OUR BASE IS UNDER ATTACK, screeched a strange piercing voice that seemed to originate from nowhere in particular.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked, startled by the voice. It was then that she noticed groups of various Zerg soldiers around the base run - or fly or squirm - towards a single direction, presumably the place of conflict.

"Do... Do you hear that voice too?" the yellow larvae beside Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah, Fluttershy," the cyan coloured worm replied.

"Oh, so I'm not going crazy."

"Well, I would guess that's the Overmind."

"The Overmind?"

"Ugh," Dash grunted, attempting to face-hoof but settled with a face-pincer. "Did you not play the campaign?"

"Oh... I haven't gotten very far..."

"Didn't you even play the first Ponycraft? The Overmind is the hive-mind of the Zerg. It pretty much - "

"Controls all of the workers, soldiers and so on. I get it now," Fluttershy interrupted, her knowledge of animals sparking. "Oh... Sorry..."

"Well, yes," Rainbow responded, busy paying attention to all of the activity going on around the base. She couldn't help but feel... Useless, as a simple larvae. As the endless waves of larvae exuded from the slimy organic building beside them, Rainbow Dash watched them quickly encase themselves in gooey cocoons and re-emerging as various evolved creatures.

She could spot each of the different types of Zerg: from efficient worker drones to agile Zerglings to sinister Hydralisks. But as quickly as they all moved towards the direction of the conflict, they ceased. Presumably, the conflict had subsided and the Zergs were victorious.

It was then that she felt her body twitch, until she found herself curling up into a ball and drifting off into unconsciousness.

-----

"So let me get this straight," spoke Applejack at a grinning Pinkie Pie, "you... These ponies, they see you as their commander?"

"Yes-a-roonie!" the pink admiral hopped in place. "Isn't this exciting? Admiral Pinkie Pie! I'm important!"

"Yeah, yeah," Applejack spoke, uninterested and concerned. "How do you suppose all of this happened? How do we get back t' our world?"

"I'm not sure, silly! You should ask Twilight."

"Twilight? She's here?" Applejack spoke, her gaze quickly falling on her friend and away from all of the technological doo-hickeys going on around the base.

"I dunno, but you're here. I'm here - so maybe they're in this world too!" Pinkie spoke, still hopping in place.

"Ah guess we'll jus' haveta find 'em," Applejack sighed, looking up at the massive pink Partycruiser as it hovered above the far side of their base. "D'ya suppose we could use your ship to do some scoutin'? You're Admiral, maybe you could tell 'em to muster all of the aircraft for a search party."

"That's a wonderful idea! We could have a party in the skies and... and... SERVANT!" Pinkie yelled, gaining the attention of all ponies within ear shot. A single, light-armoured stallion trotted up to the pink Admiral.

"Uhm, yes, ma'am? And uh... I don't think we're technically servants..." he spoke.

"How many - "

"How many functional airships do we have at our command, squire?" Pinkie interrupted Applejack, sporting a spontanious royal accent as she held her chin high with her eyes closed.

"Uh... Two Banshee helicopters, two Viking fighter jets and the Battlecrui - "

"PARTY."

"Partycruiser," the stallion spoke, losing his masculinity by the second. Pinkie remained silent in her 'regal' posture. "... Your majesty."

"Good! I expect you to expend ALL OF OUR RESOURCES into making more airships, young padewan."

"R-right away, ma'am!" the stallion blurted out, quickly trotting away.

"Um, Pinkie?"

"Hi Applejack, when'd you get here?"

"Maybe you could appoint me as your, uh, economic advisor? Y'know, 'cause I run a farm an' all."

"OH Applejack, that's a GREAT idea!"

------

"Um, hello?" Twilight spoke as she entered what she assumed was the Nexus - the main building that served as a hub for the Protoss.

"Greetings, Zealot. What business do you have here?" came a 'voice' from behind her. The protoss did not communicate with physical sound, but rather by telepathically 'speaking' to each other. Twilight already understood this, and the concept already felt natural to her.

Quickly turning around (and careful not to swing the dangerous energy-psionic blade attached to her head carelessly) she found the figure that stood before her was a unicorn pony, dressed in very elegant armour-robes and seemed to be floating in place instead of standing.

"Oh, um, I want to know... Uh. Who's in charge... Here?" Twilight 'spoke', trying not to seem too much like an outsider; the High Templar unicorn pony did intimidate her.

