Rainbow Dash looked up from the wingblades cradled between her forelegs as the door to the little cabin cracked open.

Applejack poked her head in at an angle, one hoof held to her hat. "Rainbow? Y’all busy?"

Rainbow shrugged, brandishing the oil-soaked cloth she had pinned between one blade and her hoof. "Kinda. What’s up?"

"Flint and I were gonna go out and get some drinks," Applejack said. She pushed the door open wider, revealing the burly white-coated stallion standing out in the hall. "Figured I’d check and see if ya wanted to tag along."

Rainbow pursed her lips, turning her attention back to the cloth and rubbing it along the blade perhaps a bit harder than necessary. "Sure you two want me coming? I’d hate to get in the way of your fun."

She couldn’t see Applejack’s face, but it was easy to imagine her expression from her exasperated sigh. "Rainbow, c’mon. Celestia knows y’all need to relax as much as we do, and them darn blades ain’t goin’ anywhere. Do ya really need to fuss with ’em every mornin’ and night?"

"Sea Sabre says I should," Rainbow said curtly, keeping her eye on her work. "If I take care of my weapons, they’ll take care of me."

Flintlock snorted, his gravelly voice grating against her ears. "Th’ bit Sabre neglected t’ mention was takin’ care of yerself. That steel’ll last twelve hours without yer tender lovin’, but th’ Argo’s gonna be good ’n pretty by mornin’, and it could be weeks before we tie up anywhere with a decent bar." He paused, and when Rainbow looked she saw him watching her with a lopsided grin. "So ye gonna come explore th’ free deck with us, or do ye wanna hunch over yer gear mopin’ all night?"

Rainbow shot a skeptical look towards Applejack. The cowpony offered her an encouraging smile, and after a few more seconds of deliberation Rainbow felt her resistance wane. She set her wingblades aside with a begrudging sigh before standing up and stretching her legs. "Alright, fine. As long as you two don’t get too familiar."

"Do ye hear this mare?" Flint looked down to Applejack with mock insult in his voice. "Th’ way she puts it, ye’d think we ain’t got an ounce of self-control."

"Y’all ain’t got no self-control." Applejack smirked up at him as she pushed him gently back with a hoof. "And I ain’t plannin’ on gettin’ sloshed legless, so don’t ya go gettin’ any ideas."

Rainbow groaned as she stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind her with a leg. "Oh, I regret this already."

The Orichalcum was a big ship, and despite spending the past two days sharing a cabin with Applejack while they waited for the Argo to be repaired, Rainbow still sometimes found herself peering into doorways and through windows with open-mouthed awe, wondering at every new hall they turned into. The rumble of the engines and the deep, rhythmic ticking of the great gears hidden within the hull was a constant companion, always waiting beneath the chatter of passing crewponies or the chugging and hissing of whatever steam-driven machinery might be hidden behind any given door. Rainbow kept the wall close on her left as they trotted through the halls, protecting her blind side, and every now and then she’d take a glance over just to check nothing had suddenly appeared there.

It wasn’t too long a walk to their destination. Even on an airship the size of the Orichalcum, nothing was more than twenty minutes away if you moved with purpose. Soon they were climbing a lengthy stairwell running the height of the ship, the glittering empty horizon visible through the windows painted a warm orange by the setting sun, and with one last burst of effort they arrived.

The ‘free deck,’ as Flint called it, was far more open and spacious than most of the ship. Where elsewhere the designers seemed to be straining to squeeze every last inch of space out of the halls, here it was actually possible to take more than five steps from one wall before hitting something hard. Small shops and bars competed for the limited attention of any crew enjoying their time off, with colorful signs advertising cheap drinks or valuable trinkets.

The bars by far received the most business, many of them forgoing walls entirely in favor of displaying their bright interiors freely to passers-by. Rainbow pursed her lips as Flintlock and Applejack stepped into the thin crowd without hesitation, already discussing which establishment to visit first.

Rainbow quickened her pace, coming up on Applejack’s right and leaning into her ear. "I didn’t think it would be so busy."

"Neither did I, sugar cube, but I reckon there’s a lotta ponies on this ship." Applejack walked a little closer, and Rainbow relaxed a bit at the feel of her friend’s warmth brushing against her blind side. "See anythin’ ya like?"

Rainbow grimaced, scanning her options. Truthfully, none of them looked especially appealing to her. They were all too busy, too open, and she couldn’t imagine being able to relax in them no matter how many drinks she had in her. Her ears perked up as she picked out an outlier—a smooth wooden door stained red like sunset, framed in an arch of stone squeezed into the slim space between two competing bars. It felt almost alien aboard a ship filled with so much iron and silver, and something about the polished crystal shaped into a blazing sun on its surface seemed to call to her.

"How about that one?" Rainbow nudged Applejack’s hoof, pointing with a wing.

"Hay, where did that thing come from?" Applejack let out a thoughtful hum. "It certainly does look mighty invitin’."

"Ach, I wouldn’t get yer hopes up," Flint rumbled. "My bet’s th’ place spent all their budget on th’ fancy wood ‘n stone, with nothin’ left fer th’ actual bar. Just look at it! I probably couldn’t even turn sideways without brushin’ my tail on th’ wall in there."

"Couldn’t hurt to check it out," Applejack said. "Y’know it’s the little, overlooked places that have all the heart anyways."

"Bah, fine. But I get next pick if this one’s dry."

