For the Overlord!

by PonyManne215

Rating: teen
Tags: Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Discord, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Dark, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 47758

After escaping the Abyss without their master, the imps of the Overlord seek to bring him back.

Having lost the Overlord some time ago, the long-lived advisor imp, Gnarl, and the all of the other minions toil over their loss. This Overlord, was perhaps the best of all compared to the past ones. During this time though, they have found a spell in a tome that may re-unite them with their master. But smally printed in the dusty and aged book, a message states that the spell comes with mixed results. Will they bring back their master? Will they fail? Or, will they re-unite in a mysterious new land ripe for plundering?

This is a satirical comedy of regular stories of heroes against villains. This story, instead of regular ones, features the villain as the protagonist and the heroes as antagonists. If you enjoy a story in which the Mane 6 are finally shown as vunerable instead of invunerable whenever dangers appear, feel free to take a gander yonder.

Published 2012-06-17 19:44:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-01 22:00:15 UTC

Evil Will Always Find A Way

Last time on Overlord

“Dear Princess Celestia,

I have learned that you should not make plans with so many ponies at one time. I started a helping session with Applejack around the farm, but then I remembered I promised to help Pinkie at Sugar Cube Corner. On top of all of that, I promised Fluttershy to help her feed the animals at her cottage. I ended up a sweaty wreck by the end of the day. despite all of my mistakes, my friends forgave me and helped me with each other's tasks. They are the most wonderful friends a pony could ask for. This, is what I have learned on the magic of Friendship.

Sincerely,

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle”

“Aaaanndd done!” Spike prided himself with not even needing to have Twilight spell any words for him this time.

“Good work, Spike! Now let me just proofread it.” Twilight proofread the letter before Spike blew out his green flames. The letter disappeared in seconds, arriving in Canterlot, more specifically, Princess Celestia’s study, in no time. “I think you deserve a nap!” Twilight walked Spike up to his little bed. He curled up, running around it and prodding it to check if it was comfortable. Finally, he let out a content sigh and quickly fell asleep.

Twilight giggled at the baby dragon’s childish behavior. She also found that even for an intelligent and diligent assistant, he needed his rest. She pulled up his blanket with her magic, and went back downstairs. She still had some reading to do before she could call it a day. She looked at the shelves that covered the walls of the library.

“All neatly stacked, just as it should be.” She smiled sheepishly, proud of her tidiness. “Now where was it? Aha!” She searched the history section of the hollowed out tree-library and found the book she was looking for. “Dungeons and Ponies, a brief history on the pre-classical era. Oh this is going to be so fun!” She let out a delighted squee and took a seat at a nearby bean-bag chair.

“Page one. Long before the technologies of today, such as the train, there were more simpler means of transportations. These days, were covered in……”

About six hours had passed before Twilight shut the book closed. Her ears were dreary and she had at least three bags under each eye. “That’s enough reading for today.” She stammered. It was hard to successfully navigate herself up the stairs and to her room. She looked at the clock and it was three in the morning. “I must have read too much..” She wasn’t disappointed with the read, that’s for sure. It was pretty informative and gave her an extra insight on feudal Equestria. She still had some empty voids of knowledge in this area.

After a few bumps into the wall and tumbling all over herself, she reached her bed. She threw herself on, not even remotely caring about messing up the covers. “Uhhh!” She expressed her pleasure and at the same time exhaustion as she looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes seemed like bags of sand. Slowly, her eyes began to shut. Before finally succumbing to the sleep, she silently said to herself “Good night, Spike.”

“Master! Where is Master?!” A Brown imp asked frantically.

“Calm your horses! He is with his mother, Rose.” Gnarl yelled.

The imps of the Overlord have been protective of the newborn child, the previous Overlord’s son. Since losing their master, they had fallen in a state of depression, almost considering suicide. The Overlord was the best of all. He did not speak, but he did command. And his campaigns were glorious.

From the plundering of the Hobbit homes, to the slaying of the greedy dwarves, every single treasure the mystic races had to offer was collected by the horde. By the forever-loyal minions to the all powerful Overlord. The Overlord vanquished all who stood in his way. Even the invincible god from the Abyss was no match for their master.

This six-foot tall gargantuan steel-clad warmonger spared none. Though he did spare villagers and save them from demons, he did so only so that they pay tribute to him. That or he would eventually pillage their villages and steal their women to use as maids. His red-burning eyes shined in accordance to the crimson blood of his enemies.

Nothing stood a chance against the Overlord. Not hydras, not sand worms, assassins, skeletons, nothing, Best of all, he didn’t treat the minions as bad as the previous ones did. No, he didn’t even hurt them. Now sending them to their death or doom, now that was another story. The minions suffered all kinds of death. Either they were ripped, burned, torn, shredded, stabbed, poisoned, frozen, you name it.

But this did not matter. Not to the imps. They followed their master’s every word. But now that he had been trapped for eternity in the Abyss, a traitorous feat accomplished by the Jester imp, they had no leader. Rose, his caring and gentle mistress, took his place. Of course, they listened to her every word. She was bearing the new Overlord after all. But the quests that she sent them on weren’t as glorious as previous ones.

In fact, they were just short of embarrassing and womanly. She had them dust the castle, wipe the armor, tend to the garden, and worst of all, give her messages. No, the rebuilding of and compensation to nearby villages was bad enough. But giving her foot rubs was like licking cow dung. Her feet weren’t smelly, suffice to say. Rather, it was just degrading.

As for the Jester, that was a whole book worth. The Jester, the one who mocked the Overlord since the beginning and the one who locked the master away in an otherworldly realm, was punished. He was scourged to the last ‘d’. No expense was spared in the torture of this conniving imp. He had been flogged, and stretched in a torture chamber. He was laughing throughout the entire experience. But the laughter was just a means of concealing the massive amounts of pain he was going through.

They did not stop stretching his arms and legs until they heard every single bone snap or pop out of place. By the time they untied the ropes, his body fell to the granite, moss-covered, floor like a pile of water. He could barely stand, let alone slouch. From here, they burned him alive. His sounds of laughter were now that of tears.

He was crying from the severe torture that he was enduring. Finally, when the new baby Overlord cheered, the Jester gave in. His ethereal brown soul left it’s vassal. The soul left towards whatever awaited the dead imps. They never questioned the final destination. They simply just worked.

This was what happened long ago. Back when their master had been there and even when he left. His presence left an impression on the horde of imps for eternity. Gnarl, the old and wisest imp of all ,sighed. “The old Overlord is gone, my friends. For now, the new master is our top priority.” With that, he left the playground they built for the mistress and her son to play in. He walked along the polished, yet old, castle hall. The paintings of the defeated commanders of the past decorated the walls. Their faces of shock and agony brought joy to the old imp.

He smiled, though weakly. He ended up in the throne room where the giant chair sat. It was marvelous. Composed of magical obsidian rocks, it glistened with an evil black that no other color could replace. Upon it, sat a crown. The crown was silver with dark rubies lined on it. ‘The master always did like red and grey.’

Gnarl looked around the room. It was covered in banners and statues praising the Overlord. One was even of him with a baby child in his arms, not his of course. The child was that of a peasant’s, who was on her knees before him begging for mercy. The memory of that experience made Gnarl chuckle. He remembered the Overlord gave her the baby back, followed by lifting her with magic and throwing her as far as five castles away.