"Ah... You seek Rarity."

"R-rarity?" Twilight's telepathic voice stuttered, "I mean, where is Rarity? I must see her at once!"

"Follow me, Zealot," said the unicorn stallion, turning around and floated down a hallway. "What is your name, Zealot?"

"Oh, my name is Twilight Sparkle," she responded.

"Twilight? Have you a link to the Twilight Council?" he asked, his curiosity only slightly shifting his seemingly god-like figure.

"Oh, no. I'm only a... Uh, Zealot," Twilight quickly blurted out from her mind. Wow, telepathically speaking is difficult without sounding stupid.

"What do you mean, stupid? Unintelligent? I cannot make sense of what you had just said to me."

"Oh, nothing. Just... thinking," Twilight thought-spoke, trying not to think of anything else. She couldn't help but feel her privacy violated, as he could hear anything that went on in her mind. "Uh... En taro, Rarity!"

"Yes, en taro Rarity," he returned, raising an eyebrow.

-----

"Bluah!" spat Rainbow, quickly gaining consciousness as she crawled out from her cocoon.

"Rainbow! Are you okay?" an eager Flutterworm asked, trying her best to look concerned rather than helpless.

"Blah... Eww, it's... Everywhere... Ugh," she spoke, struggling through what seemed to be one of the strangest experiences she had ever faced. The liquid that had been encased with her in her cocoon had quickly emptied out, and she could feel her eyes being able to focus again.

"Ah... Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed, finally getting a good look at herself. She had changed from a useless larvae into a Zergling: a simple Zerg not very large in size, but extremely fast and definitive with its two extra arms sprouting from its back that sported razor-sharp claws. Despite her fierce figure, Rainbow still had her regular face and even her rainbow coloured mane... Just on a cyan coloured Zergling body.

"This is... awesome!" Rainbow said, leaping around to test her new body.

"This is... awesome!" Dash said, leaping around to test her new body. "Hay, wait a minute..."

"Whoa!" said the first cyan coloured Zergling.

"Wait, WAIT. You're, ME?" exclaimed the second cyan coloured Zergling.

"No, YOU'RE me!"

"This is so cool!" the two clones said in unison. Zerglings, being one of the more simpler Zerg variants, normally spawned in twos from a single larvae.

"Oh... My..." remarked a quiet Fluttershy, trying to absorb what was going on in front of her.

"HAH! Tell me what you're thinking?!" said one.

"That's easy. I'm thinking about how AWESOME I - we are," replied the other.

"So am I!"

"Wait. So how do we uh, distinguish?"

"Oh... Right."

ZERGLINGS, spoke the piercing voice of the Overmind, YOU TWO MUST CLAIM THE XEL'NAGA ARTIFACT.

"Huh, the whatnow?" wondered one of the Rainbow Dashes aloud.

"I dunno, but my instincts are telling me to go that-a-way," pointed out the other, both cyan Zerglings looking towards the same direction off in the distance. In addition to the command they've recieved, they also felt an overwhelming emotional urge to persue the objective. Both decided that it was part of their Zerg instincts in connection to the Overmind.

"Um... Rainbow?" spoke the yellow worm beside the twins.

"Oh, Fluttershy. You still haven't evolved, yet?" asked one Rainbow Dash.

"Um no... I kind of... like being a worm... But, what's telling you to go that way? Did the Overmind say something to you?"

"Oh, yeah, we think so," answered the other one.

"Er, you'll be alright here, right?" asked the first one.

"Um, I guess so," she answered, squirming a bit to allow her a better view of both of the Rainbow Dashes. "But, how will we tell you two a part?"

"That's easy! Call me Rainbow."

"I guess I get to be Dash."

"Wait, I want to be Dash!"

"No, you called Rainbow first, meaning I called Dash first."

"Well, do you want to switch?"

"Eh? Sure. I'll be Rainbow, you'll be Dash."

"It's settled!" said Dash, pulling a baseball cap out of nowhere and putting it on her head. Rainbow pulled out a pair of shades and also equipped her accessory, effectively helping distinguish between the two.

-----

"Alright, so we've got a good amount of pony workers working th' mineral fields and th' vespine geiser factories. That should help keep a steady income of resources, while we make them fancy aircraft-a-ma-jigs," spoke Applejack at the strategy table, acting as both Admiral Pinkie's advisor and spokesmare.