Rainbow led the way, ears forward as she pushed the wooden door open and stepped through, a small bell tinkling overhead. The entrance to the bar was narrow inside, but once past the hallway it seemed far wider than it should’ve been, and the corner of her mouth pulled up into a small smile as she took in the warm colors and the cozy space. It looked completely deserted—exactly what she was looking for.

Then her eyes fell on the creature behind the bar, and her eye shot wide open.

It was tall, with a long mane of brilliant red and gold, and dressed in well-laundered black and white. It was facing away from them, humming some tune as its body swayed along to the beat of the jukebox, its soft claws deftly at work organizing bottles on the shelves.

"Applejack," Rainbow whispered, her wings half-flared at her sides. "What is that?"

"Don’t ask me, gal," Applejack whispered back. "Flint, y’all got any idea?"

"Aye, I know exactly what it is," Flintlock hissed. "It’s some richling’s toy, put on display where it can awe us with its rarity and price, and I’ll be damned if I give anyone the satisfaction of thinkin’ I’m impressed."

Rainbow arched a brow as she turned to look back at the tall stallion. "What?"

"It’s like that griffon, eh?" Flint nodded sagely, narrowing his eyes. "They pay its weight in bits t’ have somethin’ unique at their beck ’n call."

"Do ya think it talks?" Applejack whispered, glancing back.

"I think it’s got a wall full of bottles, ’n if it can’t pour me a drink, I’ll find someone that can."

Flint brushed past them, taking a seat at the bar, and with a glance back towards Rainbow and a resigned shrug, Applejack followed suit.

Rainbow grimaced. She would’ve preferred just a regular pony behind the bar, but then nothing could ever be easy anymore, could it? Shuffling her wings against her side and wiping the curiosity from her face, Rainbow sat to Applejack’s right and joined her companions in watching the thing behind the bar dance to its own tune.

Cleaning up the bar after particularly hard week was always a good way for Sunset to let her mind drift and lose herself on the mundanity of performing simple tasks, like reorganizing the bottles, or checking the inventory. As the bar's clientele had grown, so had her social circle, and she had rediscovered the joys of writing snail mail (or scrolls) would always come easier to her with a less cluttered location to provide distractions.

True, most of the magical constructs she had devised would take care of basic things, but doing it manually had a certain charm in addition to allowing her to just enjoy the day and listen to the music of the places she had visited.

The silver chime announced the arrival of a new guest (or guests), but Sunset's mind was still on the latest CD she had obtained from a certain Twilight Sparkle who was totally not hot. She sensed more than saw the guests take a seat behind her and finished re-arranging the bottles before turning around. Their conversation was telling enough as it was.

She blinked at the ponies in front of her, taking in their appearance for a second before smiling widely. "Hello, welcome to Sunset's Isekai. I'm Sunset Shimmer." She stared at the stallion in the eye. "And I'm no richling's toy, thank you."

The stallion let out a disinterested grunt, eyes already focused on the bottles behind her. "Aye, that’s what I’d think ye’d say."

"Flint," AJ chided, nudging him with a hoof. She looked up at Sunset with a sincere, if a little confused, smile. "You’ll have to forgive him. He ain’t real good at first impressions."

"Nor second," Sunset piped in, "but if he was able to walk in here I guess I can deal with a bit of xenophobic attitude."

She studied the trio. Rainbow Dash—although she was sitting next to Applejack—was a bit guarded, and AJ was sitting comfortably close to the stallion next to her. They all looked worse for the wear, and even wore familiar-looking clothes. A quick check revealed no known badges, and they didn't even appear to be SG1… hay, not even a "Vigilo Confido" insignia.

If her guests were military it wasn't big on insignias, or maybe they were mechanics? But their looks didn't match what she'd expect. No grease stains, or tools. It seemed intended to just cover them more than anything else. At the same time—this Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite like the other one with the metal prosthetic wing; that Dashie had seemed almost inured to her injuries, while this one, with the claw-like scars across her face and an eyepatch that made Sunset wince internally, looked like she had a lot on her mind.

Whenever Equestria was at war Sunset's heart ached to see what it did to the ponies closest to her. It wasn't exactly her friends but… having lived through quite a few of those places, she could only shudder at the thought of what might happen to them.

The bar had definitely appeared at the right time. They really needed a drink. Well, better start with the easy ones.

"Here you go," she said, reaching under the counter to pull out two bottles of Sweet Apple Acres Cider, placing them in front of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. "First one is on the house. You look like you need one."

While the two mares stared down from her to the drinks with curious eyes, she studied the stallion. Taller and burlier than most ponies she'd seen before, he was basically a tank. "You… I don't know. I sense a slight hostility from you. Not used to seeing other creatures around?" She tapped her chin. "Well, there's few ice walls a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster will not break through. How does that sound, big guy?"

"I ain’t never heard of any Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, but seein’ as we’re doin’ first rounds free—" he shrugged, raising a hoof to the bar and beckoning "—I’ll take a chance on ye."

"Y’know, funny thing," Applejack began slowly. "My family used to have an apple farm." She reached out with a hoof, picking up the bottle with a distant sadness. "Had the same name as what’s on this here bottle."

"This is not your usual bar," Sunset said gently, as she prepared the blaster for the stallion's benefit. This Applejack hadn't been back to the Acres in a while. Possibly years. Either due to this possible war, or being exiled or some other reason, this was still something from home… and something that brought back heavy emotions. "My bar is a place between worlds and possibilities. It's a place where any creature from anywhere, anytime, any world… can come to relax and drink."

