Through the Looking Glass

*I feel as if I haven't been showing you what's going on in the mindscape of Penny. So this chapter is a Penny-centric chapter full of how she ascends into darkness. Yup, it's going to be one of those stories. Also, a bit of what the future will hold. Enjoy the chapter!

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Where am I? What happened to everyone?

Penny opened her eyes to see herself floating in an endless void of darkness. She wore a white dress and her hair was flying everywhere. She turned left and right, but all she saw was darkness. She sighed, feeling sad that no one was around with her. Galthea, Megara, Izzy, all her kids...she hoped that they were alright. Especially since she had a vague feeling that she was probably dead.

Wait...if I'm dead, why am I floating in an endless space? Can I see what my kids are doing? How can I find out if they are alright? Did we all die?

Suddenly, she felt herself shift downwards from the force of her question. She screamed, hearing her screams echo around in more horrifying ways. She blinked and saw thousands upon thousands of sparks floating around her as she fell. She closed her eyes, covered her ears, and tried to drown out the disturbing noises around her. They were reaching out to her, grabbing at her hair and body. Her eyes flashed blue as she felt the emotions of each spark that touched her. Images of spilled energon, mutilation, and murder assaulted her mind.  It was too much for her to take as she screamed louder.

NO! STOP! PLEASE RELEASE ME FROM THIS ETERNAL TORTURE!

She hit the ground, feeling the impact hurt her entire body. Rubbing her head, she opened her eyes to see herself surrounded by a ton of mirrors. Her reflection gazed back her with an equally confused face. The closer she got to the mirrors, the more she realized how each one was different. One mirror showed her living a sad and miserable life alone in the house. She was surprised to see herself being thrown out of her own house and living on the streets.

Another mirror showed her with the kids as they grew up with her. She smiled as she saw them go to prom, graduate, driving themselves to college, saving the world from alien invasions. She watched as they received medals from the president himself and join the army. To her shock, they actually married human females and had kids.

One of the mirrors even showed a scene of a different path. She raised an eyebrow as a little girl walked in her line of sight. The little girl has long orange hair that was braided up in a long ponytail. She had light blue eyes that shone brightly in the mirror's light. She was wearing a set of blue overalls with a light pink shirt and red sneakers. In her arms was a tiny red robot who was waving its arms widely. The small girl was running from what looked like a white robot with a blue design scheme. She touched the mirror, her hand going through the mirror. Gasping, she pulled back her hand. What the heck was that? Grinning, she put her head through the mirror and watched the adorable scene unfold.

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"You can't catch us Tailgate!" The girl giggled, making the small bot in her arms laugh too. The minibot's eyes widen at this and chased the girl more.

"Oh yes I will Nina! Besides, Cyclonus and I are supposed to be putting you in bed now!" Tailgate said, reaching out to grab her. "And Wheelie, you are supposed to be helping us get her into bed." \

"We will never sleep!" Wheelie yelled at him, aiming shots at his peds. Tailgate nearly slipped from the shots, but leaned against the wall to avoid being hit. The duo of troublemakers slid down the corridor of the long hallway and into the laboratory. Brainstorm and Perceptor looked down to see Nina and Wheelie hiding behind one of their various machines.

"Nina, what in Primus' name are you doing in here?" Perceptor asked the small child. "Humans need up to eight hours of sleep! You must get your required hours!"

"I don't wanna go to bed! You guys stay up all night, how come I can't?" Nina whined. "Wheelie and I never get to see what you guys do after hours. So we're gonna keep hiding from you guys and spying on you."

"Hard to spy on us when we can plainly see you." Brainstorm pointed out. "And we can always go grab Ultra Magnus to retrieve you."

At the mention of her older brother, Nina flinched and ran to the nearest air vent. The two scientist realized that if she got into the air shaft, she had unlimited access to the whole ship. They ran after her, but couldn't grab her fast enough as she slipped through the metal bars with ease.

"Contact Ultra Magnus, we need to get him to get her out." Perceptor told Brainstorm as they reached for their comms.

Nina and Wheelie crept through the tunnels to avoid getting caught, giggling all the way.

"They'll never find us here! Smart move as usual Nina!" Wheelie praised, clapping his servos. "And the only ones who can chase us out of this vent are the minibots!"

"Luckily for us, we have a super secret hideout where no one, not even Red Alert, know about." Nina told him, giving him a high five. "They'll never catch us!"

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Penny pulled her head from out of the mirror, trying to comprehend who those bots and that small girl was. She felt a bond, a connection of some sort towards the small girl. Maybe she was friend of the bots? Or a relative that she didn't know? So many questions filled her brain as she tried to comprehend what she just witnessed.

"If you're done with looking at those stupid mirrors, turn your attention towards me." A voice behind her said. She turned to see a shadowy figure staring back at her with an evil grin. The person in the shadows was herself, but a lot darker. The eyes were glowing purple, the irises were red, and even her hair looked more spiked. An evil grin was on her face.

"Who are you? Where am I? Why do you look like me?" Penny asked, a bit curious now that she was literally talking to herself. Walking closer to the mirror, she also saw a dark glow surround her evil looking face.

"I'm you of course, but a bit smarter, better, and more evil than you can imagine!" The reflection gave an evil laugh. Penny screamed as it grabbed her by the front of the dress. "And it's time that you and I had a heart to heart!"

With an evil cackle, she pulled her inside the mirror.

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To be continued...