"Also, Tuesdays will now be known as Fudgeday where the cafeterias will serve fudge for lunch!" added Pinkie Pie.

"Yay, fudge!" cheered an earth pony marine passing by.

"Also, we should make a Medivac aircraft or two. Always good to have first-aid in a search party; who knows what we'll come by out there," finished Applejack, ignoring Pinkie Pie's statement.

"Yes, ma'am. But," spoke one earth pony at the table, "It will take us some time to gather the required resources and even more time to build the aircraft fleet."

"How long?"

"I'm not sure. From what we already have, plus what we can harvest for the rest of today, perhaps we can have a good fleet by one or two days."

"One or two days? Mah friends might not have that long, soldier!" barked Applejack, eager to begin searching as soon as possible. "What about our current aircraft?"

"There's a problem with the Vikings, ma'am. Both are in maintenance, and the Battlecrui - "

"PARTYCRUISER," screamed Pinkie Pie, glaring at the marine with a death stare.

"P-Partycruiser... U-um..." the soldier's voice cracked, feeling like Pinkie Pie was an entity not to mess with. "Uh... The Partycruiser is not yet complete construction. I-it may take some time to - "

"MAKE SURE the party-deck is well stocked with cupcakes, balloons, streamers - "

"PINKIE! Now's not the time," interrupted Applejack, quickly losing her nerve. "Look, we can start an on-foot search party right now before the sun... Suns, set. Maybe if I take Pinkie Pie, we will be harder to detect if anything should be on our way."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun!" Pinkie Pie quickly added in, blowing a few thoughtful bubbles from her pipe.

"Are you sure about this, Admiral?" asked a mare at the table who was clad in white armoured tights and armed with a very large shoulder-mounted sniper rifle. "Maybe you could send us Ghosts; it is our job to excel at these tasks, anyways."

"Nah, trust me soldier. You don't know what you're lookin' for out there."

"Ooh, ooh, also, we need new carpets for the party floor in the Partycruiser!"

"Yeah, new carpets!" cheered another earth pony marine passing by.

------

"Of all the worst things that could happen... This is the. Worst. Possible. Thing!" spoke a very familliar voice, albeit in a telepathic sense. Twilight quickly ran past her High Templar escort into the room he had stopped in front.

Twilight severely underestimated the room, however, as it turned out to be a hangar that was many dozens of feet wide and high. A great and elegant Protoss Cruiser rested in the middle of the hangar with many robot worker drones tending to the aircraft. But sure enough, among the worker drones, there was a red, elegant misplaced couch with a weeping white unicorn mare on top. Beside Rarity was a worker drone looking guilty, holding a paintbrush with its telepathic blue aura and hovering above a can of metallic paint.

"Out, out, OUT! You have done enough damage, as t'were," Rarity quickly regained her composure, shooing away the drone.

"Rarity!" Twilight called, excited to see a familliar sight. Rarity, still resting on the couch, quickly turned her head and noticed the quickly approaching purple unicorn. Rarity was clad in very elegant and long robes trimmed with gold, similar to the High Templar. However, she was not floating above the ground.

"Twilight! Oh, my, how glad am I to see you!" Rarity responded.

"Oh my gosh, Rarity, I'm very glad to see you too."

"Twilight, where are we?"

"Um... I was hoping you would tell me."

"Well, it was your spell that brought us here," Rarity rolled her eyes.

"Hey - it wasn't my fault! I didn't think Trixie would come back for revenge at that very moment to throw pinecones at me while I was casting the spell."

"But I know, dear. Except, I was just hoping you'd tell me why we are Protoss now, and why I am in charge of this big beautiful piece of aircraft!"

"Huh? You're in charge of this Cruiser?" Twilight asked, watching a worker drone hover by.

"Well, yes. I woke up in this room, and then a mare - presumably my advisor - came up to me and begun to ask me what her duties were. I told her to go fetch me some... refreshments, since I don't know what it is we eat here. After she left, the worker drones waited for me to tell them what to do, and it seems their job is to work on the aircraft. So I decided that while I'm here, I might as well as make this aircraft look fabulous. And then you came along, of course."

"Oh... Well, I was lead here by a stallion who told me you were in charge."

"I've figured that much, darling! Isn't that amazing?" she batted her eyelids.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 Estimated time remaining: 18 Minutes