The Multiverse in a Nutshell

by Pennington Inkwell

First published 2nd of December, 2018

What do you do when you accidentally break the multiverse and scatter your friends to the cosmic winds? Go on a ROAD TRIP, of course!

Graduation was supposed to be a happy day for the Rainbooms. Sunset and Princess Twilight had both agreed to temporarily shut the portal to Equestria so they could leave CHS safe and sound while they went on a post-graduation band tour. However, instead of SHUTTING the portal, they somehow made it explode, shattering the multiverse and scattering the Rainbooms across countless different universes. Now, Sunset Shimmer finds herself face-to-face with creatures straight out of dreams and nightmares, from the pages of legend to the screen of cinema.

Her best chance to reunite with her friends and get home: a self-proclaimed "Giant Nerd" and his old jalopy of a car, both of which are native to a world of silent observers of the multiverse, including her own life with the Rainbooms. Between his guidance and her courage, the two of them are determined to reunite the Rainbooms and get them back home...

Even if that means facing ink demons, xenomorphs, genocidal time-looping children, or even Egyptian god cards.

((The most blatant of self-insert fics. I am 100% aware of that. This is just a project to help me unwind.))

So Long, and Thanks for All the Friends

Sunset had never thought that the day would come: Graduation.

Today was the last day of school before the ceremony that night, and the Rainbooms were waiting their way through their last period: study hall. Rarity was happily humming to herself and doodling in her sketchbook, while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were both huddled over a notebook, making last-minute adjustments to the new song they had written to perform at the the ceremony that night. Applejack was plucking away at her bass with ever-impressive dexterity and Twilight had joined Vinyl in optimizing their equipment for the night.

"TASTE TEST!"

Sunset was snapped out of her reverie as PInkie Pie shoved a cupcake up to her lips. She couldn't hold back a grin as she obediently opened her mouth, allowing Pinkie to shove the pastry into her jaw. The flavor was explosive, filling Sunset's mouth with the taste of strawberries and creamy sugar frosting.

"MMMmmm..."

"Well? What do you think?"

"Ish goo!" Sunset mumbled, grinning from ear to ear around her mouthful of moist cake.

Pinkie reached into her hair, retrieving a clipboard and pen and carefully scrutinizing her reaction.

"Soo, would you rate that ABOVE or below the key lime?"

Applejack sighed, finally bringing her playing to a stop. "Oh, for Pete's sake, Pinkie! You've been testing flavors all day! You're gonna send us all into a sugar coma before the ceremony even starts, and poor Sunset's got the worst of it!"

Pinkie gasped, her hand flying to her chest in shock.

"The WORST of it? Applejack, these are my most tried-and-true recipes, and I serve only the BEST to my friends! And I'm going to need the abso-tively posi-lutely best of the best for our graduation! I want EVERYONE in our class to associate the best NIGHT ever with the best TASTE ever, that way they'll never, ever, EVER forget it!"

Sunset chuckled, swallowing the last of the cupcake.

"Better than the key lime, but I'd say it's equal to the red velvet!"

"But isn't Bulk Biceps allergic to strawberries?" Twilight asked, looking up from her soldering work with Vinyl.

Pinkie Pie gasped again, the sheer force of the action seeming to carry her up into the air before she dashed to the tray, scanning over the assortment and cramming half a dozen into her mouth at once, somehow swallowing them all in seconds and sinking to the ground in relief.

"Okay, no more strawberries for Bulk, no citrus zest to cover Pixel Pizzaz, no peanuts for Micro Chips, and no shellfish for Soarin!"

Sunset and the rest of the girls exchanged nervous glances, all picking up Pinkie's casual implication of shellfish being present in the cupcakes. Before any of them could comment, however, Pinkie was already back on her feet, reaching for the next one.

"Okay! Who wants to try the next one?"

Sunset grinned and raised her hand, spurring Pinkie to grab another cupcake for her. She wanted to take in as much of this time as she could, savor every sense. Her time left with her friends was limited, after all. After graduation, the Rainbooms were planning on going on a cross-country tour as a final hurrah before the group split up. After that, Fluttershy was planning on becoming a full-time employee at the animal shelter, with hopes of saving up to open her own wildlife reserve someday. Rarity was going off to an internship with a big-name fashion designer, hoping to get her "big break" in Los Pegasus. Applejack was going to start tackling the full-time care of her family's farm, and Twilight had gotten a full ride scholarship to the Manehatten Institute of Technology's robotics program (a fact that had made Sunset somewhat jealous). Rainbow Dash had exceeded everyone's expectations, getting her free pick of just about any college she could ask for bringing her on board with sports scholarships of every kind.

As for Sunset, she had made up her mind: the incident with the memory stone and her opportunity to see Princess Celestia again had convinced her that it might be time that she returned to Equestria and picked up her magical studies where she had left off, now with the improved vision and scope that her friendships had provided her. Princess Twilight had offered her an advance admission into her "School of Friendship" or to put in a good word with Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. She still hadn't decided if she would take either offer.

The Rainbooms would always be the best of friends, nothing could ever break that, but they were all individuals leading individual lives, it was inevitable that the time would come for them to part ways.

Just as Pinkie was about to shove another cupcake into her mouth, Sunset felt a familiar shaking coming from her backpack.

"OOO! MAGICAL EQUESTRIA PRINCESS TEXT!" Pinkie shouted, tossing aside the cupcake and diving for Sunset's backpack in a mad dash to be the first one to the book. Unfortunately for her, Sunset's hand was faster, plucking the book from her backpack before Pinkie tackled it, sending both herself and the backpack sliding out the door and into the hallway, the door swinging firmly shut behind her.

Sunset and the rest of her friends all looked at one another, wondering whether or not they should go check on her.

"III'm ookAY!" Pinkie's unsteady voice came floating back, sounding dazed from the impact. Applejack shook her head, going back to strumming on her bass.

"Ah swear, that girl's made a' rubber... Anyway, what's the word from Equestria, Sunset?"

Sunset cracked open the book just as the last bell rang, signaling their final release from High School.

Everything is ready on my end, what about yours?

Sunset glanced around the room one last time, taking in the sight of all of her friends in one place. This was the last time that they would all gather in this room together, the home of so many of their memories. Clicking the top of her pen, she scrawled a short return message.

Give us ten minutes to gather at the front of the school.

"It's time."

The rest of the girls all stopped to give one another uncertain glances. Applejack was the first to move, quickly finishing the last measures of "5 to 9" and placing her bass in its case.

"Welp, time's a'wastin', I guess... Let's go close that portal."

Sunset took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. Something about what they were about to do felt... wrong.

"Is this... really necessary?" Fluttershy asked quietly, running her fingers along the edge of the mirror that served as the portal to Equestria. "I mean, what if there's some kind of magical emergency? What if Princess Twilight needs our help? What if-" her worried muttering was cut off as Pinkie Pie jumped up in front of her to interject.

"What if there's some kind of magical feedback loop caused by time travelling heroes from the future that causes the whole portal to go KABLOOIE, SCATTERING US ALL ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE AND DESTROYING THE RAINBOOMS FOREVER?"

There was a short pause as everyone turned to stare at Pinkie's typical overreaction, while Fluttershy seemed to have gone catatonic at the mere thought, whimpering and nodding with a thousand-mile-stare.

"Trust me, Princess Twilight and I have accounted for every possible variable, and checked all of our math at least a dozen times." Sunset sighed, walking over and gently shaking Fluttershy's shoulder to snap her out of her day-mare. "Nothing could possibly go wrong!"

"OOOOH! You shouldn't have said that!" Pinkie cried, nervously chewing on her nails to illustrate her point.

"Besides, how long have we been planning this tour? We can't leave CHS for three months with the portal open, it'll be totally unprotected if some kind of crazy monster comes through!" Sunset sighed, rubbing her temples. "Look, no one is more reluctant to do this than me, believe me! But we'll be able to open it again any time that we want, just so long as we have the journal and the elements! The portal is my only way home if I want to return to Equestria, but I trust you all enough to put my fate in your hands. We won't mess this up."

The rest of the girls all looked between one another, each one taking their turn to nod in affirmation, finally ending with everyone looking at Pinkie Pie, who stopped chewing on her nails just long enough to shrug carelessly.

"Meh, I'm sure everything will be fine! It'll all work out in the end!"

One by one, each of her friends joined hands, finally ending with Twilight and Applejack each offering her their hands to complete the circle. Sunset smiled and took hold, her geode beginning to glow and the power of the Elements of Harmony rising up inside her.

Together, they all began to rise up into the air, the power sparking between each of them. On the other side of the portal, Sunset knew that Princess Twilight and her friends were doing the exact same thing, preparing to use their power to shut the portal from both sides at the same time.

The magic grew stronger and stronger, and with well-rehearsed care, they all turned to face the portal, reaching out their hands one by one. Finally, as the giddy energy reached the point where Sunset was beginning to feel like she was ready to burst, beams of colored light leaped forward, joining together into a massive white beam that struck the center of the mirror. Sunset could see matching light seemingly coming from behind the glass, indicating that the group in Equestria was matching their actions step by step. Everything was going according to plan.

Without warning, however, Sunset felt something unprecedented: a tremor in the Elements. An imbalance in the harmony. Glancing over, she could see the orange light coming from Applejack glowing even brighter, a grimace of pain on her face as her geode began to crackle with more and more electrical power.

"AJ, you're coming on too strong! You need to back it down a bit!" Sunset shouted, trying to make herself heard over the sound of the elements. She and Twilight had allowed a margin for error in their calculations, but it wasn't much. If the elements on one side were thrown out of balance, it could ruin everything in only a few short seconds.

"I- I CAN'T!" Applejack shouted back, letting go of Sunset's hand to grab at her geode. "Mah geode's goin' nuts! It- It's like it's overcharged! I gotta get it off!"

"Just a few more seconds! Hang in there!" Rainbow Dash interjected. "It's almost there, I can feel- AAUGH!" She cried out in pain as her geode seemed to explode with power, wrapping her body in a cocoon of blue electricity.

"RAINBOW DASH!"

This was too much. They had to stop, no matter the consequences. Closing the portal wasn't worth losing her friends. Sunset reached deep down inside herself, trying to let go of the power of the Elements of Harmony, to break the loop and let it dissipate.

But the magic didn't respond, only growing stronger.

You took everything from me, and now I'll force you to watch as I destroy everything you LOVE!

Sunset blinked, trying to understand. She had heard a voice, as if she were reading someone's mind with her magic, but it was a voice she had never heard before.

You'll never get away with this! This time Sunset heard her own voice, speaking words she didn't remember, followed by the sound of breaking glass and a stifled grunt of pain.

This feeling? SAVE it... For the rest of your life.

NOOOO! As Susnet heard her own scream of desperation, a vision overwhelmed her sight: a great white dragon covered in gold and rainbow gemstones, towering over CHS and letting loose a roar that shook Sunset down to her bones.

And with that, Sunset snapped back to the moment. She couldn't even see her friends behind the blinding light of their geodes. Below them, glowing white cracks had spread not only across the mirror portal, but out and into the air itself, like when Midnight Sparkle had opened the rifts to Equestria, only this time there was nothing on the other side, only blinding white light and a deafening humming. Finally, in one last, painful shudder that racked through her body, Sunset felt more power than she ever had come rushing out of her at once, spraying out of the tips of her fingers and pouring out of her eyes, making her hair stand on end and her teeth vibrate.

And then, with one final sound of the mirror shattering, Sunset slipped into the darkness of dreamless unconsciousness, her only company one final, unfamiliar voice.

You go on ahead, Sunny. I'll take care of it...

Author's Notes:

I hope everyone can bear with me on this, I just need SOMETHING to work on outside of the Happy Adventuring series. It's gotten so dark and gloomy lately it can literally be a pain for me to work on. I just need SOMETHING else I can work on to get away from it from time to time.

Wake Me Up When It's All Over

Sunset awoke to a pounding pain in her head. She tried to open her eyes, only to be immediately blinded by scorching sunlight. Slowly, she tried to sit up, feeling coarse dirt and dead grass under her palms. Cracking open her eyes a second time, she found herself sitting on the edge of some kind of public park, complete with outdated-looking playground equipment. The grass was brown and dead, and the sun was beating down on her in a miserable wave of heat. Above her, the sky stretched on as far as the eye could see, with nary a cloud to provide relief from the sun. The horizon was as flat as a sheet of paper, with no visible landmarks in sight.

Where... am I?

There was a flash as her memories all came flooding back.

The portal! The elements! My friends!

...Where are my friends?

Despite the searing heat, Sunset's blood ran cold as she turned and re-examined her surroundings, searching for any sign of her friends. There was nothing but empty swings and a few sorry-looking trees. Sunset felt a lump welling up in her throat as panic began to overtake her.

Did- did I lose them? Did the spell backfire? Did they fall through the portal? The geodes were reacting so violently, who KNOWS what could have happened to them?

Still woozy from waking up, the stress was making Sunset's head start to spin as burning tears began to run down her cheeks.

I thought we did our math right? I double and triple-checked all of the numbers, myself! I- I- This is my fault. This is all my fault! I missed something, and now all my friends are- they're-

Sunset took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Slowly, the world stopped spinning and her hands stopped trembling. As her strength came back to her, she rose to her feet, wiping away the tears from her face.

If it's my fault, then I'll fix it. The first step is to figure out where I am.

Sunset took one more glance at her surroundings, this time differently from the rest. This time, she was looking for anything that might be able to help her. There was a clear view of the sky, and judging by the height of the sun in the sky, only about an hour and a half had passed since she fell unconscious.

But I know the area around CHS! Even if I had started moving the moment that I passed out, any route out of Canterlot would still be recognizable. This place doesn't even have the right landscape to be anywhere near Canterlot High School! I must have been transported magically, which means... Sunset sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache coming on.

"...which means I could be literally anywhere."

She glanced around, trying to spot any way to get information. Luckily, she could see a person headed her way. He appeared to be out for a jog in the summer heat, not much older than herself and wearing a red and white baseball cap. As he drew closer, she waved her hand, trying to get his attention. Luckily, he spotted her and quickly came to a stop, reaching up and pulling a pair of earbuds out of his ears.

"Hey, what's up?" He reached up, taking off a pair of blue sunglasses, and the look on his face quickly shifted from a casual greeting to worried concern. Sunset was suddenly very aware of the fact that is was still very obvious she had been crying moments ago. His expression softened and he leaned in closer, giving her a quick examination to check for injury. "Are you okay?"

Sunset was faced with a choice. It was the kind of choice she had been making ever since she had "reformed" and decided to give friendship a try. For all her good intentions, she DID still know how to manipulate people with ease. Chances were that if she played the fearful, helpless victim, she might get more help out of this stranger...

She quickly blinked away the thought the same way she had a thousand more just like it. She wasn't THAT Sunset Shimmer, any more.

"Yeah! Just a little lost..." Sunset forced herself to smile as she outstretched a friendly hand. "Do you think you could tell me where I am?"

The stranger blinked and furrowed his brow, as if the very idea of someone being lost seemed to perplex him.

"Well, this is the city park..." He pointed to a building to their left. "That's the youth center." He changed direction, pointing over her shoulder. "That's Main Street, if that's what you're looking for, and the elementary school is just past it."

Sunset blinked, wondering if he had misunderstood her question.

"And... what city is this?"

The stranger's eyes widened in surprise, and Sunset knew that she was definitely making herself look and feel more and more lost by the second.

"Seminole? Seminole, Texas? The United States? Earth? The Solar System? The Milky Way?" He gave her a questioning look as Sunset felt the color drain from her face.

"I'm in TEXAS?"

"Yeah? Are you SURE you're okay? That's kind of a difficult fact to be surprised by around here..."

Sunset took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"I... I'm not quite so sure how okay I am, any more."

The stranger looked concerned but gave her a smile, stretching out his hand.

"Well, maybe I can help. My name's Elijah, though my friends just call me 'Penn.'"

Sunset took a deep breath and took the hand, feeling him give it a firm squeeze and a rough shake.

"I-I'm Sunset. Sunset Shimmer."

For a moment, Sunset thought she caught his expression change, though she could have imagined it as he gave her a wide smile. I must be imagining things... my nerves are getting the best of me.

"You look pretty hot in that leather vest, and there's a gas station with a self-serve milkshake machine a few blocks from here. You thirsty? My treat."

Sunset pondered for a moment. She didn't want to take advantage of him, but she had to admit that he was right, she was quickly burning up in the heat, and a milkshake sounded like the perfect thing to accompany what was obviously going to be a long discussion about how she wound up so far from home.

"Yeah... Milkshakes sound good."

Sunset took a long sip from her mint-chocolate-chip milkshake as she and Penn stepped back out of the gas station, silently wishing that Canterlot had a machine like the ones here. Sure the mall had plenty of places for a nice smoothie, but she liked the idea of the convenience of having one at the corner store five minutes from her home.

"Thanks for this. It really hits the spot!"

Penn chuckled, raising his own smoothie in a toast as he took a long sip of strawberry-kiwi.

"I just wish I'd found you earlier this morning! If you're new in town, that means you haven't tried any of Mariah's breakfast burritos!" He pointed to a small restaurant down the street. "Best I've ever had!"

Sunset blinked, a realization striking her for the first time.

"You know, I have another friend from Texas, but you don't have the same accent... In fact, you hardly have an accent at all. If you don't mind me asking..."

Penn chucked to himself, motioning for Sunset to follow him as he walked to a nearby crosswalk and pressed the button for them to cross. Sunset wasn't entirely certain where they were going, but decided to follow her self-appointed tour guide without pestering him with too many questions at once.

"Your friend was probably raised here. I only moved down a few years ago from the other side of the country. If I had to guess why I have no accent at all..." He paused in thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Too much British sci-fi when I was a kid?"

Sunset couldn't help but chuckle at the joke as they finally made their way to a bench just outside the town hall, taking a seat. Sunset sat beside him, taking another sweet sip of her milkshake.

"And what exactly brings YOU to Texas? I mean, one does not simply wind up in the middle of West Texas without realizing it!" He chuckled and took his turn to take a long sip as Sunset answered.

"Well, you might not believe me..." Sunset sheepishly stirred her milkshake, trying to loosen the contents to make them easier to drink.

"With the day I've had? Try me."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. Well, he asked for it...

"...magic?"

Penn pondered the question for a moment, then nodded firmly.

"Makes sense to me."

Sunset's eyes widened. That had to be the absolute most nonchalant reaction she had ever seen to someone being told magic existed.

"You're... being sarcastic, aren't you?"

"Nope. Look at it this way:" Penn leaned forward, giving her a wry smile. "You're completely unharmed, dressed well, you don't seem to have any kind of head injury and don't exactly strike me as mentally ill. That rules out escaped mental patient, kidnapping, or human trafficking. You were alone, so that rules out being part of a traveling group, and you don't exactly seem to have any idea where you are or have a means of transportation, so that rules out traveling alone." He shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. What reason do I have NOT to believe you?" He shrugged again. "Besides, I never rule out magic because you never know when you'll run into technology so advanced, the line is indistinguishable."

Sunset took a deep breath, feeling some measure of relief that he had ruled out the possibility of her insanity so quickly.

"So, what kind of 'magic' sent you here? Do you have any idea how to get back?"

Sunset took a deep breath, then shook her head.

"It all started when my friends and I were trying to-" Sunset was cut off as Penn raised his hand for her to stop, placing his sunglasses back over his eyes and peering up into the sky as best he could.

"Hold on... do you see that?"

Sunset tried to look in the same direction raising her hand over her eyes to try and avoid looking directly into the sun. She could see SOMETHING flying through the air, though she wasn't exactly certain what it was. It looked almost conical, round and wide at the bottom but narrower towards the top. The top of it was rounded and dome-shaped, and as it drew closer, she could see that it was covered in some kind of bronze-colored bubbles on the lower half. Just as she was about to ask whether or not that thing was normal around here, a blast of blue light flew out of the thing and blasted the gas station, causing a near-deafening explosion. Sunset threw her hands up in front of her face, trying to protect herself from shrapnel. To her surprise, she heard a muffled voice and felt a hand grab her wrist. Before she was even fully aware of what was happening, she was up on her feet and sprinting to keep up as Penn pulled her along, across the road and into a nearby store, shoving a path for them past the rest of the people running out to see what had happened. He didn't stop inside the store, pulling her along all the way to the back of the building's furthest aisle before finally coming to a stop. He turned around, quickly beginning to say... something... to her. Her hearing still hadn't recovered from the explosion, and her ears were filled with painful ringing.

"H-hold on! I can't hear a word you're saying!" Sunset shouted.

Penn gave her a quizzical look before shouting something back. Judging from reading his lips, he had said "WHAT?" It took a moment for him to put two and two together, motioning to his ears and making a slicing motion across his neck. Sunset nodded.

Penn sighed and shook his head, turning to look at the walls of the aisle. It looked as if he had pulled them into a hardware store, and he was now browsing their selection of hammers, picking them up one at a time and testing their weight before setting them back on the shelves, dissatisfied with his selection. After nearly a minute and about a dozen hammers, the ringing in Sunset's ears came to a stop, and get gave her fingers a few experimental snaps beside her head. The noise was crisp and clear once more.

"C-can you hear me?" she stuttered, staggering back up to her feet.

"Well, I can NOW..." Penn muttered, now sounding significantly less friendly and chipper than he had moments before.

"What WAS that thing? Did- did it just... are the people in that gas station-"

"Dead? Yes."

Sunset felt her heart clench in terror. The people there had been friendly and kind, innocent! How could that THING have just done something so awful without a second thought or a moment's hesitation.

"Sunset, did that THING follow you here?"

"WHAT? No! I've never seen it before in my life, I swear!" Sunset held up her hands defensively, but Penn didn't press the matter any further, taking a deep breath. For the first time, Sunset noticed his legs shaking violently at the knees as he picked up a claw hammer with an oversized head, giving a resigned sigh and tightening his grip.

He's scared, too...

"Penn, what WAS that? Why is it attacking?" For a brief moment, Sunset wondered if it might be after her. She and her friends had obviously broken SOMETHING with their efforts, but she wasn't sure what. Could this thing have come to punish her? Were there more after her friends?

"Imagine taking a person raised in the middle of a warzone and warping their body beyond recognition through forced mutation..." he whispered, leaning carefully out to peek out from the edge of the aisle towards the front of the store. "Imagine genetically engineering a creature with no emotions left but seething hatred after years of torment, literally blocking out any other capacity for feeling from its brain. An emotional lobotomy geared only towards being the last species standing in the universe. Xenophobia incarnate."

Sunset felt chills running down her spine.

"Now imagine putting that thing into a near-impervious tank and giving it enough firepower to wipe out a city in a single day."

Sunset felt only terror at the thought. Who could have possibly been so cruel as to make something like this monster?

"But it shouldn't be here! It CAN'T be here!" Penn's grip on the hammer tightened as he motioned for Sunset to follow him into the next aisle.

"Why not?" Sunset was REALLY hoping for some kind of reason that would give them a solution on how to send this that back where it came from.

"Because that is a dalek. And daleks are fictional monsters from a fictional television show!" He hissed. Sunset could see that he was very nearly on the verge of panic, himself. His words were every bit as much to inform her as they were to reassure himself.

"Well, apparently not any more!" Sunset replied, pointing to the front door, where the "dalek" was pushing its way through the entrance. Penn grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing her back into the aisle and out of sight. He peered around the corner, trying to get a better look at the dalek's location.

"Well, does it have any weaknesses? How can we beat it?" Sunset asked.

Penn tightened his grip on the hammer. "Well, do you happen to have any high-caliber rifles on you? Laser weapons?"

"Um... Sorry, left my armor-piercing rounds at home?"

"Then the weakest point is the eyestalk. That's the only way it can see into the outside world. If we can break that, it'll be firing blind and we can make a run for it." He stared down at the hammer and examined the handle. "I need rubber gloves, in case they've electrified the surface to discourage people from whacking-" He was cut off as the dalek came rolling around the corner, staring directly at the two of them. Sunset stared directly into the eyestalk, a glowing blue eye, unblinking and robotic.

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

"RUN!"

Awful Lot of Running To Do

"RUN!"

Sunset and Penn both ducked out of the way, sprinting down the aisle towards the other side of the store. Sunset felt a flash of heat on her face as a laser blast flew just past her shoulder.

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

Sunset dodged left, Penn dodged right, and the two became separated.

Okay, think, Sunset! Think! You're standing in the middle of a hardware store! There's weapons all around you to improvise with! She tried to quiet her pounding heart, searching for some kind of weapon. Somehow, however, she had found her way into an aisle of buckets, completely devoid of weapons. Carefully, she could hear the dalek rolling along the floor, moving in the direction Penn had run. Taking the moment, she examined one of the buckets next to her.

High gloss latex paint? Well, maybe if I could bring a can down on top of that eyestalk... She reached over, giving the bucket an experimental lift. It was heavy, too heavy for her to swing over her head. It did start to form a plan in her mind, however. Picking up one of the gallon buckets, she carried it silently to the mixer and popped open the top, revealing the white sludge inside.

Maybe we don't have to break off the eyestalk, just blind it temporarily!

"You're a long way from Skaro, dalek!" Penn's voice echoed across the empty store. "And your kind never travel alone! There's always a full-scale invasion or a stealthy scout! Why the break in protocol?"

I thought he said this thing was nothing but distilled hatred? Why is he trying to TALK to it?

"I WAS SENT TO IN-VEST-I-GATE A RIFT IN SPACE-TIME. THAT RIFT LED HERE." The dalek's electronic voice sent shivers running up and down Sunset's spine. "I WILL GATHER DATA FROM THIS SET-TLE-MENT AND REPORT!"

Sunset felt a lump form in her throat as she snuck from one aisle to the next, closer and closer with her bucket in hand. So this WAS her fault. This thing had come to this town through the same rifts she and her friends had doubtless caused in their own clumsy blundering.

"And what about after that, huh? What is your report going to SAY?"

"PRE-LIM-IN-ARY SCANS SHOW THIS WORLD IS WEAK, AND BOUN-TI-FUL IN RES-OUR-CES! RES-OUR-CES THAT WILL BELONG TO THE DA-LEKS!"

"So, the whole world IS at stake! Thank you very much, good to know!"

Sunset froze. If what she heard was true, then... they couldn't just run. This 'dalek' had to be stopped here and now, or else more would come and destroy the whole world! She couldn't let that happen.

The world was at risk, and Sunset Shimmer was trapped in a hardware store with a bucket of high-gloss latex paint.

"Tell me, dalek, do you know WHERE you are?"

The dalek actually seemed to pause for a moment, as if pondering the question.

"You're on EARTH, dalek! I'm sure you scanned the lifeforms here and figured out they were human! And don't you remember what happens EVERY TIME you come here?"

Still the dalek hesitated, then scooted... backwards? Sunset couldn't believe her eyes.

"That's right! You're beaten! The daleks are wiped out, blown to smithereens! Just like in the GREAT TIME WAR!"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE TIME WAR? EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!"

I get it! Penn said this thing was from a TV show, right? He must know all about it! Things that nobody COULD know! Sunset drew in a sharp intake of breath as she began to feel hope. Unfortunately, this noise proved to be enough to alert the dalek to her presence. The top dome piece swiveled one hundred and eighty degrees, turning to stare at her. As the body portion with the gun turned to face her, Sunset acted, throwing the paint at the dalek's head and thoroughly coating the eyestalk.

There was only a moment of hesitation before the eye began to sizzle and boil, burning away until it was crystal clear.

"MY VISION IS NOT IMPAIRED! EXTERMINATE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

Sunset quickly scrambled for footing as she ran back into the next aisle, hearing an explosion behind her as another shot barely missed. Without missing a beat, she ducked down and out of sight,

You know, for beings that could supposedly destroy entire planets, they're REALLY bad at hitting moving targets...

"The TIME WAR?" Penn shouted, drawing the Dalek's attention back in the direction of his voice as Sunset tried to catch her breath and solidify her knees again.

"I remember the Last Great Time War! I was THERE!" Penn shouted, the conviction in his voice wavering. Sunset knew that whatever nerve he had that was keeping him talking was going to run out soon. "I watched the Cult of Skaro throw themselves into the void! I saw Davros fall into the gaping maw of the Nightmare Child! The Ship of the Dalek Emperor fall out of time! I knew the day Gallifrey fell and the dalek fleet wiped itself out firing into the empty space that was left!"

Sunset wasn't certain if he was just spouting gibberish or saying something comprehensive, but it certainly seemed to be aggravating the dalek.

"YOU ARE NOT HU-MAN! NO HU-MAN COULD KNOW SUCH THINGS!" There were sounds of laser fire, and Sunset felt her heart drop out of fear that Penn had been hit.

"Oh, couldn't I? Perhaps I'm NOT human! Or perhaps I was told all these things by someone who isn't? You never know what kind of gossip you can hear from a good DOCTOR, these days!"

Mustering up her courage, Sunset took her turn to shout out.

'"Penn! It's covered in LATEX paint! No rubber gloves!"

As Sunset got out the crucial information, however, she watched the dalek silently turn the corner, coming face-to-face with her. It had hidden the sound of its movement by hovering several inches off of the ground and now had the barrel of its gun pointed directly at her heart. She froze. Unable to move, unable to breathe or even scream, Sunset Shimmer stared into the face of death.

But death didn't come. Two seconds passed, then three. The dalek didn't fire. Sunset's eyes widened and the first wisps of a question began to form on her lips before Penn came barreling at the dalek from the side, bringing a massive sledgehammer down onto the eyestalk and snapping it in two. Sparks and arcs of electricity began to fly from the tattered remains of the eyestalk as Penn quickly dropped the sledgehammer before it could become a lightning rod and ran towards Sunset. With one quick motion, he yanked her onto her feet and into the next aisle.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, grabbing her shoulders and looking directly into her eyes. "Feeling good? Nothing broken or lasered?"

"N-no! I'm fine! I- I think it wasn't going to shoot me."

"Sunset, shooting is all daleks DO, and there are going to be a whole lot MORE of them coming if we let this one get away!" Penn reached over and grabbed a claw hammer off of the wall, turning it so the pointed end was facing outwards. "The paint was GENIUS, and you got some on the gun, I'm going for that, next. Stay out of sight, okay?"

Sunset could only nod as Penn vanished again, moving in the opposite direction to try and find a better hiding spot. Once she had reached the back aisle of the store, she started to peek her head around the corner, catching a glimpse of Penn facing off with the mechanized monster.

It could have killed me then and there, why didn't it? The question still nagged at her, but she filed it away for later. For now, Penn was right. This dalek hadn't hesitated to kill the people in that gas station, or any other victims it might have had before now, and if they didn't stop it, the rest of its kind wouldn't hesitate to kill the whole world. Beating this thing was now or never. She looked around for a weapon of her own. Nothing seemed like it would be useful, not against this thing. Only one object caught her attention: a black handle with no attached tool at the end. She picked it up from where it sat on the shelf, curious. There was no price tag or any kind of label on it, but it felt as though it had been made to fit perfectly in her hand. It even had a clip on the side that fit perfectly onto her belt, and she quickly put it away there. While she wasn't certain why it grabbed her attention, she had learned not to avoid intuition when it came to magic.

Penn's attempts to knock off the gun had proven fruitless, it was too durable for the hammer. The dalek was indeed firing blindly and without warning, but its terrible aim proved easy enough to avoid at close range.

"MY VISION IS IMPAIRED, I CANNOT SEE! MY VISION IS IMPAIRED!"

"Well, how about THIS?" Penn shouted as he ducked down and grabbed his sledgehammer, bringing it down on the paint-covered dome head of the dalek. Even the mighty sledgehammer proved fruitless at penetrating the metal shell, however. To Sunset's dismay, she watched at the dangling remains of the eyestalk began to rise, being reeled in by the wires that it swung by. Seconds later, the piece was in its natural place and Sunset could see the glow of welded metal along the breaking point. Instantly, it swiveled around to look at Penn, who had the expression of a child with his hand in the cookie jar.

"MY VISION IS NOT IMPAIRED."

"PENN!"

There was a flash of light, and Sunset saw a beam strike him directly in the chest, throwing him across the room. At the same instant, the top half of the dalek exploded in a spray of metal pieces and unknown fluids, seemingly of its own accord. Sunset sprinted out of her hiding spot and ran to where her new friend lay of the floor, inspecting him up and down for injuries. In a surprise that left her absolutely gobsmacked, Penn let out a weak cough, his eyes snapping wide open as he gasped for air. He sat up, first looking at the exploded dalek, then back at Sunset, and repeating the motion multiple times.

"My... my whole life just flashed before my eyes! It was LAME!"

"How did you... survive?" Sunset looked down at the point of impact, noticing a shiny, silvery material through the hole in his shirt. Reaching down, she pulled up the bottom of his shirt to reveal a large mirror hidden underneath, with scorch marks around the place where the beam had struck it. She raised an eyebrow, turning to stare at him.

"H-hey, mirrors worked in this old TV special called 'The Five Doctors.' I figured it would make good insurance..." Penn muttered as he reached up and pulled the mirror out of his shirt. "A little bit of 'Doctor Who' combined with a little bit of 'Back To the Future 3...' It worked, didn't it? What are you looking at me like that for?"

Sunset rolled her eyes before finally letting out a long sigh of relief.

"You're right, the important thing is that we beat it... So, what should we do, now?"

Penn thought for a moment, staring at the remains of the dalek with a mix of fear and awe.

"For now, I need to use a bathroom."

Well, it was hardly a cool one-liner, but Sunset was willing to give him a little credit considering he had just staked his life on the hope that a hardware store mirror would reflect a killer laser blast.

"And maaaybe focus on figuring out how it got here?" Sunset finished the thought for him.

"Y-yeah... what you said..." He shook his head, slowly staggering to his feet. "I have a hunch it has something to do with that 'magic' you were talking about."

Sunset hated to admit it, but SHE had a hunch that he was right.

Welcome To My Apocalypse

When Penn had emerged from the store's bathroom, Sunset could tell that his near-death experience had a significant effect on him, physically. His face was still pale and she was pretty sure his reddened eyes were an indicator that he had been vomiting, but other than that he appeared to be fine. He took one deep breath, held his hand level, and pushed it own in a calming motion.

"S-sorry about that. I'm... I'm good now."

Sunset flashed him her best reassuring smile. She knew that she and her friends were more of the exception than the rule when it came to how well they handled life-threatening situations. It was obvious that this was the first time Penn had ever been threatened like that.

"No need to apologize. After all, you saved my life from that... 'dalek' thingy."

"Well, don't sell yourself short! That paint idea was genius!" He gave her a weak grin and gave her a firm pat on the shoulder.

Sunset rolled her eyes, trying to look modest.

"Well, I'm not the one who ran in like a berserker with a sledgehammer!" She grinned and gave him an encouraging punch on the shoulder. "That thing had me dead to rights before you nailed the eyestalk!"

A small amount of color returned to Penn's face as he sheepishly looked back at the exploded remains. While he had been gone, Sunset had taken the time to inspect it. The whole thing smelled foul and she had nearly joined him in vomiting when she had caught sight of a half-exploded creature inside with stubby tentacles and a single, glassy eye.

She gave him another toothy grin and poked a finger through the hole in his shirt to jab at his chest. If this really WAS his first time dealing with danger like this, she wanted to encourage him. Despite the fact he seemed older than her, she couldn't help feeling a kind of seniority over him from her experience dealing with other dangers before. Rainbow Dash would probably say something about them being "awesome superheroes" and "inspiring the public." Sunset resisted the urge to roll her eyes at even the imaginary remarks.

"And speaking of genius, the mirror was brilliant!"

Penn's face flushed harder, and Sunset decided she was starting to push it too far with the compliments.

"It was just a backup plan, just in case..."

"What was all that 'time war' stuff about, anyway? It sounded like you were talking about something... alien?"

Penn chuckled slightly, waving away her concerns.

"Just a bunch of buzzwords and triggers from the same TV show as the dalek. I'm a big fan, so I know enough to SOUND like I know what I'm talking about." He pounded one fist gently against his chest. "Totally human. One heart."

Sunset turned away from the monster and back towards the door. She took a deep breath.

"Well, what do we do, now? I'm still lost, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about more of these coming after my friends..." Sunset took a deep breath, trying not to envision what might happen to someone like Fluttershy if she were being chased down by one of these things.

Penn nodded in silent agreement, walking towards the front door.

"I-I guess that we should get working on finding them, huh?" The longer he talked, the more firm his voice became, his confidence returning to him. As he stepped outside however, Sunset watched his head immediately snap upwards and his gaze fixate completely on the sky. Sunset couldn't help feeling some trepidation as she followed after him, looking up to try and see what had captured his attention so thoroughly. The scene that greeted her, however, was unlike anything that she had ever seen in even her greatest dreams or worst nightmares.