"Ah, hell," the big stallion—Flint, AJ had called him—grumbled. "This is one of those bars."

Applejack held up a hoof, silencing him. With a shaky motion she twisted the cap off the bottle, letting it rattle against the bar. She lifted the bottle to her muzzle, pausing as the pale mist drifting from within drifted over her nose, and put it to her lips.

Her eyes widened, and Sunset couldn’t help but smile at the way the mare regarded the bottle as she held it out before her.

"This is—" Applejack blinked, the corners of her lips twitching up as she let out a breathy laugh. "This is my family’s cider."

"What? No way." Rainbow popped the cap off her bottle with undisguised skepticism. A shiver passed through her as she took a gulp, wings flaring wide open. "Whoa."

"None of that Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster for him, miss. He’ll be drinkin’ Apple Family brew tonight." Applejack slid her bottle over to Flint, ignoring his surprised expression. She was taking in the bar as if for the first time, her eyes passing over the many portraits hung on the walls. "Just who did y’all say ya were, again?"

"Sunset Shimmer, former apprentice to Celestia," Sunset said retrieving another bottle for Applejack. "Depending on your timeline, if Twilight Sparkle ever went through the mirror the Princess had hidden in Canterlot, she'd met me." She glanced at Flint. "And before you say anything, I'm actually a unicorn. I changed shape when I crossed into another universe, but if I stepped out there, I'd look like a unicorn again, cutie mark and everything."

"Timelines? Universes?" Applejack frowned, shaking her head. "I don’t get it."

Flint let out a sigh as he looked down at the bottle of cider before him. "Ye know, I was just startin’ t’ think my life was gettin’ back to some kinda normal."

"This is like that Daring Do book, isn’t it?" Rainbow said. Her brow grew harder as she scanned the pictures hung around her.

"Daring Do and the Metztli Mirrors." Sunset nodded. The pegasus turned to her with a sharp glare, and she offered up an uneasy smile.

"Y’all mean ya heard of this before?" Applejack asked.

"There’s hundreds of us, AJ. Thousands, I dunno." Rainbow spoke bitterly, her lip pulling up into a barely restrained snarl. "All those pictures up there? They come from Equestrias just like ours, with ponies just like us, except they get to be happy. And everything we’ve gone through? Everything Twilight’s going through?" Her last words came out in a low growl, her one-eyed glare fixed on Sunset. "It’s just bad luck."

Applejack stared at her friend with wide eyes. "Rainbow—"

"Guess it wasn’t enough just to suffer it all, huh?" Rainbow seethed. "Now the world wants to rub just how screwed up my life is into the one eye I have left. Whatever. Thanks for the cider, I guess."

Rainbow shoved herself away from the bar, sliding out of her seat and retreating to the table in the far corner. She scowled as she took a seat there, back to the wall, the bottle of Sweet Apple Acres cider nursed between both forelegs.

Applejack sighed. She looked back to Sunset with an apologetic grimace. "She’s, uh, dealin’ with some things. It ain’t personal."

"Mare acts like she invented loss," Flint grumbled, taking another sip from his bottle. "This ain’t too bad, by th’ way."

Sunset shrugged. "No worries. You'd be surprised how many people come here where things are a lot worse than the pictures show." She pulled out a bottle of cider for herself. "Anyway, you guys are what I call "personal guests." That means we've got the bar to ourselves. No interruptions. Hope you don't mind if I drink one myself, it's quality stuff." She grinned. "So, what type of place are you all at right now? From what she said there's quite a lot happening."

"Shoot, I dunno where to start." Applejack reached up to take her hat off, placing it gently on the countertop. "Guess all Equestria’s underwater. Is that normal?"

"Only where you're all seaponies," Sunset said. "It's not… a normal situation otherwise, no." She bit her lip. "How did it happen? Did Celestia and the others make it?" She grimaced, glancing in the direction of the door. "Believe it or not, I don't always know where I'll end up, and it's… sometimes really shocking how different things are."

Applejack shook her head, eyes still lingering on the pictures. "Just us, I’m afraid. Us and the other gals, y’know? Well—" she paused, lips quirking to one side "—I guess Princess Luna’s still alive? She’s under some kinda somethin’, but Twi’s workin’ on it. Princess Celestia, I don’t even know. Say, is that, uh—" she pointed, and Sunset looked back to see her picture of Pear Butter and Bright Mac. "That looks like my parents."

Sunset smiled, and waved her hand, levitating the picture from the wall so it floated over to her. She turned it around and put it flat on the bar for Applejack to look at. "Yep. Pear Butter and Bright Mac… that's you and Rarity from my world with them." She cleared her throat. "Back there you two are an item."

Applejack arched a brow. "Me and her, huh? Dunno if I could quite see that. Either way, uh, ‘my’ Rarity ended up gettin’ hitched to some duke’s son." She brushed a hoof over the image of her parents, a soft smile tugging at her lips. "Guess it’s good to know they’re happy, somewhere out there."

Flint let out a thoughtful grunt as he leaned over to look at the picture. "Yer ma’s got some good looks on ’er."

Applejack blinked. She looked up at him with an exasperated shake of her head. "If I thought y’all were the kind of stallion to try and compliment me for my own good, I’d smack ya for that shoddy delivery, but I know ya ain’t, so." There was a thump under the bar, and Flint let out a stiff grunt. "Quit sizin’ up my ma!"

Sunset grinned. "Anyway, if you look at that poster with the Twilight that's a mix between you and me, you're her manager and also her trainer. She got into lifting weights thanks to you." She shook her head. "There's always something new out there… I'm just very lucky to be able to meet so many people, and maybe chat with them for a while. Heh. If you can believe it, the first other me that I met was dating Gilda."

Applejack’s eyes widened, and she stole a quick glance back at Rainbow Dash, who seemed to have put a fresh scowl on her face. "That’s sweet and all, darlin’, but I’d be careful mentionin’ any griffons till RD cools down a bit. On account of, y’know." She did an exaggerated wink with her left eye.

"Ah," Sunset said, glancing apologetically at Rainbow Dash, who didn't seem to notice. "Sorry, I didn't know. As you can imagine with how different things are in each world, sometimes it's too easy to let slip something sensitive." She cleared her throat. "So what’s your deal, Flint?"

"Deal?" He echoed, lowering his bottle back to the bar. "I ain’t got any deal. I’m just here fer th’ cider."

Sunset blinked. "Well, I guess it is a bar after all." She shook her head. "In any case, 'deal' is a slang way of asking what is it that you do, or like to do. Are you an accountant? A warrior? A chef? How come you're hanging out with Applejack and Rainbow Dash?" She glanced at Applejack. "Hanging out is still a word you use, right? Otherwise I might have to talk like when I met Drax."

"I’m a salvage diver." Flint grunted, pushing his now-empty bottle away. "And I’m stuck with these two cause my team’re th’ ones that dug ’em up out of th’ ruins of Old Canterlot." He shot Applejack a sidelong look. "Ruins that apparently were hidin’ a portal t’ a whole ‘nother dimension, and who knows what other fancy finds, but I guess sometimes ye get rich and sometimes ye get trouble."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "This big brute never quits talkin’ bout salvage." Flint opened his mouth as if to add something, but she cut him off. "Or guns, yes. I know."

"Ha. You should see the guns Rarity was carrying in this one world," Sunset said, grinning. "Beautifully crafted things. One of them even had magic bullets she could use."

"I got magic bullets," Flint said, straightening up. "Real satisfyin’ crack ’n flash on impact. Just about brought a dragon down a few weeks ago."

"Yeah, and then he just about melted y’all into your armor," Applejack quipped. "We’d all’ve been toast if Twilight hadn’t showed up."

"Ach." Flint tapped at his empty bottle insistently as he spoke. "I’d rather face th’ dragon on my own than get ’Light involved again. This whole trip’s a suicide mission."

"I take it dragons are not on the 'friendly' list anymore?" Sunset grimaced and took a sip of her cider, mulling on the flavor for a moment. "No Spike? No Ember?"

"Well, the dragon was Spike, actually." Applejack sighed as she finished off her bottle. "It’s complicated. Can I get another bottle? I got bits." Flint let out a grunt. "Yeah, and one for him too."

Sunset cringed. "That… can't have been easy," she whispered, reaching down for another pair of bottles. She put them on the table. "He… didn't recognize you?"

"Would be damned impressive if he did," Flint grumbled. "After bein’ stuck in th’ dark fer however long it’s been."

"He ain’t himself anymore," Applejack said, pulling her bottle closer and twisting the top off. "So all Equestria’s underwater, right? And there’s this corruption or somethin’ down there, and it messes with your mind. We hardly recognized him back in Canterlot, he was big as a barn and snarlin’ somethin’ fierce."

"That's…" Sunset shuddered. "Not good."

"That ain’t even the worst of it," Applejack continued. "Twilight’s caught it too, somehow. Poor gal’s been hearin’ this voice in her head, tellin’ her to do things. Some bounty hunters got a hold of her and she just about went wild, nearly cracked a whole island in two. She ran off, and for a bit we thought she was dead.

"We found her in Canterlot a few days later, talkin’ to herself, fangs growin’ out of her muzzle and eyes like slits." She shook her head before raising the cider to her lips and taking a long draw. "She’d actually named the thing. Started callin’ it Midnight. And then she ran off again, up north, talkin’ about letters she found from her brother."

"So now we’re flyin’ north," Flint said, popping his bottle open. "T’ th’ ice. Where there’s no salvage, and at least one crazy wyrd that could kill us all if say one wrong word."

"We’ll have to make sure we remember and leave y’all behind, then," Applejack muttered.

"Do you… have a plan?" Sunset asked gently. "I mean… knowing Twilight, she probably started trying to find a cure or something. Did she give you any clues? Is this something that can be cured?"

"It better be."

Sunset blinked, looking over to where Rainbow had spoken up from the back of the room.

"Y-yeah." Applejack grimaced. "Didn’t turn out that way for Owloysius."

Sunset leaned back. "Yeah… that—I really don't envy your position." She looked from Applejack to Rainbow Dash, unsure of what to say if anything. "So… is the cider hitting the right spot at least?" she offered, a small, unsure smile on her face. "Or do you want one of the special brews?"

"Nah, this is exactly what I need right now." Applejack looked down at her bottle with a pensive frown, and for a long moment nobody said anything. Flint took another sip from his drink, staring stoically straight ahead. In the back of the room, Sunset saw Rainbow’s pursed lips quivering, her mane casting a dark shadow over her one good eye.

"Say, Flint," Applejack said. "Y’all remember that drinkin’ contest we had with that keg of your family’s stuff?"

Flint glanced in her direction, narrowing his eyes. "Aye."

"Well, seems only fair that we try again now we’ve got some of mine, don’t it?"

Flint arched a brow. "If ye wanted a rematch, ye didn’t have t’ wait fer us t’ find a magic bar fer it."

Applejack grinned tentatively. She turned back to Sunset, fishing a bag of bits out of a pocket on her uniform and dropping it on the bar. "Just keep ‘em comin’, Sunset. Maybe with my family’s help, I can steal my pride back from this stallion."

"Heh." Sunset shook her head. "Never change, AJ." She fished out a dozen more bottles and placed them on the counter. "If you need more, just let me know alright?"

Leaving Flint and Applejack passed out on their table (with the bottles each had drank neatly stacked next to them, just in case they woke up and wanted to continue their game), Sunset decided it was about time she checked on Rainbow Dash. So far the brooding mare had limited herself to ordering the occasional bottle of cider once she was done with the previous one, but she hadn't attempted to join the pair of earth ponies in their contest.

'Just as well,' Sunset thought, 'these two were drinking enough for six ponies.'

Deciding that the pegasus might feel more comfortable if they both had something in hand or hoof, Sunset wondered briefly what she wanted to drink. Not that she didn't love Sweet Apple Acres cider, but she needed something a bit firmer for herself.

After some thought, she made herself a Wisconsin Old Fashioned and headed over to the table where Rainbow Dash was still brooding. While it was always fun talking to happier customers, she still had the nagging feeling that her bar had brought Sunset here for Rainbow Dash. "Hey Dash, mind if I sit with you? Those two might need some time alone."

"If they wanted time alone, they wouldn’t’ve come here, or dragged me along." Rainbow shifted, putting Sunset squarely on her right side. "But whatever."

'That's as good as an invitation I'll get,' Sunset thought. "Do you want anything else to drink before I sit down?"

Rainbow glanced up to the bar, squinting at the bottles on display behind it. "Have you, uh—" she hesitated, her voice breaking "—got anything from Cloudsdale?"

Sunset had to think for a second. "I could whip you up an Everfree Cloud. They were serving those at a bar one time I went there. Ever had one of those?"

Rainbow looked up to meet Sunset’s eye for the first time, and for a moment it seemed she even forgot to scowl. "That’d be cool."

Sunset set down her drink on the table and headed over to the bar, fishing a hurricane glass and the simple ingredients and pouring them over the vanilla ice cream that served as a base for the drink. Once the ice cream had started melting a little, it would create the signature cloud effect that gave the Everfree Cloud its name. She gently slid a straw into it and took the cocktail over to the table, taking care to keep within sight of Rainbow Dash's right eye and set it on the table. "Here you go, Dash."

"I haven’t told you my name." Rainbow pushed her unfinished cider aside, grabbing the new drink and cradling it between her hooves. She looked down at it, mouth open as if to drink, hovering an inch away from the straw. "You talk to me like we’re friends."

"Well, we are, sort of," Sunset said, getting comfortable. This was the table she usually sat in with Lena to study magic, although she was usually sitting where Rainbow Dash was right now. "A long, long time ago, I left Equestria and went to another world, where there were… human versions of all of you. I wasn't exactly your friend, to be honest, until Twilight visited and… taught me about friendship."

She summoned the picture from the graduation, setting it so that Rainbow Dash wouldn't have to turn her head to look at it. "See? That's me, and that's you… that one there is Applejack, and Pinkie and another Twilight… and of course Fluttershy."

While Rainbow Dash studied the picture, Sunset sampled her Old Fashioned. "Those are your versions that I got to know first… After that, I've been to many worlds where you've done different things. Become Captain of the Wonderbolts… or a Special Ops soldier in a war. I've met you as a human and pony, and even Changeling, if you can believe it." She nodded at the several pictures. "You have many friends across the multiverse, and one constant is that in all worlds, in one way or another, you keep being awesome."

"Captain of the Wonderbolts?" Rainbow’s voice was soft. Her jaw worked side to side, and she didn’t look up from the little straw as she coughed out a single, dry laugh. "Guess even for a pony as awesome as me, there’s gotta be one world where I’m like this, huh? She gets to fly with my heroes, travel Equestria, hear ponies cheer." She shook her head. "I get to run from griffons, chase my best friend through the ruins wondering if she’s still herself, and sit around doing nothing all day."

Rainbow glanced up at the pictures, and with a start Sunset realized there was a tear dripping out from under her eyepatch. "Why me, huh? What’d I do wrong? Did I take some wrong step somewhere?" With a heavy sigh she leaned forwards and grabbed the straw in her lips, taking a long draw from the bottom of the glass. "Eugh. This is perfect."

Sunset smiled a bit sadly at Rainbow's words. She let the pony drink a bit while she considered the pictures around them. If there had been any question on who needed the heart-to-heart out of her guests, it was completely dispelled. She could empathize… Rainbow Dash's frustration and sense of inadequacy to her challenges was something she was intimately familiar with, even if not for the same reasons.

But she was not the only one though. "You didn't do anything wrong, Dash. Sometimes things just happen differently in other places, but that is outside of your control…" She licked her lips, wondering where to continue. "You see… a lot of these pictures are of ponies and creatures that had a chance to smile at the time we took them, but a lot of them… most of them… had to go through their own challenges." She gestured at one of the pictures, where she sat with a shy-smiling Wallflower. "One of them might feel like life is not worth living, but for her friends…" She pointed at Cozy Glow's picture. "Others lost everything they had before they could start becoming better ponies."

