"AAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"

We both had arrived here in a flash of burning light, and collapsed to the ground. We stood up and then looked around at the frozen wastes around us. And then we had seen each other. We both responded with screaming in a mix of terror, confusion, and shock after seeing what we both looked like. After a moment we both stopped when we realized that we were both scared. I spoke first.

"...Jenny? Is that you?"

The robot in front of me nodded and asked the same.

"Is that you Kyth?"

I nodded.

"Jen. I am I insane or am I actually Cthulhu?"

She chuckled nervously.

"Well Kyth you were already crazy but you are now Cthulhu. Am I Jenny from MLAATR?"

I nodded and spoke again.

"Whoever that salesmen jerk was, we need to punch him. But first we better figure out where we are."

She nodded, and the two of us looked over ourselves, taking stock. My body felt taller, stronger... Of course having a tentacles and dragon feet felt... weird. It felt sorta natural, like it all was a normal thing but it still seemed... Weird. Like having a leg go numb and feel like it isn't there but then feeling returns to it and your body sorta remembers that it's there. I looked up and saw Jen doing the same, and experimenting curiously with some transformations. I drew my sword slightly, and I could feel power charged in it, like static electricity in a blanket. The two of us locked eyes.

"I guess we should start trying to find civilization or something?"

She nodded, and I took her hand and we started walking. I stopped us after a minute though, having a thought.

"Wait a sec. Jen, XJ9 has rocket wings, right?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, and the rocket legs and stuff."

I nodded.

"And Cthulhu has wings, as seen on my back. If we're both the characters we dressed as, then why are we walking through this frozen wasteland when we can just fly? That way we can find civilization much faster and learn a bit more about how our new forms/bodies work on the way."

She giggled a bit.

"Well it seems sorta risky if we mess up... But let's give it a try!"

She got a look of concentration and then shook in place for a moment, only for four extra arms with scimitars to extend from above and below her shoulders. She retracted them and after a few more tries her wings extended.

"Aha! There we go! Alright, let's fly!"'

I flapped my own wings experimentally and rose up a good bit while watching her on the ground. She started shaking again only to shoot off the ground like a rocket and race above me, spastically flying through the sky, shrieking.

"KYYYYYYYYYYYYTH! I CAN'T STEER!"

I flew after her, only for her jets to give out midair and her wings retracting into her. She covered her eyes in her hands and screamed again, plummeting to the ground. I divebombed and managed to grab her, swooping up and barely avoiding a crash into the ground.

"I gotcha Jen!"

I went up a bit off the ground and hovered in the air. She uncovered her eyes, nearly hyperventilating.

"O-Okay. I'm gonna need some practice with all the new robot abilities."

I chuckled and nodded.

"Maaaaybe just a little."

Her face gained a puffed expression and she made to lightly punch me. The result was my face reeling like a firetruck nailed it.

"DYOW!"

I dropped down a few feet before recovering, Jen latching onto my neck not to fall. I put my hand around her and then my other onto where I felt my jaw beneath my tentacles.

"Okay, maybe work on the fact that you have super strength now..."

She blushed.

"Eheh... Sorry."

"Eh no harm done. I'm pretty sure that the Cthulhu which is me can take a few superpunches. Now, let's see if we can find someplace, and fast. I know that as a robot you don't have to worry about the temperature and as Cthulhu I have nothing to fear from it, but I'd rather not get buried when it starts snowing."

She snickered and started looking around. We both glanced down as we went over a ridge, and were shocked at what we saw. We both spoke at the same time.

"Is that the Crystal Empire!?"

We both knew it by sight, Jen was a pegasister and I a brony, but even with all that had happened to us we were caught off guard. A large circular region of crystal and gemstone, with a massive crystalline castle in the center, and towers extending from it. The center of the castle glowed, sending off pulses of magical power and generating a dome of shimmering blue magic over the city around it. The sky outside the dome was a deep orange, unnaturally so.

"Hey Jen? I don't think we're on Earth anymore."

She limply nodded.

"Um. Kyth. If we're in Equestria near the Crystal Empire, and we're outside the shield, does that mean Sombra's gonna show up and try to mind... control...us...?"

With those last few words she looked behind me and over my head.

"Let me guess, he's behind me?"

She nodded. I drew my sword.

"Jen, aren't you forgetting something?"

She blinked and then looked at me in confusion.

"What?"

I chuckled.

"You're a robot, so he can't mess up your mind. You have super strength, so you can easily bust up his crystals. I am an avatar of madness, so he can't touch my mind without getting majorly whip-lashed right in his psyche. and if he starts making crystals, I can cut through them with my sword. We can take this jerk!"

She laughed and we both gained devious grins as we turned to face the spirit. He looked like he did in the show, a floating horse gray stallion's head, with a razor sharp red horn and red eyes with a green glow around them. He had heard all we had said and looked angry. He raised an eyebrow as we grinned at him. I drew my sword and spoke to him.

"Hail evil king! I am Cthulhu the knight and this is my girlfriend Jenny! We are here to kick your butt!"

He roared and sent a blast of magic into the ground, crystals forming in the ground and aiming for me. Jen dashed forward and punched into them, shattering them in a single hit. He had an expression of disbelief on his muzzle. He regained his glare and sent a barrage of magical beams at me, only for me to dodge between them and deflect those that came near me with my sword. I smirked at him and leaped above him. His eyes widened as I brought my sword down on him, yelling.

"INSANITY STRIKE!"

It passed through him and I flopped onto the ground. Uh oh. I stood up and dashed over to Jen. I grabbed her and spread my wings, taking of toward the empire.

"Hey! What're you doing Kyth!? I thought you said we could take him!"

I shook my head.

"That was before I realized he was spectral! We can't even touch him, and that means we can't harm him!"

Her eyes widened and she leaned over my right shoulder, aiming her arm at the spectral pony behind us.

"Keep flying Kyth, I'll blast him with my laser arm!"

As she said this a beam of cyan energy erupted from her palm, tearing into Sombra. It didn't injure him, but it seemed that having a laser burn through his shadow body definitely hurt him. He yelled in pain, and slowed down in his pursuit. I looked forward, only to ram right into a jut of crystal and fall into the ground. Jen grabbed and helped me back to my feet, and we dashed on the ground, collapsing inside the barrier and seeing a jut of crystal ram into the shield behind us. We both let out a sigh of relief. I spoke up as I stood and lifted Jen to her feet.

"Okay, we're gonna need some kinda magic relic to beat him, or at least something that'll let us touch him normally."

She nodded, and we both heard a voice.

"Hey, whatever the heck you are, I won't let you harm anypony!"

I looked up uncertainly and saw the face of Shining Armor in front of me. A white unicorn stallion, with a blue mane and a black scarf, standing in a defensive position with a massive aura of magic around his horn. I spoke up first.

"Whoa whoa whoa! We're not going to hurt anyone, I swear! We just got lost out in the storm and Kin- I mean, that shadow guy started attacking us. We tried to fight him but my sword passed through him and we didn't want to risk getting hurt so we ran in here. Name's Cthulhu by the way, and this is Jenny."

He looked at us uncertainly, hooves spread wide on the ground.

"Well what are you? I've never seen anything like you that meant anything but trouble!"

Jen cut me off by speaking back at Shining.

"Hey! He didn't decide to have a octopus head or anything! Step off!"

Shining blushed and gained a slightly bashful expression.

"Er. Yeah, I suppose. Sorry for that. My name's Shining Armor, and I'm the Prince of this place by the way. Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Cthulhu and Jenny." Next Chapter: Chapter Two: Onward to Adventure Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 12 Minutes