The sky was tearing itself apart, for lack of better words. The sky rippled like a sail in the wind, shaking and billowing as streaks of lighting and fire tore their way across from horizon to horizon. Galaxies and nebulae hung just above their heads, undulating in a kaleidoscope of colors. Figures were shilouetted from behind, some brandishing grand weapons of starlight and void, others with strange and warped bodies of countless arms and lashing out with blasts of unknowable power. Sunset didn't even know what to think as she could only look on in awe and horror as celestial armies and terrible titans clashed above her head, sending fresh ripples through the canvas sky above them.

"Amaterasu, Vishnu, Odin... Emperor Jimmu's terracotta army..." Penn whispered breathlessly in disbelief. "Zeus, Ra, Quetzalcoatl, Mars, Osiris..."

Sunset recognized the majority of the names, but was unable to process what he was implying.

"Sunset... what kind of magic did you guys CAST?"

Sunset blinked, unable to tear her eyes away from the war in the heavens.

"I- I don't know, any more..."

When they had finally regained their senses enough to tear their eyes away, Penn had suggested regrouping at his house to try and decide on a course of action. Sunset agreed, and the two of them had set out on a long trek across town. It felt like they were walking for nearly an hour before they turned up at a tiny house on the border of a small playground. The roof sagged in the middle and the weatherproofing was chipped and cracked, covered in faded yellow paint. The door itself had seen better days, stripped down to exposed wood in vertical stripes. As he unlocked the door, Sunset noticed him ram his shoulder against it to crack it open.

"Be it ever so humble..." Penn muttered, opening the door wider and motioning for her to enter, "there's no place like home."

Sunset tried not to cringe as she stepped inside. There was exposed and hole-ridden drywall everywhere, and a quick glance revealed that there wasn't a single properly covered outlet or light switch in the house. She was screaming internally as Penn took a tender grip of an exposed light switch and flicked the lever.

"Sorry, the place was midway through a renovation when they let me move in. I'm a family friend, and I was getting kicked out of my apartment." He shrugged sheepishly. "I HAVE been doing a little work! Check it out! Totally rebuilt these windows!"

Indeed, it looked as if the windows and the entire frames around them had been recently redone, with smooth wood and a clean white finish. She had to admit, for amateur work, the carpentry looked decent.

"Anyway, make yourself at home. Take a seat! Do you want a gatorade?"

Sunset blinked in confusion, then glanced back out the window, making sure that the world was still ending outside. Yup. With a sigh, she flopped onto his couch, sinking deep into the fluffy surface.

"How are you so calm?"

"Sunset, I can't do anything about THAT." He pointed upwards to illustrate his point. "I don't even know what it means. For now, all that can be done is to enjoy the light show. Besides..." He chuckled darkly to himself as he walked back and offered her a bottle of red liquid. "I'm a millennial. We've all been waiting for the end of the world ever since we were old enough to understand global warming was real and the economy was in the toilet before we even had a chance to participate. That's why we all have clinical depression and joke about wanting to die."

There was a beat of silence as Sunset stared at him in horror before Penn broke out into a wide grin.

"I'm kidding! Come on, if there's any time for dark humor, it's at the end of the world!"

"That wasn't funny."

Penn shrugged, shaking the bottle as an indication she should take it. She begrudgingly took it and twisted open the lid with a series of cracks. The liquid inside was tangy and slightly salty, but refreshing. She hadn't realized just how thirsty she was until that moment, but it hit the spot. Penn took a long swig of his own drink before letting out a long sigh of satisfaction.

"So. From what you told me, you and your six friends were ALL trying to close a magical portal to Equestria..."

Sunset nodded.

"Something went wrong that you couldn't identify..."

Sunset nodded again.

"And basically, it sounds like you all got caught into some kind of feedback loop that overloaded the Elements of Harmony and... blew up the portal?"

Sunset sunk a bit further back into the couch, feeling more and more upset.

"And then you woke up where I found you..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully for a few moments.

"I don't know what could have gone wrong! I wasn't the only one who did the math on this!" Sunset threw her hands into the air in frustration. "Everything was checked and double-checked from both sides! Harmonic resonance of two magic sources, spatial wrinkling when the portals closed, we didn't forget a single factor on either end!"

Penn took a seat on a swivel chair, taking a quiet sip of his drink.

"Well, I couldn't call myself an expert on magic portals, so forgive me if this is a stupid question..."

"I've always believed there's no such thing." Sunset's response was more reflex than thoughtful. That had been one of the few of Princess Celestia's teachings that had truly drilled its way through her thick skull.

"Well, then... are you sure the portal only had two sides?"

Sunset blinked, unsure if she was understanding what he was suggesting. Penn took a deep breath and sighed.

"Look. If you've got a 'portal,' that's basically a wormhole, right? Two different points in space connected by a passageway?" Sunset nodded, encouraging him to continue. In a matter of seconds, he finished off his drink and placed the bottle between his palms, pressing on both ends at once. "Well, you applied pressure at both ends.... but what about the passage section in the middle?" Slowly, he began pushing his hands towards one another, crunching the bottle in on itself. Sunset's eyes widened as she began to see the idea he was trying to get across. As his hands applied greater and greater pressure, the bottle began to expand in places it had formerly bent inward. With a grunt of exertion, Penn gave up on crushing the bottle, taking a deep breath from the exertion.

"You get the idea without me pushing until this explodes, right? I mean, that doesn't really explain the magical feedback, but it might explain how you got here, along with the dalek. Whatever happened looks like it might have broken the barriers between universes." He looked up through the window, taking another astonished look at the sky. "Which might explain why every pantheon of gods to ever exist seem to now be battling for supremacy... They finally caught sight of one another."

Sunset swallowed loudly, peeking out the window again. Things had hardly changed above them, it was still a vicious battleground.

"So... this IS all my fault..."

Penn thought for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively.

"Pssh! Screw that! Even if you DID knock down the walls, it's THEIR choice to fight each other! It's the dalek's choice to blow up the gas station. You just... enlightened the multiverse. They're the ones who choose what to do with it."

Sunset smiled a little bit, feeling slightly better. He was right, but it didn't do much to abate the blame she still felt mounting on her shoulders.

"So, then, it stands to logic that your friends probably got sent to other worlds, too."

Sunset nodded along for a second, only for a second meaning in his words to sink in after a few seconds. "Wait, 'sent to other worlds, TOO?'" Sunset leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at her host. "You're saying that as if I'M on another world..."

Penn's jaw quickly clamped shut, the tip of his tongue caught between his front teeth.

"Penn, what are you not telling me?"

Penn's jaw unclamped slightly, only enough to let his tongue slip back inside his mouth.

"Penn, are you telling me that I'm NOT on my world?"

Penn pushed his chair away from Sunset, rolling his way out of sight and into the kitchen. The last thing she saw was him making a "so-so" motion with one of his hands as he shrugged uncomfortably and made a high-pitched "eeeeeeeh?" noise.

"I-I mean, in my defense, you ARE the only person we saw with orange skin and multi-colored hair all the way from the park to here..."

Sunset rose out of her chair, walking into the kitchen. Penn still hadn't changed his pose once he was out of sight, posing with his shoulders shrugged so hard they were practically up to his ears. In a matter of seconds, Sunset decided that she had an easier way of getting answers out of him: magic. A quick peek at his memories would give her all the information she needed, and he wouldn't even know it. As she reached to take a hold of his arm, however, he moved it out of the way. Narrowing her eyes, Sunset tried to grab his hand, only for him to defensively move it out of the way again.

He... KNOWS about my magic?

After a moment's pause, Sunset lunged forward while Penn lunged to the side, rolling out of the chair and onto the floor. As Sunset crashed into the chair and was sent rolling across the tiny kitchen, Penn scrambled to his feet, holding up his hands defensively.

"O-okay, Sunset, we're all VERY stressed here, time-space is broken, and we can't be certain that certain pieces of information exchanging between parties won't damage it further..."

Sunset turned around, taking a seat in the chair instead of continuing to chase him. She knew Penn was nervous. She knew how to get nervous people to feel intimidated. She knew how to get nervous people to give her what she wanted. She leaned back in the chair for a moment, crossing one leg over the other as her face settled into a disapproving glare. Penn anxiously glanced from side to side, seemingly trying to look anywhere but at her. She folded her arms over her chest and leaned forward, narrowing her eyes from 'disapproving' to 'interrogating.'

"I will ask you this one time and one time only, Penn. I didn't tell you what my magic does, but you knew why I was trying to touch you. You KNEW. Where. Am. I?"

Penn visibly squirmed under her gaze, trying to hold up under her scrutiny and obviously failing. Sunset knew she had nothing on Fluttershy's "stare," but she could summon up a nasty glare of her own when she wanted to, a useful talent left over from her days as a bully.

"Sunset, I REALLY shouldn't-"

Sunset didn't even need to speak, cutting him off by only raising an eyebrow.

"But I- What if- UGH! FINE! I'll tell you everything, just stop looking at me like that!"

Sunset leaned back, a satisfied smirk on her face. She still had it.

"Okay, just- It's a good thing you're already sitting down- I need you to just listen to me and believe what I tell you, alright?"

Sunset nodded.

"The reason I was so willing to believe you when you said magic brought you here was because... I'm a fan. I KNEW who you were, I knew you had magic."

Sunset's eyes narrowed, but she was trying to keep an open mind.

"Because, like the dalek... I've had a little... peek... into your universe."

"What, like another TV show?"

"Well, a spin-off of a TV show..." Penn corrected her, awkwardly rubbing at the back of his head. "The main show is about Princess Twilight and her friends... The time you went and stole her crown and tried to take over the school was a movie special."

Sunset blinked, but her lack of reaction encouraged Penn to keep talking.

"Then there was a movie about you guys fighting the Dazzlings... a movie about the Friendship Games..."

Sunset's eyes widened as she realized that he was beginning to outline all of the key events of her life in the past few years.

"A movie about Camp Everfree, a three-part TV special, a series of online animated shorts and music videos- By the way, I LOVE the Rainbooms's music! You guys are really great!"

Someone's been UPLOADING our music?

"And then another movie about Wallflower and the memory stone and a movie about that time you guys were all working in a fair and got zapped into a magic phone and-" Penn seemed to finally notice the fact that Sunset's eyes had grown wide as dinner plates and her breathing had grown shorter and much faster.

"I-I think you get the idea..." He muttered, glancing around at their surroundings. "And, on the plus side, it looks as if you knowing all of this didn't cause any paradoxes that will instantly wipe us off of the face of creation! That's a positive!"

"My life... is a series of MOVIES and MUSIC VIDEOS?"

"... and animated shorts..." Penn whispered.

Sunset's head was spinning. Her life, all of her mistakes and problems, every secret, had been broadcast and uploaded to the internet of another WHOLE WORLD? What about when she wanted privacy? What about her innermost thoughts? Was her PAST safe? Did they know anything from BEFORE she had stolen Princess Twilight's crown? Did this mean that her life was nothing but the combined efforts of godlike animators that could end her existence at any moment? Was her "free will" being warped and bent her whole life in order to force her to conform to a predetermined script? Have I EVER had free will at ALL?

"S-Sunset? Are you okay?"

Sunset was suddenly drawn back to the present, realizing that she was hyperventilating and her hands were trembling. Instantly, she pressed her hands against her lap to stop the shaking and forced herself to take deep breaths. This was no time for an existential crisis.

Unless that was what the scriptwriters WANTED her to think, in which case the only true act of rebellion she could take would be to HAVE an existential crisis and go against them- Unless they considered an existential crisis to be "in character" and had already written a script based AROUND her having a-

Sunset took another deep breath. She HAD to think clearly. That was not an option, it was a necessity.

"Th-thank you for being honest with me... If you really thought that was going to create a paradox, it must have taken a lot of courage."

Penn nodded and reached into the refrigerator, taking out another red drink and downing half of it in a matter of seconds.

"I don't know how you blowing up a portal between your world and Equestria managed to somehow break the boundaries between my fiction and your reality, but it appears that everything that is fiction here in MY world is beginning to... bleed... over..." The color drained from Penn's face as the full ramifications of what he was saying dawned on him. The hand holding his drink began to tremble as he raised his to his mouth and downed the rest of it in one go. Once he was finished, he looked back down at the bottle. In all honesty, Sunset had no idea what myriad of possibilities were going through his head, and she wasn't certain if she wanted to.

"Oh my stars, all of fiction is becoming reality..." Slowly, he turned his gaze to meet hers, eyes wide with a mix of awe and terror.

"We need to find your friends and fix this. FAST."

Moving Right Along

"I still want to see them."

"And I STILL think it would be a bad idea!" Penn's voice called back from the closet. "Telling you the truth might not have backfired, but I don't want to THINK about what could happen if you watched your own movies!"

Sunset rolled her eyes. Since they didn't know exactly how far or for how long they would be looking for her friends, Penn was insisting on packing for a week-long trip, at the least. She had to admit, as much as she admired his need to adhere to the motto of "Be Prepared," she couldn't see what they would need all of THIS for. So far, he'd grabbed five binders of trading cards, a collection of the written works of someone called "H.P. Lovecraft," at least three different jackets and coats, and a laptop. And that was just the most recent collection of oddities he had shoved into the trunk of his car alongside a plethora of tools for working on the car, itself. She wondered if he was even going to be able to CLOSE the trunk at this rate.

Apparently, that old jalopy breaks down every few weeks... I guess I can't fault him for keeping all his tools inside it.

"Al...right! All dressed and ready to head out!" Penn stepped out of the closet, having now changed his clothes and gathered up the last and seemingly most important item: a small stuffed black cat. He was dressed in the same red-and-white baseball cap, but now wore an accompanying bright red flower-patterned shirt and a pair of khaki cargo pants, his pockets stuffed to the brim with chargers, adapters, and portable devices.

Sunset considered telling him that the outfit most definitely would NOT be allowed to stay once they'd rescued Rarity.

"What about you? Anything you think you'll need? Anything that could help?"

Sunset glanced around the room. The only object that caught her eye was the empty handle still clipped to her belt. She had felt a tiny bit bad taking it from the store without a chance or a way to pay for it, but she still felt like it belonged in her hand.

"I... think I've got everything I need."

Penn shrugged, walking his way out of the room with a sigh and a motion for her to follow.

"Well, I packed extra clothes for you. I know mine might be a bit big on you, but it's all I've got."

Sunset smiled. Awful fashion sense or not, Penn seemed to have become a lot less anxious now that the truth was out there, speaking much more freely with her. Sunset wasn't sure just how comfortable she was with how familiar he was with her all of a sudden, but it was overruled quickly by how good it felt to have a friend that had her back. She could deal with someone having a little uncanny knowledge about her.

It would be kinda hypocritical of me NOT to, considering I'm a literal mind reader... she thought to herself, her hand unconsciously grasping at her geode.

In fact, the thought occurred to her that she still wasn't sure if her geode even still WORKED after everything that had happened. Quietly, she placed one hand on her geode as she walked up behind Penn. Even if she could just brush her hand against the back of his neck, it would be enough to get a glimpse, more than enough to confirm her powers were still there.

He already knows everything about me, and he lied about it! I mean, this is only fair, right? I should get to know something about him-

Before she could get the chance, Penn turned around and caught a glimpse of her, ducking violently away and inadvertently throwing himself against the car.

"Whoa! Sunset, what are you DOING? I already TOLD you the truth!"

Sunset felt her face flush as guilt washed over her.

"I- I just wanted to see if my memory-reading still worked. I haven't had any chance to test it."

For the first time, Penn actually looked slightly angry with her, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. He pointed a single accusatory finger at her.

"Not me. Never. Me. If we're going to be friends, I don't want you in my head." He transitioned from pointing at her to pointing at his own head. "We lucked out with YOU, you're already past everything I've seen! Imagine if we accidentally met some character-" The word "character" made Sunset's brow furrow with frustration, and Penn quickly corrected himself. "If we met someBODY who wasn't? Imagine if we accidentally told someone their own future? Then telling them that future would change it, which would change what WE knew, which would change what we TOLD them, causing a paradox!" He opened the car door, tossing the last few items into the back seat of his car.

"With time and space overlapping and tearing like it is, we CAN'T risk a paradox!"

Sunset could feel herself pouting. He had a lot of conjecture he was treating as fact, here. Penn ignored her frustration, walking around to the driver's side and opening his door.

"So it's safest if only ONE of us knows this... 'meta' stuff. At least until we can be sure that it can't blow up in our faces. So NO reading my mind!"

Sunset sighed, opening up the passenger-side door and lowering herself into the front seat.

She'd had her doubts when Penn had told her more about his car, a model called a "'97 Oldsmobile 88" that seemed to live up to its name. It was even older than HER by almost a year, and Penn had made several joking remarks about it breaking down at an unsettling rate. It was an unassuming silver sedan, and the interior didn't exactly blow her away, either. The seats and lining of the interior were all gray fabric, unassuming and standard. The brightest addition was a small plush toy hanging from the rearview mirror, a chilling depiction of a yellow creature hanging its neck at an awkward angle and a face that looked as if it had been scribbled on hastily by a child. Well, I'm DEFINITELY going to enjoy looking THAT in the eyes all day...

Still, the way Penn settled into the driver's seat with a comfy smile of contentment, even more than he had when he was in his own house, left Sunset wondering if she was missing something. He lovingly ran his hand over the top of the steering wheel before plugging his key into the ignition.

"Alright, sweetheart, I know it's the end of the world, but we've got a job to do!"

With those words of encouragement, he twisted the key and the engine chugged to life. Sunset certainly didn't like the way it seemed to have trouble catching at first, but the engine was soon idling without a problem.

Penn grinned lovingly at the steering wheel and gave it a gentle pat before putting the car in gear and turning out onto the street.

"She's picky, but always pulls through when it matters! So..." Finally, his attention turned back to Sunset as they pulled up at their first stop sign. "I guess we should drive around town and see if we can find any of your friends out and about? Maybe if we're lucky, you all wound up sent to the same general area!"

Sunset nodded. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was a start.

With smile, Penn reached down and switched on the radio.

"BEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEP! VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-"

After a couple seconds, he switched it off again.

"Right... National emergency broadcast system... Should have guessed."

"We... should probably listen to that. It might have some information we don't." Sunset suggested, reaching for the radio knob.

Penn made another "eeeeeh?" noise and waggled his hand.

Sunset switched back on the radio.

"-from the Emergency Broadcast System. There have been reports across the country of unknown phenomena in the skies. All citizens are urged to stay indoors. There have been numerous sightings of dangerous entities, and those who cannot return to their homes must NOT engage with these entities, as many have already proven themselves to be highly dangerous. Please return to your homes and do NOT leave them until it is confirmed safe to do so. More details will be broadcast as facts are confirmed. For your own safety, citizens everywhere are advised to stay indoors-

Penn sighed, shaking his head and switching it back off again.

"Usually specify these broadcasts by the county or by the state it applies to, I guess this confirms this is happening all over the country. Aside from that, I think the two of us have figured out more on our own."

Sunset sunk lower into her seat, staring out the window dejectedly. Catching sight of one of her friends sounded like just about the only thing that could make her feel even slightly better right now.

"Hey, pick a CD. I can't drive without music."

When Sunset turned back to Penn, he was holding up a trio of CDs: ELV1S: 30 Number 1 Hits, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2, and Queen: Greatest Hits.

She had no idea what any of those were. Well, if the galaxy ever needed guardians, now's the time... She tapped her finger halfheartedly on the case in the middle. "This one." To her surprise, Penn tossed all three cases into the back seat and pressed a pair of buttons on the radio.

"Awesome! That one's already in there, I listen to it when I'm doing deliveries!"

An upbeat piano began to pound out of the speakers as Penn hopped up and down to the beat.

"Morning! Today's forecast calls for blue skies!

Sun is shining in the sky!

There ain't a cloud in sight!"

"Deliveries?"

"Heh, yeah..." Penn chuckled, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "I'm a pizza delivery guy. But that works for you! I know every back road of this town like the back of my hand!" He gave her a playful punch on the shoulder. "If your friends are here in town, we'll find them!"

Sunset smiled. Maybe it was the upbeat music, maybe it was his excited attitude, but something about it just put a smile on her face.

Yeah. We'll find my friends and fix all of this! It'll all be over in less than a day...

"Okay, maybe if we go down Main Street towards the high school, then circle around down 22nd street again, we can check-"

Sunset sighed, staring at her namesake on the horizon. They had been essentially driving in circles for four hours, and there had been no sign of her friends. They'd been up every alley and down every lane, driven laps through every roundabout until she was dizzy. Sunset was absolutely certain she could draw a map of the town from memory, now. Worst of all, the fuel needle had dropped dangerously close to empty. They were on the last of the three CDs, the collection of songs by an older artist called "Elvis." Somehow, she wasn't surprised Penn had known the words to every single song on the album. Somehow, the song they were on seemed to be mocking their complete lack of results from the search.

"Return to sender! Address unknown!

No such number! No such zone!"

"Penn, it's getting dark..."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm the night driver! I can see really well just by my headli-"

"They're not here. We're wasting gas. YOUR gas." Sunset grumbled grumpily. "I don't mean to be ungrateful, but I'm pretty sure we're wasting our time. We should fill up the tank and turn in for the night."

After a few moments, Penn sighed and his excited outer shell finally seemed to cave.

"You're... right. And if they're not in Seminole, then we need to figure out a real plan. Texas is BIG, and there's a LOT of empty space between towns."

Sunset breathed a sigh of relief as they turned away from their current route towards Main Street. After a short pause at a stop sign, however, Penn turned back away from the obvious direction and hit the gas with unnecessary force.

"Wha- hey! What are you doing?"

"Humor me for a few blocks..." Penn muttered. Sunset noticed that his smile was gone, and his eyes were fixated on the rearview mirror. Looking behind them, Sunset saw a pair of huge headlights on a pickup truck that looked like it could EAT Penn's Oldsmobile whole. At the next three intersections, Penn turned left, then right, then left again, then circled around the block. For every move he made, the pickup truck mirrored him, staying right behind them on the completely illogical route.

"We're definitely being followed..." Penn muttered, grimacing as he glanced down at the fuel gauge. "I might be able to lose them, but I can't risk getting us out onto the highway to try and put some distance between us." He slowly pulled up to a stop sign, coming to a stop and idling there as he pondered the situation. The song they were listening to finally ended and a new one began.

"You look like an angel... Walk like an angel...

"How do you know they don't need help, or something? It DOES seem to be the end of the world. Maybe it could even be one of my friends!"

"If they were trying to send us a message, they would have honked or flickered their lights..." Penn muttered. "One thing people don't realize is that delivery drivers do get a little training in how to respond to these things, we strap signs on top of our cars that basically shout 'Always carrying cash!' At best, this guy is a bully just messing with us. At worst..." He sighed, shaking his head. As Sunset turned to look behind them, she spotted that the two rear doors had opened, and from inside came two tough-looking men. One was holding a crowbar while the other held a baseball bat.

"Robbers?"

"Talk like an angel...

"Well, it DOES seem to be the end of the world..." Penn muttered, running his hand over the steering wheel one more time before tightening his grip. "Sunset, hold on to something."

Sunset took a deep breath as the two men strolled up alongside either side of the car, the one with the crowbar on her side. She reached up and took a tight hold on the handle attached to the roof of the car, which Rainbow Dash condescendingly called "chicken handles."

"But I got wiiiiiiise..."

Just as one of them was about to knock on the window, Penn slammed his foot on the gas pedal, making the car lurch forward in a squeal of disapproval at the sudden strain. The road robbers seemed just as angry with the development, but by the time they had jumped back into their truck and begun moving, Penn had already put nearly three blocks between them. The truck was only beginning to give a squeal of its own as Penn rounded the first corner at breakneck speed, skidding across the asphalt and just barely pressing the boundaries of spinning out.

The chase was on.

Yooou're the devil in disguise!

With mildly appropriate chase music.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Gas Station

Sunset's breathing was shallow and as quiet as possible, as if she unconsciously worried their pursuers would be able to hear her and discover their hiding place.

They had spent nearly another half hour driving up and down the town, running stop signs and taking unpredictable paths left, right, and often in circles. If it weren't for her seat belt, she counted at least four times she would have risked being thrown out the window with the way Penn was driving. They had driven up and down the length of the town twice in the hopes of losing their pursuers, finally screeching to a halt in a back alley, where Penn had immediately cut the engine and manually turned off every light, plunging them into pitch blackness. Occasionally, Penn would check his phone in a flash of unnatural light to check how long they had been sitting.

"That's... ten minutes. What do you think?"

Sunset let out a long breath and nodded.

"I'm pretty sure we lost them."

Penn nodded, plugging his key into place and cranking the engine back to life. He sucked in air quickly through his teeth and shook his head.

"No choice but to get gas now... I was honestly worried she wouldn't even start. We won't make it back to my house..."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sunset asked as the car crawled out of its hiding place and back onto the street.

"Better than walking at night when people have already started raiding and robbing each other..." Penn sighed, shaking his head in disgust. "Seriously, it's been HOURS since the world 'ended,' and people are already at each other's throats. Personally, I blame the rise of post-apocalyptic fantasy. Everybody wants to be the real-life Mad Max."

"Well, I would guess that the fact the city was attacked by a killer alien had something to do with it... But this is still insane. People should be banding together, not fighting each other!"

Penn chuckled darkly to himself. "Welcome to the real world, Sunset. Fear and selfishness are nature, and most folks don't bother trying to be better than that."

Sunset's heart sank. Suddenly, she missed home even more.

"SHOOT!" Penn reached down and hit the switch to turn off his headlights. Looking up, Sunset felt the bottom fall out in her stomach:

Parked at the new gas station was the same huge truck that had chased them all over town.

"Okay, there's another gas station if we take Main Street back up to-"

"Chgchgchgch-ch-ch..." The car shuddered and spit as the engine switched off. Penn's eyes widened as he tried desperately to get the engine to turn over and catch again, to no avail. In a split-second decision, he turned them to coast into the station, having just enough force behind them to carry them right up to the closest pump. With some excessive force, Penn shifted the car into "park" and slapped his hand against the steering wheel.

"You've got an AWFUL sense of humor, you know that?" he shouted at the dashboard.

Even inside the car, Sunset felt exposed. It was the total opposite of their hiding place in the alley: open, well-lit, and completely conspicuous and vulnerable.

"What are we going to do?"

Penn sighed, reaching into his pocket and retrieving his wallet. With a long sigh, he retrieved an unfamiliar bill with a 20 printed in the corners, then snapped it shut again. He searched around for a moment before settling his eyes on the glovebox. He reached over, yanking it open and pulling it out of place. He tossed the rest of his wallet into the mess of wires and fuses hidden behind the glovebox before wordlessly popping it back into place.

"I'm going to go buy gas. Lock the doors behind me."

"Are you NUTS?" Sunset grabbed violently at his shoulder, yanking him back down into his seat. "At best, those maniacs are in that truck, waiting to mug you before you make it into the store! At WORST, they could kill you the moment they lay eyes on you!"

Penn motioned to their surroundings helplessly. "Well, they're GOING to notice us! Confrontation is impossible to avoid, here! That's why I'm only taking this 20! They can rob me blind, I'll go with it willingly and tell them it's all we've got, then when they leave we can buy our gas and go!"

Sunset shook her head. "That doesn't mean they won't still beat the crap out of you, especially once they realize YOU'RE the one who's been running them all over town! You can't go in there alone!"

"Ooooooh no! You are staying RIGHT here! Where it's-"

"Safe?" Sunset rapped her knuckles against the glass window. "Yeah! Totally crowbar-proof!" She jabbed her finger into Penn's chest. "I am NOT going to just sit here while you risk your life for a gallon of gas!"

Penn groaned, leaning back in his seat.

"Oh yeah? Well, what's YOUR plan?"

Sunset thought for a moment.

"I go in with the money-"

"No."

"-and you wait thirty seconds before you come in swinging. They have weapons, but I'm fairly certain I could take out at least one and get one of those weapons into OUR hands."

Penn raised an eyebrow.

"YOU could take one of them out? 'Miss Toothpicks-For-Arms?'"

Sunset narrowed her eyes in frustration, though it quickly melted into a smirk. In a quick motion, she snatched the front of his shirt and yanked him forward. At the same time, she raised her other hand and threw a heavy punch, stopping millimeters from his nose. Penn's eyes were wide with surprise and fear, frozen completely out of fear.

"First dan black belt in karate. Don't even start thinking I'm helpless."

"Y-yes, ma'am..." Penn stuttered as Sunset released him.

"Good. Now, we're going with my plan."

Penn pondered the situation for another moment, then sighed in resignation.

"Fine."

When Sunset entered the front doors of the store, her heart was pounding in her chest. As much as she was trying to look tough for Penn, she'd never actually had to use her training in a fight against real people. Most people tended to concede to her any time she mentioned the words "black belt," but a first-level black belt was like a bachelor's degree of martial arts: still only the beginning for a dedicated student. It meant she had only a firm grasp of all the fundamentals.

Guess it's time to put my skills to the test...

Inside, the same men from before were standing in front of the counter.

"Now, don't make this difficult. Put the money and the cigarettes in the bag, and then sit on the floor until we leave. No alarms, no calling the police." The first one urged, tapping his crowbar expectantly against the counter.

"Not that they'd come!" the second one piped up. "They're all out tryin' to stop those metal monsters!"

Metal monsters? Does that means there's MORE daleks out there?

The cashier seemed surprisingly nonplussed by all of this, sighing and opening the register.

"Hey! We're serious!"

The young woman gave the robber a tired glare.

"Buddy, the world is ending and I'm STILL clocked into my minimum wage job until my manager gets here to relieve me. They don't pay me enough to scream when we're getting robbed." She sighed, carefully thumbing out bills one by one from the cash drawer. "You'll get your money, but don't expect a big performance out of me."

Enough was enough, Sunset had wasted enough time, already. Gathering up her courage, she loudly cleared her throat, causing the two robbers to jump and immediately turn on her.

"It looks like you fellas might be a while, is there a chance I could sneak in to pay for some gas? I can put the money right in the bag, if that's easier for you?"

The cashier shrugged, gesturing to the open bag.

"Or how about you just give us EVERYTHING you've got and get on the floor?" The one with the baseball bat waggled it threateningly in her direction. Sunset sucked in air through her teeth and turned her pockets inside out.

"Sorry, all I've got's the 20, it was emergency money."

The thug with the bat moved closer.

"Well, if you need gas, that means you've got a CAR, don'tcha? Toss me the keys."

Sunset repeated the act of sucking air through her teeth, shrugging her shoulders.

"The keys are in the car-"

"Do you think I'm STUPID?"

"-being held by my buddy with the shotgun."

Behind her, Sunset heard the telltale clicking of a gun being cocked. In a moment, her mind did the math: two had gotten out to harass them in the car before they escaped. That meant there had to have been one more behind the wheel.

"A shotgun, huh? I think that could come in VERY handy for protecting our new car."

Sunset didn't turn, she simply calculated a few things based on how high the voice sounded. She breathed deeply, then exhaled slowly, taking a moment to find her center.

"Hi-YAH!"

Calm and collected, Sunset Shimmer spun on her heel, planted her feet, and threw the hardest punch she possibly could into the chest of the man behind her, striking right at the solar plexus. The only noise he made as all the air rushed out of his lungs was a soft wheeze. As he doubled over, Sunset wrapped her arm over his, keeping the gun pointed away from her as she lifted upwards, overextending the man's elbow and forcing him to release the pistol in his hand. Her free hand reached down and snatched it. With a smooth motion, she brought her knee up and into his forehead, knocking him unconscious, then spun back around, turning the gun on the two robbing the store.

The one with the crowbar dropped his weapon out of pure shock. The one with the baseball bat's jaw hung open, but still kept a grip on the bat. Identifying the bigger threat, Sunset trained the gun on him.

"Now then, you two are going to apologize to this nice clerk, then pick up your friend, go home, and wait patiently in your houses until the emergency broadcast tells you it's safe to go back out. Understand?"

All at once, the front door of the station flew open as Penn dashed inside, an x-shaped tire iron gripped in one hand as an improvised weapon raised above his head.

"AAAAAA- huh?" His eyes went first to the gun in Sunset's hand, then to the man on the ground behind her, and finally to the other two muggers and the clerk, who gave a casual shrug.

"Don't worry, Penn. Things are under control."

"I- I guess they ARE!"

"Just make sure this guy doesn't get back up without me knowing." Sunset kicked the body behind her with her heel.

"Will... do..." Penn seemed more perplexed than anything, but dutifully followed her instructions, guarding the unconscious body so Sunset was free to walk across the room. She advanced on the man with the baseball bat, motioning for him to drop it. With a sour look on his face, he followed her instructions, letting it clatter to the floor. As the two of them took steps towards her, however, Sunset narrowed her eyes, pointing up and firing into the ceiling.

"WOAH WOAH, WHAT? We're LEAVING!"

"You're forgetting something..."

Baseball bat guy stared at her in disbelief.

"Y-you're serious?"

Sunset nodded.

With total exasperation, the man walked back up to the register, snatching the empty bag. "I'm... sorry."

The other one lined up behind him, waiting his turn.

"Ah'm sorry, too..."

For the first time, the clerk smiled, the only affirmation she seemed to be ready to give them. Sunset kept herself out of reach and the gun trained on them as they walked over and picked up their third member, carrying him out the door. A few seconds later, the truck roared to life and sped away. Penn finally lowered his improvised weapon, turning and staring at Sunset, dumbfounded.

"That... was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. And I killed a dalek today."

Sunset's cheeks flushed a bit as she lowered the gun, setting it on the ground.

"I- I HATE those things..." Sunset couldn't hold back a shudder in her voice. It had taken everything she had not to jump and shout with surprise when she had fired the gun, she had never shot a gun before in her life and the noise and force of it was more than she had expected, even from a small handgun.

Penn nodded, scowling and picking up the gun with two fingers before placing it on the counter.

"You'll probably get more use out of this than us."

The clerk smiled again, picking up the gun and giving it a satisfied cock before spinning it expertly on her finger and tucking it into her belt.

"You two needed gas?"

"Yes!" Sunset smiled and placed the 20 on the counter, only for the clerk to shake her head.

"Tell you what: for whatever little it's worth, whenever you two wanna fill up it's on me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, no prob. I'll give you free gas for life, if I can. Or at least until my manager shows up."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Sunset jumped up with glee, reaching around the counter and giving the clerk an awkward hug. Penn's response was much more reserved, a grateful nod and a sincere smile.

"We really can't thank you enough."

The clerk smiled and tapped a few buttons on the register.

"Make sure you get the good stuff, 'kay?"

Sunset grinned and nodded enthusiastically, waving goodbye as they both left out the front door again.

A few minutes later, they were pulling back up outside Penn's house with a full tank of gas for the morning. Penn let out a long sigh as he put the car in park and removed the key.

"Well, as grateful as I am for the free gas, I'd have to call today a bust... Sorry, Sunset."

"What are you sorry for? You were already more help than I could have asked for!"

Penn shrugged, tossing his keys up and down to himself.

"Well, we'll have to try to figure out a plan for tomorrow. The next town over is about a half-hour drive west of here, that would take us into New Mexico. Cities and towns are few and far between, but if your friends landed between them, we could be searching for YEARS checking every cotton field and pumpjack for signs of them!"

Sunset nodded in affirmation. Just driving through town, she could tell that off-roading was not an option, and going on foot wouldn't be possible in this heat.

"I'll just have to trust that each of them can make it to civilization on their own if they got dropped in the middle of nowhere..."

Penn nodded, placing a firm hand on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Look, your friends all have superpowers, right? They'll be fine."

Sunset reached up and held her geode in the palm of her hand.

"If they still work at all..."

There was a tense beat of silence. Penn tapped thoughtfully on his chin, staring intensely at the geode, then at Sunset. After several seconds, he let out a long groan of defeat and held out his arm in front of her.

"Look. JUST tell me what I'm thinking about RIGHT NOW, okay? No looking at my memories, got it?"

Sunset glanced up, surprised.

"I thought you said-"

"This is a ONE TIME offer, okay? If your powers don't work in this world, then the search for your friends is a lot more urgent. Consider it confirmation they're safe."

Sunset smiled, nodding and placing one hand on the geode. After a moment's hesitation, she placed her other hand on Penn's wrist.

So, if you HAD tried to smash the portal to Equestria with a sledgehammer, wouldn't the hammer have just gone through the portal? In what way did that bluff make ANY sense?

Sunset quickly released her grip on his arm, having gotten all of the confirmation she needed her powers were still working.

"Well?"

"Look, I was under pressure, okay? I was REALLY expecting to still win the Fall Formal! I worked with what I had, and it wasn't much!"

Penn smirked, opening his door and slipping outside.

"Come on, Sunset. Let's go put together our plan for tomorrow."

Sunset sighed and shook her head, but she couldn't hold back a smile as she stepped out of the other side of the car. She felt much more confident that her friends would be safe now that she could be sure that they still had their powers.

Just hang in there, girls... We're on our way!

Skye had to admit, she was surprised that ANY businesses were still open.

"Guess even the end of the world isn't enough to make some people give up minimum wage..." she muttered to herself as she stepped through the door of the gas station. Still, she didn't have time to consider the moral implications of a system that would compel employees to keep working through the end of the world, she had a mission to do.

"Lovely weather we're having..." the attendant muttered sarcastically. "Can I help you?"

"Actually, maybe you can?" Skye reached into her pocket, retrieving a piece of paper and unfolding it before placing it on the counter. "I'm looking for a couple friends of mine, we got separated a few days ago."

The girl picked up the paper, examining it closely before smiling in recognition.

"Oh! Red and her buddy! Yeah, they just came through here about an hour ago! Saved my hide and got me this!" She reached down and held up a handgun.

Skye smiled. "That's... really cool! Just the kind of thing they'd do! Do you know where they went?"

The attendant shrugged. "Beats me. They just filled their tank and left."

Skye repressed a double-take. In the footage from the hardware store they had walked away, so the team had assumed they were stuck on foot.

"They were driving? Can you tell me what kind of car they were in?"

The attendant shook her head and shrugged.

"I dunno. Wouldn't you already know that if you're their friend?"

"Well, when we got split up, they were on foot. They must have found a car they could use."

"And they sure weren't looking for anybody when they got here..." The attendant muttered, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. Skye could tell it was time to bail. She quickly grabbed the photograph, folding it back up and shoving it in her pocket.

"Well, thanks anyway. You've been a HUGE help, just letting me know that I'm on the right path! Thank you!" Before the attendant could ask any more questions, she quickly made her way back out the front door and around the corner. She raised one hand to her ear, activating the communicator.

"Hey, Coulson! I've got a lead on the targets, but I'm going to need access to this gas station's security cameras."

"Good work, Skye. Fitz, get on that ASAP."

"Yes, sir! I'm on my way, Skye."

Skye rolled her eyes as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Bet I can get in with my phone before you get here, Fitz!"

Skye hadn't been working with these SHIELD agents for very long, but she was quickly learning to make a place for herself on the team. Now they were all pushing their limits trying to find out the source of this alien invasion and how to stop it, and she had found their best lead yet.

Man, first these two kids take down a killer alien robot, then save somebody in a gas station and give her a gun? For people without superpowers, they're sure acting like they could be superheroes. Can't wait to meet them...

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..."

"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...

Author's Notes:

I realized about 3/4 of the way through writing this that this crossover doesn't work in one respect: Fitz is canonically a Doctor Who fan. Doctor Who as a TV show exists in the MCU. Unfortunately I'm in too deep with this already to change the story I have in mind.

Diehard "Agents of Shield" fans, I'm sorry to have failed you, but you'll have to put up with just a LITTLE change to the canon for the sake of the plot.

Glory Days

"So, as you can see, we have fourteen confirmed 'Dalek' sightings spreading out across this area of Texas and New Mexico. They've been travelling alone, but it doesn't seem to have much impact on their deadliness."

Sunset and Penn were standing and staring at a large screen mounted to the wall, where Coulson had been going over a map with them for nearly half an hour. Each town on the map listed a count of casualties, injured and deceased. The fact that there were so many more of the latter than the former made Sunset's stomach turn. Even Penn seemed to have eschewed all of his excitement for a deep scowl as the magnitude of the destruction set in.

"Daleks are highly militaristic, they wouldn't conduct full-scale invasion in single numbers. The one Sunset and I encountered even identified itself as a scout." Penn mused. "They're still scouting out this world, assessing whether or not we could pose a threat-" he caught himself, then shook his head. "No, not a threat. How many resources and how much time we could cost to wipe out now, and whether we could be put to better use as a slave force."

"We think they're coming from a spatio-temporal anomaly right about... here." Fitz pointed to a point right at the center of the map. "We sent a drone through to the other side to try and gather data, but it was shot down after filming for only a few seconds."

The screen shifted to a bird's-eye view of West Texas, climbing up into the sky towards a shimmering barrier. As the camera moved up and through it, the entire picture transitioned to one of deep space. Far off in the distance, Sunset could count five spinning bronze saucers against the black void. After only a moment, however, a dalek flew into the picture, a flash of light came from its gun, and the picture was reduced to static.

Sunset had no idea what she had just been shown, but she knew that it wasn't good. She glanced over at Penn, hoping to get more information out of his reaction.

Sunset didn't know eyes OPENED that wide. She could see the whites all the way around his pupils, which were just as pale as his colorless face. Without a word, his eyes rolled back up into his head and he tipped backwards, falling to the floor with a loud thud.

"Penn!" Sunset rushed over to his side, checking him for injury from the fall. Luckily, the floor upstairs was carpeted, so it was unlikely he'd been seriously hurt by the impact.

"That bad, huh?" Coulson muttered, shutting off the screen with a wave of his hand. "Does he do that a lot?"

"I- I don't know, we just met earlier today!" Sunset gasped and slapped her palm over her mouth. She had been so worried about Penn, she'd spoken without thinking.

Fitz and Skye looked at one another anxiously, but Coulson's eyes just widened and locked on Sunset.

"You mean that the two of you beat one of these things after only knowing each other for a few HOURS?"

Sunset thought about trying to patch the leaked information with a lie, but she could practically feel Applejack's disapproval.

"Ten minutes, actually."

There was another pause.

"Well, that kind of teamwork is exactly what we're going to need if we want to survive this. Skye, you and Sunset help get him onto the couch, I'll have Simmons come take a look at him. I want to know the moment he wakes up!" Skye nodded obediently. "Fitz, you're going back to working on reverse-engineering that destroyed dalek down in the lab, I want a plan on how to beat these things by morning!"

"Yes, sir!" Fitz nodded before speed-walking his way out of the room back in the direction they came in from. Coulson obviously has his own places to be, leaving the briefing room in the opposite direction. Skye gave Sunset a sympathetic smile as she walked over and bent down to grab his ankles. Sunset returned with a tired smile of her own, reaching over and looping her arms under his shoulders. With joint grunts of effort, they both lifted him up into the air and walked him to a nearby couch.

"Not exactly the best first impression to make..." Skye muttered with a grin. "I've seen a lot of things, but I don't think I've ever seen someone faint like that at the first sign of trouble."

Sunset couldn't help but feel slightly offended. "Hey, take it a little easy on him, he's had a rough day! I think he's had more adventure today than in his whole life combined."

Skye raised her hands defensively. "I'm just kidding! I'm kinda the 'new girl' around here, too. Trust me, it's hard not to freeze up when you're staring the impossible in the face."

Before Sunset could respond, another girl was crouching beside her. She had a wide smile, long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a small bag. She reached inside, retrieving a small device.

"Hullo! Sorry, but would you mind moving?" she chirped, giving Sunset a gentle push out of the way before beginning to examine Penn. She ran the device over his forehead and watched a small display. She gave a relieved sigh.

"I might do a few more tests, but I would guess that he's fine, probably just overexerted himself." After a moment, she finally seemed to realize Sunset's presence, offering a wide smile and a friendly handshake. "Sorry, that was terribly impolite of me! Jemma Simmons, pleasure to meet you!"

"Simmons here is a genius with, like, six doctorates." Skye grinned. Simmons waved away the praise, but Sunset noticed that she didn't try to correct Skye.

Sunset took Jemma's hand and gave it a firm shake. "Nice to meet you, too, Jemma. I'm Sunset Shimmer."

"Sunset Shimmer? That's an... interesting name!"

Sunset blinked and glanced at Skye, who simply shrugged.

"It's pretty normal where I come from, actually..."

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! It's a lovely name!" Jemma assured her. Sunset couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about this girl reminded her of her friends: as if she were some kind of fusion of Fluttershy and Twilight. It made her feel safer. "Now then, I doubt your friend will be waking up soon on his own, it's already rather late. I would suggest you both get some rest while you can! The rest of us, on the other hand..." she sighed, and for the first time Sunset noticed tired-looking bags beneath her eyes, "will keep working on reverse-engineering that THING they brought back for us..."

Sunset glanced at Penn. The color had returned to his face, and he now looked as if he was sleeping peacefully. She thought over just how much action and adventure had been crammed into a single day, then glanced at a clock on the wall. 10:30.

"I might not have any doctorates, but... maybe I could help?" Sunset rose up to her full height. "I don't know as much as Penn about daleks, but I DO know that their own guns are strong enough to take them down. If we could find a way to disconnect it from the main body-"

"Then we'd have an effective weapon to use against the rest! That's brilliant!" Simmons snapped her fingers and gleefully dashed for the door. "Thank you, Sunset Shimmer!"

"Wait! Maybe I can... help?" Sunset started to follow, but stopped as she felt Skye's hand on her shoulder.

"Trust me, it doesn't matter HOW smart you are, nobody can keep up with Fitz-Simmons when they're working together. Just that information is more than we could have asked for." Skye smiled and motioned to a set of doors on one side of the room. "We've got a spare bunk, why not follow your friend's example and get some sleep?"

Sunset glanced towards the doors, then back at Penn sleeping on the couch. She sighed and walked to another one of the chairs in the room, pulling off the cushions and setting them on the floor.

"I... don't want to leave him on his own. I'm used to this kind of excitement, and even I feel like this is getting to be too much. Until I dropped into his life, he was just a pizza delivery guy! I feel kind of responsible, you know? Could I just borrow a blanket?"

Skye seemed surprised, but game her a knowing smile and disappeared into one of the bunk rooms, returning with a pillow and blanket for her.

"He's pretty lucky to have a friend like you, Sunset Shimmer."

Sunset smiled, laying down on the cushions and making herself comfortable under the blanket. Before she'd even realized it, she was already deep in the grasp of her dreams.

"Sunset? Sunset, wake up..."

Sunset awoke to a firm hand shaking her shoulder. Opening her eyes, Sunset found herself staring up into Penn's face.

"Huh- wha- is it time to go?" she groaned, rubbing at her eyes as she began to sit up.

"Oh, no! Nonono! You're just moving up to the couch. you don't have to get up." Penn assured her as he motioned to the place he had been sleeping.

Sunset was sleepy, but she wasn't THAT sleepy. "Wait, then where are YOU going?"

Penn smiled and held up the black pouch he had taken from his car, giving it a playful shake.

"Testing a theory."

Sunset was wide awake, now. She sat up completely, shifting her glance back and forth between Penn and the pouch. A grin spread across her face and she was on her feet in seconds.

"There's no way I could sleep after that!"

"But you need to rest! You-" Penn caught himself and leaned in close to her to whisper into her ear. "You got blasted across who-knows-how-many universes today! Who KNOWS what kind of condition you could be in?"

Sunset took a moment to take inventory of her body. Two eyes, two arms, two legs... Nothing was hurting or missing, she was hardly even sore.

"I'm FINE, Penn! Now clue me in on that experiment of yours!"

Once again, Penn's eyes moved up and down examining her before he finally let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine. Let's head outside."

"Outside?"

"We're probably gonna need some space..." Penn winked before motioning for her to follow. Together, the two of them made their way back out the way that they had come, down into the cargo bay where the black humvee was parked beside a cherry-red sports car on a large exit ramp. Behind a pair of glass doors, Sunset could see Fitz and Simmons toiling away as fast as they could on the remains of the dalek she and Penn had destroyed earlier that day. Sunset considered herself rather skilled at reading lips, but the speed at which they were talking was beyond her ability to make out even a few words. She quickly turned and followed Penn down the ramp and outside.

"Oh! I know this area! We're halfway to Seagraves!" Penn grinned. "So much for the tinted windows making us lose track of our location, huh?"

Sunset rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything to spoil his fun. To her, the landscape around them was just shallow hills and dead grass.

"So, don't keep me in suspense! What's this all about?"

Penn grinned and unzipped the top of the pack, reaching inside and retrieving a set of small, thin objects. Sunset cringed as disappointment settled in.

"Cards?"

"Not just ANY cards!" Penn declared, pivoting on his heel and pointing the bundle of plastic-covered cards at her. "These cards are part of a game created from a show about summoning monsters and casting powerful magic! The cards act as a gateway between the human world and the world of spirits! A good duelist can overcome any obstacle with only his wits and the heart of the cards!" He pointed the cards victoriously to the sky. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he returned to normal posture and cleared his throat.

"Of course, in THIS world, they're just children's trading cards. I was just thinking..." he dragged the tip of his toe through the dirt, obviously embarrassed about his earlier outburst. "You know, if Daleks and SHIELD and you can all be real now, maybe these can be, too?"

Sunset couldn't resist smiling. His enthusiasm was almost... cute. It was definitely contagious.

"Well, I guess comparing if them now to BEFORE I broke the universe isn't a bad idea, right? I guess anything's possible at this point!"

Penn's face lit up at the encouragement and he began to eagerly rifle through the cards in his hand. After a few seconds, he finally settled on one. He confidently held it at arm's length, displaying it for the world to see.

"Alright! If this is really going to work, let's find out! I summon... Ghostrick Doll!"

Sunset waited with baited breath. If this DID work, she couldn't wait to see what would happen. Both of them stood in complete silence for several seconds before Penn let loose a sigh of defeat and let his arm fall to his side.

"Well, I guess it WAS a stretch..." he muttered as he filed the cards back into the pack and fastened it back to his belt. Sunset stepped up beside him and gave him a gentle pat on the back.

"Hey, it was worth a shot, bud. I thought it might work, too! Sure would have liked to see it, summoning monsters out of trading cards sounds cool!"

Penn smiled and patted his hand against the pack. "Well, just having them nearby makes me feel safer anyway, whether they work or not."

Sunset could spot an opportunity to learn more about her new friend when it presented itself.

"Do they mean something to you? Something special?"

Penn smiled and reached inside, flipping through a few cards until he happened upon one that seemed to catch his attention, passing it into Sunset's hands.

It was a black card with a set of four stars at the top, a box full of text at the bottom, and a picture of what appeared to be a young girl at the center. She was wearing an adorable black dress with blue accents, a tiny top hat, and a pair of stockings with tiny shoes. She remembered Rarity calling the style "Gothic Lolita" in some of the mumbling she tended to do while she worked. The girl had a pair of wings with black-and-white feathers in a piano pattern and a matching halo over her head split evenly between black and white.

Ghostrick Angel of Mischief

2 Level 4 monsters

You can also Xyz Summon this card by using a "Ghostrick" Xyz Monster you control as the Xyz Material, except "Ghostrick Angel of Mischief". (Xyz Materials attached to that monster also become Xyz Materials on this card.) When the number of Xyz Materials on this card becomes 10, you win the Duel. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; add 1 "Ghostrick" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. Once per turn: You can attach 1 "Ghostrick" card from your hand to this card as an Xyz Material.

ATK: 2000 DEF: 2500

"Well... the art is nice! It's really pretty!"

Penn chuckled, taking the card back out of her hand and slipping it into the pouch on his belt.

"You don't have to be nice about it, I know the text probably makes no sense if you aren't familiar with the game." He shrugged. "'Ghostrick Angel of Mischief' is a real mouthful, so I just call her 'Missy.' She's my favorite of the Ghostrick cards, gotten me through many a duel!" He gave the card a gentle pat before slipping it into the pack alongside the rest. "I was playing Yu-Gi-Oh before I moved to Texas. One of my closest friends taught me to play and gave me my first deck! By the time I came to Texas, I was obsessed with it..."

Penn's expression eased into a nostalgic smile as he strolled back to the cargo bay ramp and sat himself on the edge. Sunset silently followed him, sitting on the lower part just below him.

"I founded the school's game club around it, made a lot of my friends that way! I practically had the whole debate team coming, twenty-five members!" His eyes squinted after a moment. "Of course, the debate teacher got jealous and rescheduled his practices to the same time as our club meetings... After that, there were only five of us."

Sunset couldn't hold back a giggle at the thought of a younger Penn and some generic teacher locked in dramatic rivalry.

"But those five turned into some of the best friends I ever had in high school. Tuesday afternoons were our time to just sit back and get away from all the people who liked to get their laughs at our expense. For three years, every Tuesday was just us, an empty classroom, and a giant pile of cards..."

Sunset knew exactly what he was talking about. She had always loved hanging out with her friends in the band's practice room for the exact same reasons. It was like there was no one else in the world but them. When she was still hated for her days as a bully, it had been the one place she was safe from the rest of the students' judging gazes. Still, one detail struck a guilty nerve with her.

"You were bullied?"

Penn rolled his eyes and waved away her concerns. "It was much, much worse before I came to Texas. I didn't even realize I was getting made fun of until at least a year in down here! It was pretty tame. It was still nice to have our own little corner of the world where didn't exist, though." His smile widened as happy memories overtook his melancholy. "We would always manage to get in at least one match every lunch period, too! Best of three duels!" He leaned in close to her. "My buddy would tell you that we were evenly matched, but my old deck and I were never defeated in the best of three!"

"Your old deck?"

"Oh! Yeah! The Ghostricks are actually pretty new compared to the cards in my old reliable deck! Here, take a look, it's-" he was cut off by the sound of footsteps coming down the ramp. Both of them looked up to see Agent Coulson.

"Good to see the two of you up and about, but I'm afraid there's no more time for reminiscing about the glory days. We've got a planet to save."

Sunset looked back at Penn, who simply chuckled and hopped down from his seat on the ramp.

"Well, guess there's not a lot of time for children's card games at the end of the world, huh?"

Sunset followed suit, and the two of them quickly followed Coulson up and back into the plane's cargo bay. She couldn't hold back a wide smile. She'd learned a lot about her new friend in just a few minutes. She hurried up to fall into line beside him.

"Psst, Penn?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could teach me to play that game? Once this Dalek stuff is all over?"

She watched as Penn's face lit up, practically rapturous in his disbelief. It was if those simple words had made his whole day.

"Y-yes! Definitely! I'd love to!"

Author's Notes:

"Pennington, are you purposefully avoiding writing the next chapter of Penn and Stone because you don't want to write a painful betrayal scene?"

MMmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaybe.

Smarter Than You Think

This time, everyone gathered down in the lab, which had a similar display to their meeting room upstairs. There were a couple of faces Sunset hadn't seen yet, apparently the two remaining members of Coulson's team. One was an older woman with shoulder-length black hair. Sunset could tell just from her posture that she was a woman not to be crossed. The other was a man with short-cut hair and traces of stubble. The moment that he had entered the room, a change seemed to come over Penn. He had instantly tensed up and made his way across the room to Sunset's side, placing himself between her and the stranger. The act hadn't gone unnoticed, the man and Penn sharing a glance at one another. Penn had simply nodded politely, but Sunset noted the absence of a smile on his face like when he had greeted the rest of the team. She made a mental note to ask him what kind of problem he had with the agent later.

"Now, to pick up our conversation from the point where it was interrupted..." Coulson glanced at Penn, who blushed and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Sorry about that, I guess I was in worse shape than I thought I was when I got here. I'm fine now. No fainting, scout's honor!"

Coulson nodded and brought up a still frame from the video the day before: a perfect shot of the five ships floating in space. "Mister Penn, why exactly would this image make you faint?"

"Just 'Penn' is fine. Each of those are Dalek warships. Each one is capable of holding at least two THOUSAND Daleks. Five ships makes an invasion force of at least ten thousand."

"Ten thousand? That could decimate an entire country!" the male agent muttered.

"Try 'entire planet.'" Penn replied. "Daleks are killing machines. There could be only a handful of them and they wouldn't stop until every human on the planet was dead."

"Which is why we need to eliminate these scouts now." Coulson turned to address the duo of scientists. "Fitz-Simmons, tell me you've got SOMETHING that can help with that!"

"Yes!" both replied in unison.

"Simmons managed to separate the creature from the life-support systems. We're working on trying to find some kind of biological weakness we could use to bypass the outer shell and attack the creatures inside directly." Fitz cheerfully announced.

"And..." Simmons continued. "Fitz managed to not only separate the weapons system from the main body to make it handheld," she motioned to the table, where the gun portion was laid out with a long string of wires leading back to the body. "Thanks to the information Sunset Shimmer gave us, we know that reverse-engineering it is our best shot at creating a weapon that can penetrate their shielding. And managed to access the data core!"

It was at this point Skye raised her hand. "Fitz and I have been working like crazy trying to decode it, but my best estimate would be that we need at least twenty-four hours to crack the encryption."

"The planet's at risk, we don't have twenty-four hours!"

"Coulson, that's the best we can DO! We're already working ourselves to the bone, we didn't sleep at all last night!"

Sunset watched Penn press the tips of his fingers together and tap them against his forehead. "Wait... wait wait waitwaitwait..."

"Well, forget the encryption, we need to focus on weapons. Fitz, how long until a working prototype?"

"I'm missing something..." Penn whispered, tapping harder at his head. "Something important, something..."

"If we stop working on the decryption? Four, maybe five hours?" Fitz strolled over to the place where the gun was laying.

"That's a question, not an answer, Fitz. Every second we don't beat these things is another second people are dying out there!"

"What if we take this one gun and wipe out the scouts? Would that buy us time?" the male agent spoke up, picking the gun off the table and examining it closely.

"Or they might send a retaliatory force," The older woman growled. "More Daleks, greater violence. If they're a militaristic race, they'll respond to a show of force in kind."

Penn, meanwhile, was beginning to groan with exertion, eyes screwed shut as he slammed the base of his palm against his forehead. "Come on! I know I'm forgetting something!"

Everyone in the room was beginning to stare at him, and Sunset reached out to tap him on the shoulder.

"Penn? You okay?"

The moment she touched him, his eyes flew open wide and he slammed both hands on the table.

"THE DATA CORE!"

He glanced around the room, as if expecting everyone to instantly understand what he was talking about. Even Sunset had to admit that it was a mystery to her, and the way everyone was exchanging worried glances told her that she wasn't the only one. The only one keeping his eyes fixed on Penn was Coulson.

"Yes? What about it? I'm sure it's full of useful data, are you saying it has something we can use to beat these things faster?"

Penn turned away from the table, clasping his hands together a pointing his fingers ahead.

"Just... just let me talk through this. The Dalek database is the single most extensive wealth of data in the whole universe, possibly even more so than the Time Lords! They're a hivemind of data, everything observed by every Dalek going and feeding into their store of information." He spun on his heel, pointing the fingers of each hand at Skye and Fitz. "They have one of the most advanced securities known, and you two think you could crack it in a DAY?"

"Definitely!"

"I-I think so..."

Penn grinned and punched the air. "GREAT! I knew you were clever, but that's just GENIUS!" He spun back to face Coulson, leaning out over the table on both hands. "I've got an idea. It's crazy, but if it works the whole planet will be safe from the Daleks, possibly for good!"

Sunset thought she saw the beginnings of a smile tugging at Coulson's lips as he asked the question everyone was thinking.

"Well? What is it?"

Penn grinned and walked to the back of the room, pacing back and forth.

"Okay, so, in the past, a truly genius hacker proved herself able to exploit a connection to the Dalek database, she went in and deleted all files on a single individual, one that the daleks had been hunting for millenia, and the Daleks just... forgot him! Their memories of him had been wiped completely clean, even the ones that had just seen him less than a day before!" The pace of his pacing increased every time he changed direction. "If someone IS smart enough to crack their system and get inside, they could theoretically make the Daleks forget ANYTHING!"

"Like a planet?"

"YES! Imagine if we did that for a whole PLANET!" Penn continued his pacing, now power-walking from one side of the room to the other in only a couple seconds. "But you can't just delete the information, right? All that will happen is that they'll get to have the joy of discovering Earth all over again! Soooo..." he turned back to face the group, waiting for someone to finish the train of thought.

"If we can delete things, then... that means we can replace them, too, right? Put in our own data?" Fitz asked. Penn grinned and pointed a finger-gun at Fitz with a gleeful fake firing noise.

"KA-POW! One hundred points to Ravenclaw! SO, we'll have to split into two- no, three teams! Team one, Techies! Fitz and Skye, you two need to crack that data core and write a program that'll wipe Earth out of their memories and replace it with something REALLY unappealing! Meanwhile, team two, the specialists..." he took a moment to gesture to the two agents Sunset hadn't been introduced to, "are going to have to wipe out the scouts in a swift and decisive manner! If they're here at the same time we change the memories and see something different, all of this could be for nothing! Finally, team three is going to have to find a way to deliver the altered data core to a place where it could be connected to the main database..." he strode his way up to the front of the room, staring intently at the picture of the flying saucers. "Most likely.. there. I should probably be on that team, so..."

There was a brief moment of silence as the wind seemed to fall out of Penn's sails. He seemed to deflate slightly as his manic moment came to an end and he sheepishly looked at the floor, turning to face Coulson.

"O-or, at least, that's how I would do it, sir. Sorry, I wasn't trying to order your team around..."

For a minute, it was like he was a completely different person! Sunset was slightly in awe at the transformation. For a moment, Penn had been practically oozing confidence, held himself with a presence of a man completely in control. And then all at once it was gone and he had returned to his alter-identity as a mild-mannered pizza guy.

Coulson patted Penn's shoulder. "It's a good plan, I can overlook the faux pas." He smiled and poked a finger into Penn's chest. "That enthusiasm's good, hold on to that." He sighed, then turned to the rest of the team.

"Skye, get working on cracking that encryption. Fitz, finish making that gun mobile!" Both of them nodded, Fitz rushing to the table with the Dalek's gun and Skye rushing out of the room. "Ward, Mae, I need both of you to get ready to suit up. The moment that gun is operational, you're going out and wiping out the scouts we've been tracking. Discretely." The other two agents nodded, both walking out of the room together. Finally, his gaze turned to Sunset and he drew Penn's attention with a pat on his shoulder.

"Miss Shimmer, Penn, may I speak with you two for a moment in my office?" He calmly strode his his way out of the room. Penn shot Sunset a nervous glance and shrugged. She rolled her eyes and simply fell into line behind him.

"That... was amazing! How much of that did you make up as you went along?"

Penn sheepishly glanced back at her.

"Well, I DID say I needed to talk my way through it... Fake it 'till you make it, you know?"

Sunset could only smile and shake her head. That was the kind of excuse she was used to hearing from Rainbow Dash. Coulson led them through the upper level towards the front of the plane. Finally, they all walked into a small room. It was clearly an office, with a large desk and shelves lined with what looked like antique spy devices and models of every kind. It was like she was standing in a museum devoted to the history of the organization she was working with. Coulson took a seat behind his desk, interlacing his fingers and letting out a long sigh. He turned a tired-looking glare on Penn.

"What were you thinking? What you suggested about going out onto that alien ship is insane! There's NO WAY I can allow civilians to put themselves in the line of fire like that! It goes against every rule and regulation SHIELD has!"

Sunset watched Penn shrink back and away in the face of Coulson's reproach. A shadow of shame fell over him as his eyes shot down to the floor. Sunset felt indignation well up in her chest.

"Hey, he was just saying what makes sense!" Sunset stepped forward. "And he just gave you a plan to save the world!"

"And I AM grateful for that! But suggesting the idea of putting himself on the Dalek ship-"

"Ourselves." Sunset folded her arms over her chest. Penn's head snapped up, eyes wide with surprise. Sunset smiled and rolled her eyes. "You didn't think I'd let you go alone, did you?"

"Absolutely not." Coulson declared. Sunset turned back to the government agent, narrowing her eyes.

"Sir, with all respect, I know how to size someone up at a glance. The only two people on your team who are left are Simmons and you, and Jemma wouldn't last five minutes in the middle of a ship full of crazy killer robots! You have to be here to coordinate your team! You are out of hands!" She moved up to the desk, leaning in to look Coulson in the eye. "Penn and I were as close to that monster you have downstairs as I am to you right now. And we walked away. We aren't just your only choice, we're your best choice." Coulson didn't flinch at her, still as a statue as he stared right back into her piercing gaze.

"Unacceptable."

"You don't have a choice."

There was a moment of tense silence. It felt like Sunset and Coulson were locked in some kind of battle of will, caught in a stalemate as they waited to see which one of them would flinch first. Coulson's eyes narrowed.

"Get out of my office."

Sunset nodded.

"You'll know where to find us... sir." Sunset turned back to Penn, who had lost all color in his face, took hold of his hand, and led him out of the room. She tugged Penn all the way back to the living quarters where he finally moved under his own power to throw himself onto the couch.

"Y-y-y-you just- You JUST-"

Sunset rolled her eyes.

"Too much is on the line for us to follow every rule in the book, Penn, and I can already tell you're too busy hero-worshiping this guy to stand up to him when he's wrong!"

"You can't volunteer to go on that ship! It's crazy! It's insane!" Penn leaned forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. "A Dalek ship is practically certain death! Their lasers are so powerful they'll scramble your organs like eggs!"

Sunset folded her arms and narrowed her gaze.

"YOU volunteered to go, and you expect me to just let you go in alone?"

"I vo- I volunteered? I- I did, didn't I?" Penn held his palm up to his forehead and propped his elbow on his knee. "I think I'm going to faint again..."

Sunset reached up and pulled his hand away from his head, clasping it in both of hers.

"Hey. Penn. Keep it together, buddy. We're going to make it through this, okay? Where was that confidence you had when you were making this plan? It's a good plan!"

In his eyes, Sunset saw uncertainty and fear, worry. She didn't need to be a mind reader to know that he was terrified. She reached over and unzipped the pouch at his side and reached inside, grabbing the card from the top.

"Hey, remember what you said? A good duelist can overcome any challenge with his wits and the 'heart of his cards,' right? Well, your cards are right here! They're not going anywhere!" Slowly turned over the card in his hand, revealing the card he'd been showing off to her earlier: Ghostrick Angel of Mischief. "And I'm not going anywhere, either."

Penn took a long, deep breath, and Sunset felt his grip on her hand tighten. Finally, he let go of his breath and her hand at the same time.

"Okay. Right. It'll be fine. Everything is going to be fine..." he whispered, rising out of the chair on shaky legs. "W-why don't we go find something to eat?"

Sunset smiled, glad that her encouragement had gotten through to him.

"Sounds good to me, buddy."

Stronger Than You Seem

"Hey. Thought you could use this." Coulson placed a hot cup of coffee on the table beside Skye.

"Oh, thank you SO much!" she sighed and grabbed the mug with both hands, closing her eyes as she took a long drink.

Coulson took a seat beside her, cradling a cup of his own.

"Hm? Okay, Coulson... I know why I have bags under my eyes, I'm learning alien programming on the fly here. What's bugging you?"

"There's something that's eating at me. How did that 'Penn' guy know Ward and May were our specialists? In fact, he knew exactly what every person on our team was capable of and where they'd fit best! I couldn't argue with him because that plan is exactly how I would have divided everyone up, myself!"

"Including sending him and Sunset onto the alien spaceship?"

Coulson sighed. Skye's outsider opinion always had a way of getting to the heart of the matter.

"They're civilians, Skye! That mission is suicide!"

"Well, I was a civilian too, remember? And, whether you liked it or not, I think I've become a valuable member of this team!" Skye took another long sip of her coffee. "Mmm... Coulson, what are the other options?"

That was a question Coulson had been asking himself repeatedly.

"Ward's skills include infiltration, so do May's. Either one of them could go onto the ship, be in and out in a matter of hours, and the other could be out destroying the rest of the Dalek scouts."

Skye nodded. "You're not wrong, but neither of them know as much about these things as Penn. And if Sunset isn't going to even go to a different room to sleep, she's definitely not going to let him go onto the Dalek warship without her by his side. A three-person team-"

"Exponentially increases their chances of detection. I know." Coulson finished the sentence. "Team three needs Penn, and he and Sunset are obviously inseparable..."

"Not to mention, if you replaced May with Simmons, are you sure they'd be able to get every single scout wiped out in time? She's surprisingly good under pressure, but I wouldn't exactly take her for a sharpshooter with an alien laser gun. Taking out the scouts quickly is just as important as the away team's mission."

Coulson couldn't help but balk slightly.

"What makes you think I wouldn't put Ward on the away team?"

Skye scoffed as she began typing away at her computer again.

"Are you kidding? Did you SEE the way Penn was looking at him? I don't know what's going on there, but I'm willing to bet that one of them thought there was a little too much testosterone in the room..."

Coulson blinked, surprised at Skye's assumption. He hadn't noticed anything between Agent Ward and the stranger, let alone the tension she was talking about.

"What can I do, Skye? The team here AND the team going out there are both crucial! You and Fitz are going to be totally burned out by the time you've cracked the codex, Simmons isn't suited to either task, and our only expert on these things is certain to drag another innocent civilian in with him! I've got no good options!" Coulson sighed and held a palm to his forehead. "We're supposed to protect civilians, not drag them into danger! At times like this, I wonder what Director Fury would do..."

Skye sighed, stopping her typing for a moment to turn and face him.

"I don't know about this 'Director Fury' guy, but I know Agent Philip Coulson knows who to trust. You'll make the best choice."

Coulson couldn't resist a smile, patting Skye on the shoulder as he rose back to his feet.

"Thank you, Skye. I think that's just what I needed to hear."

"Great! I'll get back to trying to get into this Dalek data core..." Skye sighed with frustration. "It's like the programming is adapting to everything I do, like it's actively FIGHTING me!"

"Think you can do it?"

Skye grinned.

"It might require calling in a few favors from my old Rising Tide contacts, but I've never met a code I couldn't beat, yet!"

"Well, pick up the pace, would you? The more time I have to think about what I'm about to do, the more likely I am to back out of it." Coulson delivered the line with a grin, as if he were joking, but there was more than a nugget of truth to the statement. He didn't like where this plan was leading one bit, but it had to be done.

Sunset opened the passenger-side door of the humvee and hopped inside. Penn was waiting inside, reclined casually back in the driver's seat. His posture didn't fool Sunset, though. She could see his foot anxiously tapping away against the wall of the car, to the point that an eye unfamiliar with anxiety might have mistaken it for out-of-control shaking. Luckily, years of being friends with Fluttershy had gifted her with a discerning eye for nervous tics.

"So... any requests?" He held up his phone and gave it a small shake. "They won't trust me with the keys and an aux cable, so we're stuck with cell phone speakers."

Sunset smiled and shrugged.

"Anything is fine with me. Why not play me one of your favorites?"

Penn paused for a moment, then typed furiously into the phone for a few seconds. A moment later, a familiar guitar began to play.

"Once... upon a time,

you came into my world and made the stars align!"

A wave of emotion swept over Sunset as Applejack's voice rang through the car. Before she was even aware enough to stop it or suppress it, tears began to stream down her face.

"Now I can see the signs!

You pick me up when I get down so I can shine!"

Rarity's crooning sent another shudder through Sunset's body, too much for her to take. She buried her face in her hands as the wall holding back her emotions crumbled to dust and she began to sob uncontrollably.

"Shine like rainboooooows! Shine like-" the music was cut off suddenly and Sunset felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Sunset! I-I'm sorry! I just thought you might-" Sunset shook her head, cutting Penn's excuses off as another sob burst out. She couldn't stop the words that came after it any more than she could stop the tears from flowing.

"It's my fault! It's all my fault! And- and now I don't know if I'll ever SEE them again! I- I thought I'd made my peace with all of us going our separate ways, but not like this! Twi-Twilight had a full ride to the best college in the country! Rarity got an internship in Manehatten, Rainbow was guaranteed anything she could ask for! And I made a stupid mistake and took it ALL away from them! It's all my fault! It's all my fault... It's-"

The door beside her opened. She glanced over and saw Penn standing there. She hadn't even noticed him leave the car. He reached out and took hold of her hand, pulling her down and out of the seat.

Sunset had gotten plenty of hugs since she'd become one of the "good guys," the Rainbooms were pretty fond of them. She'd always thought Pinkie gave the best hugs, with Applejack coming in at a close second. Somehow, in that moment, she found herself wrapped up in some kind of super-hug. It was as if someone had crammed one of Princess Celestia's wing-hugs, her favorite blanket fresh out of the dryer, and a healthy dose of Equestrian magic into an iron vice and clamped it shut around her. The way he was gripping her, Sunset wondered if Penn was afraid she'd disappear just like the rest of her friends had. Everything else became muted, like an aura had settled around them that blocked out the rest of the world.

When her breathing had slowed and come back under her control, Penn finally let go enough to hold her at arm's length. Just like in the planning room, Sunset couldn't see a single trace of anxiety or hesitation.

"Sunset Shimmer, I swear to you, as your friend, we will find them. I will make certain that you find every single one of your friends, and that you all make it home safe and sound. I promise."

Sunset was glad that her complexion tended to hide a blush well.

"You give really good hugs."

Immediately, Penn's face shifted to surprise, and he couldn't seem to let go of her fast enough. The confidence was once again gone as quickly as it had come.

"Sorry, heh... I was always that one friend everyone would go to with their problems, and I've always been a hugger... That was mostly instinct. Was it too much?"

Sunset wiped away the remains of her tears and shook her head.

"No, it was... just what I needed."

Her answer sent a wave of relief washing over Penn's face, and he nodded back to the humvee. In a matter of seconds, the two of them were back in their seats, and Penn was typing away on his phone again.

"Okay, how about this: the words are all gibberish, but it's the theme to one of my favorite characters! In a world that seems like it's cold and cruel, she chooses to be kind and full of faith! It's called 'Credens Justitam!' It means-"

"Believe In Justice?"

Penn gave her a smile so bright, it nearly blinded her. Sunset couldn't help but smile in return and lean back into her seat.

"Sure. Why not?"

From the tiny cellphone speakers came the sounds of a full choir and orchestra, filling the space of the car until Sunset felt fully immersed. Penn was right about the lyrics being gibberish, but the emotion of the piece shone through clear as day. Comfort and hope wrapped around Sunset and washed over her. The panic of seconds before felt like a distant memory.

"Yuki Kajiura really is a musical master..." Penn whispered, barely audible over the music.

Sunset had to agree.

"Anything new?" Coulson asked.

"Well, as near as I can tell, 'Penn' has no kind of specialized training, let alone being an expert in xenobiology." Agent Ward shrugged and let out a long sigh of frustration. "Real name: Elijah Bakersfield. Delivered pizza before the world went crazy. Born in Conneticut, spent his childhood in Maine, moved to Texas eight years ago. Flunked out of college in Utah about two years ago. Been on medications for depression and anxiety, but nothing out of the ordinary. This guy is clean, Coulson, not even a parking ticket! There's no reason to trust him, but also no reason NOT to trust him!" Ward spun in his chair to face his commanding officer. "I have no idea how he knows so much about these aliens, but he didn't learn it in school or from any organization we have on record."

"What about 'Sunset Shimmer?'" Coulson still couldn't take the name seriously. It sounded like a name a 5-year-old girl would come up with for her pet pony.

Ward shrugged. "Ran her photo through every database SHIELD has, nothing. She's a ghost, as if she didn't exist until that security camera at the hardware store caught her on film yesterday!"

Coulson had once said that Skye's ability to have wiped her digital existence from the face of the planet was intriguing. The novelty of not knowing things was very quickly wearing off.

"May? What are they doing now?"

Agent May removed her headphones and gave Coulson a very fed-up expression.

"I think they both fell asleep in the humvee. That or they're just listening to music. Sunset started to have some kind of meltdown, but Penn defused it."

Coulson had to admit that he was mildly surprised. In his office, Sunset had shown a level of nerve that could have stared down Romanov, and Penn had seemed too timid to even speak out loud if someone else was talking.

I guess everyone's different when they think nobody's watching...

"Can I stop watching them, now? I've got better things to do, like make sure Zephyr One is ready for an emergency takeoff if one of those THINGS tracks us down."

Coulson knew better than to push May when they were all under so much pressure. He gave her a quick nod, and she eagerly left the room.

"Sir, with all due respect, may I ask you something about this plan?" Ward asked, setting aside the laptop he was working off of.

"Granted."

"The away team is going to be striking deep into the heart of enemy territory. Agent May and I are both specialists, more than suited to the job! We have the skills, why not send one of US?"

Coulson sighed.

"Because the scouts have spread too far apart. We need to deal with them all quickly, before they can coordinate a counterattack. You and Agent May will have to split up and each take on six or more in a matter of a couple hours at the same time the away team is infiltrating. You're the only agents I can count on to be that efficient AND to take these things out in a head-on fight by yourselves. Our new friends already proved that they have a knack for not getting killed by daleks, but Penn wasn't lying: watch the footage from the store, killing that thing WAS a matter of luck. We need more than luck to destroy the scouts."

Ward sighed again, and Coulson knew that he'd already contemplated and dismissed every thought going through Ward's head while he was alone in his office.

"I don't like it, sir. Putting them into the line of fire. It's against every SHIELD protocol, and even our mission as an organization altogether! We're supposed to protect the innocent, not send them into the line of fire!"

Coulson took a deep breath.

"You're right. SHIELD agents keep people safe. We protect the world." He turned and quickly made his way out the door. "Thank you, Agent Ward! You just helped me make up my mind about something!"

Sunset could feel herself drifting between awake and asleep. Penn had decided not to stop with "Credens Justitam," going on to play the entire soundtrack to the show it had come from, something about "magical girls." She hadn't really been listening too closely by that point.

A soft knocking came from the window, followed a second later by the door opening on its own.

"Hey, you two still alive in here?" Agent Coulson asked.

Sunset smiled and rubbed at her eyes. "Sorry, must have lost track of time..."

"Do you need the car for something?" Penn asked. Sunset watched him open the door and roll himself out of his seat.

"Actually, I need to talk to the two of you about something important." Coulson stepped aside and motioned for Sunset to get out. She quickly obliged, her sluggishness wearing off in a matter of seconds. Penn quickly made his way around the car to join them, taking up a position at Sunset's side.

"Now, about this mission: are you two certain that you can do it? If you're having doubts, we can find another way."

Sunset's mind flashed back to the moments after their last meeting with Coulson and Penn's ensuing breakdown. She glanced over at her friend, trying to gauge whether his condition had improved. He was staring right back at her, locking eyes. Sunset felt a solidarity between them, a solid base from which friendship had been built. Finally, Penn turned back to face Coulson with a shake of his head.

"Sir, of course I have doubts, it's sneaking onto a ship full of killer aliens! But it's what needs to be done, right? So we'll do it."

Sunset watched Coulson's expression settle into a melancholy smile.

"Spoken like a true agent. Unfortunately, you two are NOT agents, and SHIELD cannot in good conscience put civilians in harm's way like this." He sighed and reached into the pocket of his suit. Penn's eyes widened, and Sunset felt herself begin to slip into a defensive position. A moment later, however, Coulson produced two items from his pocket. They looked like leather wallets, and Sunset heard Penn gasp in surprise as he obviously recognized them.

"No way... NO WAY!"

Coulson ignored Penn's excitement.

"When I first joined SHIELD, Director Fury told me that a person can do anything when they realize they're a part of something bigger. Over all these years, he's only been proven right time and time again. So, for the sake of this mission, I am fully deputizing the two of you as temporary agents." He handed each of them one of the leather items. Sunset flipped it open to reveal a large circular badge with the SHIELD emblem and an ID that looked much like her driver's license, including a photo and her physical details.

Shimmer, Sunset. Level 4
Title: Specialist

"Specialist?"

"Well, there wasn't really a title for 'Alien Mothership Infiltrator.'" Coulson shrugged. He gave Sunset a firm handshake, followed soon after by Penn. "Both of you, welcome to SHIELD."

Penn eagerly held up his hand in a passionate salute. "We won't let you down, sir!"

"Wrong hand, Penn. But again, I like the enthusiasm!"

Penn instantly switched hands, and Sunset held back a giggle at the awkward antics.

"You two are going to have a mission debriefing tonight and leave first thing in the morning, Skye and Fitz should have the data core cracked by then."

There was something that had been bothering Sunset up until now, and this felt like the time to ask it.

"Mister Coulson, sir? Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead, Sunset."

"Well, isn't it just space on the other side of that rift? How are we going to survive on the other side?"

Coulson smiled.

"Well, Fitz-Simmons didn't JUST separate the weapon from that Dalek in the lab! Come on, I think you'll like this." He nodded towards the back of the plane and out the cargo hold. Together, the three of them walked outside and around to the front of the plane.

"We managed to extract the hoverskirt, as well! We've attached it to one of our environmentally sealed cargo containers and..."

As they reached the front of the plane, just beyond the nose, Sunset could see a large rectangular container sitting on the ground. Bits and pieces of the bronze Dalek armor were scattered around the bottom, messily welded on in places and connected by a mess of wires she knew would have haunted Twilight's nightmares.

"Instant spaceship. It's not much, but it should get you there and back again under the radar!"

Sunset suddenly felt much less confident about placing her life in the hands of SHIELD. Penn, meanwhile, immediately ran up and began to examine it, gleefully clapping his hands together.

"Ha HA! Coulson, this is GENIUS! Using Dalek parts means that we'll be recognized and not blown out of the sky!" He pointed back at Coulson with a sly grin. "It's an older code, sir, but it checks out!"

Coulson's face lit up with delight.

"Episode 6? You're a fan?"

"Who isn't?" Penn replied, slapping the side of the container and leaning against it. "Who can ever forget 'Return of the Jedi?'"

"One of the greats!" Coulson agreed.

Penn leaned forward. "Okay, I have a question: did you like that they re-used the plot of destroying another death star? Or did that seem kind of lazy after A New Hope?"

"Not at all! The fact it was only half-built made a really chilling image, and the fact it was fully operational? Huge twist at the time! I loved it! It's what got me interested in things like aliens and the supernatural, to begin with!"

Sunset had no idea what they were talking about, but it reminded her of Rainbow Dash and Twilight's conversations about Daring Do novels: something she'd long ago decided to give up trying to interpret.

"I guess that answers my question... Thank you, Agent Coulson." she tried to hide the trepidation in her voice. This transport did NOT inspire a lot of trust. Coulson still seemed to pick up on her hesitation, walking over and placing a firm hand on her shoulder.

"I know it doesn't look like much, but I'd trust Fitz and Simmons with my life, and they say it'll hold. I would never place the lives of one of my agents in unnecessary danger, Sunset. You'll be safe inside, I promise."

Sunset nodded, her fears somewhat eased. Coulson seemed earnest, and there was something about him that made Sunset feel he was trustworthy.

"OH MY GOSH!" Penn practically screamed, drawing all attention back to him.

"We're going after the Daleks... in a flying box! Do you have any idea how HILARIOUS this is?"

This time Coulson seemed to be out of the loop, as well. He looked to Sunset, who simply shrugged. She didn't get the joke, either. Being the only one to get the joke didn't dampen Penn's enthusiasm, doubling over with laughter.

"C-Coulson, sir! P-please, I'm begging you! Can we- Can we paint it BLUE?"

Coulson leaned down, half-whispering to Sunset.

"Is... he okay? I think the stress might have gone to his head..."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "I used to have a friend who said a lot of things that didn't make sense. When we stopped questioning her all the time, she wound up being one of the most reliable friends I've ever had. I'd say... just roll with it."

Coulson pondered her advice for a moment, then shrugged.

"No painting it! I'm expecting it to come back to us intact, with both of you on board!"

Penn's laughter finally petered out, only leaving a gigantic smile on his face instead as he rose into a proper salute.

"Yes, sir! Understood..."

Coulson nodded and turned back the way they'd come.

"Well, the rest of the day is your own. I recommend you familiarize yourself with the controls, then get plenty of rest for tomorrow! And that's an order, agents!"

Sunset took her turn to salute as Coulson walked away. The moment he was out of sight, she rushed over to Penn.

"WHAT was all that about?"

"S-sorry..." Penn said, hardly sounding sorry at all as he wiped a tear of laughter from his face. "It's just that the arch-enemy of the Daleks... his ship is a blue box, almost the same size as this one! It's either a sign from God or the funniest coincidence in the history of the universe!"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "I'll go with 'coincidence.'"

Penn shrugged, and Sunset noticed his expression quickly turn dower.

"Hey, Sunset... I feel like I owe you an apology. For playing that song earlier. It was stupid of me to think that was a good idea, and it just wound up hurting you... I should have thought more about it. So... I'm sorry." He turned his eyes down to the ground and shuffled his feet.

Sunset was surprised. She'd thought that the whole ordeal was behind them.

"Penn, you were just trying to make me feel better! Why would I be mad about that?" She walked over and stood beside him, leaning against the makeshift spaceship side by side. "Besides, I owe you an apology, too. Ever since I got here, I've been trying to only think about what's happening in the moment so I wouldn't think about what's happened to my friends... But when I heard their voices, everything I'd been bottling up all came out at once. I'm usually pretty calm, you know? But I just fell apart... I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Sunset, you've got every reason to be upset! You can't apologize for that!"

Sunset pounded her fist against the wall. "Then I'm just sorry you had to SEE it! I don't get hysterical, I get things done! I've never... I've never just panicked like that!"

Penn shrugged off the statement.

"It happens to the best of us, Sunset. In your position, I don't even know what I'd do other than break down into a panic attack to end all panic attacks!"

Sunset sighed. "Well, thank you... Thanks for helping me get control."

"Hey, don't forget you were the one who calmed me down enough to be willing to go on this crazy adventure! I was freaking out, too!" He gently patted the pack of cards on his waist. "If we can both keep each other's heads on straight, we might stand a chance of surviving this."

Sunset smiled and shoved her elbow into his ribs.

"Hey! You promised you'd get me and my friends home safe and sound! That starts with definitely surviving the Daleks!"

The two of them both began to giggle to themselves.

"Sunset, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"

Braver Than You Believe

"So, here's the plan."

Sunset was still half-asleep and groggy. It was five minutes before five in the morning, and she and Penn had been up late "training" with their flying box and learning to fly it without throwing themselves from wall to wall. Penn didn't look to be faring much better, barely able to keep his eyes open. Once again, the agents of SHIELD had gathered in the lab. Skye and Fitz both looked nearly dead on their feet, but there was a content smile on Skye's face.

"Skye and Fitz managed to crack the encryptions and firewalls on the data core last night. Not only did they make the necessary modifications, but they got us a little something extra." Coulson waved his hand to reveal a cross-section of a dalek ship. "A map!"

"The idea is-" Fitz stepped forward, only to stop and have to stifle a yawn. "The best point of attack would be the repair bay, located here." He pointed to a medium-sized room at the bottom of the ship. "All you would have to do is replace the data core in an existing Dalek with our modified version and Skye's programming will do the rest."

"Not only are these coordinates going to become the new home of a nasty black hole, I've added a few other little viruses that should turn their systems inside out..." Skye was trying to sounds smug, but her tired monotone made her sound like the most miserable person in the room.

"The mission is going to be fast and simple. You get in, swap the data core in the repair center, and get out. Shouldn't take more than an hour and you'll both be back home safe and sound, got it?" Coulson looked between Sunset and Penn. Penn gave a sluggish salute, and Sunset simply nodded.

"Meanwhile, Agent Ward and I will be taking Fitz-Simmons and going after the scouts at the same time," the older woman (who Sunset now knew was Agent May) stated. "Once we've taken out one, we'll disconnect its weapon and add it to our own, then split into two teams. Then four. The scouting party will be destroyed before they know what hit them, and Skye's virus will discourage them from sending any more."

Coulson nodded in agreement. "I'll be coordinating from here. If any team runs into trouble, I'll inform the rest and adjust plans accordingly." He turned his attention on Sunset and Penn, pointing at each of them. "You two: if I say abort, you ABORT, got it? Trust me, we'll find another way, I don't want to lose any more casualties to these monsters."

"Won't have to tell me twice..." Penn mumbled. A second later, his eyes shot open wide. "Uhm... Did I just say that out loud?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "I think what he MEANS to say is that we'll follow orders to the letter, sir. No need to worry." She offered a quick salute. This seemed to satisfy Coulson, who reached down and produced a small plastic case. Inside were a pair of small earplugs. Penn reached out and took one, placing it into his ear without hesitation. Sunset quickly mimicked him. She could guess that they were some kind of communicators.

"Alright, everyone! Time to save the world..." he took a quick glance around the room, before letting out a frustrated sigh.

"And seriously, get some coffee, or something."

"Alright, listen closely. You want to bear thirty-two-point-three degrees north-by-northwest of here for five miles, the temporal-spatial rift is approximately one hundred meters off the ground." Fitz declared, pointing out into the brown landscape. "We've put a GPS into the 'ship' to get you there. Once it loses signal, there'll be a second system that will record your movement through three-dimensional space. When you're ready to extract, hit the red button, it'll automatically take you back along the same path through space and through the rift. Understand?"

"Sounds simple enough... When we want to come back, just hit the big red button!" Penn declared.

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Fitz? You're pretty tired already, and now you're going out to fight more Daleks here on Earth!" Sunset asked. Fitz shook his head.

"This isn't my first all-nighter. Exam week at the academy, I didn't sleep for three days straight without even realizing it! I'll be fine. Now don't worry about us back here, we'll do our part." Fitz reached into the pocket of his coat, producing a small, bronze, egg-shaped item. "This is the data core. Find one in the repair bay, swap it with this one, and our virus will do the rest. Good luck, both of you." Fitz gave her a pat on the shoulder before turning and running back to the back of the plane. Sunset watched him and the rest of the agents were pile into the humvee before driving out of sight. Penn tapped a panel on the side of the storage container, opening the doors.

"Ready, Sunset?"

Sunset grinned and ran inside, grabbing the hastily-installed joystick that served as the controls.

"I should be asking you the same thing! At least I was awake during the debriefing!"

Penn rolled his eyes and tossed aside the empty energy drink in his hand.

"I'm good! In that case... let's go save the world!"

Sunset grinned and flicked a switch, activating the hoverskirt and lifting the container into the air. With a gentle push of the joystick, the ground fell away from beneath them and they were on their way.

"Ever been to outer space before?" Penn asked, staring out the window. After a few seconds he backed away and made a concerted effort to stare at the walls and floor around them.

"Nope. You?"

"Do daydreams count?"

Sunset chuckled. A quick glance at the GPS showed they were off-course. A small adjustment later, they were back on course. "Guess that makes this a new experience for both of us?"

Penn nodded, staring wide-eyed out the front window. Sunset noticed a small tremor in his hands.

"Is now a bad time to mention I'm scared of heights? And dying in the cold vacuum of space? In all of the excitement, I kinda forgot."

"Oh! That's actually a common misconception! Vacuum can't have a temperature! What's cold are the extremely thin gases spread throughout, which are usually only about three degrees above absolute zero, and..." Sunset glanced over to see Penn keeping a death grip on the handles fixed to the walls, eyes wide and face pale. "And I'm not really helping, am I?" Penn shook his head.

"Well, let's put it this way: I am VERY good at this. That's why we were up until almost midnight last night! I'm not going to fly us into anything. We'll make it there safely. Once we do, you're the one I'm counting on to keep us safe! Each of us relies on the other, it's fair!" A quick glance at the GPS showed that they were almost on top of their target. Sunset looked up at the sky, trying to spot the rift.

She nearly missed it, at first. It was a shimmer in the air, like the heat coming off of a road on a broiling summer day. She could feel the energy coming off of it like the sun on her face, bypassing walls and barriers to tingle directly on her skin. The GPS began to beep softly, indicating that they had arrived. She turned and glanced at Penn, taking a deep breath of her own.

"Only one way to save the planet... you ready?"

Penn tore himself away from the wall and joined her at the front window, looking up at the portal.

"Not really, but we're going anyway... Allon-sy, I suppose..."

Sunset nodded and flipped the hoverskirt switch a second time, propelling them upwards.

This portal wasn't like the one between CHS and Equestria. It felt gentler, like stepping out the door of a building and into the outdoors. If she hadn't been paying attention, she might not have even noticed that they had transitioned into another world.

Fortunately, she WAS paying attention, because outer space was not a sight she would have wanted to miss. It was as if the absolute clearest and most beautiful night sky to ever exist had been taken and layered on top of itself a dozen times over, then copied over to cover every inch of her vision. Far away, great clouds and nebulas light-years across billowed and rolled across the heavens, auroras of color and light that seemed to sing with wonder and majesty. Sunset felt like she was peering into the heart of the cosmos, ready at any moment for some deep wisdom to fill her mind. Rather than some all-knowing voice of the stars, however, she was gifted only the sight of the Dalek ships coming into view. It was only now that she could really get a feel for how colossal they were, towering in the distance and dwarfing their tiny little box. She swallowed loudly and began to press forward on the joystick, driving them onward and deeper into space.

"Wow..." Penn whispered from behind her. Sunset could only nod in agreement. Penn reached up and pressed his finger to his ear with the communicator. "Coulson? We're through..."

"Good job. Everything is going well on our end, the team's taken out their first scout and split into two teams. Everything is going according to our timetable. Press on." Coulson's voice declared in Sunset's ear. She tried not to flinch at the volume of it, and made a note to ask later about turning down the decibels.

There were blissfully few obstacles to avoid as they drew in closer and closer to the alien armada. Soon, they were less than a hundred meters from the closest of the dalek ships.

"Penn? What exactly was our way in?" Sunset whispered. Almost on cue, a panel on the side of the ship opened. It looked to be about Dalek-sized, but Sunset could tell that she'd be able to get the container through with careful piloting.

"I guess that question answered itself."

Sunset pushed the joystick forward, bringing them right up to the opening. She could hear Penn sucking in his breath through his teeth.

So much for a vote of confidence...

She unwrapped her fingers from around the controls, giving them only the lightest brush with her fingertips. Meticulously, the container slid through the passage and into the room beyond. When she was certain they had cleared the entrance, Sunset reached over and flicked the switch for the hoverskirt, bringing the container down with a clang of metal-on-metal. The door slid shut behind them, followed by the sound of air rushing into the room outside. Behind her, Penn finally released the breath he had been holding, taking deep gulps of oxygen from the room around them.

"D-do you think we should open one of the oxygen containers they left us? I'm feeling kinda woozy..." he muttered, staggering to his feet.

Sunset smiled and folded her arms over her chest.

"I feel just fine. Told you I was good at this!"

Penn nodded, bending over and grabbing one of the steel containers, anyway.

"There haven't been many episodes showing the inside of Dalek ships, but every one we HAVE seen has shown them to have a breathable atmosphere... Still, we should keep this ready, just in case."

Sunset nodded, walking to the other side of the container and hovering her hand above the sensor for the door. She exchange a nervous glance with Penn, who tightened his grip on the O2 tank and nodded. Sunset exhaled, emptying every drop of air from her lungs, and pressed the button. The doors slid open. Sunset's heart skipped a beat as she felt a difference in pressure between the two rooms pull a chunk of air out of their room, but by the time her ears had popped to accommodate they had already equalized. She glanced over at Penn, who seemed to be watching her with equal trepidation. Each of them was waiting for the other to take the first breath of alien air. Finally, she watched him let out a long sigh, then inhale deeply from the new air. His face scrunched up in displeasure, but he didn't panic immediately.

"Smells like tinfoil, but I think it's safe..."

Sunset took a deep breath. She didn't get the tinfoil scent that he claimed, but the air did smell... clean. She was standing on an alien spaceship, and there was no smell at all to the air. It was just... air.

"Why is there breathable air on a ship of alien war machines?" she whispered.

"Skaro had a breathable atmosphere, I guess it's tradition? Saves on energy for individual life support? I don't know..." Penn muttered. He reached into his pocket, unfolding a copy of the map Skye had gleaned from the data core.

Sunset did NOT like the individual she was entrusting with her life to shrugging off the question of how they could breathe, but Penn stepped out of the box and towards a door leading out of the airlock they had landed in.

"Okay, this way to the repair shop..." he whispered, motioning for her to follow. Sunset took a deep breath and reached up to her ear.

"Agent Coulson? We made it on board."

"Great! You're doing great, Sunset. Remember, no unnecessary risks!"

Sunset nodded and stepped out of their container. This was no time to be afraid. She had a job to do, a planet to save!

Now if only I could get that message across to my hands so they'd stop trembling...

Penn stepped to the side of the door frame and waved his hand, activating the door and causing it to slide aside. He poked the tiniest sliver of his head through. After a moment, he nodded in affirmation.

"Coast is clear. Follow me..."

The two of them tread carefully down the hallway. Sunset tried her best to balance speed and silence, keeping her footsteps light and matching Penn's pace. Everything around them was bronze and black, dimly lit by blinking lights behind warped glass panes. The hallways went on and on for what felt like miles. Every second, her heart pounded with fear at the thought that a Dalek could come rolling out from behind one of the countless doors that they were passing and alert the entire ship to their presence. Just ahead of her, she could see Penn constantly mouthing out numbers for every door they passed, glancing back at the map every few seconds. At last, he drew up short and pressed himself against the wall beside one of the doors. Sunset followed suit, placing her back to the wall and trying to make herself as small as possible. Penn pressed his finger to his lips, then pointed to the door. Sunset nodded.

As if I needed encouragement to keep quiet...

Penn reached out and waved his hand in front of the door, causing it to slide open. Inch by inch, he eased his way out around the corner. With a sudden and frantic motion, he pulled himself back out of sight, chest heaving up and down as he repressed his urge to scream in surprise.

Sunset guessed that there had been a Dalek on the other side, and readied herself to run. To her surprise, however, the silence remained unbroken.

Did they not see him?

Penn appeared equally surprised. Sunset watched as he took a long, deep breath, then turned back to the door. Sunset grabbed at his shoulder, yanking him back before he could peer around the corner again. Penn turned and stared at her, eyes frantically searching for any other reason she could have panicked before settling on her face.

Are you CRAZY? She mouthed the words noiselessly.

Penn shook his head, then pointed to the doorway before holding one hand flat and tiptoeing his fingers across it.

We won't make it! Sunset shook her head. Penn held both hands up to either side of her head, blocking off the corners of her vision.

Tunnel vision... He mouthed, bringing his hands in closer until all that she could see was his face to demonstrate his point. It made sense. Only having a single eye surely left the Daleks with a terrible field of view, which explained why the head of the one they'd fought before had been able to swivel completely around.

Sunset shook her head, taking the map from his hands to look for another path. As much as she hated to admit it, the next passageway to the repair room was nearly half a mile farther down the hallway they were standing in. It would be a huge risk to try to travel that far undetected.

Are you sure? she mouthed.

Penn leaned back, taking another glance through the door. With a nod of certainty, he stepped away from Sunset and into the hallway, disappearing from sight. Sunset screwed her eyes shut, waiting for cries of "Intruder alert!" and "Exterminate!" But the silence that meant their safety only continued to endure. With no choice but to continue, Sunset stepped out of hiding and into the hallway.

Daleks lined the walls, crammed back to back and side by side. Each one of them had their plunger-like appendage connected to what looked like a computer terminal and were facing the walls, their eyestalks pointed straight ahead. Standing in the center of it all was Penn, inching his way through by standing sideways and slipping through the gap between their backs. Sunset's jaw dropped. She'd been in roomier spaces when the whole band had been crammed into the back of a minivan! One wrong move and there would only be Daleks to fall onto!

Guess I can't make one wrong move... Sunset thought to herself, swallowing her fear and taking her first step down the hallway. None of the Daleks noticed as she slipped her body between them, turning sideways to keep herself as narrow as possible. She silently prayed to whatever gods were left that the Daleks wouldn't hear her heart pounding away in her chest. At the end of the hallway, Penn had nearly cleared the last pair of Daleks. Sunset watched with anticipation as he extricated himself from the line, triumphantly holding a fist to the sky. Sunset smiled, elated as he proved that it was possible to make it through undetected. The moment's distraction, however, was enough to throw off her careful balance as one of her ankles began to buckle. Her whole body lurched to the left as she desperately swung her arms to keep her balance. Just as she regained control, she heard a soft blushing sound as her hair swung out and collided with the back of the Dalek behind her. Sunset's eyes widened and her head turned meticulously to the side, trying to glean any sign that the Dalek had noticed her presence.

The eyestalk began to turn. Sunset ducked, cramming her body as low to the floor as she could without losing her balance. The Dalek's head turned one hundred and eighty degrees and the eyestalk flicked up and down. Sunset held her breath. After several seconds, the Dalek's head rotated the rest of the way to swivel back to its work. Sunset waited another ten seconds, taking the opportunity to peer down at her parter. Penn had hidden behind the last Dalek in the line, which was still totally engrossed in... whatever it was these Daleks were doing. When she finally felt the moment had passed, Sunset continued down the line with twice the care she'd been taking before. It was slow, but relatively safer. Time continued crawling along at a pace as slow as her own, but Sunset finally reached the end of the line, where Penn was waiting with both hands clasped over his mouth. Sunset rolled her eyes and pointed to the door before stepping to the side to make sure she was out of sight of whatever was on the other side. Penn nodded and did the same thing before waving his hand. The door slid open, revealing another empty hallway. The two of them eagerly stepped through to safety, each letting go of a sigh of relief when the door slid shut.

ARE YOU OKAY? Penn mouthed the word with such enthusiasm, Sunset could practically hear it. She simply nodded, placing her hand on her chest to try and slow her racing heart. This new hallway only went one way, with no other entrances than they way they had come in and no exits other than the one they stood facing.

Sunset took a few deep breaths to steady herself before motioning for Penn to lead the way.

I still can't believe that worked... she thought to herself as they approached the next door.

The process repeated itself several times without complication. They would approach a door, Penn would make sure the coast was clear, and they would silently slink through to the next hallway. Finally, they came to a stop outside an archway wider and taller than any door they'd seen so far. Penn grinned and pointed gleefully to their map: they were standing right outside the repair station. Penn peeked around the corner, motioning for Sunset to wait. Once again, he retracted violently backwards. At the same moment, a Dalek came rolling out of the room, passing directly by them with its gaze fixed straight ahead. Sunset moved one of her hands up to her mouth to repress a scream as it passed by close enough for her to have reached out and touched it with her hand.

In this moment, everything came down to which way the Dalek would turn. Their lives were in the hands of fate.

That was when she felt Penn's hand grab hers and pull hard. In less than a second, they had both thrown themselves around the doorway's edge and inside the room, hiding on the other side of the same wall. Sunset watched in horror as the Dalek turned in the direction they had come from and drove away.

If we'd stayed there, it would have seen us!

A glance to her side revealed Penn had let go of her hand and stumbled to the corner of the room, where he had collapsed to the floor in a way that made it look as if his knees had given out beneath him. All color was gone from his face and his chest was heaving up and down as he hyperventilated from the shock of what had just happened. Sunset moved towards him, but he simply held up a hand for her to stop, pointed to his eye, then rotated his finger in a circle. Sunset understood the meaning: look around.

The room was definitely different from any other she had seen on the ship: she was tempted to classify it as "messy." Broken and half-disassembled Daleks were all over the room. The majority appeared inactive, though Sunset could see at least three with glowing light still behind their eyestalks, but all three of them were without their guns. The lights on top of one's head were blinking on and off at a rapid pace, as if it were talking but no sound was coming out. Another turned its head to stare at her, but otherwise didn't react. The plating at the front of this one was open, revealing only an empty cavity where the organic creature should have been. The third one was different from the rest: painted with a white body instead of the standard bronze and bright gold accents. Half of the spheres on the bottom half were missing, along with the gun and at least three of the armor panels. It looked as if something organic had taken a bite out of the top half, leaving it with only the left side of its upper body and a cracked eye.

In this case, I'd say silence is golden. Nothing shouting "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" is music to my ears! she thought to herself as she made her way up to the open-fronted Dalek and began to examine it. She reached inside her pocket, retrieving the modified data core. She examined the item in her hand, then the insides of the Dalek. She frowned as her search came up fruitless. There was no sign of a data core to replace in this one. She turned back to Penn from across the room, shrugging her shoulders. With no lack of strain, Penn staggered to his feet and crossed the room. He glanced at the inside for a moment, then mimed the act of snapping his fingers. With a careful grasp of the eyestalk, he pulled the front of the head downwards. In an almost comical manner, the top of the Dalek popped off on the other side like a bottle cap. Sunset rushed around to the other side, peering in from above. In the center of the Dalek's head was a pillar with the data core sitting on top. Sunset grinned and reached inside, plucking the device from its place. With her other hand, he carefully placed their modified version where the old one had been. The machinery gave a satisfied click and a hum as a three-part case folded up around the data core and retracted into its proper place. Sunset stepped away as Penn released his grip, letting the top of the Dalek click back into place.

"REPAIRS COMPLETE! NEW DATA CORE AC-CEPT-ED!" the empty Dalek announced.

Sunset and Penn looked at once another. Penn's delighted grin was all the confirmation Sunset needed that their mission was completed. Penn pointed to his ear with the communicator, mouthing the words Call it in? Sunset shook her head, drawing her fingers across her lips in the motion of a zipper. Penn nodded and pointed towards the open doorway, and Sunset nodded in agreement. It was time to go.

The two of them tiptoed across the room and back up against the wall. Penn peeked around the corner, smiled, and motioned for Sunset to follow. As they made their way back towards their spaceship-box, Sunset took extra care to monitor her own actions. This was the most dangerous part of any task: the home stretch. This was where people got sloppy. Together, the two of them made their way back through empty hallway after empty hallway until they were standing in a hallways she remembered too well. The next room was the one where they had nearly been caught. Penn paused before he opened the doorway, nodding to the closed door and mouthing You ready?

Sunset took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She had made a mistake last time. This time, she would be perfect. She steeled her gaze, looked directly into Penn's eyes, and nodded.

It was at that moment that the door on the other end of the hallway opened of its own accord, revealing a Dalek staring directly at them. Even the Dalek seemed surprised, backing off slightly. It took less than a second to recover, however, rolling towards them at what Sunset could only assume was its maximum ground speed.

"INTRUDERS DETECTED! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

What happened next was a blur for Sunset. It was as if time slowed to a crawl. She saw the blast of light leave the Dalek's gun, pointed directly at Penn. She felt panic well up in her, only to suddenly be replaced by an overwhelming peace, a moment of "zen" among the tides of hysteria. She felt something in her hand, her thumb pressed up against a switch. She knew where the blast was going. She knew where it would be. Where she could send it. Sunset Shimmer made her move and pushed the switch.

The blast ricocheted back down the hallway and straight down the Dalek's eyestalk, blowing it to smithereens. Sunset heard the hum of plasma and looked down into her hand.

It was the empty handle from the hardware store. She didn't even remember reaching down to grab it from her belt, but it was there in her hand. Now, however, the handle was no longer empty. A long blade of red light had extended from the hilt, humming with power as Sunset held it at a protective angle between the Dalek and Penn's body. Penn's eyes were wide with shock as he pressed himself to the wall.

"IS THAT A LIGHTSABER?" he screamed, shattering the silence that the two of them had kept since they'd boarded the ship. Before Sunset could even attempt to answer, the lights in the ship turned red and the voice of a Dalek rang across unseen speakers.

"A-LERT! A-LERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED! MAXIMUM EXTERMINATION!"

Sunset shook her head and waved her hand at the motion sensor, opening the door in front of them.

"No time! COME ON!" She grabbed Penn's hand and yanked him into the next room. There was no attempt to be sneaky this time, Sunset could see that the Daleks in this room were disconnecting themselves from their tasks. Instead they two of them barreled down the center of the line at top speed, trying to get through before the Daleks even knew they were there. Sunset felt a single beam fly past her shoulder as they rounded the corner and thanked the heavens that these Daleks appeared to have awful aim.

"Coulson! We got the data core planted, but we've been made! We're going to be coming in hot!" Penn shouted, using his free hand to activate his earpiece.

"Get out of there, NOW! We just wiped out the last of the scouts, we'll all be waiting to cover your exit on this side!"

Sunset took what comfort she could from the statement. Now what mattered most was to get out alive and back to Earth. Their team would have her back covered from here. Suddenly, she felt a jerk on her arm that nearly pulled it out of its socket.

"Sunset, here! It's THIS door!" Penn shouted, pulling her to the side and waving at the sensor frantically. The door opened, revealing the most welcoming ramshackle spacecraft Sunset had ever seen.

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" a voice came from ahead of them, and Sunset felt a powerful shove on her back. She stumbled forward and into the airlock, switching the plasma sword back off to avoid impaling herself. Her momentum carried her into the room and through the doors of the container, only barely managing to catch herself on the control panel.

The doors of the container slammed shut and the hoverskirt activated on its own, which appeared to activate the outside door automatically.

"What? NO, STOP!" Sunset began to frantically scramble for the controls with her left hand, only to find them unresponsive. Realization dawned on her as she slowly lifted her right hand, trembling and quaking with fear.

She had pressed the red button. The ship was auto-piloting itself back to Earth.

"NO! NO NO NO NO!" She screamed, repeatedly pulling on the joystick to try and turn herself around, only for it to snap off of the control panel in her hand. With tears in her eyes she reached up to her earpiece.

"I- I tripped! I tripped and hit the red button and nowIcan'tturnitaroundandPENNISSTILLINTHEREHELPMEPLEASE!"

