considered what she wanted to do now. Then, with a deep breath, she reached under her bed, pulling up the loose piece of flooring and reaching in to extract the nondescript box inside. She opened it up, ignoring most of the contents, except for the one item she was looking for, which she picked out.

She put the box away, replaced the piece of flooring, and made her way downstairs, where Apple Bloom and Big Mac were already seated at the table.

Granny Smith gave her a half-disapproving look. "Finally feelin' like joinin' us?" She shook her head. "Ah know you've graduated and you're your own woman, Applejack, but Ah ain't going to have any slackers here at the farm."

"Sorry, Granny," Applejack said, "it was a long night. And very educational." She put the jar of pear jam on the table, right next to her pancakes.

Apple Bloom gasped, and Big Mac stood up. "Applejack!"

Her siblings glanced from her to Granny Smith whose face was tight. "What do you think you're doing with that?"

Slowly, Applejack twisted the cap off, and using a knife, spread some pear jam on her apple pancakes.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh!" Apple Bloom started breathing hard. "She finally lost it. All that magic finally got to her head!"

"Appleja—"

"Granny." Applejack interrupted her grandmother for the first time… in as long as she could remember. She was quite honestly terrified, but in that sobering moment minutes earlier, she had figured out what she wanted to do, and she'd stick to it. "Why don't you tell us all about Pear Butter?" She looked up from the jar to her Granny's eyes, which were looking at her with dawning understanding. "Why don't you tell us all about mom?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Ah think y'all should start eatin'," Granny Smith said, motioning for Big Mac and Apple Bloom to sit down. "Ah've got quite the story for y'all." She glanced at Applejack. "Although it might be something some of you have already heard about."

Applejack smiled. "If it's all the same, Granny," she spoke up, reaching across to pat her grandmother's hand with her own. "I'd love to hear it again."

Author's Notes:

Co-written with the ever amazing FanOfMostEverything! This is a follow-up to his short story: Heir A-pear-ent

And of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOsTRTMvpsk