The Multiverse in a Nutshell

by Pennington Inkwell


Secret Agent Woman

"So, if we REALLY book it, we should be able to hit Hobbs, Seagraves, and Lamesa all in one day, right?" Sunset tapped her pen against her chin as she stared at the local map Penn had pulled up on his laptop.

"That would let us cover at least three towns in one day..." Sunset hummed quietly to herself, not quite satisfied. "But what about some of these larger cities? Do you think we could make it to Andrews in the same day?"

Penn hummed quietly, making a so-so motion with his hand.

"Depends on how thorough you want to be in each town. Plus each of those towns are in different directions, so we're moving radially, but that increases our travel time-" he was cut off by a loud knocking on his door.

He and Sunset both stared at each other, eyes wide with surprise. Quickly, Penn darted to the tools sitting on a nearby shelf and picked up a hammer. He held it close behind his back and walked to the door.

"Times like this, I REALLY wish I had a peephole..." he whispered before cracking the door open slightly, only enough for a peek outside. Sunset heard his breath catch in his throat in surprise, but he quickly recovered his nerve.

"Hello... Can I help you?"

"Hi! Are you the owner of that car out there?" a female voice asked. Sunset couldn't see anything through the tiny crack in the door, but she saw Penn's grip on the hammer tighten. She quietly rose back up to her feet, getting into a ready position in case things went downhill.

"Yes, that's my car." Penn's voice sounded tight, terse. He was on edge. Sunset didn't want to think about what could go wrong here, but she had to be ready for anything. Whatever crazy, messed-up world she was in, she was a long way from Canterlot. There was no way for her to expect what would happen next, and that left her deeply unsettled.

"Ah! Wonderful! Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" a second voice asked. This one was male, and spoke with a Scottish accent.

"About what? I'm a bit... occupied... at the moment." Penn murmured. Sunset felt a twinge of guilt at the idea that they might be turning away someone who needed their help, but as long as they couldn't be certain of the strangers' intent they had to be careful.

"Please, it won't take long!" the woman pleaded.

"We're with SHIELD, we need your help with THIS!" the man insisted.

For a moment, Penn seemed to recoil in surprise. He took a deep breath. "Just... one second." He quickly pulled himself away from the door, pressing it shut as he spun on his heel back to Sunset.

"Okay, so, uh... They have a picture of the dalek. The one we blew up."

Sunset's eyes widened. "But that was just a few HOURS ago! How could they already-"

"They're spies, Sunset. SHIELD is an intelligence organization. Think like if you crossed 'James Bond' with 'X-Files' and tossed in a healthy dash of 'Men In Black.'"

Sunset tried to make sense of the gibberish, but she couldn't make heads or tails of it. "I have no idea what any of those are."

Penn sighed in a way that made Sunset feel very stupid, rubbing his temple in thought.

"The Strategic Homeland... Intelligence- No! Intervention Logistics Division. They're the spies who deal with the stuff people aren't supposed to see for their own good. Aliens, superheroes, stuff like that."

Sunset's eyes narrowed as she put the pieces together. For their own good? What would some shady government organization decide is good for me NOT to know?

"It spells SHIELD."

"They ARE the good guys, mostly..."

"Mostly?"

"Depends on where we are in their history..." He muttered, tapping his chin thoughtfully. He jumped into the air as pounding began again on the door, eyes wide in surprise as he momentarily lost his composure. He hastily rammed his shoulder against the door, shoving shut the crack the knocking had pushed it open. "H-HOLD ON! JUST A MINUTE!"

He quickly stepped forward, motioning for Sunset to get close, which she obliged.

"I recognize these two. They're good ones, through and through. Them and most of their team."

"Most?" The word sent a fearful chill down Sunset's spine.

"We'd be safe working with them. I can promise you that." Penn's tone shifted, and Sunset knew he was trying his best to be earnestly reassuring. It was completely transparent, Sunset could see his hands clenching and unclenching with anxiety, but the effort still gave her some measure of comfort. It was enough for her to trust him about the strangers.

"But only if you're okay with working with them. If you want me to keep that door shut and keep this between the two of us, I will."

Sunset blinked. THAT had caught her off-guard.

"But if you know them, that means they're some kind of tv-show heroes or something, right?" Penn nodded, enthusiastically agreeing. "And you'd just... tell them to go away if I asked?"

Penn blinked, as if surprised at himself, then nodded.

"Why?"

Penn paused, his eyes shifting from side to side in thought.

"You need me. They're secret agents from a world of superheroes. They can manage, but you're alone."

Sunset smiled, feeling a familiar warmth beginning to grow in her chest.

"Well, you're wrong about one thing..." She reached out, quickly wrapping her arms around Penn's shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug. After a short second, she released him again, giving him a smile to match her joy.

"I'm not alone. I've got a friend right here, and he's pretty cool."

Penn's eyebrows raised and his eyes widened in surprise, as if Sunset had just bestowed some kind of big honor on him. Before he could reply, Sunset smirked and pointed to the door.

"That's our minute. Let's meet some super spies."

Penn looked back at the door, then at Sunset. A gigantic grin spread across his face as he began to hop up and down on the balls of his feet, and a whining noise began to squeak out.

"EeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE-"

Sunset raised an eyebrow. This was the kind of reaction she usually expected from Pinkie Pie. Penn seemed to catch her reaction and quickly cut off his squeeing. He took a deep breath, held his hand level, and pushed it down. Once he'd calmed down, his face settled back to quiet indifference.

"Play it cool, Penn.." he muttered to himself. After a moment, he turned back and opened the door completely, revealing the two strangers standing outside. He made a quick motion with his hand for them to come inside, which they quickly did. Sunset felt a twinge of sympathy as they both looked around in surprise at the house and the man shied anxiously away from the exposed wires of the light switches. As they stepped inside, Penn casually made his way over to where they had been sitting and nudged his laptop shut with his foot.

The woman had long, dark hair and wore casual clothing with a light jacket. The man behind her had his curly hair cut short and wore a dress shirt and tie beneath a light semi-formal coat.

"So, you wanted to speak to us?" Sunset asked, offering her hand to the woman with a welcoming smile. "My name is Sunset."

"Skye! I'm Skye," she took Sunset's hand and gave it a quick shake. She seemed nervous, which was hardly surprising at the end of the world. "And this is Fitz." The man raised his free hand in a small wave, and Sunset could see a laptop clutched in his other hand.

"Just 'Penn' is fine for me." Penn grinned and took his turn to shake Skye's hand, then Fitz's. "Sorry about that. We've been dealing with a lot, SHIELD agents showing up on our doorstep was a bit much on top of the day we've had."

"Oh, I'd believe it! I mean, we saw your handiwork back at the hardware store!" Skye reached into her pocket and produced a piece of paper. After some un-folding, Sunset was staring at a picture of herself and Penn beside the shattered dalek, looking as if it had been taken from a security camera in the store. "That was really something!"

"It was more luck, really!" Penn interjected with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, if you could forgive us for getting right to the point," Fitz muttered, "so far, you two are the only ones to have encountered one of these things and lived to tell the tale, let alone BEAT one! We need to know what you know about them and HOW you destroyed it!"

Sunset and Penn glanced at one another. Penn's eyes were wide with fear, and Sunset felt a shiver run down her spine.

"So there really are more out there?" Sunset asked, getting a grim nod in return from Skye.

"And everywhere they go, they leave a trail of destruction and death in their wake. They're hellbent on total extermination! THAT is why we need your help! Every weapon is completely ineffective, and they have proven impossible to reason with!"

Penn hummed quietly to himself, placing his hand thoughtfully on his chin.

"Sounds about right. They have a protective field that vaporizes incoming projectiles and absorbs energy weapons..."

"And you see, THAT is what we need!" Skye declared, pointing emphatically at Penn.

Fitz stepped up, giving Penn a curious look. "That DOES explain why you resorted to melee weapons in the footage we found... How do you know so much about these things, anyway? You talk like you're some kind of expert!"

Sunset and Penn exchanged a nervous glance. Sunset wanted to tell the truth, but Penn gave her an almost-imperceptible shake of his head to warn her against it. He anxiously cleared his throat and turned back to Skye and Fitz.

"Same way I got to be pretty knowledgeable about tornadoes and the blue-ringed octopus: morbid fascination."

Skye and Fitz exchanged disbelieving looks, and even Sunset had to admit that it felt like a flimsy excuse, mostly trying to change the subject.

"Well, either way, we're going to need your help if we're going to stand any chance of stopping the rest of these monsters!"

"'The rest?' How many are we talking about?" Sunset asked, feeling dread building up in her stomach. Modesty aside, Penn hadn't been lying when he'd said that they had beaten the dalek with a LOT of luck. If there were more of them out there, that was very, very bad news.

"There have been at least a dozen sightings, not including yours. And yours has been the only one that has been stopped."

"We need your help. Anything you can offer would help us would save who-knows-how-many lives..." Skye placed her hand on Penn's shoulder and squeezed it.

Now, Sunset hadn't known Penn for very long, but it was easy to see the change come over him. She could almost see his faux-impassiveness melt away, his shoulders slumped and his posture falter.

"Y-yeah! I'd be happy to help..."

Sunset glanced at Skye, who seemed to have noticed the same transformation and quickly removed her hand.

"Grrrreat! Well, if you wouldn't mind coming with us, we have a vehicle waiting outside that'll be happy to take you to meet the rest of our team and fill us in on how we can beat these things."

Penn snapped out of his stupor, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a small ring of keys. "No need! I've got my own ride!"

"Oh, no!" Fitz smiled, jutting his thumb towards the door. "Our vehicle is top-of-the-line! Bulletproof glass, automatic GPS, the best defense systems SHIELD has to offer!"

Penn's eyes narrowed slightly as he flicked his keys expertly around his ring finger.

"I get antsy if I'm not driving. No offense to SHIELD, but I think I'd prefer my own car."

"But you'd me MUCH SAFER-" Fitz started to argue, only for Skye to step between them.

"You know what? I totally understand. I used to have this van, it was my mobile base of operations, I never wanted to leave it!" After a moment, she reached out and gripped his shoulder again. Instantly, the result of earlier was repeated, Penn's tension melting away at her touch. Skye used her other hand to flick a few strands of hair out of her face before twisting one around her finger and giving it a twirl. "But I really wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, you know? Our car is a LOT safer..."

Sunset knew that move. She'd seen Rarity do it a thousand times whenever she needed something heavy moved. She'd taught Sunset that with the right demeanor, a lady could wrap men around her finger as easily as that strand of hair.

Penn glanced forlornly between Skye and his keys, obviously torn.

Okay, guess it's up to me to be the tiebreaker...

"Hey, Penn?" Sunset stepped beside him and gave his side a gentle nudge. "You already pushed your car pretty hard today, I bet the engine still hasn't even cooled off! Why don't we just take the ride in the armored vehicle? You've been behind the steering wheel all day!"

When Penn turned to look at her, the disappointment in his eyes made Sunset feel almost guilty for not taking his "side" in the argument. With a forlorn sigh, he slipped the keys back into his pocket, then motioned to the door.

"Well, let's not waste time, then..."

As Skye and Fitz made their way out the door, Sunset smiled and draped a comforting arm over his shoulders.

"Maybe next time, buddy."

Penn rolled his eyes, failing to suppress a smile as he turned back to her.

"Yeah, whatever you say, Benedict Arnold..."

"You KNOW I have no idea who that is!"

The two of them both giggled at the silly exchange. Penn pulled himself out from under her arm in order to lock up the front door. As she waited, Sunset leaned in close to whisper in his ear.

"I don't have to be a mind reader to see... You totally have a crush on Skye, don't you?"

Penn's eyes widened and darted from side to side nervously.

"Say one word and I'm telling EVERYONE that you're 'Flanksy.'"

It was Sunset's turn to be shocked.

"How did you- Right, multi-dimensional TV... That's still REALLY freaky!"

Penn nodded, gesturing to his eyes, then pointing back to Sunset.

Sunset tried to hide an involuntary shiver that ran down her spine.

I kept my art as 'Flanksy' secret from EVERYONE except Rarity! That was my place to be alone, sort myself out! Is NOTHING sacred?

"Hey! What's the holdup?" Skye asked, motioning towards the rear passenger door of the black humvee parked beside Penn's car.

Penn immediately jumped to attention, running over to his car and popping open the trunk. "Just grabbing something important!"

Sunset sighed and rolled her eyes, once again tabling the existential crisis under "think about it later." With a few steps, she was at the humvee. Penn silently fell into line behind her, now sporting a black pack of some kind on his belt.

"What's that?" she asked as she clambered into the back seat and buckled her seat belt.

"This? Just a little... experiment... I wanted to try."

Instantly, Sunset's expression turned sour as irritation gnawed at her insides.

"Do you have a hypothesis?"

The question seemed to catch Penn off-guard.

"W-well, of sorts! I mean- Yeah, hopefully!"

"And a control group? A set of parameters that will remain constant? Proper means of measurement and documentation?"

"I THINK it's going to be pretty obvious if something about these have changed now that the multiverse is broken..." Penn patted the pack on his belt lovingly before turning back to her with a concerned expression. "Are you okay, Sunset?"

Sunset's temper quickly receded, leaving her less angry and slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry, it kind of irks me when people use 'experiment' without actually knowing what it means or the proper scientific method..."

Penn's eyebrows raised in surprise and his expression changed to one of mild shock before a warm, satisfied smile overtook him.

"Now THERE is something I didn't know about you!"

With those words, the vehicle surged forward and they were on their way to parts unknown. From her place in the passenger seat, Skye twisted around to face them.

"Okay, so, why don't you fill us in about these killer alien robots-"

"Cyborgs!" Fitz indignantly interjected.

From the way Skye rolled her eyes, she could tell that it was a correction that she was actively ignoring.

"cyborg, thingies?"

Penn's smile turned southward and his expression became somber.

"They're called Daleks... And if you want to know as much as I can tell you about them, then it's best that I start at the beginning..."

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"Imagine a world war raging across a far-away planet. A war of attrition so intense that it had been fought for a thousand years, with every conceivable weapon from bows and arrows to nuclear bombs. Weapons straight out of nightmares, capable of dragging down unfortunate souls down into the earth in an instant."

Penn spoke solemnly as he and Sunset sat together in the back seat of a black Humvee with darkened windows. He had tried to oppose the idea of not taking his own car, but the agents had been insistent that they couldn't know the location of their base. After a few minutes of heated discussion, Penn had finally relented.

"That sounds awful..." Skye muttered, turning around in the passenger seat to look straight at them.

"Beyond words." Penn nodded quietly. "Eventually, overuse of nuclear weapons led to both of the warring races locking themselves in near-impenetrable bunkers while their footsoldiers did battle in no-man's land. The Kaleds and the Thral were determined to destroy one another in total genocide. Any neutral parties were left to rot and decay in the nuclear wastelands, becoming the 'Mutoes.'"

"Kaleds? Thrals? Mutoes? As fascinating as all this is, it seems like you're telling us about everything except the daleks..." Fitz muttered. Skye quickly shushed him, slapping his arm before turning back to Penn.

"Sorry, he's a little grumpy because he had to go knocking door to door trying to find you two."

"Yeah! And do you know how many times I got mistaken for some apocalypse evangelical? It was embrassin'!"

"Bear with me. Their history is important." Penn chuckled. "And sorry, that's what happens when you go door to door in the Bible Belt. Anyway, to go on..."