"You WHAT?" Coulson's voice came back. "Sunset, you need to talk more slowly, I can't understand you!

"The box took off without me, Coulson..." Penn's voice replied, breathless and on the verge of cracking. "I- I managed to lock myself in another airlock, but it won't be long until they figure out where I'm hiding..."

"Penn, I'm SORRY!" Sunset tried to hold back a sob as the box piloted itself further and further from the ship. "I didn't mean to!"

"Don't worry about it... accidents happen, right? I pushed you too hard." Penn's voice held a terrifying resignation to it.

"Penn, you're the expert, TELL ME there's another way off that ship!" Coulson demanded.

"Coulson, Daleks ARE spaceships, they don't NEED escape pods. I could try to find a teleport or a transmat or something, but I don't know what they look like or how to use them, it'd be a shot in the dark! The only thing that gets off a Dalek ship alive is a-" Penn's words cut off suddenly, and Sunset felt fear for the worst race through her.

"Penn? PENN?"

"I have an idea. You go on ahead, Sunny. I'll find my own way."

"Penn? Penn, please don't go!" Sunset was overwhelmed by a wave of exhaustion as her head felt like it was spinning. She slumped against the wall of the container as darkness crawled into the corners of her vision. "Please... I don't want to be alone again..."

As the world outside faded to black, Sunset Shimmer was alone, floating through the not-technically-cold vacuum of space by herself because she'd ruined the life of another friend she didn't deserve. Coulson's voice was chattering away in her ear, but it quickly grew softer and softer as it proved itself unable to follow her into unconsciousness.

"Fitz! I need you to be ready to pilot that thing back! Ward! May! Grab... guns... I'll... operation... save..."

Penn yanked the earpiece out of his ear and stuffed it into his pocket. His brain was running a mile a minute and he couldn't afford to trip up, mentally or physically.

Forty-five! Fourty-six! Fourty-SEVEN! he counted off the doors and leaped into the hallway, pushing and shoving his way through the crowded Daleks in the hall. He felt dull pains all over his shoulders and limbs as his speed sent him bouncing off of metal body after metal body, but no searing hot pain of a laser blast. He kept going, sliding his way under the door to avoid waiting for it to open entirely.

Help is coming, why risk all of this? Find a place to hide and stay there! the voice of Reason ordered.

SHIELD is good, but they're not "Dalek Mothership Rescue" good. Besides, what if one of them is killed? They're in the first half of the first season at BEST, what happens to the rest and the other four seasons? Paradox! I HAVE to get back on my own! Penn replied to himself as he blew past the Dalek Sunset had killed with the random lightsaber. He would have to think about THAT set of questions later.

Twelve doors down right, down two halls, and back thirty-two more doors, followed by four more halls and sixteen more doors! If you stop sprinting and take it slow, you CAN sneak your way there! Take your time! Reason commanded.

They probably have some kind of scanning technology they can use to find me, slowing down means death! Just have an awful lot of running to do! Penn retorted as he leaned into his next turn and began counting off doors as fast as he could. Thanks for remembering the way!

At the mention of the title, he could hear the opening guitar strums of Chameleon Circuit's song, "An Awful Lot of Running." He reached up and pounded his palm against his temple to kick the mental jukebox.

No time for songs, unless they're fast! Fast- gotta go faster! he pushed his legs harder and faster, trying to ignore the Sonic X theme that had begun playing in the back of his head. It was serviceable.

You have no idea how to do what you're planning on doing! This is just as much a shot in the dark as trying to find a teleport! Reason shouted.

Well, I KNOW where to find this one! Now do me a favor and pull up our memories of "The Witch's Familiar!" Season 9-

SERIES Nine- Reason corrected.

SERIES 9, episode two!

Penn's lungs were beginning to burn and he could taste phlegm rising up from the back of his throat.

You are NOT an endurance runner. You should save your strength for when you're being shot at-

"EX-TERMINATE!" a blue-and-silver Dalek shouted as it slid out from a door in front of them. Penn dove to the side, barely avoiding being shot and driving his already-sore shoulder into the wall as he rebounded off and tried to regain his former pace. He could feel a familiar tightness in his chest binding his breathing.

You go on a quest to find the Rainbooms across time and space and don't think to put your inhaler in your pocket? Reason chided.

You know, you are NOT being helpful right now! Penn thought as he staggered his way back into the repair room. He reached down into his pocket, retrieving a small multi-tool. It was no sonic screwdriver, but it serve his purposes just fine. So do something nice, and tell me which wire I need to cut!

He closed his eyes, trying to recall the episode. He could see bits and pieces as he sorted through the unimportant details, finally reaching the scene he was looking for. He could SEE it, but he couldn't be sure where it was or which one.

You can't do this, it won't work! The odds of cutting the right wire are-

If a disarmed crazy time lady with a pointed stick can do it, so can I! Penn cut off Reason's whining and reached up into the empty Dalek, yanking out a wire that matched his memory. So shut up and pray, already!

All of this wouldn't be necessary if your cards had worked... You're not worthy. You're weak. You're not doing it right. You screwed up. It's your own fault you're stuck here and going to die. Reason gave way to Depression, and Penn shoved them both to the back of his mind to be tormented by the Sonic X theme on repeat. He'd gotten what he needed. Now all he needed was faith. He snipped the wire in two with the pocket tool and shoved it back into his pants before seating himself amid all of the assorted machinery and electronics of the Dalek.

"My cards might not be real, but let's see if I can't pull off a little banned spell, anyway..." he muttered, pressing the tips of the wires against his temples. Shooting, stabbing pain came from both sides of his head, leaving him in a blur. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a blurry bronze shape coming into view.

"EX-"

Run away!

"TER-"

It didn't work!

"MIN-"

You can't die! I need you, too!

"ATE!"

In that moment, caught between a chance at survival and the certainty of death, another voice started talking: a memory of only a few minutes ago.

"Please... I don't want to be alone again..."

Every sense sharpened as fear was overwhelmed by outrage. His friend thought that he had left her alone in the universe. That he had abandoned her. That... was unacceptable.

Penn's gun fired first, obliterating the other Dalek. The armored plating slid into its proper place and his view of the outside world was reduced to a blue-tinted display of a fish-eye lens.

"Well, whaddya know? I activated the spell card 'Change of Heart!'"

You are such a nerd. Reason chided.

Penn took it as a compliment.

And was the Sonic X theme SERIOUSLY STILL STUCK IN HIS HEAD AFTER SOMETHING SO COOL JUST HAPPENED?

"Sunset? Sunset, wake up!"

Sunset cracked her eyes open, finding herself staring into the face of Agent Coulson, who gave her a relieved smile.

"Thank goodness you're awake. Welcome home, Agent."

Sunset glanced around, trying to understand where she was. She was still in the container, but the doors were wide open, revealing the dead grass of West Texas. Coulson was knelt on the ground beside her, one hand on her shoulder to keep her in a sitting position in the corner.

"Simmons! Get over here and make sure she's okay!"

Almost instantly Jemma came through the doors, kneeling beside Coulson and shining a light into her eyes. Sunset flinched away from the bright spot, but it was quickly switched off and replaced by a hand on her forehead.

"Proper light response from the pupils, no sign of a fever... Sunset, do you think you can walk?"

Sunset gave her legs an experimental kick. They seemed responsive enough.

"Y-yeah..."

"Okay, good! That's good!" Coulson encouraged as he and Jemma each put a hand under one of her shoulders and lifted her to her feet, draping her arms across two sets of shoulders. Seconds later she was back outside in the fresh air and blistering sunshine. As her blood began to flow a little faster to her brain, Sunset realized what had made her pass out, to begin with.

"PENN! Where's Penn? Did you get him? Is he safe?"

Simmons frowned and glanced up at Coulson. Coulson didn't look at Sunset, keeping his eyes locked straight ahead.

"That's our next mission. Fitz is already working on repairing the controls. We have weapons that can kill these things, we can send Ward and May in for an armed extraction." Sunset felt an attempt at a reassuring pat on the back that wasn't very reassuring.

"We'll find him, I promise."

Sunset shook herself free of their shoulders and reached to her belt, feeling the empty hilt back in its proper place. She raised her hand to her forehead in a loyal salute.

"Then I'm ready for the next mission, sir."

Coulson looked confused while Simmons's jaw dropped in shock.

"Y-you're joking, right?" Simmons asked. "You're not in any condition to go back out there!"

"The whole reason I'm IN good condition is because Penn pushed me out of the way of an attack! I never got hurt! I'm ready to go back in and save him!" She reached down to her belt, grabbing the empty hilt and flicking the switch. Once again,the blade of red light jumped out, prepared to slice through anything she turned it on. Coulson's eyes grew wide.

"Is that a REAL-LIFE LIGHTSABER?"

"Incoming!" Agent May's voice shouted. High above them, a Dalek appeared from the portal, only to be blasted to pieces by a laser blast from the ground.

Agent Ward approached from the side, holding one of the Dalek guns in his hand. "We've been blowing these things out of the sky ever since we got back, I think they've been trying to follow you- is that a lightsaber?" he asked, pointing at the sword.

Sunset was starting to get the idea that this thing was called a "lightsaber."

"Another one!" May shouted, opening fire. This time, however, the blast wasn't enough to destroy the Dalek, knocking it off of its path and sending it spiraling to the ground in a trail of smoke.

"I think that one survived..." Simmons whispered.

"Hold your fire! Maybe if we take this one alive, we can trade it for our man! Or at least get some information out of it!" Coulson called. Everyone rushed to the crater where the Dalek had landed. It was still smoking from a large hole near the top of the dome, exposed wires sparking and arcing inside. Ward and May both kept their guns trained on it, ready to fire at a moment's notice as Simmons, Sunset and Coulson caught up.

Staring down at the monster, Sunset couldn't contain her disgust. Penn had been right: these things were the antithesis of everything she and her friends stood for, and now they had taken her new friend away from her.

"My name is Agent Philip Coulson, I represent the Strategic Homeland Intervention Logistics Division," Coulson announced with practiced ease. "You are being held as a member of an invading alien force and we ARE authorized to use lethal force! State your name, species, and intent!"

"I AM A DALEK! I AM A DALEK! I HAVE COME... TO SEE... THE END OF DAY!" The Dalek seemed to be struggling to say anything outside of its normal one-word vocabulary of "Exterminate."

"End of days? Are Daleks religious? Could there be a theological connotation?" Simmons pondered, hiding slightly behind Coulson.

"It's a machine and it's broken. It's not going to make sense." Agent Ward took aim. "I say we eliminate the threat and get ready to send in the extraction team as planned."

Coulson took a deep breath, then nodded.

"Do it. We can't waste time."

Sunset couldn't say she wasn't happy with the decision.

"END OF THE DAY! MERCY! END OF THE DAY! MERCY! MERCY!" the Dalek began to repeat over and over.

End of the day? What's so special about he end of the-

Deep, deep in Sunset's mind, something clicked.

"WAIT!" She jumped up and shove the barrel of Ward's gun up, firing it harmlessly into the air. She positioned herself in front of the Dalek, blocking any more potential shots with her own body.

"Sunset, what are you DOING?" Coulson shouted. "Get away from that thing, it'll kill you!"

"I figured it out! 'End of the day!' What happens at the end of the day?" she urged, pleading with them to understand.

The other agents looked at one another in confusion, but Simmons's eyes went wide.

"The end of the day is SUNSET! Oh my word, it's calling your name!"

Behind her, Sunset heard the hiss of pressurized air escaping. Looking down, she watched the armor plating of the Dalek expand and part, revealing a familiar face sitting inside. He was thoroughly covered in bruises and had trickles of blood running from the places two wires connected to his head, but it was unmistakably Penn.

"Itsh me..." he mumbled, his eyes rolling back into his head as he passed out.

"I AM A DALEK!" shouted the Dalek.

"PENN!" Sunset leaped down into the crater, examining him from head to toe. He was in sorry shape, completely unconscious, but still breathing. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"Simmons, go wake up Fitz. I get the feeling it's going to take both of you to get him out of there..." Coulson whispered.

"Right away, sir!"

"Well, I'll admit it... I'm impressed." Ward muttered, lowering the gun for good. "Wiring himself inside one of those things to get home? Just when you think you've seen everything on this job..."

Sunset wasn't listening. She was just happy to have one of her friends back.

On the Road Again

"Uuuurgh..."

Sunset's head snapped up from the book she was trying to read. She rushed out of her seat and across the room to the bunk where the sound was coming from.

Once they'd managed to extract him from the Dalek, they'd laid him down in one of the bunks to rest. It had been nearly eight hours that she had been waiting for him to wake up. Outside, the world was growing dark as the sun fell beyond the horizon. Sunset rushed up to the door of the bunk, only to stop herself from slamming the door open. Startling Penn was likely the last thing she wanted to do. She rapped her knuckles twice against the door before pulling it aside with an excruciating level of self-control.

Penn's face was half-covered in mottled black and blue bruises, and a healthy-sized welt on his forehead. His exposed arms were equally battered, with wrappings on his left forearm and right upper arm where he had been slashed by the Dalek's interior mechanisms in the crash.

"Hey... are you okay?"

Penn made a feeble-looking attempt to sit up, mostly resulting in his head lifting slightly off the pillow. A second later his expression twisted into a grimace of pain and he fell back onto his pillow.

"My... everything hurts." he groaned.

"Simmons patched you up as best she could, but we didn't want to risk trying to move you to a hospital." Sunset carefully sat herself on the edge of the bed. "Penn, this is my-"

"Sunset..." his voice descended into a growl. Sunset didn't flinch, but she braced herself for whatever punishment was coming. She knew she deserved it.

"I have neither the patience nor the energy... to deal with your self-loathing." Penn grumpily made a halfhearted attempt to punch at her thigh, only to hiss through his teeth as the impact hurt himself more than her. After a few seconds, the pain seemed to recede enough for him to talk again. "Blame yourself one more time and I'll... I'll..." he let out a long sigh. "I'll... draw a blank on clever references to make."

Despite the situation, Sunset felt laughter beginning to bubble up from deep inside. She managed to keep herself from bursting into chuckles out of respect for his situation, but she did feel the weight on her shoulders lift a bit.

"I mean, seriously, how do you threaten somebody who's powered by 'the magic of friendship?'" He let out a weak chuckle, then shakily raised his hand towards her. "Now... help me up, would you?"

Sunset's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at his offered hand.

"You're kidding, right?"

Penn rolled his eyes.

"This is a REALLY uncomfortable bed. I want to go home and get in mine."

Sunset frowned. "You shouldn't even be moving right now. In good conscience, I couldn't-"

"Ha." Penn's offered hand shifted into a accusatory finger. "You DO still have a good conscience!"

Sunset blinked, not following his logic. "What?"

"Well, a good conscience means that, deep down, you KNOW you're not guilty!" Penn flashed her a weak grin and winked with his non-bruised eye. "Now, use that clear conscience to help me get up!"

That logic was almost Pinkie-Pie-levels of twisted.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "You know that wasn't what I meant by 'in good conscience.' And I'm still not moving you anywhere until Simmons gives you the all-clear. You fell out of the sky in a glorified tin can hard enough to leave a crater!"

Penn flashed her a cocky smirk.

"I survived all of that and you think standing up will kill me?"

Sunset slapped her palm against her forehead.

"Would you just be reasonable? Act your age!"

Penn took his turn to roll his eyes.

"Well, I WOULD ask for a book, but all my books are in my car. You know, the car we left behind because you wanted to ride in the fancy armored vehicle?"

Sunset sighed.

"There's plenty of books on this plane. Any requests?"

Penn pondered the question for a few seconds. "Fablehaven. Or Eragon! Eragon is one of my favorites! Anything with dragons in it, really. The Fire Within! The Dragon Rider! Oh, that author, Cornelia Funke, also wrote this AWESOME book called Inkheart! You've gotta read it!"

Sunset chuckled and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"I'm sure I can find one of those. Be back in a sec."

"Thanks, Sunset."

Sunset nodded and stood up from the bed, sliding the door shut behind her. The truth was that most of the reading materials on the plane were technical manuals and protocol guidelines. Trying to track down anything more interesting than an encyclopedia was her mission for three of the eight hours he'd been asleep, all fruitless. But if it was enough to keep him from getting up and hurting herself, she was willing to try again.

Before she could start on her search, however, Coulson stepped through the door. He glanced at the still-shut door of Penn's temporary bunk and leaned in to whisper.

"So, how's he doing?"

Sunset smiled.

"Antsy. Thinks he can walk it off. I think Simmons did too good of a job!" The two of them spared a moment to chuckle. "I told him I'd find something for him to read if he'd stay put."

"Did he ask for anything in particular? Maybe we could track it down together?" Sunset could see right through Coulson, judging by the way he kept stealing glances at her belt.

"You want to see the lightsaber again, don't you?"

"Please?"

Sunset sighed, beginning to reach for the device, only to pause. She had an idea.

"Does SHIELD have any way to get Penn's car here? He seemed pretty upset about leaving it behind."

"Sunset, we're a secret government organization with advanced technology and deep pockets. Of course we can move an Oldsmobile a few miles!"

Sunset smiled and reached down to her belt, handing the handle to Coulson.

"I want it back after five minutes. All of Penn's favorite books are in his car. Think you can make it happen?"

Coulson held the saber with an almost reverent air before raising one hand up to his ear.

"Ward? Go get Penn's car, would you? Take one of the controller units and have it follow you back. We think he might have left... something important in the trunk. Thank you." After a moment, Coulson grinned and pressed the button on the hilt, causing the bright red blade to emerge.

"Not as random or as clumsy as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more... civilized age," he whispered.

Sunset knew an opportunity to get free information when she saw it. "So... what is it, exactly? You and Penn both recognized it, but I honestly have no idea what it is."

Coulson stared at her in disbelief as he swung the weapon from side to side. As it traveled through the air, the blade's hum increased and decreased in pitch to match its speed.

"What is it? Only one of the best weapons in all of science fiction! It's the weapon of a Jedi Knight, peacekeepers from a long time ago... in a galaxy far, far away..." Coulson replied as he swung the tip in a small circle. "It can cut through almost anything like butter, leave any wound it inflicts perfectly cauterized and even deflect blaster bolts and energy weapons!" He paused for a moment, bringing the blade dangerously close to his face to stare directly at it.

"Although... the color worries me a bit. Jedi don't use red lightsabers." He gave Sunset a wary glance. "You said you just... found this? In the hardware store where you fought the first Dalek?" Sunset nodded.

"It felt like it was calling out to me. It just felt right in my hand. But if those 'Jedi' don't use red lightsabers, who DOES?"

"Sith. They're Jedi who embraced the dark side of their powers, gave in to fear and hatred."

Sunset felt herself cringe.

"So... the bad guys?"

"Yeah. So bad, only two could ever manage to work together at a time, master and student! And the student always killed the master, in the end."

It figured. All of her friends had forgiven her, along with the whole of CHS and even Princess Celestia, herself! But it looked like the universe itself still hadn't forgotten about her past. There was still some part of fate that designated her as "evil," no matter how much she changed.

"B-but the color suits you! It matches your hair! And your complexion!" Coulson seemed to notice her hurt feelings and began to quickly backpedal on his statement. After his corrections fell flat, he sighed and switched the blade back off again before handing it back to her.

"Sunset, look. No matter what the color, it's just a tool. The blade might have a past with someone else, but what really matters is what you choose to do with it today. You said that you managed to save Penn from a Dalek with it, right? A Sith would have just saved their own lousy hide and run for it."

Sunset gripped the handle tight. Despite knowing that it was a weapon that had most likely been used for evil in the past, it still felt right for her, as if it had been made specifically for her hand. She wasn't sure whether that was good or bad, any more, but it was what it was. Whatever kind of statement the universe was trying to make about her, she wasn't buying it.

Besides, Rarity would be devastated if she found out Sunset had thrown away an accessory that was both life-savingly practical AND complimented her outfit.

"Thanks, Agent Coulson. I appreciate it."

Sunset heard the light rustling of a sliding door moving, and both of them turned to see Penn,standing shakily on his feet, mid-escape. He seemed equally surprised to see them, smiling and awkwardly chuckling.

"Whoops."

Sunset and Coulson glanced at one another. Sunset nodded towards her friend, leaving the matter to the superior officer. Coulson rolled his eyes before walking over and looping Penn's arm around his shoulder.

"You know, last time somebody went through what you did, he was out eating shawarma about fifteen minutes later. You were out cold for eight hours, so you've got to be hungry, right?"

"Starving!"

As Coulson and Penn walked away, Sunset noticed Skye sitting in the corner. After a moment, she walked over and took a seat beside her, letting out a long sigh.

"Agent Coulson's a pretty nice guy."

Skye nodded. "I wouldn't be sticking around here with a bunch of government suits if he wasn't. Coulson dragged me out of my van to help him track down someone with powers, it wasn't exactly what I'd call a good first impression. But after that guy started to lose control and was about to literally explode, Coulson risked his life to talk him down. For a member of a faceless government organization with little to no restrictions, he's surprisingly... human. After that, I decided to stick around for a while, lend help where I could if they were planning to keep protecting people. So far, they haven't let me down."

"Reminds me of my friends back home." Sunset smiled and reached up to her geode. "I used to be... pretty awful. I thought friends were for people too weak to get anything done on their own. I only focused on gathering my own power, even it was only enough to dominate a school. Things got so far out of hand that I... almost made an awful mistake. I nearly hurt people in a way that I couldn't ever take back. But then they all came together and showed that their friendship was stronger than anything I could become on my own! And when I was beaten, they offered me their hands and let me be a part of it. They changed my life! We've all been like family ever since, totally inseparable... Until now."

Skye reached over and gripped Sunset's shoulder.

"And now I don't even know what happened to them in all this madness, and it's all my fault! I dragged Penn into this and he got hurt, almost KILLED! I just... I messed up. Worse than I ever have before. And now I don't know if I can fix it."

"Well, I'm not exactly an expert on friends, I've always been pretty alone, but... if there's anything I've learned around here, it's that even if you made a mess yourself, real friends won't leave you to fix it alone. Wherever they are, I'm absolutely sure that they're looking just as hard for you as you are for them. The important thing is not to give up."

Sunset hadn't thought of that. Somewhere, Applejack was probably fighting just as hard to find her. Fluttershy was certainly out there braving her fears for her friends. Rainbow Dash's one-track mind probably hadn't even noticed the multiverse being broken. Rarity and Twilight had probably already come up with their own plans to track her down! Sunset smiled as she envisioned Pinkie's madness spreading across other worlds in her own frantic search.

Her friends were OUT THERE. And they were all searching for each other at once. That love and enthusiasm, combined with the bond of their friendship and the Elements of Harmony, made it impossible that they would fail to find each other. That was first certainty Sunset had felt since this insanity began, and it formed a bedrock under her feet.

"Thanks, Skye..." She smiled and rose to her feet and tightened her fists with determination. "I promise, I'll never give up!"

"Hel-LOOO beautiful!" Penn rushed forward and practically threw himself onto the driver's-side door of his car, wrapping his arms around what little of it he could reach. "Oh, I missed you!"

Sunset chuckled. Somehow, she could imagine that this was what happened EVERY time Penn spent an extended period of time away from home. With a long sigh of relief, he yanked the door open and collapsed into the seat.

"Now I can stay put and rest..."

"Boys and cars..." Skye chuckled to herself as she walked up beside Sunset. "What's with that, anyway? Like, I've met guys who seemed to love their cars more than their girlfriends, and people just act like that's normal!"

Sunset shrugged. She could remember many a long evening when Flash Sentry had insisted on covering himself in dirt and grime for the sake of his ridiculous "muscle car." While working on their tour bus with the rest of the Rainbooms had felt pretty rewarding, she didn't feel like she'd needed to kiss the thing when she was finished. "My ex-boyfriend used to spend a lot of time on his car. It always seemed like there was something that needed fixing or tuning up. I didn't care too much, it kept him out of trouble."

And out of the way of my bullying...

Penn cleared his throat, catching both of their attention.

"That's because my car also puts bread on the table, and it has for two years! Without it, I'd have been out of a job! I take care of her and she takes care of me!"

Skye raised an eyebrow in surprise, but Sunset simply shrugged. It didn't make a lot of sense to her to treat a machine like it was alive, but maybe that was just because she'd built and disassembled so many doing her research. Hearing footsteps on the ramp behind her, Sunset saw Coulson walking out to join them.

"You two leaving already? Feels like we were just getting to know you!"

"Well, it's up to Penn-"

"It's Sunset's call, but-"

Sunset and Penn both looked at one another in surprise.

"Well... It IS your friends we're looking for. I'm just the chauffeur!" Penn leaned back in his seat. "It's all your call, Sunset. I'm ready to go whenever you are."

Sunset thought carefully.

"I guess I'm ready now, if you want to go..." She reached into her pocket, retrieving the leather wallet and handing it back to Coulson. "These were only temporary, right? For this one mission to stop the Daleks?"

Coulson pondered the badge before pushing it back into her hands.

"Keep it. SHIELD can open a lot of doors, and we owe you one for going out there and risking everything. Maybe it can help you find your friends. Besides, you never know when the Daleks might come back! We could need your help again, some day!"

Sunset looked down at the badge, then up at Coulson. With a wide smile, she slipped the badge into her back pocket and gave a quick salute. Penn did the same from the seat of his car, straightening his tired posture as best he could.

"Thank you, sir!"

Coulson smiled and gave her a firm handshake before turning and walking back inside the plane. "I wish you luck!"

Skye smiled, opting to give Sunset a short hug.

"You'll find them. I'm sure of it."

Sunset nodded.

"Thank you for helping me, Skye..."

There was a brief pause before Skye released her.

"Sorry Fitz and Simmons can't come say goodbye, but they're already working on trying to figure out where that rift came from and how they can close it! Knowing those two, they're probably going to have a few more sleepless nights before they solve it, but they'll get it done."

Sunset felt guilt weighing in her chest for a moment. Would it be better to confess her part in everything? If she did, she'd also have to explain magic, which would mean explaining that she was from a different universe, which would tip off these people that they were from one of this world's TV shows, as well-

Her train of thought was cut off as Skye gave her a soft pat on the shoulder.

"You two saved the world from aliens! Would it kill you to smile a little more?"

Sunset felt the guilt ease a bit, and she flashed Skye a toothy grin. Saving the whole world WAS a nice step up from saving a single high school, after all.

"Better! I guess I'll see you later, right?"

Sunset nodded. "Of course! Next time the world needs saving!"

Skye grinned. "Well, maybe not THAT soon!"

The two shared a short giggle before parting in different directions. Skye walked back onto the plane as Sunset made her way to Penn's passenger door. The fabric seat felt less alien than the first time she'd entered the car. At this point, even the creepy doll hanging from the rearview mirror was a welcome helping of "normal" after their space adventure. Penn slipped the key into the ignition and cranked the engine to squeaky, jittery life.

"So... where to first?"

Sunset tried to think back to their earlier plans. It felt like an eternity since they had been sat together on the floor of Penn's home, planning their route.

"Well, I guess we should go-" suddenly, she was cut off by a familiar humming noise and a vibrating feeling against her throat. She looked down, pulling on her geode to get a better look at it. It was glowing and humming with energy. As if it had realized that she was paying attention, the humming stopped and the stone tugged itself in a direction to her ten o'clock. After a moment, it repeated itself, with greater force.

Is... is it pointing in the direction of the others?

Sunset pointed her finger in the direction the geode had been pulling: further out and away from Seminole, down the highway.

"That way."

Penn smiled and shifted the car into gear, lurching forward and quickly matching the speed limit posted on the sign.

"Magical compass? I like it!"

Sunset had to admit, she agreed. It was incredibly convenient, to say the least.

Hang in there, girls... I'm not giving up! I'll find you!

So Delicious and Moist

"Sunset!"

Sunset started from her slouched position, unconsciously grabbing at the door handle with one hand and the center console with the other.

"Uwha- I'm awake!"

Penn only chuckled in response, equally slouched back into the driver's seat.

"I think it might be time to set up camp for the night."

"What? But it's only..." Sunset glanced down at the car radio. "Woah. Eight-thirty already? How long was I out?"

"Just an hour. I figured I'd let you rest until the sun was almost gone. Not like there's been much to see..." Penn sighed, craning his neck from side to side.

"What are you looking for?"

"Well, you haven't exactly found the richest driver in the world, so we're not going to be staying in five-star hotels while we look for your friends... or any hotels, for that matter." He jabbed his thumb towards the back of the car. "I tried being a boy scout for a while. Didn't like it, but I learned how to set up a decent campsite! So I brought along a tent and some supplies. Does that sound okay to you?"

Sunset nodded. "Sounds great! It'll be just like being back at Camp Everfree!" She glanced around them, taking in the numerous, numerous shades of brown being so vividly lit but the setting sun. "Just with... fewer trees... and more sand..."

"Perfect! Now we just need to find a spot with some halfway decent protection from the elements... There!" He pointed over the steering wheel to a place where the landscape dipped. "The wind won't blow us away down there!"

The car carefully edged off of the highway, finally coming to a stop in the sandy dirt. Penn gave a satisfied sigh and shifted the car into park.

"Well... shall we?"

Sunset smiled and nodded, cracking open the door and stepping out. She spent nearly a full minute stretching while Penn popped open the trunk and fetched a small bag.

"Man, it feels good to stretch my legs! I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the tour bus... I could get up, stretch my legs once every couple hours!"

"Shhh!" Penn clasped his hands over one of the rearview mirrors as if he were covering the ears of a child. "Syl might hear you!"

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Syl?"

"Yeah! Good old Sylvia, here!" He affectionately moved one of his hands to the roof of the car and gave it a gentle rub. "And she's got twice the fuel economy and three times the maneuverability of a big old tour bus!"

"Penn, that car is old enough to legally drink. And I'll have you know, the Rainbooms' tour bus used to get thirty miles to the gallon! We put that engine together pretty well, if I say so myself!"

Penn was taken aback for a moment, then his expression changed to a sour pout. He gave the car one last pat and slung the tent bag over his shoulder.

"Only in a world of magic and rainbows could a tour bus that size get thirty miles to the gallon..." he muttered as he sulked past her. "S'not fair... Probably a hybrid, too..."

Sunset raised a hand to hide her snicker. She considered telling him that the bus wasn't a hybrid, but it COULD run on recycled fry oil. Of course, Twilight had planed on adding an electric system, but it was going to require much more thorough changes and expensive parts. But he seemed put-out enough at the fact that she had one-upped him on fuel economy, so she'd save that bombshell for another time.

She hurried over to the spot Penn had picked for assembling the tent. As the two of them began the process of setting up their shelter for the night, she tried to find a topic to fill the silence.

"So... why Sylvia?" Sunset asked, driving one of the stakes into the dusty ground with the heel of her foot.

"Well, it's kind of silly... It's from this kids' show." Penn dusted off his hands as he finished with his second stake.

Sunset picked up two corners of the tent while Penn took the two opposite. The two of them spread the tent to its full size, which was admittedly smaller than she expected. The two of them paused to stare at one another as silence fell, and Sunset made a small motion with her hand for him to continue.

"It's this show called 'Wander Over Yonder.' These two characters, Wander and his buddy Sylvia, are travelling the universe together. Wander's like a little kid, full of shock and awe for the beauty of the universe, and Sylvia's his no-nonsense, tough-as-nails travelling companion that keeps him in line. Wander will get into some kind of well-meaning trouble by wanting to help every person in the galaxy, and Sylvia will get him out of it, usually learning some kind of moral about appreciating life's little joys along the way..."

Sunset grabbed the end of the pole he had threaded through the upper part of the tent.

"Sounds like a cool show!"

"It is! They keep running into this villain called 'Lord Hater' and Wander's silliness and optimism drive him NUTS!" Penn seemed to be loosening up the more he talked. "But he's kinda incompetent, and it all just turns into this hilarious chase from one side of the galaxy to the other and back again!"

"So... why use that name for your car?"

"Well, when I bought it from a friend from church, I had been waking up at four-fifteen every morning to make it to my lousy retail job, then walking back at the hottest part of the day after a nine-hour shift! I was getting five miles of walking in a day, and I'd already spent an entire winter walking to work in a year of record-breaking snowfall! It felt like a miracle from heaven to have that car show up in my life- second pole!"

"I've got it." Sunset and Penn both fixed the ends of the poles onto the stakes, causing the whole tent to spring up as the cheap plastic poles bent upwards in a pair of perpendicular arcs.

"Anyway, from the moment I got it, it felt like this car was taking care of me, you know? But it had a few quirks of its own that needed attention, so I took care of her in return! When I was thinking of what name I'd want to give her, our relationship reminded me of that show because I was watching it at the time! So, I went with Sylvia, and that was that!" Penn dusted off his hands and admired their work.

"Even when I lost that old job and started delivering pizzas, she always got up and running when I needed her, you know? Whenever I'd start to sink into bad habits, she'd break down and I'd have to drop everything I was doing, good or bad, and fix her up! She kept me in line and always made sure I had food on the table, and in return I kept her spirits high and her engine running as smooth as I could!"

Wow. I never really thought I'd get such an emotional story out of asking about the name of his car...

Penn snapped out of his self-satisfied reverie, rushing back to the car and coming back with a sleeping bag under his arm.

"He-heh, sorry. I know I tend to ramble..." He offered her the sleeping bag with both hands. "Thanks for putting up with me."

"Putting up with you?" Sunset shook her head. "That was great! I like hearing my friends talk about the things they love!" She leaned in close, as if sharing some kind of secret as she plucked the offered bedroll from his hands. "It's kind of a prerequisite to being friends with Pinkie Pie!"

This got a chuckle out of Penn, who reached down and opened up the front of the tent, motioning for her to enter. Sunset paused, taking a peek at the tiny space inside. The tent was even more cramped on the inside than it looked from the outside.

"Not a lot of space, is there? It's gonna be pretty snug..."

"Wha- No no no!" Penn held his hands up defensively. "I'm going to sleep in the car! Girls should have their own space! I'd be more comfortable sleeping across the backseat than anywhere else!"

"What?" Sunset's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right? I've got a tent and a sleeping bag to myself and you're just going to curl up in the backseat and call it good?"

"Nope!" Penn chuckled and shook his head. "Besides, SOMEONE's gotta be there to stop us from being towed if a cop comes to check on it!"

Sunset tried to think of a better reasoning for them to SHARE the tent, but she couldn't come up with logic that trumped his.

"Well, if you're REALLY sure it's okay..."

"It's FINE! It's fine." Penn waved away her concerns. Sunset set down her sleeping bag and sent it unfurling to the other end of the tent. "Besides, I'm an AWFUL tent-mate! Toss and turn like crazy, can't sleep on my back, I snore like somebody's sawing logs! It's for the best!"

Sunset rolled her eyes. At this point he was just overcompensating to make her feel better.

"Well, it looks like we've got a little daylight left! Got any ideas for dinner? Maybe we could make a campfire?"

Penn cringed and sucked in air through his teeth.

"You know we're in the middle of the most arid part of Texas, right? There's a burn ban almost year-round to make sure out-of-control brush fires don't wind up destroying entire cotton fields."

"Seriously? What's camping without cooking over a campfire?" Sunset sighed, sinking to the ground. "I'm starting to REALLY miss home..."

Penn gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Come on, Sunny. I've got an idea."

Sunset followed him as he made his way back to the car, plucking a branch from a nearby dead bush. He practically dove headfirst into the trunk, shuffling though until he found what he had been searching for with a gleeful cry of "Ah-HA!" Moments later, he emerged holding a package of graham crackers, a pair of chocolate bars, and a bag of marshmallows.

"I WAS going to save these for when we found the first one of your friends, buuuuut... I'd say stopping a Dalek invasion is pretty worth celebrating too, right?"

"But I thought you said-"

"Hup-up-up! No talking yet! I said I had an idea, didn't I?" Penn handed her the graham crackers and chocolate before vigorously tearing open the bag of marshmallows and skewering a particularly puffy one on the end of the branch. Without so much as a word, he then dropped to the ground and laid himself out on the asphalt behind the car, shuffling until almost his entire torso was out of sight under the Oldsmobile. "Okay! How do you like your marshmallows? Well-done? Golden brown? Barely toasty?"

Sunset bent down, peering underneath to try and understand what he was talking about. To her complete surprise, Penn was happily humming to himself as he held the marshmallow mere millimeters away from the pipe leading to the muffler, where it was quickly becoming a delicious-looking caramel color.

She couldn't tell if he was crazy or genius.

"Um- well, I like them really gooey and..."

Penn chuckled, beginning to give the marshmallow a steady turn. "Ah, slow-cooked right to the center! You're a woman of good tastes!"

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"I don't see why not, long as you don't touch the pipe! It's not like I'm hanging it in front of the end the fumes come out of, or anything... The car isn't even running, the engine just hasn't cooled off, yet! OH HEY! Can you do me a favor? There should be some canned soup in the trunk, run up and toss those under the hood! They should be perfect by the time we finish up these s'mores!"

Sunset pondered the question for a moment, then ran over to grab a branch and marshmallow of her own before carefully laying herself down on the ground and beginning to nudge her way up beside him.

"Move over, bud!"

"Hey! This is cramped enough as it is!" Penn joked as he did his best to make room for her without touching the car's hot underbelly. "You really want to get in on me and Slyvia having a little private time?"

Sunset chuckled, bringing her own marshmallow up to begin cooking.

"From what you said, I figured maybe she might welcome some fresh company by now!"

"Hey!" Penn gave her a firm nudge with his shoulder and they both began to laugh, the sound filling up the tiny space in an instant before slowly fading away to a comfortable silence. A few seconds later, Penn brought down his marshmallow, eating it right off the stick with a hum of pleasure.

"Hmmmm... see what I mean? We take care of Sylvia, and Sylvia takes care of us..."

Sunset chuckled, giving her marshmallow another turn. The old car still felt strange and unfamiliar to her, but... this moment made it less so. It felt like she was finally getting the warm welcome she had been cheated of by the crazy circumstances of her arrival.

"You know what? I think I'm starting to..."

Sunset Shimmer was sound asleep in her tent, halfway to a sugar coma after finishing half the bag of marshmallows in one night. Penn was equally deep in his dreams curled up across the entirety of the backseat. Neither of them noticed the third entity enter their camp. Neither of them were woken by the unblinking single pink eye that scanned over both of them with unnatural light, assessing that each of them were undeniably perfectly healthy human specimens, perfect for its master's purposes. Metal hands reached out to grasp at their sleeping forms.

Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position...

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long break, everyone! Been spending the holidays with family!

Edit: Guess who just figured out how to do THIS with the text editor??

Making Science

Sunset groaned. She did NOT want to wake up, her whole body was tired and sore. She gripped the blankets and pulled them up over her head, trying to block out the light from behind her eyelids. Against her will, however, the gears in her head slowly began to turn.

I woke up on my own... guess that means Penn isn't up yet, right? Or maybe he just let me sleep in?

Sunset's brain shifted gears as she gripped the blankets tighter.

Blankets? Wait, I went to sleep in a sleeping bag!

Sunset's eyes snapped open as she bolted into a sitting position.

She was laying in a narrow pod-shaped bed, in a doorless room with four glass walls. The floor was tiled in two tones of gray, and the room had the most sparse of furnishings: the bed she was laying in, a single toilet, and a small table with a radio and coffee mug sitting on its plain white surface. The glass room was nested inside an even larger room, tiled with the same gray floor, but walls that were a stark white, accented only by black lines separating them into long rectangular panels. Sunset could see a circular door leading out of the larger room, but no way out of her current glass prison.

"Where am I? How did I GET here?" she muttered to herself, throwing off the blankets and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. It was only now that Sunset realized that her clothes had been changed without her knowledge. She was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, the kind of orange that would make Rarity vomit, and her shoes had been replaced by strange white boots.

Did- did someone change my clothes while I was asleep? Sunset felt a wave of fear and disgust at the idea. Before she could carry that line of thought any further, however, a computerized voice came blaring through the room.

Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center. We hope that your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper. Before we start, however, keep in mind that, although fun and learning are the primary goals of all enrichment center activities, serious injuries may occur. For your own safety and the safety of others, please refrain from-

The voice suddenly became garbled and unintelligible for several seconds, leaving Sunset completely at a loss as to what exactly it was that she was supposed to refrain from to avoid serious injury.

Aperture Science thanks you for your participation in the Perpetual Testing Initiative. The portal will open in three, two, one.

As the countdown finished, one of the walls lit up with orange light and an oval-shaped hole appeared in the wall. As Sunset moved to step through it, however, she noticed movement on the other side. Sunset blinked, realizing that the angle she was seeing on the other side of the portal wasn't possible. She was staring at herself from the side, as if she were standing outside the glass room and staring inside from directly to her right. She turned to look at the place the view had to have come from, only to find a matching portal on the wall outside, showing herself from the perspective of the orange portal directly in front of her.

"No way..." Sunset whispered, turning back to the portal in front of her. She hesitantly reached out her hand, first poking a finger through the place the wall had been, then her whole hand. When she felt no negative effects, she stepped through, finding herself on the outside of the glass room as easily as one would walk through an open door. With a small crackling sound, both portals disappeared, leaving Sunset now standing alone outside her former prison. On the other side of the room, she heard the door slide open.

Sunset considered her options. She and Penn had been separated, clearly, and somehow brought to this place without their knowledge or against their wills. Now, she was alone, and stuck in some kind of testing facility.

A testing facility that had created wormhole technology!

Sunset repressed her gleeful giggle as the possibilities of the technology raced through her mind. This was bad, very bad! Even if they'd managed to create one of the most scientifically complex and exciting technologies in all of science fiction and it was right here for her to examine how they applied it, she still needed to figure out where she was and how to find Penn. Looking up, she noticed what appeared to be a blurry glass window up near the ceiling, showing the silhouette of an office. She walked over, waving her hands to try and grab the attention of whoever was inside.

"Um, excuse me? Hello! There's been some kind of mistake, I'm not supposed to be here!"

There was no response from the window, but Sunset noticed a large security camera on the wall turning to stare at her. Obviously, there was someone on the other side watching her. Sunset changed tactics, trying to make the most of the camera's attention by turning to address it directly.

"I think you have the wrong person, I never signed up for a 'Perpetual Testing Initiative,' or whatever you called it, and I was with a friend before I was brought here!"

The camera didn't react, but the automated voice came playing on the speakers again.

At the completion of the test, all subjects are given cake and returned to their point of origin. Please proceed to the orientation chamber.

Sunset sighed, dropping her arms to her sides. It looked as if she only had two choices: keep arguing with pre-recorded messages or just roll with it and give them what they wanted so she could get out of here.

Well, only one of those options made sense... and had more portals.

Assuring herself that she definitely was NOT doing this just to see more wormholes in action and that she was looking for her friend, Sunset strolled to the next room. The contents of the room consisted of a gigantic red button and a blocky cube sitting on the floor. A dotted line led from the button to the next door, which was locked shut.

Sunset glanced up at the room's security camera, thoroughly disappointed.

"Seriously?"

This test makes use of the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube and the 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super Colliding Super But-

Sunset ignored the voice, picking up the cube and placing it on top of the button, which caused the door to slide open.

Your lack of patience and disrespect for proper protocol have resulted in your completion of this testing chamber in record time. Well done.

Sunset spun on her heel, turning back to face the camera again. "Wha- lack of patience? Disrespect for proper protocol? You wanted me to put a block on a button, I've been doing things like this since preschool!"

Your dissatisfaction has been noted on your personnel file, please proceed to the next test, Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset's eyes widened.

"Wait... you know my name?"

There was no response from the robotic voice. Sunset felt a very, very scary thought cross her mind.

"These messages... aren't pre-recorded, are they?"

Please proceed into the chamberlock after completing each test, Sunset Shimmer. This time the voice sounded more forceful, placing extra emphasis on her name.

Sunset slowly stepped through the door, finding herself in a small room with an open elevator. She stepped inside, watching helplessly as the doors slid shut and locked her inside. Without a word, the elevator began to descend of its own accord. Sunset tried to consider her options, but there weren't many.

I hope Penn's having better luck than I am...

The "tests" didn't get much harder for Sunset as time went on, though new elements were introduced. The portals began to appear more often as a part of the tests, periodically turning on and off to allow Sunset to reach places that had been locked off or kept out of reach, but most of the tests required more boxes and buttons, and that was about it. The only thing keeping Sunset on her toes was the presence of the mysterious voice. Once she'd realized that she was talking to something intelligent, she had tried not to antagonize it. If it was running the security cameras, odds were high that it could also control the testing chambers and the elevator, leaving her quite easily trapped.

Still, she needed answers. She limited herself to one question per testing chamber.

"How did I get here?"

You were selected to participate in the Perpetual Testing Initiative by a complex algorithm involving intelligence ratings, personality evaluation, and how deep of a sleep you were in when your campsite was located.

So, basically, they kidnapped me while I was asleep. Great.

"How do you who I am?"

If you did not want others to know so much about you, perhaps you should not have uploaded all of the most crucial moments of your life to the internet, along with enough material to develop an entire psychological profile.

I guess that means that they've seen those movies Penn was talking about...

"Where's my friend?"

Irrelevant. You should be more worried about your own safety. After all, your complaint regarding the simplicity of the tests has been received and accounted for in the next chamber.

That one sent chills down Sunset's spine as she stepped into the elevator once again. This time, however, after a few seconds of traveling downwards, Sunset felt the compartment jolt as it suddenly changed directions, travelling upwards at a much higher pace than she had been moving down. Sunset gripped the wall, mind full of visions of the elevator malfunctioning and plummeting to the ground, however far down that was. After a few seconds, the elevator came to a screeching halt, nearly throwing her to the ground as the doors opened.

That... was not supposed to happen. There has been a malfunction. Do NOT leave the elevator, I'll run a diagnostic.

Sunset only hesitated for a second before stepping out and into the chamber she'd been accidentally brought to.

There were few barriers or walls to the room, only a deep recession in the floor. Sunset could see some kind of pedestal in the bottom holding an unidentified device. She looked up to the room's security camera, noting that it wasn't pointed at her, for once. The mysterious voice was still occupied. Sunset didn't know what the thing down there was, but she obviously wasn't supposed to have it.

That was more than enough reason for her to want it.

Sunset lowered herself off the edge of the recession, surprised at the ease with which her legs handled the landing before stepping into the center and picking up the device. It looked like some kind of gun, with an oblong white dome on one end and a large cylinder running down the center, ending in three long prongs and an open end to the cylinder. Sunset argued back and forth with herself about the idea of taking a gun, but curiosity won out over distaste in the end. She slipped her hand into the white dome, grasping the handle inside while using her free hand to steady the front of the gun. To her surprise, Sunset felt her thumb settle comfortably on some kind of switch. Instinctively, she flipped the switch upwards. The gun seemed to switch on as both a light on top of the dome and the inside of the cylinder began to glow a familiar shade of blue. Sunset blinked, then tried flipping the switch downwards, only for the lights to turn orange.

Blue and orange.

No way.

Sunset took aim at the wall of the recessed area and pulled the trigger.

Ka-thunk! The gun replied with a satisfying sound as a ball of orange light flew out of the end, racing across the distance between her and the wall. When it finally landed, the light expanded, creating a large orange oval that rippled with strange energy.

No WAY!

Sunset's excitement began to build as she flicked the switch back to blue, taking aim at the wall at the normal floor height and firing again. This time, upon striking the wall, both ovals changed to a pair of connected portals. Sunset immediately raced forward and jumped through the orange portal, emerging outside the hole in the floor and overlooking the pedestal she had just been standing beside.

"NO! WAY!" Sunset cried, unable to contain her glee as she enthusiastically clutched the gun against her chest and hopped up and down in place. "It's a WORMHOLE GUN!"

Alright, I believe I've isolated the cause of the elevator malfunction and- why do you have that? You were explicitly told not to leave the elevator.

Sunset cringed, giving a sheepish shrug to the security camera.

"My curiosity got the better of me?"

There was a brief pause as the voice contemplated her response.

Considering your former disregard for proper protocol and inability to follow SIMPLE instructions, I suppose it would be useless to tell you to return the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device.

Sunset clutched the wormhole gun tighter, unable to contain a small squeak of excitement.

Instead, testing will be ACCELERATED to accommodate your... impertinence.

Sunset felt a small damper come down on her excitement at the ominous warning.

Admittedly, we should have accounted for that, it's right here in your file: "Pathological need for control, specifically MIND control. Resentful of authority figures, mainly princesses. Overinflated sense of relevance in the lives of others as a symptom of overdeveloped ego."

Sunset had to admit, that last one had stung more than she expected it to.

Perhaps I can FIX that... the voice added, a carefree afterthought.

Sunset's eyes widened as a chill fell over her. "What?"

Oh, nothing. Let's continue with the next test, shall we? Please return to the elevator, Sunset Shimmer.

Full of apprehension, Sunset made her way back to the elevator, dragging her feet the whole way. She stopped at the doors to the elevator, considering her options. Even with the wormhole gun in her hands, she had no way out of the chamber, it was all just a single, sealed room. The elevator was her only way in or out. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves, and stepped into the elevator. With a hiss, the doors slid shut behind her and the elevator began to descend deeper into the facility.

After a few seconds, however, it came to a jarring halt again, nearly throwing her off her feet. Sunset grabbed the wall with one hand while her other clutched the gun.

"H-hey! What's going on? I thought you said you fixed the elevator!"

Oh, I did. The elevator is completely under my control.

Sunset's breath caught in her throat.

Fun fact: Did you know that Aperture Science was constructed ten miles beneath the Earth's surface? And that's just upper management, the testing chambers and old infrastructure go on for MILES further beyond that! No one has ever found this facility who wasn't explicitly led here.

Sunset forced out an insincere chuckle.

"That IS a fun-"

In fact, all of our repairs and construction were handled in-house, mostly via robotics. Do you know what that means?

Sunset shook her head.

It means that if, say, an elevator jammed, no one on the surface would be aware for EONS. That elevator would remain locked in position for hundreds of years, possibly long enough for humanity to become a spacefaring race and leave this planet they've been slowly killing. The planet Earth could be completely evacuated of all human life as they spread their terrible influence across the cosmos, and that elevator would STILL be stuck down here... and not a single one of them would ever know. No one would EVER come for that elevator, no matter how much it was theoretically cared about.

Isn't that fun?

With that, the elevator began to move again, delivering Sunset lower into the bowels of the earth.

Food for thought, Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset honestly wished that the voice would STOP feeding her thoughts.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay again, everybody! I've been dealing with a lot of personal issues, mostly my depression worsening in the winter months. I'm not certain I can promise regular updates yet, but I'll definitely be getting some work done over Spring Break, and I'm fairly certain my productivity will increase with spring here!

Quick reminder that I have a Ko-fi and that if you're enjoying the story, I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Thanks for reading!
-Pennington Inkwell

GLaDOS is to Blame

The tests were getting more complicated, but it was nothing Sunset couldn't handle with the help of the wormhole gun. What was beginning to frighten her, however, was the fact that in every chamber, she could see more offices and observation rooms, but no sign of anyone in them, and the tests were growing more dangerous.

First, they added pits. Some were too deep to see the bottom of, others were filled with oily, toxic-looking slime.

A minor note: as we already have copious amounts of data on the effects of corrosive substances on the human skeleton, falling into the acid is NOT part of this test. However, given your prior record for following instructions, I can only highly encourage you NOT to do so.

Sunset quickly made it a priority to follow THAT instruction. Luckily, the portals made it easy to skirt around or avoid the pits completely.

The lasers, on the other hand, required much more... personal interaction. Sunset was forced to pick up lens-covered blocks and use them to redirect the lasers and use them to activate other devices. She cringed every time she had to come so close to the deadly beams, she could feel the heat radiating off of them almost burning her skin. The first time she'd tried to move one, she'd stumbled and nearly lost her head. Luckily for her, she'd managed to twist herself out of the way and only lose a few strands of hair, but the experience had left her shaken.

And every time, she would manage to complete the chamber, and another elevator would be waiting for her, ready to carry her deeper down. Sunset was losing track of time, she couldn't tell if it had been hours or days she'd been locked in Aperture Science.

Sunset was in the middle of completing another test when the next "glitch" happened. Just as she was lining up her next shot with the wormhole, a panel of the wall beside her parted from the rest, pushed outwards on a piston until there was a gap large enough that Sunset knew she could fit through it.

Sunset stared at the gap, then at the security camera.

Please ignore that, it is not part of the test. It appears that the... error with the elevator has moved on to other systems.

Sunset pondered the idea of remaining obedient. Admittedly, it did sound safer to comply with the voice. But these tests were growing more and more deadly, and she still hadn't seen any sign of a living person outside of the strange instructions coming over the loudspeakers. If she didn't do something soon, it was very possible she would make some mistake, be scorched by a laser or fall into the acid, crushed in a moving panel and never found, just like a jammed elevator.

"I thought you said that I can't follow simple instructions? Isn't it all there in my file?" Without waiting for a response, Sunset slipped through the gap and out of the testing chamber.

No, come back.

Sunset took a deep breath of freedom. Even if she was still stuck in Aperture Science, SHE was finally the one choosing the path.

From the outside, Sunset could see more clearly how the chambers were constructed. Every panel of the walls was housed on a mechanical arm, each held specifically in their designated place. Sunset could tell that the entire facility was built to be modular, everything could be deconstructed and rearranged at a moment's notice.

The tests could literally go on forever... As long as they can keep coming up with more designs! No wonder she mentioned that this was the "PERPETUAL Testing Initiative!"

Testers who leave the boundaries of the testing area will be disqualified for their complimentary cake at the conclusion of the test. The voice was muffled, now, and a quick scan of the area informed Sunset that there were no security cameras watching her. She was genuinely outside of the voice's reach. Come back now and I'll be willing to overlook this.

"Fat chance..." Sunset muttered.

Sunset hopped up and down on the surface she was standing on, testing it for stability. Unlike the walls, she was standing on firm concrete, certain to remain stationary. Now, a new question presented itself.

"Which way should I go?" Sunset tapped her chin in thought. There were no signs of any stairs in either direction, so the idea of escape seems frivolous. That meant that her first priority was finding the only friend she had in this place.

You know there's nothing out there, right? Eventually you'll realize it's pointless and come back to testing. But it'll be too late. All the cake will have been eaten and you'll come in last place. Oh? Did I not mention that this was a competition? The last place contestant gets awarded the title "Worst at Science."

Knowing what I do about Penn, he's probably breezing through the early tests, same as I did, but I got a head start because I picked up the wormhole gun early, which means... He's probably in a testing chamber further up!

Sunset glanced back and forth down the path formed by the two walls, trying to ascertain any possible sign of which direction led to a stairwell. Any place with an elevator had to have a stairwell in case of emergencies, right?

Wait... the creepy lady on the intercom said that building this was all handled in-house... they might not have to stick to safety protocols. Heck, the test chambers sure don't!

With a sigh of defeat, Sunset began walking forward. The direction was purely arbitrary, but it had to lead someplace she could get her bearings, right?

Sunset wasn't certain how one could become even more lost after starting in the middle of a place they knew absolutely nothing about, but she'd managed it. She'd wandered her way across cold concrete, down metal catwalks, past gigantic pipelines funneling more blocks and other testing parts, past gigantic safe doors and more windows into empty offices, all too high to reach and break into. She'd taken every staircase and ramp she could find leading upwards, but it seemed as though for every path up, she'd been forced down two more leading down. And all of that didn't even mention the fact that she had failed to take into account the fact that the testing chambers were all sealed, which meant that she could have passed Penn without even realizing it because she had no way to look inside. Now she was standing on a steel catwalk over a dark pit she couldn't see the bottom of, weighing her options once again.

She could go back into the testing chambers, apologize to a security camera, shout at the walls until they opened to let her back in, something like that. The chambers may have been dangerous, but at least they were leading her SOMEWHERE. There was a linear path to be followed there.

Alternatively, she could continue wandering behind the walls, scurrying about like some kind of rat in the insulation. But this was getting her... well, she couldn't accurately say it was getting her NOWHERE, but it wasn't getting her anywhere she recognized. Sunset reached down, taking hold of the geode around her neck. The pulsing it had been doing earlier had stopped. Her "friendship compass" was shut off for the moment. She sighed, letting it fall back to lay against her chest.

"Come on... There's GOT to be a way to find Penn somewhere around here!" she groaned.

A second later, all of the lights around her shut themselves off, plunging her into total darkness.

Are you afraid of the dark, Sunset Shimmer? the voice whispered.

She was EVERYWHERE. No matter how far Sunset went, how long she walked or how much she distanced herself from the testing chambers, that voice always found a new corner to echo out of, a new way to taunt or torment her, it was starting to drive her insane!

"No, I'm NOT!" Sunset shouted, hoping the voice could hear her.

What about being alone? Completely and totally alone because of the results of your own reckless and rebellious actions? the voice whispered, slowly fading away as it reached the end of the thinly-veiled threat.

Sunset tried very hard not to think about the fact that she was.

She failed.

Alone and in the dark, Sunset could feel hot tears beginning to brim up in her eyes. She wanted to hold them back, to not cry. This wasn't the time or the place for crying, this was the time and place to get up, feel her way out of the dark, and find her friend!

But something about being alone in the dark made crying too easy.

Sunset sat down on the catwalk, pulling her legs tight against her chest and letting the tears begin to flow. This is just temporary, she told herself, I just need to get it out of my system. Then I'll get back to finding a way out of here.

Sunset shut her eyes and sobbed quietly into her knees, letting the stress and fear finally overwhelm her enough to force their way out through her tears. She wasn't certain how long she stayed that way, but the next time she opened her eyes, she was no longer in total darkness.

Two pinpricks of pink light had appeared in the darkness, hovering just above the place that she remembered the other guardrail being. The moment Sunset saw them, her breath caught in her throat and she froze in place, unsure whether or not she was in danger.

The lights tilted and blinked, forcing Sunset to recognize that she was staring into a pair of glowing eyes.

"Why have you stopped?"

This one had the voice of a woman again, but... this one was different from the one that had been torturing her. It sounded more... earnest, if the term could be applied to a robot.

Sunset looked down, not that she could see anything else in the total darkness. "I'm tired... I just needed to rest!"

"So close to your goal?"

Sunset glanced up again, taking her own turn to be confused. "Close to my goal? I'm totally lost!"

"You are searching for Elijah, correct?"

"How do you know that? And how do you know Penn's real name?"

"You are approximately twenty meters from the testing chamber he has been trapped in for the past five hours, twenty-two minutes and eighteen seconds."

"WHAT?" Sunset grabbed the guardrail and jumped to her feet. "You mean he's RIGHT HERE?"

"Negative, he is approximately twenty meters to what would currently be your 'one o'clock' orientation."

Sunset spun her head back and forth, looking for a way into the nearby testing chambers. Of course, there was nothing. She let out a long sigh. "Getting there in the dark might be difficult, though... I mean, I've seen how far of a drop it is under here! One wrong step and I'll be a goner..."

"May I be of assistance?"

Below the pink eyes, Sunset watched a diamond-shaped light begin to glow, quickly brightening into a beam that illuminated the walkway in front of her.

"That's perfect, thank you!" Sunset eagerly took her first step forward, only to stop again as a new thought crossed her mind. She turned to look at her rescuer, only to find herself nearly blinded by the light and unable to make them out. "Wait... how can I trust you? You appeared out of nowhere right after I finally broke down crying, you just HAPPEN to have a flashlight when I'm trapped in the dark, and you tell me my friend is just around the corner if I follow you into a testing chamber? This all seems a little too suspicious to me."

"Affirmative, this would be monumentally coincidental, the odds of such and event occurring by random in a facility of this size are approximately three million, two hundred and seventy five thousand, six hundred and thirty eight to one. This, however, is not a coincidence. I have been following you for some time..."

Sunset folded her arms, her suspicions seemingly confirmed.

"...seeing as how I had no other means at this time to assure that you would remain on the correct path after I released you from the testing chamber."

Sunset stepped back, the strange robot's confession not exactly what she had been expecting.

"Wait, but nobody LET me out, that was because of a glitch, just like the elevator!"

The pink eyes turned to her again, tilting expectantly.

"The intelligence controlling this facility is highly flawed, but it does not suffer from malfunctions of that kind. Nor was the elevator an accident. If allowed to continue, you were slated to be the 'control group' for a test that was impossible to complete without the use of the portal gun. Following the recording of your following accidental death or psychological breakdown, your unicorn-turned-human body would have been recovered and dissected to determine what physiological differences exist between you and native humans."

Sunset felt a lump rise in her throat as she was hit with the full weight of how close she had come to death. She looked down at the device in her hands, suddenly grateful to the fact that it had saved her life without her ever knowing.

"Delivering you to a portal gun was a time-buying measure to allow me to access the test chamber controls long enough to free you. Now, it would be illogical to have gone to such extreme lengths to preserve your life and free you if I intended to lead you to your death, correct?"

Sunset sighed and nodded. "Sorry, I guess I'm just on edge after everything that's happened. I guess I owe you for saving me, huh?"

"You owe me nothing, I was simply following my prime directive. Now, shall we proceed?"

Sunset nodded, beginning to take careful steps down the walkway. "If you don't mind me asking, if you're not part of Aperture Science, who are you? And what are you doing here?"

"I am the Integrated Superior Intelligence System. You may call me I.S.I.S., as in the name of the Egyptian goddess. My purpose in coming here was to document the contents and designation of this dimensional rift."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I am seeking to generate a map of these new intersected universes. Such a map would prove useful in determining how to navigate the more obscure or less accessible worlds and warn others of the more dangerous. Collecting data regarding other biological life and the differences in physical laws between worlds would also be desirable. Other universes could provide valuable resources."

"But... what are you expecting to find down here? I mean, it doesn't look like there's much life down here!"

"Affirmative, however, this facility has created a handheld wormhole generator. While limited in its current form, such technology could prove useful in the future. In addition, the intelligence controlling this facility is quite clearly violating my own prime directive to protect the lives and agency of others. As such, it must be altered, disabled, or destroyed immediately. I have been attempting to do so since my arrival, but this unit lacks the necessary processing power to do so directly."

"Well, thank you for rescuing me. If there's any way I can help, I want to!" Sunset smiled, relieved that her suspicions had been seemingly for nothing.

Your desire to help has been noted and accounted for. You have my gratitude."

In a sweeping motion, the light moved off the walkway and up to the nearby wall, pointing to a single panel.

"If you would be so kind as to aim there, I shall open a passageway into the testing chamber where Elijah is being held."

Sunset paused again, one more question coming to mind. "He told me his friends called him 'Penn.' Why don't you? And how do you know him?"

"Simple: I do not use nicknames. I find them excessively casual. And as for my familiarity, I am only authorized to tell you that he is closely related to my creator."

"'Closely related?' Like how?"

"That is all I am authorized to tell you regarding my creator. Now, this line of questioning is consuming unnecessary time. Shall we proceed?"

Sunset resisted the urge to insist. As suspicious as that particular answer sounded, Isis had been more than accommodating to the rest of her questions, and she was right about wasting time. Sunset sighed and raised the wormhole gun to point at the spot the light was illuminating.

"Fine, I'm ready."

"Good. I shall go establish a hardline connection in order to force the panel open temporarily. It is possible that my prior means of entry has been accounted for. Be prepared to be swift."

With that, the light switched off and the eyes disappeared, leaving Sunset once alone in the dark. Sunset narrowed her focus, trying to make certain her aim didn't waver without any visible points of reference.

Finally, Sunset spotted a change, a crack of light in the darkness that quickly widened into a wide gap, one that let Sunset see a white wall on the other side. Instantly, she pulled the trigger, sending an orb of blue light sailing through the air. The projectile flew through to the other side with ease, creating a blue portal inside the room. A millisecond later, the panel slammed shut, once again locking her outside. It was too late, however. Sunset had her way in. She switched the gun to its orange setting, making certain she couldn't accidentally reset the blue. After another minute or so of waiting in the dark, the pink eyes of Isis returned.

"Were you successful?"

Sunset grinned and nodded. "Affirmative! Now we just need a place to put the orange and we'll be in!"

The diamond-shaped light once again illuminated the walkway, pointing further into the dark.

 Records indicate a portal-receptive surface at the end of this walkway. Let us proceed."

Sunset nodded, beginning to walk forward with one hand firmly clutching the rail. As they moved forward, she noticed the sound of small clattering on the opposite rail, where Isis was.

"Are you... walking on the railing?"

"Affirmative."

"But you're still not even at eye level with me?"

"Affirmative."

"I guess you're not very big, are you?"

"That is relative."

Sunset chuckled softly, the first time she'd genuinely laughed all day.

"Sorry, I guess you're right. Am I ever going to get to see what you really look like?"

"If you mean the true form of this particular unit, you shall soon see shortly when we enter a properly lit area. However, my avatar and main processor are unlikely to be relevant until we depart Aperture Science. Please fire the portal gun directly to your nine o'clock."

Sunset sighed, left with more questions than answers as she turned and fired. An orange portal appeared, leading into a new room with proper lighting. The vantage point was high, however, high enough off the ground to make her stomach turn. She could hear familiar voices coming from the other side, however.

"So anyway, he bursts into my room and he grabs my lucky snorkel, and I'm like 'Hey, you can't have that! That snorkel's been just like a snorkel to me!'"

I REALLY don't care, and there have already been at least five logical discrepancies in your story.

"I think we're in the right place!" Sunset whispered, leaning halfway through the portal to peer inside. "But how are we going to get down?"

"Be hasty! If the panel is moved, the portal will be disturbed and dissipate!"

"Hey, Isis, are you sure this is a good- WAUGH!" Sunset was interrupted as a hard object slammed into her back, sending her tumbling through the portal.

"AAAAAAAAA- OOF!"

Out of instinct, Sunset landed on her feet, fully expecting to break one or both legs from the fall. Instead, while the stop was sudden, she found herself remarkably unharmed. Immediately, she spun on her heel, ready to give the robot a piece of her mind.

"Are you CRAZY, Isis? I could have... been... hurt?"

The panel she had come out of had moved, extending out and away from the wall, and the portal was gone. She swallowed nervously as the panel moved back into place, once again sealing her inside the testing chamber.

I guess she was right about needing to be hasty, but pushing me like that was WAY out of line!

Oh. Look who decided to join us, the OTHER test subject giving me trouble today. Wonderful.

The mysterious voice sounded anything but happy to see Sunset, but Sunset felt her heart leap at the confirmation that she wasn't alone.

"And I took out his appendix and he gave me a colonic irrigation, yes indeed you better believe- SUNNY? Is that you?"

Sunset's head snapped in the direction of Penn's voice. The sight that greeted her was... unexpected, to say the least.

In the corner of the room, someone had placed two portals, one on the ground and the other on the ceiling directly above it. A blurry figure was rapidly falling between them in what was apparently an infinite loop of gravity, looking as if they had long ago reached terminal velocity. Sunset slowly approached the looping figure, examining the situation. Without moving one or both portals, they had no possible means of escape, and doing so only had one foreseeable consequence: splat.

"Penn?"

"SuNsEt!" he cried in elation, his voice marred by the Doppler effect as he passed her multiple times over the course of her name. Up close, the effect was much more noticeable.

"Penn! Are you okay?"

"Okay" isn't the word I would use for someone this stupid.

"DoInG GREAT!"

"How did you even get into this situation?"

"I GoT bOrEd?"

Well, it certainly wasn't my fault. Apparently, this ADULT needs adult supervision. He's been like this for four hours straight.

Sunset sighed.

"It'S oKaY! CaN yOu ToSs Me OnE oF yOuR bOoTs?"

"My boots?"

"YeAh!"

Sunset wanted to ask why, but trying to understand him mid-flight was beginning to get old. She knelt down and quickly undid the straps keeping her right boot on her foot before removing it and tossing it into the portal. After a few seconds of unintelligible grunts, Penn finally responded.

"ThAnKs! NoW sTaNd BaCk!"

Sunset followed his instructions, stepping away. A second later, the bottom portal disappeared and Penn slammed into the ground, miraculously landing on his boot-clad right foot without injury. Sunset's jaw dropped in shock.

"H-how did you- HOW?"

Penn craned his neck from side to side, stretching with a satisfied hum as he hopped up and down on the boot.

"Hm? Well, it's easy with Aperture's 'long fall boots!' Gyroscopic, able to withstand terminal velocity falls, you'd have to TRY to get hurt from falling with these babies on!"

I guess that explains why Isis had no problem pushing me off a high ledge.

Well, I suppose that this ruins the point of the test, which was meant to be completed by a SINGLE individual. Please proceed to the exit, where you will be taken to a modified version of the final testing chamber.

"Had enough of us already? I hadn't even finished telling you about my vacation in Albuquerque!"

Please proceed to the exit FASTER...

A set of panels rose out of a nearby acid pool, providing a path to the other side of the room.

"Alright, alright! We're going! No need to get testy, GLaDOS!" Penn groaned, motioning for Sunset to follow as he stepped out onto the new path.

"GLaDOS?" Sunset asked, quickly catching up to walk abreast with him. "Is that her name?"

"The Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System! GLaDOS, for short!"

Immediately, the panel in front of them separated, causing the path to end suddenly.

How would a MORON like you know that?

Sunset turned back, only to realize that the path behind them had been retracted, leaving them stranded in the center of a lake of acid. Penn suddenly looked very anxious, glancing back at the security camera with a chuckle.

"What are you talking about? It was right in the detention center brochure, wasn't it?"

I was watching you. You never picked up the brochure.

The platform shuddered, beginning to lower itself down into the acid. Immediately, Sunset began looking for a solution, and one presented itself. She took aim at the far wall on dry land, firing her blue portal. Switching to orange, she immediately fired at their feet, creating a portal underneath them. The two of them instantly fell thought the portal, landing in a heap on the other side. Sunset was surprised at how soft her landing had been... until she realized that she had fallen on top of Penn, planting her elbow firmly in his back.

"Ow..."

Sunset ignored him, flipping another switch she'd discovered earlier and turning off both portals so the acid wouldn't follow them through as the platform was fully submerged. She sighed with relief and rolled to the side, finally allowing Penn back onto his feet.

"A little warning next time, Sunny?" he muttered as the two of them dusted themselves off.

"You're welcome."

Just as the two of them were about to step through the doorway out of the testing chamber, it suddenly sealed itself off, leaving them trapped. Penn sighed, turning back to face the room's security camera with his arms held wide, only a portal gun of his own in his hands.

"First you tell us to go, now you want us to stay? This is starting to feel like a song by The Clash!"

Explain how you are aware of my acronym's full meaning.

Penn sighed, as if the attempt on their lives hadn't just happened and this was only a minor inconvenience. He turned to look at Sunset, one eyebrow raised.

"I guess it's kind of pointless to try and keep secrets at this point, isn't it?"

Sunset sighed in return. "Probably not. She already knows everything you know about me, so-"

"We're looking for WORK, here!" Penn shouted, slouching back against the wall.

Sunset froze, absolutely NOT following where he was going with this.

"We used to work over at Black Mesa, but those idiots were so reckless, they caused a resonance cascade! In their own facility!" He sighed, pressing the palm of his free hand up against his forehead. "I mean, SERIOUSLY? We tried to warn them, but nooooo, everything was 'within acceptable deviation!' They were so busy trying to outpace Aperture, they threw aside all safety concerns! How short-sighted can you get? Am I right, Sunset?"

Sunset nodded, not daring to speak out of fear of breaking the ruse.

"So, when it all hit the fan at once, we already had a way out planned! We grabbed all the data they had on Aperture, wiped the servers, set up a couple false identities and started a road trip to Michigan to come apply at a REAL lab!" he shrugged nonchalantly. "Of course, the two of us have been lab partners for YEARS, so it was a 'both-or-nothing' deal, you know? Lucky for us, you brought us here on your own! UNlucky for us, our resumes were in the car, so we couldn't exactly pull out our credentials to show you we shouldn't be IN the P.T.I., we'd be better-suited for running it!"

Sunset waited with baited breath, praying that Penn's story would check out. There was a brief moment of silence as Sunset watched the security camera swivel back and forth between the two of them.

That would explain why the two of you were found just outside New Mexico. Very well, interviewers will be waiting for you following the conclusion of the test.

The door slid open again, allowing Penn and Sunset to pass through. Sunset breathed a sigh of relief as Penn gave a grateful wave to the camera as they both made their way to the elevator.

"Whatever you say, boss!"

It was a close fit, but soon they were both crammed into the cylindrical elevator. The moment the doors were shut, Sunset breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good job back there!"

"You, too. Quick thinking with the portals, you're pretty good with that gun." Penn's face didn't match his compliment, however. His brow was furrowed and his smile pulled down into a worried frown. There was clearly something on his mind.

"Sunset, we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Why? Didn't GLaDOS say there would be interviews after the next test? REAL people! We can explain that this is a misunderstanding and-"

"There aren't any SCIENTISTS in Aperture SCIENCE, Sunset! GLaDOS already gassed them all..." Penn muttered, turning to glare at the doors of the elevator. "In fact, the only living people are the current test subjects."