He stood by the throne, reliving the old, fond memories of advising his king. The sound of pattering footsteps could be heard converging on his location. The fact that they made the ground shake meant that it was important. Firstly, the imps didn’t run in the castle unless it was important. Secondly, they didn’t go in groups unless it was imminently urgent or a danger was coming.

This had happened. Some who were foolish and brave enough tried to take the castle that had no master. They failed. They were not prepared for the millions of imps waiting for some action. What the imps didn’t have in power and strength, they had in numbers. The halt of the footsteps and even a screech by one who was running too fast halted Gnarl’s thought process.

“Advisor Gnarl! We have found something of great interest to you.” The weary imps bowed their heads in respect, and presented a worn-out tome. It seemed ancient, maybe even thousands of years old. The gold lining on the trim had long since faded. Only snippets of the past condition could be made out. Even the title and author seemed barely legible.

“What is it?” Gnarl asked curiously.

“A book, Gnarl.” They answered ignorantly.

“I can see that you whelps! I mean what kind of book is it?”

They gave him the book and scratched their heads. “To tell you the truth, most wise one, we don’t know. We saw an elven mage running with it, so we decided to kill him. We just clubbed his helmet until he fell. Then we jumped up and down on him. When that didn’t work, we had a Red burn him. Then we brought it back here.” The Brown imp that was talking took a large breath as he finished.

“Interesting..a mage you say?” Gnarl asked.

“Yes.” The raspy soldier replied.

Gnarl huffed, showing his hesitant attitude on examining said book. “Fair enough, leave me be. Tend to the mistress and the master.” The imps saluted Gnarl and skulked away. This story seemed interesting to Gnarl. Not only were elves very rare, they always gave a long and tedious fight. There was no way they could take the mage out with such few numbers.

The different kinds of imps only worked and were deadly when under the command of an Overlord. The Browns were the main fighting force of the imps. They specialized in wearing metal armor and using swords and such. They handled in plain hand-to-hand combat. The Reds were the archers of the army. They were able to accurately throw fireballs at enemies from a great distance. They could also extinguish fires by absorbing them.

The Greens were just as deadly. They were able to poison enemies and also clear fields of poisonous fumes and toxins. They specialized mostly in sneak attacks, enabling them to assassinate enemies in seconds where Browns and Reds would take minutes. Then, there were the Blues. They had nothing to do with combat whatsoever. What they did do, however, was that they were able to swim and healed the Overlord and other imps. They have the advantage of swimming over all others, which benefits them greatly.

The Overlord made great use of these strengths and weaknesses. He was a great strategist and leader. He never faltered in the face of the enemy and stood his ground. Admiring his master, Gnarl slowly flipped the front cover.

"Twilight, wake up!" The lavender bookworm shook her head while getting up.

"What time is it?" She asked while yawning.

"It's nine in the morning. You'r-" Spike's voice was drowned out by the awakening unicorn's.

"Late for the breakfast with the girls! I know! Spike could you-" It was her turn to be interrupted now.

"Watch the library? Sure, but hurry!" He said while pushing her to the mirror.

"Thanks Spike! I owe you." Twilight praised joyfully.

"Yeah yeah, I know I'm great, no need to thank me."He said while going downstairs.

Twilight brushed her mane until it was neat again. Even though she didn't care for her looks, she still had to look presentable. Lest she want to annoy Rarity already. After analyzing her entire figure in the mirror for a final time, she gave a mean look at herself. She laughed and galloped downstairs. She got to the door, opened it, said farewell to her helpful assistant, and left. The bright sun was up high in the sky. It was going to be beautiful today. The warm rays beamed on her back, giving her a comfortable walk to the cafe. A table waved her over.

"Hey girl! How nice of ya to join the party. Ah was startin' to get worried there!" Applejack said while grinning.

"Oh my..that wouldn't be good, oh no!" Fluttershy added silently.

"Yes..that's nice but could we please order something? I am absolutely famished!" Rarity replied with the most dramatic look possible.

"Calm down, Rare. It's all good. Listen, how about we order you some hay fries?" Rainbow Dash retorted.

"Oh my gosh! Ever try them with cupcakes? Or cherry chongas? Or chimmy-cherry chongas? Or-" She stopped when a hoof was shoved into her mouth.

"We get it, Pinkie!" Everypony, including Pinkie laughed. What could possibly mess up their fun day?

"You over there! Fetch me more goats! And you two, go get me a village drunk and a virgin!" Gnarl had been ordering the minions willy-nilly. After reading what the ancient book said, he found a very promising spell that gave sanctifying hope to all. The spell was able to retrieve anyone that the caster desired. So long as the proper ingredients and offerings were made, of course. These ingredients varied dramatically. From some vegetables and eye of newts, to animals and people.

In small, barely written print, a message warned the caster of a possible danger. 'Be forewarned, ye who cast this spell. Either successful or not, this spell shall bring about chaos itself. Discord shall be spread throughout the land.' Gnarl heeded this, and had a thousand minions on guard detail for the mistress. As for the millions of others, the tasks of retrieving materials was at hand.

If this spell was true to it's word, then bringing back the Overlord was more than a possibility. It was a choice. One of which needed no thought. It was all a matter of time now. Once the materials had been gathered, Gnarl could chant the incantations that would bring back their malevolent lord. "Hurry! Do you all want to see the great one again?" Gnarl asked, rousing the massive crowd of imps.

"Yes! Yes! The master will be free! All hail the Overlord!" The crowd went stirring into an uproar. Some were even jumping in the air and others were being lifted. Some in the back were dancing the time away. Suddenly, a large gap started to form down the middle. The imps moved out of the way.

"Out of the way! The materials are here!" The retrievers came back, smiling deviously. They slowly made their way towards the stand that Gnarl stood upon. Behind him laid the Tower Heart. The orb that gave power to the castle and the Overlord. Cheers were coming from all sides. Many imps were actually crying tears of joy. Their master was finally returning to them. They couldn't believe it.

"Speak the words, elder." The imps lowered the ingredients into a large metal pot that was hanging above a large put of lava. The people that were needed were dangling from rope just a few feet away.

"Yes. Take you places. Now SILENCE!" The entire room went quiet. All eyes were on the old imp that was pacing back and forth.

"Brothers! We have been without the Great One for too long. Our master, was left stranded in a land foreign to him by the treacherous Jester! We have been blessed with his evilness to have another Overlord and his wise mistress. Though they are our leaders, they cannot serve as well as the Master! So today, I ask all of you to follow me to the end, without any questions. Today is the day we find him again. Today is the day that we serve once more. Today is the day that we are feared by all. Today is the day. WE. HAIL. THE OVERLORD!"

The entire room went ballistic. Roars, growls, cheers, laughs, and whistles filled the giant room that housed about four million imps. They all put their hands over the imp next to them's shoulder and swayed back and forth. They started singing a song.

"The Overlord has gone in the Abyss. Through all of this time he has been amiss. We lost our lord who was great and swell. But that changes today when we remove him from hell! We have found out a way to bring back the dark. For all eternity the people will hark. The return of the great evil one. He will burn the lands and bring down the sun!" The whole room sang in unison. The humans sacrifices in the room could only stare in horror, knowing what was to follow.

Gnarl marveled at this sight. He wiped a tear from his eye and smiled ecstatically. He went over to the book, causing all noise o cease once more. He read the incantation loudly. "Oh forces of darkness, we call upon you. With a great request, we offer you this brew. For we wish to being back the strife. The one Overlord who was taken from our life. So evil, a parting gift, we give you good tidings. With this virgin we hope you use good bindings."

Gnarl shut the book closed, releasing a large collection of dust to fly out. At this moment, the imps cut the virgin's rope and the drunk's and they fell in. They gave a loud scream of fear before emitting a loud 'plop' as they landed in the molten lava. It was still, in fact, all was still. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Gnarl stared at the pot. Nothing happened. "No..this cant be." He said disbelievingly. Had he raised their hopes for nothing? The minions began to whisper and grumble amongst themselves. Some were starting to leave. Then a large, ground-shaking, rumbling came. It knocked several imps on their backsides. A loud, ominous hum was heard.

It was the same hum that came from the Overlord's command bracer, which lead them in whatever direction he desired. A minion pointed at something in the middle. A large white portal appeared. From it, the noise came. "It's the master!" Every single imp ran but stopped. They let Gnarl go first who promptly accepted. He stepped through the portal, followed by the others.

The Overlord had been in the Abyss for quite some time now. The skeletal beings and all other former enemies now bowed to him. They did his every command, since he was the new lord of the realm. He was not satisfied though. They were too quiet. For some reason, he felt 'attached' to the imps. He had a lingering thought to find some way to return. He sat on his skeletal throne and pondered deeply.

"Master!" He turned his head and looked. It sounded like Gnarl. Nothing was there, just some immobile guards. He looked back at the ground. "Master!" He heard it again. This time, the Overlord stood up and walked towards the voice. It was getting closer. He could not find where it originated though. The only noise now was the movement of his guards shuffling behind him.

He stood still in the middle of the hall. "Master!" It was there, a few feet away from where the Overlord stood was a large white oval portal. The voices of his formers minions all echoed from it. He walked slowly towards the portal, sword and mace raised. He reached his hand through, it seemed to go to another world. Then, he moved his whole body through.

In a brighly lit hallway, cracks and other noises of destruction came. Bits and pieces of stone and gravel flew out of an open door, littering the clean hallway with mess. White light could be seen shining out of the doorway. "Yes! Yes! I am free again!" Discord shouted joyfully. Somehow, his stone imprisonment created by the Elements of Harmony crumbled around his entrapped body. He didn't know the reason himself. But having a new chance at causing his very name, discord, he hatched his new plan.

He felt a shudder run up through his spine. "Oh my, another force of chaos? This shall be fun." He said while rubbing his gryphon and lion claw together. He snapped his finger and a cloud came crashing through one of the stain-glass windows in the room. The shards of a once-mural glass were scattered. He could see a part of Applejack's head in one corner and Pinkie's in another. "Someone's going to have to clean that up!" He exclaimed as he flew out of the castle and towards Ponyville.

Gnarl and his minions were gathered in a large plain. The portal that they poured out from was still open. In it, was an image of the Overlord. They called for him, finally reaching through. They saw that menacing hand of his reach out. They cheered and danced. Then, a foot came out. One by one, more of their master stepped out of the portal.

Finally, the cold, steel helmet with two burning red eyes emerged, peering at them with pure malice. "Master, you have returned!" Gnarl exclaimed. The Overlord looked all around at the massive army before him. He raised a single hand and the humming noise came. Every imp fell silent and listened in awe at the noise that signaled silence and unity.

"Welcome back, milord. We appear to be in a foreign new land. You there, go and cut some trees down. Start up a fire and we set camp here!" Gnarl said to a group of imps who ran to the trees with axes. "Go and fetch some animals skins! The Overlord must have a seat!" Gnarl pointed to a rag-tag group of Greens.

"Of course, anything for the master!" They left. Finally, Gnarl came to his last orders.

"You ten over there! Scout ahead for the nearest village. The Overlord shall need a bed to rest in." A groups of ten, fully armored and armed Browns sprinted towards the tree line. They giggled in a child-like manner, happy to finally be able to kill something.

"Pinkie, what's going on?!" Twilight asked nervously. Pinkie was shaking everywhere and bouncing off of the walls.

"I dunno, but it's a super doozy!" She said while her curled mane deflated and inflated repeatedly.

"Ah don't know what's goin' on, but Ah reckon that we heed her warnin'." Applejack insisted.

They galloped to the center of Ponyville and looked up at the sky. A chill ran through all of them. As if some evil was approaching the land. Twilight could not help but shudder in horror. In her mind, she knew something was wrong.

The Overlord looked up at the sky. It was peaceful and calm. The land around him also looked to be serene and lush. Like nothing bad had ever happened in this land. Cute little chirps from birds and chitterings from squirrels surrounded the forest. This land was perfect. He laughed in an eerie, echoing, and nefarious voice. The other imps there cackled with him. He had a new land to bring under his rule. He had a new place to become the Overlord.

There Is A Village Ahead, Sire

Author's Note: Calling all Minions, calling all Minions! (That means you, reader) The Almighty Overlord is in need for some peasntry, Original Characters or OCs if you will, for a great feas- I mean, party...But I digress, We shall take an OC from the first 5 or so people in a private scroll for His eyes only. This chapter is short for your measly eyes because the next one shall be quite a tome in itself! The Dark One needs just a quintet for a small little scenerio coming next chapter. We need the name, type of pony, colors, and personality. Just a few words like: hard-headed, prideful, brave, loyal, you get the idea. Also, don't forget their gender. We wouldn't want the Greens to eat a male horse pe-

“Right then, since none of us have names, and I was appointed leader by Gnarl himself, I shall give us all a name to make things easier. I shall be called…Ten!” The Brown who spoke with Gnarl reasoned.

“Who made you leader?” Another Brown asked.

“Shut your trap! Just for that, you can be number Two!”

“Aww..I hate number Two…” Two kicked at the floor.

“Since there are ten of us,” Ten pointed to each of the imps and counted. “Then we shall go from that order. I am Ten, and he is Two. Everyone else call their numbers!”

“I call One!”

“I got Tw- Oh wait, Three!”

And the rest of the self-assortment went on. By the end of it, ten minutes had passed on account of the Minions being so ignorant and feisty amongst themselves. Finally, Ten raised his sword and butted all the other nine with his sheath.

“Silence! We must go and scout for the Master!”

All of the others nodded in agreement and began to explore through the thick forest. They spotted a large pile of ruins in the distance. Ten took notice of this and began to lead them towards it. After cutting down some loose vines and eating a few bugs here and there, they arrived at the place. It resembled a broken down fortress or castle of some kind. Ten began to examine the placing and scope of the view. After some mental contemplation, he concluded his idea.

“Aha! This shall be the Overlord’s new bathhouse!” Ten exclaimed and patted himself on the back.

“Uh..won’t this be a better place for a keep?” Two suggested.

“Right, that’s what I said! Take the wax out of your ears, Two!”

“But I just…okay, I’ll unclog them.” Two accepted while picking his ears.

“Four, Nine, go back to the advisor and inform him of this place. It shall please the Master.”

Four and Nine saluted and began skulking back to camp. Ten turned back to his remaining eight imps, including himself.

“Okay, now that this place has been claimed in the Dark One’s name, let’s go find some women, eh?”

“Yeah!” Six jumped in the air.

And so, the scouting party began to trek north. Little did they know, there was a zebra nearby who was taking notice of the strange invaders. The lush green seemed to be working against them; as if it didn’t want them to leave or complete their goal. Ten was getting more furious by the second.

