Berry Punch staggered through the creaky barroom door, already rather tipsy from the last bar she’d been to. But as the hour had grown late, she'd begun feeling a certain itch that needed scratching, and this was her favorite place to try and get it scratched.

She looked around the barroom, sizing-up each of the stallions in turn. Big Mac sat nursing a cider nearby, but she knew from experience that he was no fun. Most of the others scattered around the room already looked to be with someone. There was one, though, who looked promising: a brown-coated, darker-brown-maned earth pony sitting alone at the bar. She smiled as she studied him; he had a nice enough build, with strong flanks bearing an hourglass cutie mark.

Berry walked over and plopped down on the stool beside him. “Two ciders,” she said to the bartender, before giving him a toothy grin. “Hey, handsome. What’s your sign?”

He considered this in silence for a moment. “I can’t say I’ve been asked that one before. Maybe, ‘Question Authority?’”

She smiled, and not just because of their ciders arriving. “You’re funny. I like that.”

“Really? I know I've been called peculiar, quirky, sometimes a bit oblivious… but almost never funny.”

Berry shrugged. “Well, what’s your story?”

“It’s a bit embarrassing… I woke up with a strange mare in my bed this morning, and I’m retracing my evening to see how she got there.”

“Been there,” Berry said, grinning. “So that means you’re not… tied-down?”

The stallion gave her a nervous frown. “Not currently, at least.” He cocked his head, and took a good, long look at her. “Hold on… it’s you!”

Berry furrowed her brow. “Uh… me?”

“Yes, you!” he shouted. “You’re her! What did you do with me last night?! Or… tonight, as it may be.” He paused, frowning. “You know, moments like these are why I usually don’t let myself intervene in my own timeline; it just gets confusing.”

Berry felt a growing sense of uncertainty, which she did her best to drown in a long swig of cider. “It sounds like I gave you a night to remember. Or… maybe I’m going to?”

He looked aghast. “You will!”

“You’re sure?”

“I am! It happened!”

“But… it hasn’t, yet.”

“It has, let me assure you!”

Berry rubbed her face in frustration. “Wait… so you’re saying that we did something together on [i]your[/i] last night, which is [i]my[/i] tonight… so where’s your [i]last[/i] night?”

“That’s tonight.”

“No, I mean, where is he?!”

The stallion stood up in panic. “What time is it?”

Berry pointed to a clock on the wall. The stallion cursed, then gripped Berry's shoulders. “You must go home with me. The integrity of the space-time continuum depends on it!”

“Of all the lousy pick-up lines…”

The door creaked again, and the stallion vaulted over the bar just as a perfect doppelgänger of himself shuffled into the room.

“Hey!” the bartender shouted.

“Here!” The stallion proffered a bag of bits. “Did I see me?”

Berry glanced at the doppelgänger, who was moving sullenly toward the bar. “I… don’t think so?”

“Then listen closely! Our going home together is a fixed event, but there are always choices! Getting drunk is one thing, but as a courtesy, I would appreciate only the [i]appearance[/i] of sordid goings-on!”

Berry frowned. “Well, how’s that fair to me? I’m stuck going home with you anyway…”

“Hello, miss,” the doppelgänger said, dropping onto the stool that the stallion had just vacated. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve come to get ‘properly wasted,’ as the foals say.”

Berry glanced down at the stallion, before turning a drunken leer on the doppelgänger. “Sounds great, champ. What’re you having?”

“How about… one of everything?”

“What’s the occasion?”

“I suppose you could say I’ve had a falling-out with my companion.”

“Ah, rebounding. That makes sense now.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” She smiled. “Barkeep, a Manehattan for my friend here!”

“You’re quite accommodating,” the doppelgänger said.

Berry sighed. “Look, sometimes things don’t go your way, but maybe sometimes if you do the right thing, somepony might end up owing you one.” She peered over the bar, and the stallion nodded curtly. She looked back at the doppelgänger, who seemed very confused.

But then the barkeep set a tall, thin glass of off-clear liquid with a long straw and an orange slice in front of the doppelgänger, and Berry grinned. “Drink up, handsome. One of us is gonna have a night they won’t forget.”