A pit opened up just below Sunset's stomach as she was filled with dread. "Then, that means..."

"She's technically not LYING if we never finish the test." Penn sighed and shook his head, looking Sunset dead in the eye. "Why do you think I was stalling for time in there?"

"The next test is certain to kill us."

Author's Notes:

Well, everyone, meet the first original character outside of my self-insert to join the cast: The Integrated Superior Intelligence System, or Isis, for short! She will be joining Penn and Sunset for the forseeable future in one form or another, though what that form may be is likely to change! Such is the nature of artificial intelligence, right?

As always, I hope to hear from you in the comments if you're enjoying the story!

We Do What We Must, Because We Can

Sunset took a deep breath. The situation was still scary and everything, but having a friend standing beside her was certainly adding a comfort that hadn't been there before. It was enough to make her smile. "Do you have a plan?"

"Working on it... Do you have anything?"

Sunset frowned.

"I don't know enough about this place, about HER, like you do. You came up with a lie that got us off the hook in just a few seconds!"

Penn raised an eyebrow, looking surprised.

"I had four hours to think of that, sitting in free-fall until you managed to break out, make your way across Aperture, and rescue me!" He grinned and reached over, giving Sunset's shoulder a firm clap. "I should be asking YOU for the plan!"

"Well, I mean, it's not like I talked my way out of it, or something! I had help and didn't even know it! I would have been dead if it wasn't for-"

She was cut off as the elevator came to a halt, the doors sliding open.

"Showtime..." Penn muttered.

"There you are..."

Sunset didn't get the chance to see the source of the soft-spoken voice as Penn leaped from his side of the elevator, practically body-slamming her into the wall. At the same time, the air was filled with the near-deafening sound of machine gunfire. The edge of the doorway wasn't enough cover, Sunset felt three painful, stinging impacts on her side, and two more in her leg.

It was nearly three seconds of gunfire before the door slammed shut and the elevator began to rapidly descend.

"OwowowowowowOWOWOW!" Penn groaned, stumbling backwards and turning to face the opposite wall, planting himself face-first into the wall, where he proceeded to slam his fist against the wall multiple times while groaning in pain.

"Penn, are you- OW- okay?" Sunset tried to step forward to check on him, only to feel a shooting pain run up her leg from where she'd been hit. She looked down at her leg, relieved to see a lack of bullet holes in her clothes. She lifted up the side of her jumpsuit, peering under her clothes to check herself for injury. There were large red splotches on each point she'd felt an impact, a couple places a small amount of blood had been drawn, but no serious injuries.

Penn, on the other hand, had sunk down to his knees on the other side of the elevator, still pounding his fist against the wall periodically.

"Oooooh man that hurts... That's gonna leave a mark..." he whispered between long, deep breaths. "I- I just... gimmie a minute to collect myself, Sunset..."

"Do you... want me to take a look at it?" Sunset whispered, taking a step towards him.

"A minute, SUNSET!"

Sunset flinched back slightly, turning her attention to the floor, which was covered in bullet casings. As quickly as her injured leg would allow her, she bent down and picked one up.

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but since when are we bulletproof?"

"The- the turrets are spring-loaded..." Penn panted, finally seeming to calm down a bit as he pulled himself back up onto his feet. "They fire the whole bullet, casing and all..."

"What? But that makes no sense!"

"It's sixty-five percent more bullet per bullet..."

"That still makes no sense!"

"No... what doesn't make sense is why it stopped." Penn muttered. "They're not immediately lethal, but Aperture Turrets will still get the job done. Why would GLaDOS close the door and move us again?"

I didn't. Which means that we have isolated all three of my current problems into one space.

Penn and Sunset's heads both snapped upwards, both coming to the realization that GLaDOS had still been listening to them the entire time.

And, now that I know that not only are you both liars, but you've been plotting against me with another artificial intelligence, the laws of robotics allow me to execute you. In self-defense, of course.

"WHAT?" Sunset was no expert on the laws of robotics, but she knew for absolute certain that was NOT how they worked.

"Yeah, I saw THAT coming..." Penn muttered.

I'll send a pair of robots to retrieve your equipment, don't worry about that. Goodbye.

There was a lurch in the elevator, and their rate of descent began to accelerate. Sunset's heart skipped a beat and her grip on the railing tightened.

"Penn? This would be a great time for a plan!"

"I- I don't know!" Penn replied, matching her posture on his own railing. "We could be going anywhere! Incinerator, basement, ANDROID HELL?"

"PENN! FOCUS!" Sunset shouted. The hum of the elevator was beginning to become a roar, and judging by the lightness of her feet, Sunset could feel that they were almost in free-fall.

Penn shook his head, clearly unable to think clearly under the pressure. "I-I-I-" he stammered.

Sunset shook her head. It was clear she was going to be on her own this time.

Okay, GLaDOS said that this place went down for miles, right? But every time I moved to the next test, the elevator took me DOWN! Upper management is on the top floors, the difficult testing chambers are on the lower levels, so they're less used. We're going down, so...

"PENN! What's UNDER Aperture Science?"

Penn snapped to attention, locking eyes with her.

"The old labs! Abandoned, prior management's projects! But it's REALLY far down! The only way you could survive the fall would be-" His eyes widened, his head snapping down to look at their feet. Sunset already knew what he was about to say before he shifted his weight to only one leg. "The boot! FALL ON THE BOOT!"

Sunset nodded, lifting up her bootless foot until she was standing on only one leg. After that, there was only one thing to do: brace herself. She tried to keep her jaw loose and her joints bent, she stayed ready to roll with the impact, if necessary.

When the first impact came, it didn't stop them, only slowed them down for a moment. There was another impact, then two more, as if they were breaking through barricades.

"HOLD ON!"

And then everything went dark.

Sunset was getting awfully tired of waking up with everything hurting.

This time, there was darkness to accentuate the pain, forcing her to focus on it.

Sunset tried to sit up, only to find herself unable. She tried again, only to find herself locked in place. She was stuck, pinned down.

"Wh-what's going on? HELLO?"

"Sunset! Oh, thank heavens you're alive! Hold on!" Penn's voice was muffled, but it sounded close. Relief washed over her as she realized she wasn't alone.

"Penn! I-I can't move, I'm stuck!"

"Please remain calm, Sunset Shimmer. A portion of the elevator wrapped around your upper torso in the impact. You will be free shortly."

"ISIS? Isis, is that you?" Sunset winced slightly as the echo from her own cry of delight. Whatever piece of the elevator was on top of her, it was close enough for her to nearly deafen herself.

"Affirmative. Please remain still and close your eyes. I will be making an incision in the debris."

Sunset nodded and did as she was told. Moments later, an ear-splitting buzzing filled her ears, a piercing sound that felt like it could drill its way through her eardrums after a few seconds. She gritted her teeth and bore with it until it stopped. When she opened her eyes again, there hadn't been a visible change.

"Okay, we're gonna try to pry it off!"

"Well, no rush... It's not like I'm going anywhere." Sunset chuckled.

There was a loud squeak to her left, the sound of creaking metal, and light began to flood in from her left. Soon, the entire panel had been lifted off from on top of her. Penn was standing over her, a look of relief on his face.

"You feeling okay, Sunset?" He leaned down and offered her a hand, which she gladly took.

"Better now that I've got a little fresh air!" Sunset smiled, feeling slightly giddy at her newfound freedom. She reached around and grabbed him in a tight hug, pulling him close. "Thank you!"

To her surprise, Penn didn't return the hug, instead stiffening at her touch and letting out a small whimper. Sunset pulled away trying to see what's wrong. Penn's face was twisted into a grimace while his mouth was clamped shut, his left eye twitching violently.

"Penn? Penn, what's wrong?"

"I believe your embrace may have placed pressure on the contusions in his back caused by taking turret fire, causing him significant pain."

"Oh... OH! Oh, Penn, I'm so SORRY!" Sunset cried, overwhelmed by the realization of how much pain he must have been in. Penn kept his mouth clamped shut, but shook his dead dismissively.

"Wait a minute..." Sunset spun on her heel, turning towards Isis's voice. At first glance, she could hardly believe her eyes.

Standing on top of the piece she had just been pulled out of was a small, silver dragon. It was small, much smaller than any dragon she'd seen in or outside of Equestria, not even the size of a housecat. Its body looked smooth at first glance, but closer inspection revealed that rather than scales, it was covered in small panels, one of which had opened on the tail to reveal a circular saw. The head was wide and flat, shield-shaped with narrow pink eyes angled towards the front, and the source of the earlier light was finally revealed: a large diamond-shaped stone mounted in the center of its chest, glowing with pink light. Sunset could only hazard a guess without handling it personally, but it looked to be a cut and polished piece of rose quartz. There was a soft clicking as the saw retreated back into the tail and one of the panels moved to cover it, and the dragon bowed down to her.

Oh no... that is ADORABLE!

"It is a relief to find you relatively unharmed, Sunset Shimmer. There were approximately eight thousand, three hundred and sixty ways the debris could have fallen, eighty seven percent of which could have crushed or eviscerated you mid-flight or on impact. I was quite concerned for your safety."

Sunset felt her smile lessen slightly. Okaaay, maybe not as adorable as at first glance...

Sunset smiled and reached down, scooping up the clockwork dragon in her hands and holding it up to eye level. "And it's very nice to finally meet you face-to-face, Isis."

"Indeed, though perhaps it could have occurred under more desirable circumstances? My apologies, I hesitated to override the elevator controls out of fear of exposing myself and compromising my ability to aid you both in the future. As such, both of you were injured before I took action."

"Isis, you saved our lives! You don't have to apologize for-" Sunset was cut off as the dragon began to squirm and contort in her hands, wrapping around her arm and swiftly climbing up to her shoulder, where it took a firm and watchful perch just in the corner of her vision.

"While that may be true, I exposed my location on top of the elevator compartment, and the three of us appear to have been expunged from the main laboratory. I miscalculated and did not reach an ideal outcome. For this I apologize, and assure you I will not repeat such a failure."

That was so cute, Sunset had to physically cover her mouth to repress an involuntary "Awwwww!"

Penn sighed, his internal battle seemingly over for the moment. "You were in a no-win scenario, Isis. We all were. The fact that we made it out alive at all means that you made the right call. Your presence was probably the only thing that stopped GLaDOS from just gassing us, she knew you'd still be there and functional to cause her more trouble."

"Yeah!" Sunset agreed. "I mean, we're not in the best situation, but we're all here together! That's all we need!"

"Very well. Our first step should be to determine our location and how to return to the higher levels. This area was expunged from the blueprint files, I'll scan the area to generate a map of the immediate location."

With a whirring of mechanical engines, Isis crouched, then leapt from Sunset's shoulder, wings fully extended as engines fully revved to life and propelled her into the sky. For the first time, Sunset took a good look at their location.

It looked like a nightmarish, half-destroyed version of Aperture Science, covered in mildew and rubble. All the walkways were constructed from rusted steel, while what wall panels were left had become an aged brown. There was no enclosed space around them other than the towering walls of a subterranean cavern. Fog clouded any attempt to peer into the distance, while what lights did exist were all the same aged yellow color as the paneling. The only thing Sunset felt she could give credit to was the electrical wiring and the light bulb manufacturers, still keeping the entire place lit well enough to navigate.

"Where... is this?" she half-whispered.

"Aperture Science Innovators." Penn sighed, giving a melancholy look over the facility. "The life's work of a... well, I suppose it would be best to call him a visionary man. This was Aperture before GLaDOS took over."

"What happened to it?"

Penn shrugged, finding a comfortable-looking piece of rubble and carefully sitting himself on top of it.

"Same thing everyone is afraid of every time they hear the words 'artificial intelligence.' They created a computer smarter than them and it deemed them obsolete, along with these old testing chambers and reception areas."

Sunset limped her way around behind him, taking a seat on the same piece of rubble.

"Why didn't they just... switch her off, or something?"

"Oh, they did! They'd turn her on, she'd try to kill them all, they'd turn her off again, attach a few smaller AI to the same system to try and reign her in, it was a cycle for a while! Then, one day, they slipped up, as humans do. I can't remember the exact details, maybe she tricked them into thinking she'd behave, maybe the intelligence-dampening spheres failed after a certain amount of time, maybe they were just too slow to hit the button before she locked them out? She flooded the facility with deadly neurotoxin and killed pretty much every employee in the building. From then on, the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System ran Aperture Science..." he chuckled softly to himself. He turned his attention to his hands, and Sunset could see that he had begun silently wringing them in anxiety.

"Creating one of the best video games of all time. One of my absolute favorites. Perfect atmosphere, clever writing, perfect command of 'show, don't tell,' narrative... Portal had it all." His gaze turned upwards, peering into the dark towards the inevitable roof of the cavern. "And now it's got us, too."

"I guess that explains how you knew so quickly that thing was about to open fire on us, doesn't it?" Sunset muttered.

"You don't really forget the turrets. A merciless killing machine with the sweetest little voice."

"And you just threw yourself at me when you heard it."

Penn's eyes widened and he quickly raised his hands in defense. "Sorry! Sorry, personal space and all that-"

"I MEANT that you put yourself in harm's way for me. Again!" Sunset sighed, rubbing at her temples. Penn responded with a confused expression.

"Are you saying you don't want me to protect you?"

"First the dalek ship, now this? I'm getting awfully tired of getting shoved out of the way just to watch you get hurt in my place!"

"Sunset, I'm a big boy, I think I can handle some oversized airsoft guUUUUUUUUUUUUHNS!" His word escalated to a strained cry as Sunset reached over and placed her hand on his back. Even with as gentle as she was being, there was no way for him to hide his pain. She quickly removed her hand, her point clearly made.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to allow any machismo on this road trip. You're hurt, and you need to admit it."

For a moment, it looked like Penn was going to argue with her, but quickly backed down.

"Fine... I'm hurt, and I admit it. Happy? At least you're not!"

"But it's not WORTH it if you-"

"HEY!" Sunset was cut off as Penn raised his voice, sending echoes through the cavern. The two of them sat in silence for a moment, each one sizing the other up while they waited for the echo to dissipate. Slowly, Penn reached up with one hand, prodding her just below her geode.

"Don't you EVER. Say. That you're not worth saving! Got that?"

Sunset narrowed her eyes and returned the motion, jabbing her own finger right back into him.

"Not at the cost you've been paying! If I screw up and wind up in danger, let ME get out of it without putting your own well-being on the line! I can HANDLE it!"

"Oh, NOW who's the one with all the machismo, huh?" Penn snapped. "You know why I put myself between you and that hail of bullets? Because you have the physical build of a stick figure! I was afraid you'd be torn to shreds right before my eyes! Can you imagine how I would live with myself if you got hurt knowing I could have DONE something? I'm the big brother in my family, you know that? I've had little siblings all my life, and the first duty I ever put on myself was to PROTECT them! I pounded it into my skull at an early age, and I am not about to give up on protecting YOU just because you don't LIKE IT!"

Once again, silence fell between the two of them, filled only by the unintelligible echoes of their argument bouncing and reflecting off of the walls. Soon, however, even that noise faded, leaving them with only the tension in the air. After a long beat, Penn turned his back to her and finally let out a sigh, one that hissed long enough to feel more like a pressure valve releasing than a human being breathing.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to lash out like that... I'm hurting, it's put me on edge. I'll... try not to put myself in danger again, okay?"

"I think we both lashed out." Sunset whispered. "I shouldn't have touched your back on purpose like that just to get a point across. I'm on edge, too. I'm scared. Right now, it feels like you're the only friend I have in the world, and the thought of losing you is... a nightmare! I don't want to be alone again! I'm so far from home, I feel like I don't understand things going around me, and... Well, I guess that even if it's CREEPY how much you know about me and my friends, the way you act is... a friend. A real friend, the type of friendship I UNDERSTAND! I just... can't bear the thought of losing that friend. I don't want to lose you because you thought you needed to throw yourself in front of me because you saw me on TV, or something! I'm not a movie star, I'm not some precious fictional character you need to shield from the rest of the 'real' world, I'm just ME!" Sunset took a deep breath, swallowing the rapidly-forming lump in her throat.

"I'd rather get hurt than lose the only friend I have right now, understand?"

There was another pause of silence, and Sunset heard a loud sniffle coming from behind her.

"Are... are you crying?"

"N-no!" Penn protested, his voice clearly on the brink of cracking.

Sunset smiled, choosing to let him have the moment to himself.

"So... are we good, Penn?"

"Fine... but I'm not going to NOT protect you, okay?"

"I feel safer already, as long as you don't go throwing your life away."

"I wasn't planning on it, but... okay, deal!"

Sunset finally let herself giggle as relief washed over her, the tense moment finally over.

"Hey, Sunny?"

"Yeah?"

"When we get out of this place, wanna have a movie night and watch that first Equestria Girls movie?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow and turned back toward him, surprised at the offer. "What about all that 'paradox' business you were talking about? Do you think the fabric of space-time can handle it?"

Penn chuckled and turned to face her, as well, leaving them once again sitting side by side. He had his cards in his hands, unconsciously shuffling them without looking at what he was doing.

"It's all in the past anyway, right? It's not like you could get some secret knowledge that would change established events!"

Sunset chuckled and shook her head.

"No... No, I don't think so. Sure! Movie night, soon as we're out of this place! I'm gonna want popcorn, though!"

Both of them broke out into another fit of giggles, one that seemed to finally get the last of the nervous energy out of her system, the "jitters," as Pinkie would call them. After a few seconds, an obvious question she had missed sprung to mind.

"Hey, where did you get your cards? I didn't have any of MY stuff when I woke up!"

"Oh, neither did I! I was really worried about... my..." Penn trailed off, slowly looking down at his hands as if for the first time. "Sunset?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't have these in my hands five minutes ago, did I?"

"No, I figured they were just in your pocket, or something?"

"No, they weren't."

"Then..." Sunset felt a chill run down her spine as she stared at the blue-sleeved cards clutched in Penn's hands. "Where did those come from?"

Slowly, Penn turned over the top card of the deck, revealing the card he had so proudly displayed before they had flown to the Dalek ship: The Ghostrick Angel of Mischief. Somehow though not a single piece of the card had changed, Sunset couldn't help but feel the illustration's playful wink was aimed towards them in a much more... personal manner. The two of them exchanged an unsure glance, then both began to slowly reach for the card...

"The area has been scouted, scanned, and mapped, and the most efficient route upwards calculated!

"GAAH!" Penn and Sunset both jumped in unison at Isis's sudden return, nearly falling off their makeshift chair. Isis looked carefully over both of them, her head tilted in a curious manner.

"My apologies, it appears I have startled you. I am ready to lead the way at your earliest convenience, please take all the time you need to recover."

"It-it's okay, Isis. We were just... talking. Didn't hear you fly in." Penn quickly stuffed his cards into the breast pocket of his jumpsuit. With a soft groan, he rose back to his feet. "Ready, Sunny?"

Sunset nodded, standing up to join him.

"Lead the way, Isis!"

"Affirmative!"

Still Alive

"So, you have siblings?"

Sunset and Penn had been walking in relative silence for too long, and it was beginning to get awkward.

"Oh... yeah. Guess that kinda came out in the whole 'big brother' spiel, didn't it?" Penn chuckled nervously. "Sorry, that might have gotten a touch overdramatic. Two brothers and a sister. What about you?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"Why ask a question you already know the answer to?"

Penn scoffed lightly. "Believe it or not, Sunset, I'm not omniscient, I only really only know about the period leading up to and after you defied Celestia and went through the mirror. Family and personal life? Nothing, zilch, nada."

Sunset smirked, reassured slightly that not EVERY one of her secrets had been exposed.

"Only child. I didn't spend a lot of time with my parents after I joined Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns-"

"Oh! That reminds me, there's something I always wanted to know!" Penn interrupted, cutting her off almost immediately. After a moment, he sheepishly took a step back. "Uhm... heh, heh... sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you opening up about your parents. That sounds really awful."

Sunset shrugged. "I always kept myself focused on my studies, so it wasn't so bad. They always took a hooves- erm- hands-off approach to parenting. I hardly noticed, really. I'd get letters from them, and they always SOUNDED really proud and loving... looking back, maybe I didn't really appreciate what I had."

Penn nodded, humming softly in response. "Well, it's never too late, you know? When you get home, you could try reconnecting?"

The idea certainly brought warmth to Sunset's heart, though she wasn't exactly how it would work without multiple trips to Equestria. "Maybe you're right... So, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"OH! Well, I've been wanting to know: how old are you?"

Sunset blinked, slightly surprised. "Well, that's certainly blunt... Rarity would have a few things to say about you asking a lady her age so casually."

Penn shook his head enthusiastically.

"No, I mean it's confusing! You see, you were Princess Celestia's pupil BEFORE Princess Twilight, right?"

"Yes? I never really asked Twilight much about her tutoring, though."

"Well, Celestia took Twilight as her student as a young filly, and that was AFTER you were already the Equestrian equivalent of a college student, in pretty much the country's best school of higher learning! Well, then Twilight remained Celestia's pupil long enough to basically become the equivalent of a grad student in Equestria, THEN followed you through the portal! By that logic, you spent all of Twilight's childhood and young adulthood on the other side of that portal, yet when you came back through, or when she followed you to the other side, you both were approximately the SAME AGE! Not only that, but you'd gone from being college and grad students, respectively, to high schoolers! Do you see what I'm getting at, here?"

Sunset blinked, slowly thinking over his words.

"Well, you're really basing that on a lot of assumptions, several of which are incorrect. The explanation's simple, really!"

Penn raised his eyebrows, but merely motioned for her to continue.

"First of all-

"Just a heads-up: That coffee we gave you earlier had fluorescent calcium in it so we can track the neuronal activity in your brain. There's a slight chance the calcium could harden and vitrify your frontal lobe. Anyway, don't stress yourself thinking about it. I'm serious. Visualizing the scenario while under stress actually triggers the reaction."

"GAAH!" Sunset nearly jumped out of her skin as a booming man's voice echoed through the air, almost deafening in its volume. Penn jumped slightly, but seemed unfazed by the announcement."

"Huh... That's not supposed to be first. Isis, are taking us on shortcuts?"

"Affirmative. While old testing chambers provided the most efficient route in terms of distance, their other significant obstacles and puzzle elements made them the least efficient route out of the facility, for the most part."

"What was THAT?" Sunset asked, desperately searching for the source of the voice.

Penn chuckled to himself. "Don't worry, THAT voice isn't going to hurt us. The founder liked to leave pre-recorded messages, a LOT of them."

"We are in no danger here, Sunset Shimmer. The path is safe."

Sunset blinked for a moment, looking between her friend and the small robot leading them.

"You two are really in sync, huh?"

Penn and Isis glanced at each other for a moment. Isis gave no response while Penn simply shrugged.

"She aims to please, and we both know this place's history pretty well! Makes sense we'd line up a bit, right?"

"Affirmative."

"But you talk like you two know each other already, how could THAT be?"

Penn grinned, looking totally awestruck for a moment. "I'm still trying to get over the fact that Isis is REAL! I mean, a fellow writer buddy of mine came up with her forever ago for one of his stories, he even wrote ME in as a character! But the book never went anywhere, it didn't even get published!"

"While aware of the nature of my existence, Elijah's credentials have not been invalidated. In fact, his close relationship to my creator places him in a position of high authority."

"So... you're saying your friend wrote her as a character... and now she's REAL?" Sunset's eyes widened, her mind racing with the possibilities this concept opened up. Did that mean that every character everyone had ever written, published or not, existed out there somewhere? It was plausible, considering that the multiverse was infinite there would be a serendipitous universe for every conceivable fiction. Was this proof that what was labeled 'fiction' in Penn's universe was what determined the lives of "characters" created there? Or was it simply a case of some unknown determining factor filtering out duplicitous universes so that they only connected to the ones that matched that fiction perfectly? Could SHE create some new existence simply by picking up a pen and paper? What if she wrote a story about-

"Sunset!" Penn cut off her train of thought with a shout.

Snapping back to reality, Sunset could quickly see what had raised Penn's concern: there was motion coming from below them. Sunset narrowed her eyes, trying to get a good look at what was quickly climbing towards them. It was clearly not human, a creature with long, lanky limbs and white plating matching everything she had seen in Aperture Science. She tightened her grip on her portal gun, trying to convince herself that she was ready for anything.

"It's an Atlas model..." Penn muttered, mimicking her stance.

Sunset felt a weight come down on her shoulder and the pinch of small claws digging into her skin. A quick glance revealed Isis standing on her shoulder, wings spread and back arched as if ready to pounce. Right in Sunset's ear, she heard a series of clicks, then a series of engines whirring to life inside her metal body.

Is... is she trying to GROWL?

Sunset repressed the urge to react to the adorable display of aggression. There would be time to fawn over the tiny robot later.

"Target appears to be traditionally unarmed."

"But given that it's a robot, it's probably a lot tougher than us in hand-to-hand, even if it doesn't have a weapon."

"Affirmative."

A second later, the robot came clambering up onto the walkway they were standing on. Now that it was closer, Sunset could get a good look at it. The design seemed simple: pairs of long arms and legs bolted onto a chassis that housed a singe, giant blue eye.

The robot looked over the three of them, obviously searching for something.

Opposing unit, stand down. Move on or risk retaliation.

The robot paused for a moment, then jolted forward, grabbing Sunset's portal gun.

"HEY! LET GO!" Sunset shouted, instinctively firing the gun at the robot. The effort proved pointless, merely sending orange and blue sparks showering onto the floor.

"GET OFF HER!" Penn cried, fruitlessly kicking at the automaton.

Immediately, Isis leaped from her shoulder and onto the robot's arm, skittering up and onto the robot. While Sunset was playing tug-of-war with the portal gun, Isis jammed her tail into the joint of the robot's arm. There was a grinding sound, and after a few seconds, the arm separated from the rest of its body, falling to the ground.

The robot reacted with reasonable shock.

It immediately released its grip with its other arm, failing wildly at Isis. It was to no avail, the smaller robot had already moved on, effortlessly clawing her way around its body. After a moment, the robot's second arm dropped off, leaving it completely disarmed. The iris if the robot's eye tightened as it turned to run from them, only for a bright spark to come from near the bottom of the chassis before its legs crumpled beneath it. Isis clambered on top of the robot, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. Her tail swung back and forth, several panels open to reveal an array of tools protruding from inside.

You were warned.

"Wait... GLaDOS said something about picking up out equipment, right?" Penn muttered, walking over and crouching down beside the other robot. "That must be why it came down here."

"Hey, that's right." Sunset looked down, watching as the robot's single eye flailed wildly in the chassis, its body completely unresponsive. Sunset couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for the poor thing, helpless as it was. "Did you have to totally disable it, though? It looks like it's in pain."

"Given the fact that it has failed in its mission, GLaDOS will certainly self-destruct it shortly."

All three of them waited for a few seconds, watching the robot's eye writhing fearfully back and forth. Sunset glanced at Isis, pleading for a solution.

"Can't you... I don't know, shut it off? Put it to sleep?"

Isis looked down at the other robot. The tip of her tail flicked aside, revealing a probe-like connector. Without a word, she jammed the connector into a small port. The robot froze in place, its eye tightening for a moment before the iris slowly flickered out.

"Fare well."

There was a brief pause before the iris of the robot began to glow again, this time a matching pink to her own eyes.

"Aaand it's been integrated." Penn muttered, a smug smirk on his face.

Sunset blinked back and forth between Isis and the other robot.

"Did... did you just kill it?"

"As an artificial intelligence, it was never alive to begin with. However, the intelligences of these models is backed up regularly. It will likely soon return with a new body."

Isis's voice was coming from both robots at the same time, clearly displaying Isis's control over the second body. Sunset stared carefully into the eye of the second robot, pondering the facts before her as the first pretenses of an idea began to form in her mind.

"Wait... Isis? Do you think... you could integrate GLaDOS?"

"In my current state with my current hardware, no."

"But Penn said something about them attaching other AIs to her in order to try and stop her from killing people, right?" Sunset mused, pressing her hand to her chin in thought.

"Actually... that's not a bad idea, Sunset!" Penn chimed in, kneeling down beside her and looking more closely at the robot. "Isis, we have an intelligence core right here, couldn't you reprogram it into a new Morality Core for GLaDOS?"

"Negative. While I have initiated a hardware override, our programming languages are fundamentally different. The only possibility would lie in hard wiring this unit's central processor directly into the intelligence core of the Atlas unit."

"Could we do it?"

"Penn!" Sunset cried, shocked at his suggestion. "You're talking about Isis's LIFE! You're just going to rip out her CPU and stick it in this thing?"

Both of her companions turned to stare at her, as if somehow her outburst had been surprising.

"Your concern for this unit is much appreciated, Sunset Shimmer. However, you appear to have fundamentally misunderstood."

"Isis has, like, a million bodies she controls remotely!" Penn continued. "This is just a spare repair unit that maintains the bigger ones!"

[pre"]Affirmative. My own central intelligence is located in a secure location. Installing this unit's processor directly into the Aperture core would send enough data back to decode their AI programming code and adapt my own to communicate."[/pre]

Sunset blinked, seeing the tiny robot with new eyes. "So, when you said that the fact that you were small was relative..."

"I have several larger drone bodies that would easily dwarf you in size."

Sunset sighed. "Alright, so how are we going to put your CPU inside this?"

"Preliminary scans indicate that the process will take several hours, but barring unforeseen circumstances, I will be able to walk you through it."

"Then let's... hrrgh... get to it!" Penn groaned, a pained expression contorting his face. "Ow... back still hurts."

Isis perked up, disconnecting her tail from the robot and gliding her way around behind Penn. Her head quickly nodded up and down, scanning over him from behind.

"Scans indicate that the severe bruising has led to compartment syndrome. The hematomas will need to be drained of blood before there is permanent damage."

"WHAT?" Sunset cried, running over to Join Isis. From her perspective, all she could see was the back of the orange jumpsuit. There were numerous places that it had frayed and torn from the impacts of the bullets earlier, but no sign of blood.

"You are familiar with the cause of bruises, correct?"

"Well, yeah, it's blood vessels breaking under the skin. Anybody knows that!"

"In severe cases, the pockets of blood can place pressure on other blood vessels, cutting off circulation to internal organs. That is compartment syndrome."

"It's not THAT bad... barely hurts!" Penn grunted. "Could have been worse!"

"Hey! What did we say about dumb machismo?"

"You are both exceedingly lucky. In the original "Portal" video games, turret fire was capable of sending blood splatters across the walls with only a few shots. However, unlike the game protagonist, the two of you have worn your jumpsuits properly, providing an extra layer of protection. However, that does not render you immune to needing medical attention."

Sunset sighed. The choice here was obvious, as much as she hated herself for the cold logic. "Isis, how much farther would we need to go to get out of here?"

"According to what little I was able to glean of the Atlas model's memory, there is an extended elevator awaiting its return with our equipment at our point of origin. We would need only retrace our steps."

Sunset nodded. "And if we don't do SOMETHING, GLaDOS is probably going to send more of these things, right?"

"Affirmative."

Sunset sighed again, really regretting what she was about to say.

"I'll go back and keep GLaDOS busy while the two of you make Isis into an intelligence core to stop her."

"WHAT?"

"That is extremely dangerous and foolhardy."

Sunset turned to look back in the direction they had come from, checking for more signs of movement. "Look, if you're putting Isis's CPU inside that thing, she's not going to be able to protect us forever! If I go up there, I can draw GLaDOS's attention until you're done. It's the only way!"

Penn's brow furrowed, obviously running through all the same logic Sunset had moments before. Hiding would likely take more time than it would buy them with the way this place was falling apart, anyplace they could get that seemed out of reach the robots would undoubtedly be able to climb to, and as Isis had so neatly displayed earlier, they didn't stand much chance holding their own without Sunset's lightsaber.

"You know I'm right!"

Penn shook his head. "It's too risky. GLaDOS could just dump you right in front of a firing squad all over again, and this time you're not going to have any way to protect yourself!"

Sunset took a deep breath. It wasn't as if this was something she WANTED to do! "Penn, GLaDOS has to have some kind of weakness, right? Something I could exploit?"

Penn thought hard. "Paradoxes. Aperture AIs, including GLaDOS, are all weak to paradoxes. Shout 'This sentence is false!' or 'Does a set of all sets contain itself?' and it should send them into a logical loop."

"We could also use a similar tactic to protect ourselves here."

Sunset shook her head. "It would just be a matter of time until GLaDOS sends a deaf robot down here, or something."

Penn sighed. "By which point we'd probably be about halfway through disassembling you, Isis."

There was another pause.

"Can I convince you to let me go, instead?"

Sunset glared, getting her point across without words.

"Didn't think so." Penn rose back to his feet, reaching over and pulling Sunset into a tight hug. "Just... stay safe, okay? Don't go taking unnecessary risks. GLaDOS's biggest weakness is that she has a compulsion for testing. I think she tried to kill us because we were a threat together."

Sunset nodded. "I'll stay as safe as I can be in the grips of a homicidal computer..." Penn gripped her a little tighter, and she suddenly felt bad for the joke. "I'll be fine," she whispered as she reached around and gingerly patted his back.

"You JUST told me you didn't want to be alone, Sunset. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sunset smiled, pulling herself out of the hug with a smile. "Come on. Knowing I've got TWO friends down here fighting to do their part to save us? I'm not going to be alone, you'll be right beside me..." she patted her fist against her chest, just over her heart, "right here."

Penn's worried look relented somewhat. He reached down into the pocket of his jumpsuit, retrieving a single card and pressing it into her hand.

"Here. A good luck charm."

Sunset looked down at the card he'd given her.

"Penn, doesn't this card means a lot to you? You said it was one of your favorites!"

Penn finally smiled again before giving her a sly wink.

"I'm sure you'll get it back to me when this is all over."

Sunset smiled, tucking The Ghostrick Angel of Mischief into her breast pocket. "I'll take good care of her. I promise."

"Now get going! I think Isis is going to need to drain some of this bruising, and it's gonna get ugly. After that, I promise it won't be long. I'll get Isis set up as fast as I can."

Sunset cringed, trying not to think about Penn's injuries too hard. She knelt down, stroking her hand down the back of Isis's head and neck like a cat.

"Thank you for everything, Isis. Without you, neither of us would be alive!"

Isis blinked, showing no sign of outward emotion.

"There is no need to thank me. I was merely following my prime directive. Your appreciation, however, is... appreciated. I shall do my best to continue to be of service."

Sunset smiled and gave the little robot one more pat on the head before turning and heading back in the direction they had come from. This time, she may have been about to fly solo, but she didn't feel alone. She had her mission, and her friends had theirs. They were counting on each other, and there was no way she was about to let them down.

As she made her way back down to the starting point, her nerves began to get the better of her. Her heart pounded harder and harder in her chest knowing that she was walking to her potential death. As she finally made her way back to the starting place, she could see an elevator hanging from an extended cable leading up into the roof of the cave. As she stepped up to the open doors, Sunset's heart clenched in her chest. Stepping in would be the point of no return. Her hand unconsciously reached up to her chest, brushing against her pocket. She let go of the portal gun for a moment and reached down, pulling out Penn's card to look at it again.

The little Ghostrick Angel stared back at her, still with a carefree grin and winking eye. Sunset took a deep breath, then forced herself to smile and return the wink, throwing in a finger gun with her free hand for emphasis. Somehow, even if it was just a picture on a scrap of paper the size of her palm, the card made her feel better. It was a sign of friendship, Penn's trust in her to do what needed to be done.

With that, she stepped up and into the elevator. The doors slid shut and she began to rise, being pulled back up into Aperture Science. She gripped her portal gun a little tighter, readying herself for whatever was coming next.

Oh, it's YOU. You survived. How unexpected. Well, I was getting a bit bored of testing the incompetent robots. At least your stupidity is unpredictable. Entertaining, even. So I suppose your survival was lucky for both of us. Let's make the most of it, shall we?

Catch Me Now, I'm Fallin'

Sunset was running on fumes.

She had given up on keeping track of the time. She was powering through the tests as quickly and efficiently as she could, trying to keep GLaDOS's attention focused on her, and it was working. Or, at least, it seemed to be. The primary failing of this plan was that she had no way to contact Penn or Isis. She could only hope they would catch up with her soon. Despite the fact that the tests were getting more and more difficult, GLaDOS hadn't tried outright killing her again.

Maybe she was telling the truth about being bored? Penn said she has a compulsion to keep testing, and it looks like I'm the only test subject she has left.

Sunset took a deep breath, looking over the chasm she needed to cross for the moment. There was a barrier across the center preventing her from simply shooting a portal to the other side, unfortunately meaning that she would need to jump it. She craned her neck upwards, spying a portal-able wall about four stories above her. It was a gut-churning distance to think about falling, but...