“This place is like Evernight Forest! Oh, I hated that accursed dwelling of the Elves. Can you believe a unicorn there actually killed my brother? It picked him right up and jabbed him on its horn! Evil save us if we have to encounter more of those wretched beasts!”

The only noises that filled the air were the sounds of birds calling, Manticores growling, bugs buzzing, and the clunking of the imps’ steel armor. With each step, their equipment bobbed up and down, followed by their little Brown heads. If there was something that they smelled right now, it was the smell of something unmistakable. Ten’s following lone word confirmed their guess.

“Children.”

“Do my eyes deceive me so? Or do I spot an evil show? To Ponyville, I must run quick. Lest these monsters take over it!” Zecora spoke to herself.

She made a beeline, avoiding the possibility of intersecting with the path of the foreign beings. She knew this forest quite well, for she had been spending years now living in the Everfree Forest. She knew of the wild creatures and exotic plants that grew here. She knew where to where to travel and where to stay away from.

SHe knew of the many dangers in this wicker forest. Its roots were grown into the ground longer than anypony but Celestia amd Luna could remember. For it was their castle that was once built in the very center of this place. Had it not been for Princess Luna turning into Nighmare Moon, it might've still been the captial of Equestria. There were plenty of foreign and exotic living things that dwelled in the forest, the zebra herself being included.

Zecora had been staying in the forest for simple reasons, despite the many dangers that lurked about. She simply wanted a place that was peaceful in a sense. An isolation away from society, one could say. Her past life was the reason for this. What happened in her past life, no one will ever know. For Zecora's past itself is a whole other story and advneture in itself.

Her vast knowledge of her home gave her one major advantage over everypony else. She knew a shortcut to Ponyville. In almost no time at all, and with the creatures nowhere in sight, Zecora ran straight to the center of the town. The rhyme-spoken zebra spotted Twilight and the others just but a few hooves away. She met them at half-length when they had seen her approach also.

“What is it, Zecora?” Twilight spared no time and ran by Zecora’s side.

“It is the forest, Twilight. There is something lurking that gives quite a fright.”

“But what? By Celestia, I hope this isn't something too bad.” The royal apprentice was getting more frantic by the minute. Not long after Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense went off, which was foretelling of a doozy, every single resident of town had heard a loud and ominous hum.

“Identifying them, I cannot say. But they are dressed in armor that is bright as day. Beware their looks, for are harmless to the eyes. Do not listen to your self-lies.” Zecora warned. The zebra who had seen the small little monstrosities trekking through the forest visualized a worst case scenario of what might happen should said things be hostile towards them. The vivid screams and fires caused Zecora to just tremble and eventually faint from the possible catastrophe.

“Oh my, I have to tend to her..” Fluttershy flew by the fainted mare’s side and began stroking her mane and bringing a towel over to wash her face.

“Don’t worry, Twi. I can take ‘em! I’ll give those things the one-two hoof!” Rainbow Dash bragged and proceeded to punch the air.

“What did you think she meant by ‘bright as day’, darling? I hope that these things don’t smell too bad. Or dress badly for that matter.” Rarity added.

“Aw shucks, Rare. Stop fussin’ over the little things. We gotta warn the mayor!” Applejack interrupted.

“I think we should throw a party! I mean, come one, who doesn’t like parties? I know I like them. And anypony who is living loves parties! In fact, I’m gonna go and throw them a party right now!” Pinkie pulled out her mobile party wagon out of literally nowhere and began to wheel it towards the forest.

“Stop Pinkie! We don’t know who or what it is.” Twilight Sparkle looked off at the mysterious Everfree Forest. She really wanted to know what these things were but something in her right mind told her it was the biggest mistake she could ever make.

“Uh..Twilight? Ah think we should check out the school house. There’s a bunch of little fillies running this way and screaming!” Applejack grabbed Twilight’s face and directed it towards her view.

There were indeed many little school children running amok, screaming in pure terror and fear. Rarity and Applejack both took note of this as their older sister senses told them something was wrong. Without hesitating, the two sisters galloped towards the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Not long after, they were joined by a cyan blur, who had gone along with them to ensure a certain orange coated filly’s safety.

The all-seeing and mighty Overlord stood upon the hill of the meadow in which he and his Minions stood. Not long after his arrival, the trans-dimensional portal closed behind him, leaving no trace of its existence. The imps and the Dark Being came to the conclusion that they were either trapped here forever, or they had to find a great source of magic to return them back.

The Overlord felt like someone was watching his every move at this moment, so he had decided to look back. With as much will as he could muster, he stared into the morning sky with hate and venom. The sky almost seemed to shift itself away from his gaze, but he did not relent.

If there was one thing that he had learned from his imprisonment in the Abyss, it was that he would never again be a pawn in some fool’s game. If this was, in fact, a game, then he would not hesitate to slaughter the bystanders watching and end the thing right there.

The tall steel-wearing warrior’s concentration was interrupted by two sets of approaching footsteps. They were also accompanied by sounds of panting, sweat droplets hitting the floor, and finally the imps themselves collapsing. Gnarl, who would handle most occurrences for his Master, addressed the two scouts.

“Where is the rest of your group? Don’t tell me they died or were eaten by something.” Gnarl scolded.

“No no, wise one, we have found something of great use to the Great One! We have found a castle for him to reign in.” Four answered.

“A castle, you say?”

“Yes! Though it’s a bit out of function…we can get it back up and running faster than you can stuff a Dwarf in an oven!” Nine reassured.

“Lord, what say you in the matter?” Gnarl turned to the Overlord, who was paying special attention to the newly presented information.

The Overlord nodded in agreement, but he beckoned for Gnarl to task some of the Minions with something. He pointed to his stomach, which emphasized his insatiable hunger with a very ominous groan. He was hungry.

“Yes, my Lord. One of you lazy knaves go and fetch food for the Master! He shall not be kept hungry or starving while I still draw breath.” Gnarl commanded.

A large group of sleeping imps bolted upright and ran to the tree line, for they were not going to let their His Greatness be left fatigued by the disadvantages of being unfed.

“Yes…this is so very interesting! Haha! It’s even more fun than when I turned Fillydelphia into a giant cupcake!” Discord mused to himself.

After escaping from his stone imprisonment for the second time, he flew to where his scales had pointed to. The god of chaos simply reveled in joy after witnessing the spectacle that was the Overlord re-uniting with his followers. He could sense a great amount of evil just beaming from the tall monstrosity. He sat down on his cotton-candy cloud and ate some parts of it while he watched.

He did feel a tingling feeling when the Overlord looked at him directly, shooting him a death glare with those two menacing red eyes. But he quickly recovered when two approaching soldiers ran and distracted him. He teleported some popcorn into his claw and began to eat.

“What do ya mean they’re gone!?” Applejack was pent-up and angry.

“I’m sorry all of you. I have failed myself as a teacher and as a caretaker to you three and my students. It’s just that..when I let the kids out for recess, everyone was out running about and being chaotic, as kids are. But I heard a shriek coming from outside and when I got there…I saw these metal little things carry off the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The kids were kicking and screaming but the things were fast and strong. By the time I could run up to them, they were gone into the forest. I’m so so sorry!” Cherilee was crying and chastising herself for being so careless and useless in this situation.

Rarity, although very fearful for her little sister, composed her ladylike appearance and coaxed the crying mare.

“There there, Cherilee. I’m sure that you did everything that you could during that time. We don’t hold it against you. Rest assured, we WILL find them. I promise.”

Cherilee looked up to Rarity with the pale green eyes she had and began to calm down. Her pink striped mane was tousled from her freaking out and her face was drowned in tears.

“Yeah, we’ll get ‘em in a flash! They’ll be back before you know it!” Rainbow Dash added.

Applejack sighed and breathed in and out to lessen her anger. She looked to the teacher and gave her a warm and genuine smile. “Which way did they go?”

“That way.” Cherilee sniffed and pointed southwest.

“We’ll be back. Take care of yourself.” Rarity gave Cherilee a comb and the three Elements ran out of the door and towards the forest.

The Overlord was back to his regular old contemplation and meditation. Gnarl had meanwhile started developing plans and assignments for the Horde. He needed to get ahead with the tasking of imps to construct the castle, repair it, making or finding the stone itself, and start making furniture out of the surrounding thicket.

The Overlord was still getting mocked by that sky. He wanted to throw his hand forward and spout a stream of fire at it, setting ablaze whatever was hiding in there. He wanted to fly up there, teleport up there, he didn’t care. He just wanted to kill whatever was using him for enjoyment. He had never been this furious than when the previous Overlord dared to use him as a means of rebuilding said Overlord’s forces and resources.

He also didn’t like the fact that the Old Overlord tried to take his mistress and even destroy her when she refused to bed with him. There was one thing that he did thank the Old Overlord for though. Through his rebellion, the Old Overlord showed him which Minions were truly loyal and how loving his wife was. It proved to him that Rose was the fair and kind maiden of the land, one that he would have to take as a true woman.

Shortly after defeating his enemy, the Overlord held a wedding with Rose and consummated their romance, creating a newborn beautiful son. He just wished that he would be able to see what his heir looked like. He had felt the baby kicking in Rose’s stomach, but had never the pleasure of witnessing his son’s birth. And this was all on account of the Old Overlord and the Jester.

More scampering could be heard approaching. This time, it wasn’t just a two pairs, it was hundreds. Also, if he heard correctly, there were muffled childish screams. The large Conqueror turned and found small little horses tied up and crying. One was a normal horse, from what he saw. Another was a pegasus. He could stand that, as he never had any encounters with the beasts themselves. They lived on another land. Now, once he turned his attention to the last one, his hand came forth and flames began to brew. There, in a scout’s arms, was a unicorn. He hated unicorns. They had trampled and crippled many of his soldiers. But that wasn’t even the worst of it. The most heinous thing that the race of unicorns had done to him specifically was that they ripped his velvet red cape off and peed on said fragments.

“Master! Master!” Ten ran up to the Overlord with a big fecal-eating grin laden on his face. “We have found you fresh meat!”

Author's Note, IMPORTANT: If the above quota is not met, well, let's just say you can bid farewell to your beloved school children. We're sure these three without any markings on their rear ends will do just fine. Mwuhahahahahaha!

Intruders! Kill Them! Kill Them All!

Author's Note: We are pleased to see the number of Minions who have sold their peasants to Us. We have chosen in order from the first five Minions. Thank you for your submission Neon Fracture, Lone Wolf, Bigwig6666, jaysontaylorblogs, and Garino. We are pleased with your enthusiasm. As for the others who have praised the Overlord with their gifts, do not fret, We shall use them in the future. And for those of you who continue to read this and not hail the Great One; Shame on you all. You should model yourselves after them. If not, we'll let's just say that there'll be more than pigs flying.

“WHAT DOES THOU MEANETH THAT HE IS GONE?!”

“We’re sorry Princess, but when the guards were patrolling the area, they just found it empty..”

“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!”

“Luna, I’m just as upset about this as you are. But there’s no need to be shouting at the bearer of bad news.”

“BUT WE- I mean..but we can’t let this go unanswered, can we?” Princess Luna asked.

“No, we won’t. I’ll send a detachment of guards to investigate the matter, and should the need arise, the Elements.”

“Woe sister. I fear for Equestria’s sake that this is worse than the last time Discord had escaped. The Elements put him inside the stone personally. If he broke through it…”

“I know. But please, we have to actually check the entire matter. No need to go barging in without a reason.” Princess Celestia replied.

“Umm…Your Highness?” Captain Shining Armor started. “If you don’t mind, I can send my five best guards on the job.

Princess Celestia gave him a warm smile accompanied by a nodding gesture. “Tell them to be careful, Captain.”

“Yes ma’am.” And with that, Shining Armor left the royal throne room and to the Guard Barracks.

Celestia turned to her downtrodden younger sister. “What’s wrong, Lulu?”

“It’s just that..We..I don’t understand how this is possible. The Elements were there, and we had Discord put into a well-secured room at all times. How did he just escape without any hindrance?”

Celestia pulled her sister in for an embrace. “Magic works in mysterious ways, Luna. The Elements are a testament to that. We will stop him again, though. I know we will.”

Not long after Discord’s escape with the help from a mysterious otherworldly source, the patrolling guards and the maintenance staff found the remnants of rubble strewn about the hall. The once solid rock containment was shattered all too easily. Immediately, the guards notified their Captain, to which he reported the findings to his sworn protectees.

Obviously, Princess Luna did not take the ill news well. She clearly displayed her abhorrence with the situation to all of the guards present in the room and the Captain himself. She was basically fuming at the snout and ears. In fact, upon closer inspection, some could see the little pouts of steam leaving her. Her face’s normally dark blue complexion was over-looked by her more noticeable blood-red face. Her wings were waving erratically. And last of all, she was stamping her feet on the white marble floors, which was amplified by the large, arched, and resonant chamber that was the throne room.

Her very polar opposite kin, however, was more withdrawn. She had displayed her usual calm and gentle look that regal ponies always did. She had to after all, unless she wanted all of Equestria to know that she was fearful and angry as well. How would the news bode with the citizens if they knew that their Princess was fearful of the new strength of the God of Chaos? She knew she had to be calm, for Equestria’s sake.

Underneath her fake mood, she was on par with her younger sister. She too, was angry that he would dare try to spread havoc among her peoples’ homes. That he would dare destroy the peace that Luna and she had worked so hard to create. She was absolutely appalled at his mischievous nature. There was still something though. Somewhere, in the far reaches of her mind, her very subconscious, she knew that this was overwhelming.

It wasn't without doubt that Discord could break through the stone imprisonment befallen upon him by the two Alicorns. It was more than a thousand years old, was it not? Discord was no weakling, no fool. He knew that he would break free eventually, to which he did. His arrogant nature had led to his second downfall. When he had broken free, he was cocky and had underestimated the powers of the new Elements of Harmony. He simply just de-harmonized them and let them run about. After a self-discovery and remembrance of their fond memories, they managed to band together once again.

Unknowingly, he had let them just fix themselves. This time, with a newer a stronger friendship, Discord was imprisoned once again. Since then, it has passed more than two years. But all of a sudden, he manages to break free again? This was not simple. Not for the Princess of the Sun. No, she knew that the magic of Harmony was strong. If it was able to hold Discord for more than a millennium, then a stronger bond of it should have contained him for what would be eternity.

But he escaped. What was this that caused him to escape? That was what scared Princess Celestia. The magic of Harmony had never faltered, even in the eyes of evil and defeat. Something was amiss and the Rulers had to know just what.

Captain Shining Armor’s hooves resounded through the empty hallway. Usually, the entire palace was guarded at all times. But this was a different instance. Shining Armor had ordered a general meeting between all of the Royal Guards in order for him to choose the best colts or mares for the task at hand. The hallway itself, was graceful and beautiful in nature. The tapestries were magnificent. They were done by none other than Leonardo Da Hoofci himself. They were top-quality works by all eyes.

There were marble statues of great idols from the past. Star Swirl the Bearded was left in a pose that was heroic. His statue consisted of him standing on top of a vantage point, horn ready to fire at an Ursa Major. There were also paintings of Charlemane, a great noble who had managed to defend Equestria from the invading griffons. There was also a painting of Richard the Ponyhearted. He had managed to reclaim some lands taken over by the hyenas of the bordering land.

Finally, as Shining Armor reached the end of the hallway, of which was laden with a royal red velvet carpet down the middle, he turned his attention to the greatest heroes of all time.

“My old friend..the founder of the royal guard..” Shining Armor spoke to himself. He moved his hooves along the lines of the statue that he held in the highest regard. He looked upon the statue of the colt who wore a green hat with a feather tucked underneath upon his head. He wore green garbs and carried his most symbolic and well know weapon; his bow.

“Robin Hoof, leader of the Merrystallions and founder of the order. If only you were still here during these dark times..” Shining Armor had grown up reading all about Robin Hoof. He, albeit a pickpocket and thief, stole from the rich and gave it all to the poor. After being caught by Princess Luna himself, he was proved to be quite chivalrous, earning him the place of training a new type of Royal Guard. The type that has been around to this very day.

Shining Armor always wanted to be just like him when he was a young child. After all, kids need heroes, do they not? With a final respecting nod, he moved away from the marble figure and towards the large golden doors. With his magic enveloping the entrance in a light blue aura, he stepped inside to find the entire room filled. The entire room was dead silent, save for a few of the occasional witty guards.

Most of the guards were trained well to look after the Princesses with their lives. They found that being silent and stoic were the best ways of performing their duties. Being talkative and chatty was neither part of the job requirements nor helpful at all. A distracted guard would not be able to see danger approaching or serious matters that needed reporting. So that was why most of the golden-armored stallions and mares were deathly silent.

They eyed the slowly approaching Captain who trotted over to a stand in the middle of the room. Shining Armor stood atop of it and finally began to pace back and forth, his every movement within all of the guards’ vision. “We all know why I called you here today. Some of the guards found that Discord’s stone layer was broken. This can only mean two things. One, somepony stole the statue and put some rocks in its place, which is highly unlikely. Two, he has broken free. We hope that it is the first option, although it is most likely the second one. So I need a group of five guards to go out and check the skies for him. I don’t need all Pegasi, I need a full group of all three. It helps to have a mix.”

Immediately, a group of five ponies in the back began to converse, which was noticed by the speaking leader. “You five, back there! Come here.”

Very quietly, one of the guards of the group muttered under his breath. “Celestia darn it.”

They hastily approached the stand, much from the fact that the sea of guards parted for them to travel down the middle. It was awkward for the five, as they felt hundreds of eyes boring into the back of their skulls. They came to a halt at the stand, which was met with Shining Armor eyeing them up and down and addressing them one by one.

“You, what’s your name?” Shining Armor asked.

“Neon Fracture..sir..” The black-maned dark blue Pegasus mare whispered, much like a certain Element of Harmony.

“And you?”

“Lone Wolf, sir.” A very tall camouflage-coated unicorn stallion answered with a strong voice. He was actually slightly taller than Big Macintosh.

“Is that your normal coat color?” the Captain inquired.

“As far as I can tell, sir.”

“Fair enough. How about you there?”

“Mist Falls, sir!” She was a silver coated unicorn with a light blue mane, which greatly resembled the same fabric atop her helmet.

“Pretty enthusiastic, aren’t ya?”

“Just new on the job, sir!”

“Mr. Number Four..”

“It’s actually, Mr. Brain Storm, chief.”

“So you’re a wise pony eh?”

“As wise as I can be." The witty brown coated Earth stallion replied. He had his helmet on his back and his dark brown mane was combed back to meet his neck.

“And the last one. I hope you aren’t like the donkey here.”

“Hey!” Brain Storm called from the side.

“It’s Garino, sir.” The orange coated Earth pony answered. His blue mane was dangling just a few inches from his eyes.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to operate fully with your mane in your face?”

“I hope so, sir.”

Shining Armor had finished taking down all of the names. This was something that was purely coincidental and convenient. Who would know that five ponies would make themselves know right when they were needed? Shining Armor went back to Lone Wolf.

“You seem like the best candidate for the leader here. I put all of my trust on you. It’s your job to make sure nothing happens to your team, got it? And none of that lone wolf stuff, even if it is your name.”
“Yes sir.” The newly appointed squad leader answered.

“Okay, do you know why you’re all here today?” Shining Armor asked rhetorically.

“Because you love us?” Brain Storm wittily answered.

“No. Because it’s you five were causing a commotion in the back. Now that I have you all here, I need you five to go and check Ponyville. Since Discord was there the last time, who’s to say he isn’t now?” Captain Armor reasoned.

“He’s probably not, seeing as how he’s the God of, you know, Chaos?” Brain Storm interrupted again.

“Anyway, go out and find him. Don’t try to fight or confront him, we can’t take him o ourselves. I doubt even the finest guards can stop whatever he’s up to.”

“Right away, sir.” All five answered in unison. They made their way for the door and quickly galloped down the hallway to the balconies in which carriages and Pegasi lifted off from.

“Good luck, colts and mares. You’re going to need it..” Shining Armor said to himself.

“Okay, I can understand Neon here flying off, but how the hay are we going to?” Brain Storm asked.

“We have unicorns, rookie. Using the walk on clouds spell is as easy as baking cake.” Lone Wolf answered.

“Yeah, and I can just move the clouds around for you guys.” Neon Fracture added.

“Alright then, team. Let’s get moving.” Lone Wolf commanded.

‘Celestia protect my flank.’ Brain Storm thought to himself.

“So, Fluttershy, I need you to stay here with Zecora, okay? Pinkie and I are going to follow Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity.”

“Okay….” Fluttershy whispered.

“Aww don’t worry, Fluttershy! I’ll make sure to say hi to them for you and I’ll try to bring one of them back so you can take care of them, okay?!” Pinkie bounced around the yellow timid Pegasus.

“Okay….” She replied even lower.

“Right then, Pinkie, let’s go!” Twilight and Pinkie galloped towards the Everfree Forest.

After the three seeing tons of school fillies run amok around the town kicking and screaming, they immediately rushed off to the school without even letting Twilight explain the best method of going about this. For all she knew, it could’ve been something like a cockatrice. Not even ten minutes later though, the three friends left the school building and ran for the forest.

If Twilight knew something, it was that this was definitely something extraordinary. She was just a bit puckish though because it was on this day that she decided to not bring Spike along with her. Without her little dragon assistant, she did not have anyone to record this event. Let alone draw them or interview them.

Pinkie, just like earlier was still shaking, bobbing, and all other sorts of weird signs that meant that a doozy was encroaching. Twilight still had to find out just what exactly was the cause of it. The last time Pinkie had a doozy, it was of Twilight believing in her. Perhaps it was something that was as silly as that? No, if it were, then Twilight knew that it wouldn’t have caused children to run away, proceeded by her three friends running at the tricky forest in an angry manner.