She sighed. "You got dealt a horrible hand, um, hoof… by destiny this time around, but if any of them could make it, so can Rainbow Dash."

"Have you met any Rainbows like me?" the pegasus asked, reaching up to brush at her eyepatch. "Do you know how it happened?"

Sunset shook her head. "I don't. I… can guess from a bit of conversation earlier. I figured rather than pursue that conversation with Applejack I'd rather wait and see if you wanted to share the story."

"There’s these bounty hunters." Rainbow began slowly, watching the cloudy ice cream spin in her drink as she stirred it. "One in particular—Gava."

Sunset leaned back, nodding with her head, indicating she was paying attention as she sipped her drink.

Rainbow Dash's lip curled back as she spoke the name, and she began to stir faster, spilling the drink onto the table. "We were diving in the ocean over what used to be the Everfree Forest. Or I guess Twilight was diving, really. I mostly just sat on the sub and got in the way." She shook her head. "Twilight found Princess Luna down there in some kind of… I dunno, dream coma. So we were coming back to the surface, to our ship.

"We’d left Applejack behind with a couple other crewmembers, and when we got off the sub, Gava was there. She’s a griffon, right? So she had Applejack all tied up in chains, and she had her talons at her neck, and she threatened to kill her if the rest of us didn’t turn ourselves in."

Rainbow’s wings shuffled against her back as her face twisted even further towards anger. "I thought I hated her then. I charged her, and she actually tried it—I ended up getting some of Applejack’s blood on me—but I stopped her." She snorted, lips curling up into a smirk. "It’s funny, Twilight actually could’ve saved Applejack all on her own. If I hadn’t done anything, then she probably would’ve teleported her to safety before Gava could even begin to react.

"But I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, you know?" Rainbow looked up, meeting Sunset’s eyes. "She threatened to kill one of my best friends. So we started fighting.

"It wasn’t like anything I’d ever done before. I’d fought for sport, or wrestled, or gotten into scuffles with bullies as a filly, but it was so brutal. I guess in some way it still felt like a game to me, and I never even thought about the idea that I might lose. Until—" she looked away, her one cerise eye losing focus. "I don’t even really remember any of it, besides the pain. The taunting.

"She ate it, Sunset. Next thing I knew, I was tied up on her back, on her ship, and I was the one that needed rescuing." Rainbow blinked, her eye regaining focus as she turned back to Sunset. "She beat me, and all I did was put my friends in more danger."

Sunset nodded. "You screwed up," she said, grimacing in sympathy. "And you paid a price you never thought you would. You expected things to be back like they were back home and they weren't. It's a really hard lesson to learn, and harder still to leave with… well, the possibility of what could have happened." She coughed. "The thing is… when you realize you've screwed up. That you made things worse… that you might've lost those that you care for because of your own actions… that's when the weight of your choices can be crippling. Especially for you, Rainbow Dash." Sunset sighed. "You're the Element of Loyalty. That has to make it sting even harder."

She hesitated as she set down her drink. "Have you… learned to fight? Trained with anyone since?"

"Yes! Of course!" Rainbow’s gaze hardened as she spat the words out. "Because I’m Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pony in Equestria, and I’ll never let anyone do something like that to me or my friends without hitting them back! That’s what I’m trying to say, Sunset." She pursed her lips, shaking her head. "Whenever some stunt beat me back in Ponyville, I’d get up and practice until I beat it. Flint’s boss, Sea Sabre—she said she’d teach me. So as soon as I could stand on my own four hooves again I was up practicing, and I haven’t stopped since!"

She shot up out of her seat, almost yelling now, knocking her drinks over and forcing Sunset to snatch her glass off the table. "I know I can do it! I was so close to beating her last time, and just today I fought another griffon and he didn’t stand a chance! Even Sea Sabre can barely beat me anymore! So don’t you sit there," she snarled, jabbing an accusing hoof towards Sunset, "and treat me like some little filly afraid to jump off a cloud for the first time! I’m gonna get her back, and I don’t care how long it takes me, but what would really make me even happier is if none of this had ever happened to me!"

She was perched on the table, muzzle just inches away from Sunset’s face, chest heaving with every breath and wings flared out to their fullest. There was a quiet snort from the bar as Applejack shifted, mumbling something under her breath.

Sunset's eyes narrowed. "Rarity watched her dad die in her arms when she failed to shoot the last member of the gang that was chasing her," she said slowly. "Freya lost the love of her life, chased him for almost five straight years in the hope that he was still alive, only to discover he had completely forgotten her. In the process her entire kingdom was destroyed, and then most of the survivors died when the other city for her species was obliterated right in front of her. A city she had sworn to protect."

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but Sunset cut her off, lifting one finger after another as she listed things. "Another Rarity broke a magic mirror so she could tear herself apart from a toxic relationship, leaving her forever cut off from her beloved. Wallflower was raped and erased her own memory of that until it came back." She pointed at the wall. "Haru was trapped away from her mother and all she knew, transformed into a cat and unable to go back home. Iroh let his pride as a general be more important than his duties to his family and when his son died regretted every single time he wasn't there… and that's just a few of them." She took a deep breath. "And don't even get me started on G'kar or my own messes, my own decisions and my own regrets, which believe me, are bad enough in the original timeline without adding my fumbling about the multiverse. Tell me, Rainbow Dash… do really think none of them—us—ever wondered 'why me'? or 'it would be so much better if none of this had happened'?"