"The Kaleds became ruled by the science branch of their military, a Technocracy focused entirely on weapons development. It was there that their chief scientist, Davros, developed a new technological marvel: the Mark III Travel Machine. It was a tank, immune to bullets and radiation, armed with a high-powered laser, unparalleled processing power, and the ability to stand above any and all other armies." Penn leaned forward, his brow furrowing. "Davros was a genius, pure and unadulterated... and an absolute sociopath. At the center of each and every one of these machines was a muto, a kaled mutated beyond recognition by a combination of high radiation exposure and brutal genetic modification. The process drove their killing intent to its absolute maximum while rendering it devoid of all other emotions. The Mark III Travel Machines were the most powerful weapons of the war, genocidally bloodthirsty and completely obedient, without any physical weakness. They were the perfect soldiers."

Penn let loose a long, long sigh, as if all this talking was tiring him out. Sunset had to admit, it was quite the story.

"Mad science given unchecked power and the resources of an entire species..." Fitz whispered under his breath, sounding more impressed than horrified. "Imagine what could be accomplished if he had been designing something constructive, rather than weapons of mass destruction?"

Penn nodded in agreement. "It's the constant question of scientific development: 'can' versus 'should.' Through clever use of trickery, Davros manipulated both sides of the war to encourage the production of these creatures. Unfortunately, Davros realized too late that he had given his creations too much free will as he had filled their minds with the doctrine of their own superiority..." Penn shook his head in disapproval. "The daleks refused to take orders from a non-dalek, it was against their directive to do so. They killed him before he could stop the production line and declared themselves the master race of the universe, vowing to destroy all other life."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

"Sounds like some... freaky conglomeration of Frankenstein's monster, Nazis, and War of the Worlds..." Skye muttered, anxiously tapping her fingers against the seat.

"Yeah. Makes me wonder what could've happened if HYDRA had succeeded in their mission." Fitz whispered to himself, just barely loud enough for Sunset to hear.

Her urge to ask what HYDRA was was quickly cut off as Penn continued the story.

"Eventually, the Daleks developed technologies powerful enough to travel through space, threatening to make good on their claim. With time, they even developed time travel technology."

"Wait, they can TIME TRAVEL?" Sunset finally couldn't restrain herself. This was crossing the line from science into science fiction... which, if Penn was right about fiction and reality eroding, was a believable line to cross.

"Impossible. Time Travel violates the laws of physics. You can go forward in time if you get close enough to the speed of light, but backwards violates all known laws of the universe!" Fitz declared, pounding his hand against the steering wheel to emphasize his point.

"Yeah! Besides, if these guys want to wipe out all life in the universe AND have time travel, that's game over, right? Why not just go back to when life first started to form and wipe it all out there?" Skye shook her head. "It makes no sense."

"It does if they weren't the FIRST to invent time travel." Penn declared, leaning forward and tapping on Fitz's shoulder. "And I would have thought a man of science would be the first to admit that the laws of science never stay the same for long, they're rewritten with each new discovery."

"The Daleks challenged the original race to discover time travel, the Time Lords, in the bloodiest and most brutal war to ever happen. It was so awful, it was locked away in a shut-off portion of time so that none of the terrible weapons used by either party could escape into the rest of the universe. It was win or die, and both sides only accomplished the latter. They destroyed each other, wiping one another out of the sky... But some daleks still remain. They remain, recruit, and multiply. Their arch nemesis is one of the last of the Time Lords, and I would wager that's why they haven't tried anything like going back to the start of creation. He tends to make himself a real thorn in their sides. But right now we can't just sit and wait for him to show up. The Daleks CAN be fought, but it isn't easy. You have to either exploit what one or two weaknesses they have or carve out one for yourself."

"So, what kind of weaknesses? That's kind of the part we came to you for."

The conversation was cut short as the car drove up a steep incline and came to a stop.

"We're here." Fitz declared.

"How about I get to the practical part with the whole team present, huh?" Penn's somber tone was suddenly replaced by a cheerful demeanor as he popped open the door on his side of the car and practically jumped out with excitement.