“I just hope to Celestia everything turns out okay.” Twilight said through gritted teeth.

“It’s probably nothing, Twilight. I mean, come on, we always get through it, don’t we?”

Twilight thought back on the bad situations that they endured and did agree with Pinkie. No matter how dim things appeared, or how slim chances were, the power of Friendship always won. Right?

Applejack was trying to breathe as much as she could while pushing Rarity. While they navigated their way through the Everfree Forest, Rarity missed a small step and she accidentally slipped into a pile of mud. Needless to say, she fainted from the sight of her beautifully taken care of coat and her mane being littered with the degrading substance.

Usually, it wasn’t hard for the Earth pony to carry heavy workloads as she had always carried more than two buckets at a time whilst harvesting apples. Being raised on a farm, one would expect the children to be well built and have a good amount of strength. But carrying an alabaster unicorn that had magically teleported her couch to lie on was pretty hard.

Applejack usually didn’t sweat too much or in some cases at all while working the farm. But this was something completely different. Millions of beads of sweat poured down from her mane and soaked into her traditional Stetson hat. Thankfully, she would be able to go home later on and wash it out. The forest seemed to be getting sparser. They could see sunlight on just the other side.

Rainbow Dash, being the pony that she is, wanted to bolt right into the open meadow ahead. But Applejack stopped her right as the rainbow streak started to appear.

“Hold on there, Rainbow. We don’t know just what’s up ahead. Ah say that we sneak up and see what’s waitin’ for us.”

“Come on, Applejack! They got your sister. And they have Rarity’s sister. And they have Scootaloo! Why the hay are we waiting?” Rainbow Dash was baffled at Applejack’s hesitance.

“Because we don’t know what’s up there. It could be a griffon, like Gilda. Or it could be something else entirely.” Applejack explained.

“Fine, but don’t expect me to wait if I see any of them hurt.” Rainbow Dash huffed.

“Okay, Ten, you are going to be in charge of the Overlord’s personal guard.” Gnarl decided.

“Yes, yes! Guard the sire. He shall be safe at all times!” Ten reassured.

The Minions of the Overlord are what you can call very complex. Many races often regard them as a pack of mindless and ravenous imps that ransack towns in search of gold. This is true in most cases. But, there is something about them that makes them so unique. Many of the Minions serving the Overlord are still quite young. Their age accounts for their speech, explaining why they speak in fragments and such. But as an imp ages, so does his intelligence.

Many of the Overlord’s original imps that he had first obtained when he was awakened were killed. Many of them were simply rolled over by the fat hobbit king or were used as materials to forge the Overlord’s enchanted weapons. But there was always a group of original Minions that somehow managed to stay alive during the course of his conquest. These ten had been there since their Master’s revival.

They were the most heavily armored. The most well versed in their field of combat. They were the most intelligent of their brothers, Gnarl and a few others excluded. That was why they had the capability of full speech. The Overlord had taken notice that they had not been killed off yet and ordered Gnarl to educate them in speech. Thus, their intelligence and survival has caused them to be marked as heroes and leaders of the Minions. They represent the Minions as a whole and lead their own groups.

“Okay, here’s the assignments you ten. Ten shall guard the Overlord himself. One and Two, you shall oversee the retrieval of materials for building the new castle at the ruins. Three and Four, you shall head west in search of villages or nations that will serve as resources for the Great One. Five and Six, you shall go east and do the same. Seven and Eight, you shall go south of here and follow the other two groups. Each of you will take a thousand soldiers each, giving each group a total of two thousand soldiers. Be careful, be swift, and be ruthless. We must establish a proper sense of order here, you know.”

“Yes wise one!” They all barked. They rushed off and began to round up their requested numbers and headed off in their respective directions. The only two of the group remained were Ten and Nine.

“What about me?” Nine inquired.

“You will act as the emissary for the Overlord. If any of the races here want to speak to the Master, you will go first and ensure that all is safe.”

“So that means I don’t get my own army?”

“Well..no. But you will be serving the Master in a great way, so stop your whining.”

Nine waved a hand dismissively and disappeared into the large group of Minions that were stacking piles of lumber onto a stack for a big bonfire.

The three fillies that were brought before the Overlord were left in front of him. If they didn’t have their gags on, they would wish that they did. What stood before them was a towering six–almost seven-foot metal monster. The dark red cape fluttered in the wind and his two red piercing eyes stared into their very souls. His thumping footsteps shook the ground as he took each step.

If the fillies hadn’t gone to the little mare’s room earlier, they would be right now. Earlier, when he was emitting flames from his free hand, he was distracted by something again. A certain presence that was now making itself known caused it. He looked up to the sky and unsheathed his sword. He held each of his weapons tightly as his metal gauntlets wrapped themselves around the tools of destruction, a giant cold-steeled mace, and a steel one-handed sword.

“Get out of here! Warn the Princess!” Lone Wolf commanded.

“No way Wolf-ay, I’m not leaving your flank here by yourself!” Brain Storm defied his appointed leader.

“We have to, Brain! He already changed Mist Falls and Garino, we can’t lose you too!” Neon Facture was almost crying.

“…Grr..Fine! But I’ll be back Lone Wolf!” Brain Storm rebutted.

“Fine, just leave! Go on, get!” Lone Wolf shouted to the leaving companions as he turned to his target.

“Oh my, you’ve left me all alone! What will I do?” Discord mocked with a cocky grin. “I already changed two of your compadres into cotton candy clouds. Star Swirl isn’t so alone now, is he? Nope, he has two new friends for me to use as furniture and food. How about you join them?”

“Never!” Lone Wolf charged at the God of Chaos with all of his remaining willpower and might. He witnessed his two friends get turned into pillow clouds as they tried to attack Discord when he magically found them.

Earlier, while they were checking the skyline above Ponyville, they spotted a pink cloud. Sure enough, they investigated and found Discord. Against his better judgment, Lone Wolf decided to try and tangle and capture the wanted deity. It proved fatal when Garino and Mist Falls acted as bait, only to be turned into the pink wisps of air.

As he charged, he felt like everything weighed in this moment. It felt to him, like the entire fate of Equestria lay on his shoulders. And he was not going to let her down. So with everything he had, he charged forth. He could not help but yell a battle cry as he did so. But alas, it was to no avail. Just as his companions before him, he felt his hooves give way, slowly transforming from the fleshy limbs to cotton candy swabs.

Lone Wolf was no more. “Well, he didn’t put up much of a fight now did he? Ah well, it’s time to get his little friends who ran away.” And with the snap of a finger, Discord vanished, travelling in the direction of the two retreating guards.

The Overlord knew there was something there. And the blood-curling scream proved it. There was something going on in the sky, and he was a part of it. For now, he would leave whatever creature lay watching him from above be. But he would find a way to go and seek out the thing and confront it. Should his suspicions of being in a game come true, he would slay it. Should it be out of pure enjoyment, he would still slay it. Nothing could get whatever was watching him out of harm’s way.

He turned his attention back to the captives that cowered before him. Again, he swept over each of their little bodies with his evil aura. He took one step forward, making the ground shake. The fillies shivered even more. The yellow one with the bowtie in her mane started to cry.

Wait a minute..