Rainbow blinked, leaning back with her jaw hanging open. Rather than back down, Sunset shook her head and kept going. "None of them—including you—deserved what happened to you. I'm not treating you like a filly that got hurt playing around… don't assume you're the only pony or creature out there that's suffered. I asked because when I look at you, I see the friends who have suffered, sometimes more, sometimes less… and I want to know that you're moving forward. That whoever did that to you will never do that again." She raised her hand and poked Rainbow Dash in the chest, causing the pegasus to flinch back. "Because I know you will not just hide away from things, but that doesn't mean every single time you've been ready for what is to come.

"You're my friend, Rainbow Dash, in this world and every other. So let someone worry a little about you, alright?" She smirked. "You're not alone, Dash. We all mess up and we all carry that with us. The problem is not that, it's what you'll do next, and whether it will give you your agency back or not."

She sat back, shoulders slumping. "It's fine to be frustrated, and angry, and scared, you know? You need to give yourself a break."

Rainbow’s lower lip was quivering. She collapsed against the table with a wretched sob, head drooping, eye squeezed tight with fresh tears dripping down her cheeks. "H-how can I give myself a break, huh?" she spat. "Even my own friends have it worse than me! AJ lost her whole family, and P-Pinkie can’t even walk anymore, Fluttershy barely speaks a word, and—and Rarity’s stuck married to the son of some d-duke she hates—and Twilight’s all alone, fighting j-just to keep her mind!" She buried her head in her hooves, muffling her voice. "I just feel so useless, and I h-hate it! I stopped for j-just one second to come try and h-have some fun with Applejack at a bar, and now look at me, crying on a table!" She shook her head, letting out a frustrated groan. "I’m n-not even drunk!"

Despite herself Sunset smiled at that. "Look, Dash… I know it sounds like everyone else has it worse, but my point isn't that all of these people and your friends deserve to be angry more than you. The point is, all of them, in one way or another have become better people despite what happened. What this Gava did to you was horrific by any standard. She took your eye and she ate it to get into your head. And it would have been unnatural if she didn't. She injured you, your friends, made you feel powerless… you have every right to feel frustrated and eager for retribution." She reached over, placing a hand gently on Rainbow Dash's hoof, encouraged when the mare didn’t draw it back. "I know it's really hard, but understand that none of that was a choice you made. That's what I mean by giving yourself a break. You're more than prepared now to face this griffon and kick her ass to Tartarus and back. It will never happen again." She squeezed slightly the hoof. "You won't suffer that again."

She let go and stood up. "Let me get you something else… and don't worry, your tab tonight is on me."

"Applejack was paying anyways." Rainbow didn’t look up, but Sunset could still hear the hoarseness in her voice past the last of her sobs. "I suck at dice."

"Applejack drank a bit more than what her bits covered," Sunset countered, glancing at the passed out pair with slight disbelief. "I mean, she's never been a lightweight, but this one could give Wrex a run for his money." She made her way behind the bar and rummaged around the bottles. "Aha, here we go."

She took two whiskey glasses and threw in two large clear ice cubes, bringing the three items over to the table. She set the bottle of Wild Pegasus Whiskey in the middle of the table, smirking when Rainbow looked up and noticed the silhouette on the label. "Looks familiar? This was distilled in Tullamare, but a certain pegasus was contacted for marketing. Makes a bit of sense she should have a taste, right?"

She poured whiskey on the glasses and raised one to Rainbow Dash. Without hesitation the pegasus reached out, grabbed the glass in her mouth, and threw her head back.

She emptied it in three big gulps, and when she finally brought her head down and dropped the glass back to the table there were an entirely different kind of tears brimming in her eye. "Oh, yeah." She squeezed her eye shut, shaking her head with a shiver that ran all the way down her body and made the table rattle dangerously. "Phew. I should’ve started on this."

"Figured you'd like this one. Just remember, whiskey is not supposed to be taken as a shot." Sunset nevertheless reached over and poured Rainbow Dash another drink. "What should we toast to first?"

Rainbow frowned, regarding her refreshed drink with an intense stare that dragged on for several long moments. Finally she sat up straight on the table, picked the glass up in a hoof, and held it out to Sunset. "To the Rainbow Dashes that get to live their dreams. I’ll get through this, so that they don’t have to."

"I'll drink to that!" Sunset said, clicking her glass to Rainbow Dash's and drinking down in tandem with the pegasus. She coughed, chuckling. "So much for nursing the drink." She served up another glass for herself and was about to do so for Rainbow Dash when she frowned. "You might want to take a seat though. In the proper place."

"Huh?" Rainbow looked down, her eye widening as she realized where she was. "O-oh, right! Hehe. Guess I got a bit carried away." She floated back with a soft flutter of her wings, sliding into her abandoned seat before pulling her glass closer. "So, your turn?"

Sunset served Rainbow Dash up and then hummed, her finger circling the edge of her glass. "May the idiot that set that bounty pay the price," she said, narrowing her eyes, "that he may never do so again."

"Hah, yeah!" Rainbow grinned as she practically lunged across the table to knock her glass against Sunset’s. "He’ll regret the day he thought to cross Rainbow Dash!" She threw the glass back without hesitation, and Sunset smirked as she took a somewhat more conservative drink.

"Okay, my turn, my turn." Rainbow scratched at her chin with a hoof as she watched Sunset pour yet more whiskey into each of their glasses. "To beating the things that beat you!"