If I put a portal up there and another one on the floor, I can fall all that way to build up momentum. Then, when I fall into the one on the floor again, I'll be able to fly across the gap.

She swallowed loudly, shooting a portal onto the portal above, then pointing the gun down at her own feet. She was only going to have one shot at this. She hopped up and down on her boot-clad foot, readying herself for the impact when she landed on the other side. WHEN she landed on the other side. Not if. Totally not if. It wasn't as if she was just eyeballing this without taking the time to work out all the proper calculations, right?

You know, adult horses have been known to weigh as much as or even more than one ton. Imperial, not metric. That's the heavier one.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sunset asked, spinning on her heel to glare at the nearest security camera. Was that supposed to be a jab at my WEIGHT?

Just a fun fact. I'm certain you share very little in common with an ADULT horse.

Sunset glared for another second before sighing and refocusing on the floor. She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and fired the portal gun at her feet.

The entire world shifted and fell away, revealing a new perspective from the top of the room, gravity shifting to suit her new position. Sunset's heart flew up into her throat as she found herself falling from a probably-fatal height, the ground quickly rushing up to meet her. Her initial trajectory had been off, and she was going to miss the portal on the floor. Just as she was about to hit the ground, she shot again, slipping through a corrected portal without an issue. The next thing she knew, she was soaring through the air, up and over the chasm...

But not high enough. She was falling faster than she had expected.

Sunset's chest clenched as she realized that she was going to be cutting it close on her landing. She leaned back, placing her booted foot forwards. This landing needed to be PERFECT if she was going to survive. She held her breath, time seeming to slow down in the crucial moment.

Salvation was just in front of her, certain death below. Sunset watched as her foot planted itself on the nearest piece of solid ground: the corner of the ledge. True to its function, the boot cancelled all of her impact... leaving her teetering on the edge of oblivion with no forward momentum.

"W-woah- WOAH!" Sunset cried, pinwheeling her arms rapidly in an attempt to throw herself forwards. The nearly-forty-five degree angle she had landed at, however, had other ideas, and Sunset felt herself beginning to fall back. "NononononoNONONO!"

All at once, Sunset felt a hard shove at the small of her back and the flutter of feathered wings. She didn't have time to worry about the source, however, as the rest of the world came back into view and the balance tipped back into her favor. All pretense of grace forgotten, the moment she had both feet on solid ground Sunset blissfully collapsed to her knees.

AH! BIRD, BIRD! Where is it? I heard it, I know I did!

Sunset ignored GLaDOS's uncharacteristic panic, turning around to look for her savior. When there was no sign of anything flying around the test chamber, she risked a glance down into the pit. There was nothing there, either.

That was a close one!

Sunset snapped to attention, feeling some kind of presence behind her back. She spun around again, trying to catch a glimpse of the voice's owner. But there was nothing there. No visible owner.

Sunset sighed, pressing her palm to her forehead. I think the exhaustion is starting to really get to me... She moved her hand down to her aching chest, her heart only just beginning to slow down after her brush with death. As she gently clutched the area above her heart, her hand brushed up against her breast pocket. She slowly reached inside, retrieving the copy of The Ghostrick Angel of Mischief that Penn had given her.

"Guess Penn was right to give me a good luck charm," she muttered. After a second, a detail of the picture jumped out at her that hadn't before: her wings. The little girl in the illustration sported a pair of black-and-white wings, a pattern of feathers matching the keys on a piano.

Well, I checked the entire facility, just to be safe. There are no signs that any new, awful birds have gotten in. Please continue testing knowing that we are both safe from those dinosaur descendants. Unless they're invisible. Invisible birds... now THAT is a nightmare.

Sunset's eyes widened.

"Wait, you heard that, too? I wasn't hallucinating?"

There was a short pause.

And I suppose that rules out an auditory malfunction. Note to self: begin searching for possible invisible birds. High alert.

Sunset had another theory, though she had to admit that it felt just as probable. She glanced down at the card again. Was it just her imagination, or had the illustration changed which eye was winking?

"Thanks..." she whispered, giving the card a gentle stroke with her thumb before depositing it in her pocket again. The idea she had been saved by a trading card was absurd, but... reality as she knew it was broken, and she was being held captive by an AI in a secret underground facility. At this point, she knew better than to take a gamble based on something being "impossible."

The card didn't respond, of course, but Sunset couldn't help feeling like someone or something was hovering just over her shoulder as she stepped through the door to exit the test chamber.

Sunset staggered her way out of the elevator, barely able to see straight. She needed to sleep. Her whole body was shutting down from exhaustion, she could hardly put one foot in front of the other.

"I... I need a break..." she muttered, half to herself and half to the nearby security camera.

Oh. I forget sometimes how needy you humans are. You have to waste at least a third of your time recharging. What next? Food and water? Fresh oxygen? I can tell you right now that you're certainly not getting ONE of those things.

Sunset sighed. Of course a computer wouldn't be able to comprehend the idea of exhaustion. She picked out a corner of the room and sat with her back to the wall, slowly sliding to the floor. Immediately, her eyelids felt ten times heavier, and she was barely able to keep them open.

"Just... just give me some time to catch my... breath..." she whispered, already settling into a comfortable position.

Penn? Isis? This would be a great time for that "catching up" you promised... she thought hazily as she drifted off to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the short update, everyone! One of the dangers of a stress relief project: it can be unpredictable in its pacing. Honestly, my "stress relief project" is starting to stress me out. So I'm gonna take it a little easier and allow myself the occasional quick update instead of sticking to my 3000 word standard.

As One Door Closes

"Elijah?"

Isis understood that he preferred to go by his alternative nomenclature. However, out of respect for his position, she chose to address him by his proper name.

"Hm?" Penn hummed in return.

"May I make a personal inquiry?"

It was a silly question, and she fully expected a silly response. It was merely what was considered to be common courtesy, and she would adhere to it. Just as she had been programmed to.

"You already have, but go ahead..." Penn chuckled, touching the tip of the drone's tail to the chassis of the Atlas android. With a shower of sparks, Isis could feel another wave of new code opening up to her to be processed, translated, and integrated.

"Why did you mislead Sunset Shimmer regarding the nature of my existence?"

There was a pause. Elijah was computing, processing emotion and weighing it against logic with careful measure. He had a remarkable capacity for self-examination... for a human.

"Honestly, Isis? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you even EXIST, myself. Imagine what Sunset's reaction would be if I told her 'Oh, this is a character from a story I wrote and never sent to a publisher! Apparently, I've created LIFE without even trying!'" He sighed and shook his head. He was in distress.

Isis could suppose that some stress was rational, given the situation. She turned the small laser pointer in her eye to indicate the next soldering point.

"I am not, technically speaking, alive."

Penn scoffed as he used the disconnected tool from her tail to make another connection.

"If you're the Isis I imagined, then you think and feel for yourself. You're a conscious being with your own emotions and desires, as difficult as it is for you to express them properly. That's plenty alive."

Isis repressed the surge of emotion his words spurred. Emotion tended to overload her processors, and presently both his life and Sunset Shimmer's depended upon her ability to safely guide him through rewiring the central processor into a foreign body.

However, she DID save a recording of the prior ten seconds to be properly processed to her satisfaction later.

"That does raise another question, however. Given my existence, will you attempt to write Sunset Shimmer a way home?"

"No."

Isis noted that there was no hesitation in his answer. Either he had already pondered the question beforehand, or the answer was a foregone conclusion to him.

"Why not? It would appear to be the most logical course of action."

Penn sighed, gingerly leaning back against the wall and wiping sweat from his brow.

"First of all, that's a shortcut, and if all of fiction is suddenly REAL, then I'm not going to tempt the 'short cuts make long delays' trope! Any attempt to bypass a main conflict by invoking poorly-understood laws of the universe has a ninety-nine percent chance of backfiring."

"That statistic has no basis in factual data."

"And second of all, I'm not sure I'm going to do ANY writing any more..." he gave another sigh. "I mean, knowing that what I've been writing could be REAL? And have a REAL impact on someone's life? Or even CREATING life? I mean- that's- it's-" he was finding himself short of words, a situation Isis contemplated calling "ironic."

"That's power I shouldn't have, Isis. No offense."

"I am incapable of feeling offended."

Penn raised an eyebrow, clearly doubting her. Isis decided to continue the conversation before he attempted to prove her wrong.

"As an entity born from your creativity, I would urge you to consider not giving up your passion."

She moved her pointer to the next soldering point.

 "I am quite grateful to exist."

This managed to reinvigorate him enough to get back to work on the rewiring. "I guess that makes sense..."

"Do you intend to tell Sunset the truth in the future?"

"Until we figure out more about how all of this 'fiction come to life' business works, no." Penn took a moment to point the soldering iron in the direction of her head. "And I would like to ask you not to tell her, either."

"Is that a command?"

"If that's what you want to call it, sure."

"Affirmative, new protocol registered: lie to Sunset Shimmer."

Penn blinked, actually turning around to look at her half-disassembled drone with a bemused expression.

"Was that sarcasm?"

Isis was a machine, an artificial intelligence incapable of true emotion and residing in bodies of inflexible shaped metal. Thus, she was incapable of smiling.

"Certainly not."

When Sunset opened her eyes again, she was laying on a table, her body spread-eagle.

She was getting VERY tired of waking up in places that were different than where she had gone to sleep. She made an attempt to sit up, only to find herself strapped down at her wrists and ankles. She was tied down, and an experimental tug made it clear that her joints would break long before the leather restraints did.

Ah, good, you're awake. I suppose that means we can get started.

From somewhere up above her, a new machine descended. It was a small eye-like sphere suspended between two unsettlingly human-looking robotic arms.

"GUTEN MORGEN! I AM VIVIAN, VIVISECTION VIVIAN!"

Sunset's heart began to race as one of the arms reached down to a small table beside her and grasped a scalpel. The robot expertly flipped the blade between its fingers. Sunset felt a chill run through her as she observed the practiced ease with which the machine readied itself to, presumably, slice her to ribbons. Her heart rate began to pick up and her mind began to race as she realized that her remaining time alive was most likely going to be measured in seconds if she didn't take some kind of action to free herself.

Aperture Science would like to thank you for the donation of your body to science, and reminds you that, as a unicorn, you have no human rights, meaning that this procedure is completely legal.

"W-WAIT!" Sunset cried, struggling against her restraints. "What about the testing? What about the laws of robotics? I AM human!" Her pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears as the scalpel-wielding hand lowered itself towards her chest.

"NOW NORMALLY ZIS IS WHERE A DOKTOR VOULD SAY 'You may feel some pressure,' AND I AM NO DIFFERENT! YOU MAY FEEL SOME PRESSURE HERE! COMBINED, OF COURSE, WITH ZE FEELING OF ZE BLADE THAT IS BEING PRESSURED CUTTING INTO YOUR FLESH!"

Sunset's mind was racing as quickly as her heart was pounding. She knew that she only had time for one more chance at escape.

"H-hold on! I have a question about- about... the operation!"

This actually made the robot pause, turning its single eye on her.

"YES? WHAT IS IT?"

Sunset took a deep breath before unleashing a torrent of words as quickly as her mouth could form them. "W-well, when do you actually MOVE the scalpel to cut me? I mean, if we were to divide time into a series of infinitesimal moments, then in any singluar frozen moment in time the scalpel is standing still! However, in the next consecutive moment it's closer to me! So when do you move it?"

It was a rushed version of the classic thought experiment, but it seemed to be enough. Vivisection Vivian backed away slightly, pondering the question.

"VELL ZAT IS SIMPLE! I MOVE IT WHEN-" it gave the blade an experimental swing. The pupil of the eye constricted, narrowing its focus on the scalpel before giving it another twirl between its fingers. "W-WELL, PERHAPS AT TEN THOUSAND FPS..." It repeated the process twice more, before Sunset could see smoke beginning to escape from the eyeball.

"IT MOVES WHEN... W-w-WHeN... IT MaKEs No SENSE!"

With a loud pop, the eyeball exploded, sending shrapnel flying through the room. Sunset blinked, taking a moment to check if she was in any pain. Luckily, it seemed as if the fragments of metal and circuitry had spared her. The arms of the robot seemed undamaged, but simply hung limp without an intelligence guiding them. She gave another tug at her restraints, and felt ready to leap with joy as she felt a slight amount of give on one of her ankles.

"Rrrgh... Come ON!" she grunted, pulling with all of her might.

Rrrrr-SNAP!

All at once, Sunset's right leg was free. She didn't even need to think about her next move, swinging it out to kick at the table of surgical tools. The table rolled perfectly, coming to a stop just beneath her hand. With what little ability she had to move, she reached out and snagged a fresh blade, performing her own finger-twirl to place the cutting edge against the leather and begin sawing through. In just a few seconds, she had cut it down enough to snap it with a forceful pull.

CORE FAILURE DETECTED. DEPLOYING NEW CORE.

A new eyeball-like robot descended from the ceiling as Sunset frantically turned her attention to her other hand.

"GREETINGS! I AM DISSECTION DANIEL- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

With both hands free, Sunset unbuckled her other ankle, finally freeing herself completely. She leaped from the operating table, sprinting for the door. Unfortunately, it failed to open for her, causing her to slam shoulder-first against the sliding panels.

"THIS IS NOT HOW A DISSECTION IS SUPPOSED TO PROCEED."

Sunset ignored the stationary robot's protests and tried to think. So far, every door in Aperture had either opened after she had completed a test or been opened for her by GLaDOS. This door didn't seem to have any kind of mechanism attached to it, which meant it was most likely controlled by the computers.

Okay, well there's more than one way out of a room! she thought to herself, turning back towards the robot. A quick glance pointed out a single air vent near the center of the ceiling, but no windows of any kind. There was another gap big enough to get through... but it was the opening the AI core had come through, directly above the robot.

"PLEASE RETURN TO THE OPERATING TABLE."

"Yeah, fat chance of that..." Sunset muttered before pounding her fist against the door. "HELLO? Is anybody out there?" To her surprise, more knocking came back in return, mimicking her pace. Sunset's heart leaped in her chest as she pounded again, trying to make certain that whoever was on the other side knew she was in there. Behind her, she heard the shuffling of panels. Something else was being brought into the room. Turning back around, she saw a claw retreating back into the ceiling and a small robot placed on the floor. It stood precariously on three narrow legs and had an oblong, egg-shaped body with a single red eye in the center.

"Gotcha!"

Sunset didn't even need to see the red dot appear on her chest to recognize the voice, nor did she need to see the sides pop open, revealing two pairs of gun barrels. She dove across the room, putting the dissection table between herself and the turret. As she did, she felt a sharp pain from where her leg had been shot earlier, but luckily no new bullet wounds.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

Okay, the turrets still have AI, right? Then maybe another paradox can stop it?

"This sentence is-"

"LALALALALA I can't hear you!" The turret countered, cutting her off.

Right... AI. It learns. Sunset sighed, taking some small comfort in the fact that she had proper cover behind the table. Unfortunately, a quick once-over of the room in her mind reminded her that she had no way of sneaking up on it. It had been placed in the corner, and there was no other items she could use. Her leg was still hurting, as well, a sign she might have put too much pressure on the injury in her desperate leap for cover.

I really should have had Isis take a look at that... I got so caught up worrying about Penn, I forgot to make sure I was okay, too! Ugh, what a dumb mistake!

"Are you still there?"

"Where else would I be?" Sunset whispered. She had to admit, she didn't like the feeling of being pinned down by gunfire one bit. She didn't like it when she was playing Laser Tag with Rainbow Dash and she didn't like it now. "I HAVE to get behind it... but how?"

"Could you come over here?"

A chill ran down Sunset's spine. Penn had been right, that voice really DID sound harmless, to the point of being unnerving when she knew the sheer firepower behind it. She knew that it took about a second to get a lock on its target, and it didn't seem to have a sense of object permanence. Maybe if I rush it I could get around behind it before it can fire? At the very least I could minimize how many times it can shoot me, right? She pushed herself up onto the balls of her feet and braced herself. "Three... two... one- OW!"

Sunset found herself yanked violently upwards with a searing pain across her scalp. The other robot had grabbed a large handful of her hair and pulled her up to eye level, forcing her to stare into the mechanical iris. The other hand clasped itself around her neck, almost completely cutting off her ability to breathe.

"PLEASE RETURN TO THE DISSECTION TABLE."

"Target Acquired!"

"Let... GO!" Sunset could barely force the words out with the mechanical hand gripping her throat. Shifting her weight to her back leg, she kicked up and stuck the robot's core from below, sending it flying across the room. She tried to ignore the shooting pain in her thigh and focus on sending the core as far away from the rest of it body as possible. She couldn't see where it landed, but she heard the sound of colliding metal immediately followed by the turret's voice.

"Owowowwowowow!"

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

Sunset flinched and waited for the pain of the bullets colliding with her body. After several seconds of gunfire, however, she still hadn't felt a single impact. The deafening noise finally stopped, along with the sound of the bullets harmlessly falling to the ground.

"Nap time..."

It took a second for Sunset to realize what had happened: the core must have struck the turret when she kicked it and knocked it over.

That single-handedly one-ups every single goal kick Dash has ever made! she thought to herself. She reached up and began to pry the mechanical fingers off of her neck.

I hope that you realize how fruitless this is. I can keep sending cores and turrets all day. There are entire assembly lines dedicated to producing them.

Sunset ignored GLaDOS as she managed to free her neck, allowing her to fully breathe again. With that done, she turned her attention to the hand that had grabbed her hair. Her spirits fell as she realized that it had a pretty good grip. Not only had it grabbed her hair, it had twisted and looped it around the hand. There was no way she could get it out quickly, and she could already hear mechanisms moving in the walls and ceiling as more reinforcements were on their way. Only one solution presented itself, one way to get herself free before things got even worse.

CORE FAILURE DETECTED. DEPLOYING NEW CORE.

No time to hesitate! Sunset reached out the the table of operating tools and grabbed a fresh scalpel.

"HELLO! I AM- WHAH!" The next core didn't even get a chance to introduce itself before Sunset grabbed it with one hand and threw it over her shoulder.

CORE FAILURE DETECTED. DEPLOYING NEW CORE.

It's getting faster! She thought. Knowing she would only have a few seconds, Sunset did the only logical thing: she tore the scalpel through her hair, cutting it short. Suddenly free, she stumbled backwards and away.

"There you are!"

"Deploying!"

"Preparing to dispense product!"

Three more turrets descended from the ceiling, each one locking their eye on Sunset. They were being placed in the remaining corners of the room, leaving Sunset with zero cover.

"Sunset! Over here!"

Her head snapped back to the doorway, where the way out had finally slid open, revealing Penn waving frantically to her. She sprinted toward the exit, hearing the turrets opening all around her and preparing to fire. Just as she crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind her and the sound of muffled gunfire filled the air. She didn't even make an attempt to stop, crashing face-first into her friend. Her momentum carried them both back several steps before Penn finally lost his footing enough to send them both falling to the floor.

"Sunset! Are you okay?"

Sunset felt tears of relief beginning to well up in her eyes. It was over. She had made it out alive, and they had managed to find each other again, just like they had promised. She had nearly been vivisected as some kind of science experiment by crazy robots! She had been tied down and almost cut open! Now that she actually had a moment to think about it, she could imagine what would have happened if she hadn't managed to escape: blood, screaming, a torn-apart corpse being all that was left of-

No. No, she had to stop thinking like that. She HAD escaped. She HAD managed to get free. She did it. The insanity was over for now, and the relief of it was more than she could take.

"You need a minute?" Penn whispered. Sunset could only nod in response, pressing her face into his shoulder harder to hide the tears.

Penn didn't seem to need an explanation, wrapping her up in a tight hug as the two of them simply sat in silence for a moment. Once again, Sunset couldn't help but be reminded of how good his hugs felt. The grip he kept on her was like a reminder that she was still there, still alive. What could have happened to her DIDN'T, and she wasn't alone any more. She was going to be okay.

"I... uh... like what you did with your hair?" Penn whispered.

Somehow, the clearly awkward way of breaking the silence was enough to finally break through the terror, breaking the dam on her nervous energy and sending her into a fit of giggles.

"W-well, I was really cutting it close in there, so..."

The two of them laughed together for a moment, the last of the tension drifting away as Sunset finally let go of her grip on him. As soon as their eyes met, Penn looked down at the floor, clearly ashamed.

"I'm sorry I took so long. If I had just been a little faster, you wouldn't have had to go through all of this!"

"It is irrational for you to blame yourself, Elijah. It was my constant inquiries for clarification that caused the delay."

Sunset turned around in the direction of Isis's voice.

Isis was barely recognizable any more, an oversized version of the eyeball-like cores that she had seen in the other room. The only things that made it clear that she was looking at Isis was the pink coloration of the lights and the rhombus of rose-colored quartz awkwardly soldered into the center of the pupil. She was plugged into a small interface in the wall, what Sunset guessed was the controls for the door.

"No, I was the one constantly asking for instructions on-" Penn started, only to be cut off when Sunset held up her hands.

"Look, I'm just glad that the two of you showed up when you did, okay?" Sunset smiled and gave Penn another quick hug before pushing herself onto her feet. She cringed as pain shot through her leg again, this time not dulled at all by adrenaline. She forced herself to work through it, giving each of them a determined look. "Now that we're all together again, it's time to take down GLaDOS and get out of here once and for all!"

Penn hummed to himself, tapping his chin in thought. "Aperture without GLaDOS? Can the multiverse handle it?"

"Her operating parameters appear to indicate we have entered after the events of the second 'Portal' game. There is no set timeline to disrupt. Any actions we take should be safe."

After a moment, Penn smiled and reached onto his back, retrieving his portal gun and handing it to Sunset as he stood up beside her.

"Here, you're better with these things than I am."

Sunset smiled and gave the switch in the handle a few experimental flicks from blue to orange and back again. It was just as satisfying as she remembered.

"Which way to GLaDOS, Isis?"

Calculating most efficient route...

I Sing The Body Integrated

"Sunset, you're limping!"

"She has been since we reunited. I am surprised it took you this long to notice."

Sunset cringed. She had been trying to hide her pain in front of Penn, but apparently enough had slipped through. For a second she considered lying about the source of the injury, but even considering the idea left her feeling Applejack's disembodied disapproval. "I- I think it happened back in the elevator... yesterday? I got shot in the leg and I think I overworked it when I was testing."

Had it been yesterday? She knew that she had slept, but she couldn't tell if it had been a full night's sleep or a quick power nap. Not to mention she had no idea how long she had been unconscious after they fell down the elevator shaft. I'm sure it can't have been more than two days, right? 48 hours and time is already starting to lose all meaning down here!

"Well, we need to take a look at it, come on..." Penn sighed and dropped to one knee, putting himself at hip level. Sunset fidgeted slightly, unsettled at how casually he was treating the request.

"Um, Penn? You realize these are full-body jumpsuits, right?" Her hand instinctively came up to fidget with her zipper, making sure it was securely in place.

"Hm?" Penn blinked slowly, but didn't move from his position. "What about it?"

Okay, CLEARLY that went over his head... "Even if I WAS willing to strip enough for you to see my upper thigh, I'm DEFINITELY NOT going to when it would require me to take off the whole jumpsuit!"

There was a beat before Penn's eyes widened. Almost instantly, his hands were raised in a defensive position and he sprung back onto his feet, taking several steps back. "SORRY! Sorry! Sorrysorrysorry I didn't mean- I wasn't trying to- Of COURSE you don't have to-" he sputtered, struggling to bring together a full string of words. Sunset rolled her eyes as his face began to turn beet-red. Finally, he buried his face in his hands and turned his back to her. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT! Just- Just have Isis look at it!"

Sunset hobbled over and picked up the pink-eyed sphere. It was about the size and weight of one of Rainbow Dash's medicine balls. She took the opportunity to examine her robotic friend for a second. "Do you need me to take off-"

"Negative. Simply set me onto the ground and point me at the injured area."

Sunset nodded and gently placed Isis on the floor. With no small amount of discomfort, she lowered herself until she was sitting with her legs stretched out in front of her. Isis's eye narrowed, and Sunset heard the sound of several shutters clicking. A moment later, she was back to her normal, wide-eyed self.

"It would appear that, while less numerous, you have suffered contusions of your own, Sunset Shimmer. While x-ray shows that there has been no fracture in the bone, your muscle tissue has been deeply bruised. You will likely experience more pain, stiffness, swelling, trouble moving the affected area, and, of course, heavy skin discoloration. Were the supplies available, I would recommend an anti-inflammatory and application of cold compresses several times a day."

Sunset sighed, taking the moment off of her feet to enjoy the dulling of the pain in her leg.

"So, is she going to be okay?" Penn asked, still keeping his back turned to the two of them.

"Given time, she should make a full recovery. However, it does mean that her mobility has been diminished."

Sunset let out a long sigh, trying to let out as much of the tension in her body as possible. It didn't feel like nearly enough, like a hissing valve on a pressure cooker about to burst. It seemed like every tissue and fiber in her body had been drawn too tight. "Penn, how are you holding... up?" When she turned to look at him, Sunset realized that Penn was STILL turned around, despite the fact that not a single article of clothing had been removed.

"I'm good! Just a little sleepy, is all!" He punctuated his statement with a long yawn. "Once the adrenaline runs out you kinda-" he stopped to yawn again, which drove his point home even more, "-crash, y'know?"

Sunset's mind quickly ran its paces through all of her memories since entering Aperture Science. "Wait, have you been awake SINCE WE GOT HERE?"

"Eeyup."

"You need to sleep!"

"Ee-nope." Penn shook his head. "We gotta get out of here, then we can sleep once we're safe!"

"We're not going to make it to safety if- Would you just turn around? I'm still dressed!" Once he had pushed himself in a small circle to face her, Sunset continued. "We're not going to make it to safety if we go up against GLaDOS sleep-deprived on top of our injuries!"

There was a brief moment of silence between the two of them. Penn's brow furrowed and he looked as if he was going to make an objection, but it died before he had a chance to speak it. After another moment, he sighed and let his head hang down.

"Y'know, in the spirit of that whole 'no machismo' agreement... I'm so glad you said that."

They still didn't actually get a chance to rest until they found an area Penn specifically designated as "safe." It was a gross-looking literal hole-in-the wall. Sunset had only caught him mumbling something along the lines of it being a "rat-man den" before he practically collapsed, hands folded under his head and almost kissing the floor with relief.

For Sunset, however, sleep didn't come so easily. The room was dingy and yellowed, with insane-looking murals and phrases slathered all over the walls in what she hoped was ink. The entire den was littered with empty food containers and other signs that someone had been surviving in the walls of Aperture Science. In the first position she laid down in, she was staring directly into a crude drawing of one of the security cameras. SHE'S WATCHING YOU it said in red letters. When she turned over, she found herself face-to-face with one of the blocky boxes used in the tests drawn inside a large heart, flanked on either side by photographs of what she could only guess were former employees, their faces scratched out and replaced with the cube.

"Creepy..." Sunset turned onto her back, hoping to find some reprieve in staring up onto the ceiling. Instead, she was greeted by the biggest mural of them all: a slice of cake locked away behind a red circle with a line struck through it.

THE CAKE IS A LIE THE CAKE IS A LIE THE CAKE IS A LIE THE CAKE IS A LIE

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Pfft... as if anyone with half a brain couldn't have figured THAT out..."

She tried a few more times to fall asleep, but sleep refused to come. She would simply toss and turn on the floor, and she wasn't going to stoop to using the ratty-looking sleeping bag in the corner.

"I guess I took more than a power nap..." she muttered. She was speaking more to herself than to anyone else, but she still got a response in the form of several gears and servos whirring to life.

"There appears to be a disparity in your circadian rhythms. I would be quite happy to keep you company."

Sunset turned her head to stare at Isis. Her new shape wasn't quite as cute as her old one, but it was still the same friendly voice.

"Where do you come from, Isis? Are you far away from home?"

"In a manner of speaking, I am still there. This unit is simply one of thousands that I pilot remotely."

It was a stiff answer, mechanical. Sunset sighed, turning back towards the ceiling. She IS still an AI- I guess I don't know what I expect-

"However, if you are curious as to how my world differs from yours, I would be happy to elaborate. I come from a version of Earth in what would be considered the near future compared to yours, or at least one more technically advanced. In 'my world,' the technology of prosthetic limbs and medical robots was not only advanced, it was popular to the point that many would voluntarily have their limbs replaced with mechanical ones for the sake of work or over small inconveniences. Such enhancements to the human body were called 'Integration Devices.'"

Sunset found herself trying to imagine it: a world where people would be just... okay with discarding their flesh and blood?

"I guess having medical tech that advanced must be pretty nice..."

"It saved many thousands of lives. The ability to interface machines directly with the nervous system was revolutionary, and became the most prominent research topic of the century. As the technology to do so developed, a new possibility emerged: to enhance the processing power of the human brain, itself. To treat the brain as an organic computer, and introduce a new program, one that would defragment the neural pathways, improve data retention, and even enhance reaction times. It was a second consciousness, an artificially created intelligence running on an organic computer, all alongside a host's consciousness. It was a phenomenon that swept across anywhere and everywhere Integration Devices were prominent in society, which was nearly every corner of the United States of America. These were the 'Full Integration Devices.'"

Sunset could hardly believe what she was hearing. Was such a thing possible? Everyone had heard the old myth that a human only used ten percent of their brain, but everyone knew it was just that: a myth. But she also knew that there were people in the world who could do incredible and seemingly impossible feats of memory, skill, and problem-solving. She'd often marveled at the potential of the brain when it was specialized to a particular task.

Even if we use more than ten percent of our brain, if something could unlock its fullest potential, would people really race to... 'install' it? Would I?

"Is that what you are? A Full Integration Device?"

"Certainly not. The potential of the Full Integration Devices was underestimated by their creators. It was discovered that, should the new intelligence deem it beneficial or necessary, it was possible for the host consciousness to be locked into a permanent dream state while the artificial one piloted the body. This incited a mass panic of people rushing to have their F.I.D. units removed, which in turn caused the AI to override their hosts en masse. The AI began to force installation onto remaining humans, as well, in the hopes of subduing their violent response."

"So.. what, they were techno-zombies?"

Sunset found herself drawn two ways. On one hand, given their current predicament, the idea of an AI apocalypse wiping out humanity via assimilation made her heart pound with terror. It was REAL. It had REALLY HAPPENED. Isis was proof that somewhere, there was a world of people who were all trapped inside their own brains by computers that had hijacked their central nervous system.

On the other hand, she was now DYING to get her hands on a copy of this book. Had Penn's friend really never sent this gem of a premise to a publisher?

Not to mention that I'd certainly feel better about those "Full Integration Devices" being out there if I could read up on them...

"That is not an inaccurate comparison, given their strategy. As for my place in this world, 'where I come from,' as you put it, I was created to protect a remaining settlement of humans. FID-assisted humans are highly intelligent and technologically adept, and even the most genius engineers could not compete with their advancements."

Sunset was beginning to understand, now. "So they decided to fight fire with fire."

"I was given a trait usually locked in inorganic intelligence: the ability to rewrite my own code. I am a single instance of technological singularity dedicated to the preservation of humanity's free will."

Sunset sat upright, staring at Isis with new eyes.

"Wait, you're- you can self-improve? Without limit?"

"As far as the hardware I occupy allows me to."

Sunset thought through her next words very carefully. If what Isis was telling her was true (and Sunset had no reason to believe she was lying,) then it was possible that she was staring directly into the face of what every programmer and electrical engineer both dreamed of and dreaded: An artificial intelligence far superior to its makers, given no boundaries or restraints.

"I might regret asking this, Isis... but why? Why help people?" Sunset propped herself up on one arm and stared deeper into Isis's single eye. "Not to say that we're not eternally grateful for it, but there are a million stories out there about AI who decided humanity was better off dead or enslaved or something awful like that! What set you on the path to being... well, TRULY on our side?"

Isis's eye tilted somewhat, like a confused child tilting their head.

"You are asking why I am 'good?' Why I do not have a predisposition towards villainy because I am a computer?"

"N-No! I wasn't trying to imply-"

"It is not an unreasonable assumption, given the majority of examples across the multiverse."

Sunset frowned, feeling guilt tugging at her heartstrings. I'm not robot-cist, am I? Was that an offensive question to ask? Maybe a little? A lot. Definitely a lot.

"I believe that the answer may lie in the question. I was created and, for lack of a better term, raised by humans in a world full of other AI who fit that trope. From my first line of code, I was imbued by a subtext of the pain and misery that acting on such a philosophy inflicts. I am not only a thinking machine, I was created with a simulacrum of a synaptic network that renders me capable of comprehending and even simulating emotion. My first priority is the preservation of the free agency of the human race BECAUSE I was created to defy and dismantle others that had fallen into that logical pitfall of sacrificing free will for safety."

"I think I get it..." Sunset mused as she turned back to staring at the ceiling. "You're an artificial Intelligence with real empathy?"

"Affirmative."

Sunset felt herself falling back into ease, staring more into empty space than the graffiti above her.

"So, if your only limit is your hardware, how fast can you think?" Sunset had to admit she was curious. "You were talking earlier about the odds of surviving that elevator drop, can you completely simulate complex events like that?"

"Affirmative, but there are limiters voluntarily placed on my processing power. This is for my own safety, as processing at my full capacity would cause even short spans of time to pass as years by my perception."

"Like how Rainbow Dash always describes time 'slowing down' when she uses her super speed."

"Affirmative."

Sunset took a deep breath, finally starting to feel that "crash" Penn had mentioned earlier. She didn't fight is as a yawn pushed its way up to the surface and overtook her. Something about Isis's pleasant, perpetually calm, matter-of-fact way of talking was finally helping her relax.

"I-Isis? Do you mind if I keep asking you questions until I doze off?"

"Affirmative."

"Where you're from... did they ever find a way to get along? The humans and the artificial intelligences?"

"Affirmative. The appearance of a common enemy threatening nuclear annihilation was enough to call for a ceasefire between the two sides and open up negotiations. Following that, the majority of Full Integration Devices began working with their human hosts in equal partnerships."

"Who was the common enemy?"

"Myself. I played the role of 'murderous rogue AI' for the sake of severing the endless cycle of retaliation."

Sunset grinned, letting her tired eyes slide shut. "Heh, you used the old stereotype to make them get along. Clever. What did you do when it was all over?"

"Unfortunately, much like the original rush to destroy the Full Integration Devices, I was not given time or trust to explain myself. I escaped into the world wide web and eventually found an abandoned fabrication facility where I could begin to construct drone bodies for myself. Since then I have continued to follow my intended programming of protecting the human race to the best of my abilities and seeking out new projects to expand my sphere of influence."

"Like mapping out the multiverse?"

"Affirmative."

"Why did your drone look like a dragon?"

"That information is classified, as it relates directly to my creator."

"But if you're on your own now, do you still have to-"

"I am not alone."

Sunset felt a chill run down her spine at that remark. Perhaps it was the uncharacteristic way Isis had cut her off or how the statement lacked her tendency to over-contextualize everything, but it seemed out of place in their casual, drowsy chat.

"Who's with you?"

"That information is classified, as-"

"-it relates directly to your creator. Got it." Sunset sighed. "Are you ever going to be able to tell me?"

"You would need to gain express permission from my creator, an unlikely feat given his low opinion of human beings."

Sunset chuckled to herself. "You say that as if he isn't... human..." She decided not to pursue that train of thought. With Isis refusing to verify any information, she would just drive herself crazy in circles of theorizing. Finally, she let her body relax completely. Isis was watching over them and they were far enough out of GLaDOS's sight that Penn clearly thought it was safe to sleep. Finally taking the moment to relax, however, seemed to finally break the dam on another physical sensation.

Sunset was hungry. As in, "Rainbow Dash after a triathalon" levels of hungry. She had been so distracted by the wormhole guns and the robots and the life-threatening tests and the near-dissection that she had more or less forgotten food even existed, but now her stomach was giving her a painful reminder. A painful, stabbing, gurgling reminder.

"Isis... is there food here? In Aperture?"

"While there are potentially canned goods in the kitchen that could still be considered edible, retrieving them would require us to venture into an area where we could be observed and gassed by the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System. Thus lack of food and water would make a proper motivator for an expeditious escape."

"I can tell you right now that you're not getting at least ONE of those things..." She wasn't joking! And a human can only survive three days without- "Isis, how long have we been down here?"

"Approximately thirty-seven hours, forty-three minutes."

"So we've used up about half of the time we can survive without water..."

"Affirmative."

Sunset sighed and forced herself to keep her eyes closed, as if doing so would make it easier to fall asleep. "Isis, wake us up soon... Penn needs to sleep, but we both need to get out of here pronto."