"Welcome to Sunset's Isekai, my little bar in the omniverse."
— Sunset "Isekai" Shimmer
Sunset’s Isekai
a My Little Pony: Equestria Girls fanfic written by Wanderer D and hosted on Fimfiction.net, follows the experience of a post Camp Everfree Sunset Shimmer as she runs an interdimensional bar along side her business partner, a Rarity. It crosses over with many stories from various franchises, including many other My Little Pony fanfics, some of which are themselves crossovers. It is ongoing, with the first chapter having been published on June 21, 2019.
Sunset’s Isekai contains examples of:
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Isekai does have one of these:
Hudiemon: "Those of us from the Isekai are not as bad as the Federation," Hudiemon added. "They have their own rules and we follow them when we're in that universe just to be polite, but It's not like we have to absolutely hide where we came from if people in that universe know or are at least aware of the multiverse. What we can't do is fix the universe for them, interrupt the universe's natural course beyond reasonable circumstances, and finally, in the case of Sunset, Lena, Luz or Rozemyne, we are not supposed to use spells that are too unique or powerful, since that could really collapse a universe."
- Bar Full of Aliens: Perhaps inevitable when the bar door opens to any universe, regardless of its work of origin.
- The Bartender: Sunset “Isekai” Shimmer, naturally.
- Bigger on the Inside: Certainly applies to the Isekai’s refrigerator- at one point it’s even said to be literally impossible to organize.
- Dimensional Traveler: Applies to many of the stories' regular characters.
- Doorstopper: The current word count as of April 5th, 2024, is 464,630. This is across 110 chapters, the longest of which, which happens to be the hundredth, is 12,297 words. With no end to the story in sight, the 500,000 word mark is not far away.
- Drinking on Duty: Sunset has been known to have a drink alongside her personal guests from time to time.
- Found Family: Over the course of the story, Sunset has been adopted by her home universe’s Celestia, as well as coming to have a lover and some adopted daughters of her own.
- Genius Loci: Very likely to apply to the Isekai itself- it has been referred to as feeling embarrassed on at least one occasion.
- Good-Guy Bar: Enforced. Nobody with ill intent can enter the Isekai in the first place, spells are in place that will cause any weapons or other harmful objects(ie. razor blades) to disintegrate before they can be used to cause harm to oneself or others, and a button under the bar can send everybody in the bar other than Sunset herself back to their home universes if a Bar Brawl still manages to break out.
- Hammerspace: The interior of the infinitely large fridge mentioned above can arguably be considered a type 3 example of this.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: This is largely what the Isekai is all about- if you need a good drink, someone to lend an ear, and/or maybe even some sage advice, the Isekai might just show up in front of you.
- Inn Between the Worlds: The Isekai is not located in any universe or conventional timeline.
- The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: The Isekai appears to those who really need a good drink (literally or not) and a good ear to listen to their problems. Those who possess one of the Isekai’s business cards, or a key for a certain few individuals, can pay the bar a visit at their leisure. Reference has also been made to the Isekai occasionally opening in a universe as if it were a normal bar for a time.
- The Isekai’s door is known to both replace preexisting doors and to appear where no door was previously, including seemingly impossible locations. One time, for instance, it appeared on the outside of a building’s seventh story.
- The Lonely Door: The Isekai’s door has appeared in this manner at least once.
- Lactose over Liquor: Too young to drink in your home jurisdiction? Just don’t want alcohol? No worries, the milkshakes at the Isekai are great too.
- And don't bother trying to get an alchoholic beverage if you're too young to legally drink back home - the Isekai has spells for that kind of thing.
- Massively Multiplayer Crossover: Where do we even start? Nearly every chapter crosses over with some work or other- fanfics (some of which are themselves crossovers), TV shows, video games, manga… Many chapters even cross over with more than one work at a time.
- The Multiverse: A necessity for the story to function.
Sunset “Isekai” Shimmer: "Welcome to Sunset's Isekai, my little bar in the omniverse."
Sunset “Mirage” Shimmer: Mirage crossed her arms. "Not the multiverse?"
Sunset “Isekai” Shimmer: "I did say that before, but some people got confused because their multiverses were somehow finite and able to be destroyed by powerful beings. Me being able to move past way beyond that limit was kind of hard to explain, so I changed it to 'omniverse' and then Spell-Jammed an explanation that made it digestible for them."
Sunset “Mirage” Shimmer: "Oh?"
Sunset “Isekai” Shimmer: "Bubbles," the bartender replied, motioning for Mirage to get closer and take a seat. "Multiverses are bubbles, with more bubbles within but also part of a bigger bubble. The boundaries of the mini-bubbles inside the bubbles are easier to breach and reach each other since they are packed closer than the other multiverses which are not only separated by the bubble-boundary, but also by considerable space between them."
Sunset “Mirage” Shimmer: Mirage sighed. "I guess in an oversimplified way…"
Sunset “Isekai” Shimmer The bartender shrugged. "It helps most people imagine it, and those that understand why it's an oversimplification know enough to fill the gaps themselves."
Sunset “Mirage” Shimmer: Mirage chuckled, picking up a menu. "Fair enough. So… that explains why you're me."
- My Card: The Isekai’s business cards are magic artifacts, enchanted to be readable by anyone, and capable of summoning the Isekai’s door to the holder for a return visit.
- Mysterious Past: Applies to the Rarity who is Sunset’s business partner. We know she had a bad relationship with the Spike from her home universe (at least it might be. This was mentioned in the very first chapter, even before the Isekai had been set up.), that her original form involved horns, and not much else.
- Narnia Time: While a visitor is in the Isekai, no time passes in their home universe unless they want it to.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Barkeeping: Discussed:
Narration: Sunset had always considered the image of a bartender incessantly wiping down the counter and cleaning glasses to be hopelessly cliched. Actually becoming a bartender had completely changed her estimation of how often that needed doing.
- Older Than They Look: Sunset never visibly ages, despite owning the Isekai for thousands of years.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. As the story connects to many different universes, it is entirely possible for more than one of the same person to be present in the Isekai at the same time. Sunset has met other versions of herself enough times to ask to be called “Isekai” when there is more than one of her present at a time.
- Place Beyond Time: The Isekai itself.
Sunset "Isekai" Shimmer: "By the by, I do host a pilot's night every other… uh… well, probably every other month for people in actual timelines, would you be interested in coming?"
- Really 700 Years Old: Sunset never visibly ages, despite owning the Isekai for thousands of years.
- Trapped in Another World: This has been known to happen to characters from time to time, usually leading into a multichapter arc.