"Here, here!" Sunset said, grinning as she sipped her glass. "You know, I technically shouldn't do this but I have an idea." She leaned in. She was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol, if only slightly. But more than that… this Dashie needed help. "There's only one pegasus that I know who can help us get you up to full awesomeness. And she isn't named Spitfire."

Rainbow narrowed her eye. "Sunset, the only pony that could possibly increase my awesomeness, even on my worst days, is named Rainbow Dash."

Sunset leaned back, smirking. "Dashie. This is an inter-dimensional bar." She leaned forward. "That means we don't have to settle for one."

Rainbow gasped. She lifted a hoof to her muzzle, eyebrows disappearing into her mane. "Oh my gosh. That is the most amazing thing anyone’s ever said to me!"

"So, here's what we do… we start in the Normandy, that Dashie has been training to be a one-pegasus krogan-drop down squad." She nodded sagely. "That is pretty badass. Then, we just jump around gathering Rainbow Dashes for a large party… we'll have to get my Rainbow Dash in on the fun too, so be prepared for another human. We get about… twenty of you?"

Rainbow tossed her mane, rearing up and striking a pose. "Can this bar handle twenty of me?"

"Nothing can handle twenty of you," Sunset said firmly. "But my bar can grow, and I always have enough space in my heart for an additional Dash of friendship."

"Eugh." Rainbow stuck her tongue out and jumped out of her seat. "Okay, never say that again. Let’s do this."

Sunset laughed. "Usually people tell me it was bad and I should feel bad." The door opened with a chime of the bell. "But I have too much fun being me."

A familiar voice reached them. "Heeey, this isn’t the Wonderbolts' locker room!"

Sunset glanced at Rainbow Dash and gave her a smug look.

Rainbow woke up with a snort. She groaned at a dull, throbbing pain in her head, rolled over, and then fell out of her bunk with a yelp.

"Aggh…" She rubbed at her temples with both hooves, wincing as the impact of the hard metal seemed to bounce around inside her skull, each echo bringing a new, fresh agony. "What the hay…"

She lay there for several minutes, existing. Perhaps she fell asleep for some of it, but she wasn’t sure.

Finally she mustered the strength to lift her head. "Applejack." She winced at the sound of her own voice, and tried again in a hoarse whisper. "Applejack… help."

Applejack didn’t help.

She pushed herself onto her side, squinting up at Applejack’s bunk. The sheets were neatly made, as they always were, and there was no sign of her friend anywhere to be seen.

A cabin with a window was a luxury aboard the Orichalcum, and at that particular moment she was glad she didn’t have it. Through great effort she got a grip on her bunk and pulled herself up off the ground. A tall glass of water was waiting on the little bedside table, and suddenly realizing just how thirsty she really was, Rainbow squeezed it between both hooves and gulped it all down.

"Oghh." She moaned, empty glass cradled in her hooves, and went to look for another.

She narrowed her eye. There was no second glass on the table, but there was something else on it, flat, and filled with vibrant color that she found appealing on a personal level.

Slowly Rainbow scooched back into her bunk, grabbed the photograph on the table and held it up close. She stared at it for several seconds.

The photo was of a bar. It was a large one, but the warm, red-stained wood and gentle lighting made it feel intimate nonetheless. She stood in the center, leaning against a strange creature with a fiery red-and-gold mane, both of them looking up at the camera with sloppy smiles and bottles held close to their chests. Rainbow couldn’t help but smile a little back at them. She almost didn’t recognize herself with an expression like that.

She also didn’t recognize herself about twenty other times, for other reasons.

The entire bar was packed to the brim with her. She saw a Rainbow Dash with her mane blown back from years of hard flying, the well-pressed uniform of a Wonderbolt Captain snug around her form. Off to the side a Rainbow Dash in black, chitinous armor decorated with red and white stripes smirked up at her, leaning against a more grizzled Rainbow Dash waving with a wing of gleaming metal. A changeling stood near the back, raising a bottle in salute, the six hues of its insectoid mane reflecting the light of the camera flash like a shimmering rainbow. A sky blue stallion leaned against the bar with a cocky smile, the jagged cut of his rainbow mane framing his face while he sipped sideways from a glass. And next to Sunset, opposite Rainbow herself, was a biped creature like herself, one arm wrapped around Sunset’s shoulders and the other sporting a dangerously cocked finger gun.

Rainbow blinked. There were so many, she could barely count them without getting a headache. And they were all holding little cardboard signs, the words Heading East scrawled on them in a rainbow of brightly colored, ragged scribbles.

Rainbow chuckled to herself. Was that Applejack and Flintlock passed out together in the corner, drooling into each other’s coats?

Looking back up to the table, she saw a silvery little card had been hidden under the photo. She picked it up, squinting down at the little text.

Sunset’s Isekai.

A picture of a stylized sun was emblazoned above the text in a darker silver, but Rainbow found it easy to imagine the reds and yellows she knew belonged there. She turned the card over, smirking at the neatly written script on the back.

See you soon.

Somehow Rainbow knew that no matter where she was, when she really needed it, she always had a drink and a friend just one door away.

With a relaxed sigh the likes of which Rainbow hadn’t let out in weeks, she settled back into her bunk and let the droning of the engines lull her to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Written with Goldenwing and taking place in the world of Sunken Horizons, which is a sequel to Empty Horizons. Make sure to check them out!