Sunset cracked open her door and stepped out , finding herself standing in an enclosed area 99 percent comprised of steel. They had driven directly into some kind of airplane cargo hold, and she could see an amazing-looking laboratory behind a pair of glass doors. Above them, a man was climbing down a set of spiral stairs. He was dressed in a sharp-looking suit and a smug smile.

"I've gotta admit, I've seen a lot of crazy things in my time, but that is quite the story!" He quickly descended the rest of the stairs and walked up to Sunset, offering a handshake. "Agent Coulson, nice to meet you."

"Sunset... Sunset Shimmer."

"You... you were broadcasting me over comms, weren't you?" Penn asked, sounding impressed.

"Fastest way to bring the team up to speed." Agent Coulson was completely unapologetic, even a little smug, as far as Sunset could see.

"Well, if I'd known that I had an audience, I would have made a better show out of it all."

Sunset took a glimpse at Penn, catching his expression. He seemed to be slightly in awe, but Sunset could tell the look on his face was one of recognition.

"Well, it was a nice story, but what we need right now are those weaknesses you were talking about. Think you can oblige?" Coulson walked to Penn, offering him the same handshake, which Penn took with enthusiasm.

"For you, sir? Definitely. Your reputation precedes you. I heard a lot about the battle in New York, looked into it rather extensively. Glad to see you well."

Coulson's poker face didn't falter, though Sunset noticed his smile quickly fade. "You know an awful lot about a lot of things, don't you?"

Penn shrugged off the comment. "I browse, dip in and out of things, pick up enough to understand but not enough to be an expert."

"You seem to be an expert on the Daleks."

"Call it a morbid fascination. I like learning about things that can kill me." Penn folded his arms over his chest. "You guys have data on how many there are and where they are, right? How we should approach this is very different depending on if we're dealing with scouts or a full-on invasion."

There was a beat of silence.

"Follow me." Coulson turned and headed back up the stairs, quickly followed by Fitz. Skye glanced between the two of them, then nodded to the staircase.

"Well, you two are getting a better first experience than I did, considering you're not locked in the brig being interrogated..." she whispered. Sunset could tell she was only half-joking.

"Would you give us a minute?" Sunset asked. "I... need a second to talk to him alone. I have some questions."

Skye pondered for a moment, then nodded and quickly mounted the steps, disappearing onto the next level. Sunset quickly turned to Penn. Now out of sight, his expression had completely changed: his face was one of rapturous joy, his jaw hanging wide open in a smile the likes of which Sunset hadn't seen since Pinkie discovered the existence of "cupcake fountains."

"We. Just met. Phil Coulson!" he barely contained a gleeful squee, clapping his hand over his own mouth to stifle the noise. He was hopping up and down in place with excitement in a completely undignified manner.

"PENN! Get a hold of yourself!" Sunset grabbed his shoulders, forcing him back down to the ground and pulling him in close. "Who is he? Why are you so excited?"

Penn finally calmed down a bit, taking several deep breaths and making a sweeping motion with his hand to ease his nerves. "I'm excited because we're on a real-life SHIELD airship, and we just met one of the best agents in all of SHIELD! Agent Coulson helped organize one of the greatest teams of superheroes to ever exist!" He started eagerly making his way towards the stairwell. "Just don't say anything you don't want going on record and you should be fine, Sunny."

"Did... did you just call me 'Sunny?'"

Penn paused for a moment, turning and giving her a shrug. "Sorry, I got a bit excited. Is Sunny okay?"

Sunset blinked a couple of times, then sighed. "Just... stick with 'Sunset' for now, okay?"

Penn nodded before eagerly rushing up the stairway. Sunset chuckled to herself a little at the display. If he didn't manage to get his excitement under control, his status as a fanboy would be given away completely in moments.

"Penn! Keep it together! 'Play it cool,' right?"

"Right, right!" He drew up short at the next door, quickly gathering himself. With what Sunset could only guess was his best attempt at a terse frown, he stepped through and out of sight. Sunset chuckled again and quickly made her way up the spiral staircase.

Well, whether it was luck or fate, I'm sure stuck with an interesting new friend...