A bowtie? The Overlord had not noticed this little detail earlier. If it had indeed dressed itself, then maybe it would be willing to submit to the Ruler if asked to. He signaled some Minions over to untie the children. Some Browns came over and began to untie them, and then they brought out forks and such and began to come closer with the sharp utensils.

The Overlord shook his head in disappointment and let out a low growl. No matter how quietly he would speak or growl, though, the Minions would hear it, despite its volume. They quickly heard this and backed off. The Overlord moved them aside and crouched down to pick up the crying one after he re-sheathed his sword. He stood back up to his towering height, the little yellow pony in hand.

It stared at him with giant teary eyes. They seemed so expressive for a horse. That was what confused him since when he met horses themselves, they had slim beady eyes. He couldn’t say much for unicorns seeing as how he never got the chance to look at their facial features when they would charge at him, horn first, to impale and kill him.

It almost looked....cute to him. He wasn’t much for admiring looks from anyone but his mistress Rose, let alone use descriptive words such as cute. But for some reason, this thing just was. Maybe he could let the race of these creatures live in peace. Maybe, after having conquered so villages and regions with an iron-more precisely steel-fist, he wanted to have a change of heart and befriend the horses, Pegasi, and…the unicorns. Maybe he-

*CLONK*

The sound of hooves hitting his helmet had literally caused the Overlord to take that whole train of thought, light it on fire, and throw it down the Abyss for it to never be considered or even seen again. Something had just hit him in the head, and it sure as hell didn’t sound like a weapon or club. He turned his attention from the where he was looking, previously the little filly until he dropped it from the sound and impact of hooves on steel, and turned it to the source of the noise.

The hit had literally not even made him stagger. Not many opponents could really. In fact, only the giant bull-dozing machine made by the Dwarf lord Goldo Golderson, Rollie, had made him stagger. And the giant Dwarven metal contraption was three times his size! So, after ignoring the ringing in his ears, which was the only thing that had plagued him from the hit, he looked at a pair of light red eyes. The appearance of cyan fur and a rainbow mane followed shortly after.

“Take that you….big… *GULP* dumb….ugly…meanie…”

At first, the one who had assaulted the Dark Being had a look of pride, fearlessness, zeal, and anger. That quickly faded when it (she?) met the Overlord’s eyes. Any being that stared directly into the two blood-crimson red eyes would feel a sense of fear and submission follow. That was what happened with the attacker. Her eyes started to change as they went from furrowed and angry to widened and nervous. He could see her starting to fear him as he saw multiple strands of sweat travel down her face.

“Uh…I’m not afraid of you! Yeah! I can kick your fl-” Rainbow Dash’s little attempt at establishing a small sense of bravery was cut short by a giant steel hand grabbing her by her throat and wrapping around it tightly. She was now struggling to breathe, a darker blue hue starting to show on her face.

All around the struggling flyer, she could make out what seemed like cheers and laughing. She could not focus on any of it, mainly due to the hand that was choking the life out of her. The cold metal could possibly be the only thing that she would feel for a last time if this was her ending point. She closed her eyes and began to tear up.

She could barely hold it anymore. She wanted to gasp so badly but nothing could come in or out. She was not struggling as much as she was before. No, now she was just limp after almost all of the air was expelled from her body. She could only hope that the others would be able to get away from this thing.

She could hear the voice of Twilight Sparkle calling to her. “Wake up, Rainbow! Wake up!”

After some water hit her face, she bolted upright and looked all around her surrounding area frantically. “Huh?! Who?! What?! When?! How!?” She asked out of pure stupidity.

“We have to move! I don’t think HE’s to happy!” Twilight pointed her hoof at a giant burning ball of flame that enveloped where the Dark Lord was standing.

The small little imps were running around frantically, the entire camp being in chaos, as their leader was burning into a pile of ash. Gnarl spoke loudly to gain their attention. He said the first thing that came to mind as calmly and intelligently as possible.

“GET SOME WATER!”

Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Applejack ran towards the tree line where Rarity and Pinkie Pie were hiding. None of the imps had apparently paid any mind to the fleeing captives. They even seemed to have paved a straight path to the forest.

After catching her breath for a few minutes, completely oblivious to the chaos just but a half a field away, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Twilight. “What HAPPENED?!”

Twilight started to ruffled her hoof through her mane being clearing her throat. “Well..”

The little Pegasus in his left hand was slowly being drained of her life force. If he could find a spawning hole, he could use her soul to give way for a new Minion. He found it fitting, as any who dare strike him should end up serving him at his very feet. His eyes started to squint as he tried to focus on her eyes, which were barely open. He could feel like laughing now if he wasn’t so focused on doing it.

His concentration was broken though as he felt three pairs of hooves smacking against his feet. The three little children from before looked at him with terrified and pleading eyes, their looks begging him to let this newcomer go. He thought about it. He did decide to eliminate any possibility of establishing an alliance between this race…although he couldn’t help but feel a little remorseful after seeing those looks.

Slowly and reluctantly, he lessened his handle on her neck. He could see her desperately, yet instinctively, gasp for air. He had to admit, it looked like a child in this state. He lowered himself to the ground and lost his entire grip on the thing, setting her gently down. Had he been paying some mind to the commotion just behind him, we would’ve saw Twilight using a Banish Spell on him. The spell came swiftly and silently as he felt large heat conduction around his entire body.

In moments, he was surrounded in flames. Normally, any other being would scream in terror as the pain and charred remains that it would bring, but he was a master of the fire. So he huffed in and out, and brought his left hand forth, touching the burning wall around him. The wall slowly formed a vortex that was being sucked into his hand. Within minutes, the entire envelopment was gone and he felt reinvigorated.

He turned his attention to the mass hysteria that was his Horde. He raised his arm, once again, and called them to be still. The loud hum was mesmerizing as always. The imps quickly calmed themselves and turned their attention to their master. Before Gnarl was about to speak to address his Lordship, the Overlord raised a finger to silence him. Everything was silent.

Everything except talking coming from the nearby tree line. The Overlord called forth Ten and Nine and they walked over to the source of the noise, a group of Reds and Greens following close behind. The Overlord, seeing as how he was tall, could see some figures covered by shadow amongst the flora. He focused his attention, malice, and hatred on the purple one with a horn.

“-And that’s when I used the Banish Spell. Then, when all of the small thingies started to go wild, I used a teleportation spell to throw a bucket of water on you. We have to warn Princess Celestia. These creatures are definitely hostile, seeing as how that big one picked you up and almost killed you!”

“Ya got that right!” Applejack added.

“So what now?” Pinkie Pie inquired.

Twilight began. “Right now we-”

“Found them, Master! What do we do to them?” A voice from behind Twilight asked.

Twilight felt a huge chill travel up her body. It was even worse than the feeling from before. She looked to all of her friends who sat across from her. All of them had their eyes wide open, too scared and shocked to even speak, staring right at something tall that was behind her. The fillies were cowering and whimpering yet again.

With every single part of her, Twilight tried to fight the temptation to turn around and look at the things, closely inspecting them for future research. Yet again her will was overcome, as Twilight couldn’t defeat her bookish and studious ways and she turned around hastily and found one giant metal finger pointed at her, two red glowing eyes right behind. No noise but the single word that followed filled the air. It was deathly silent.

“KILL.”

What Action Do We Take Next, Milord?

Author's Note: Gnarl here. This author, this...PonyManne fellow, is weak and cowardly. He has a knack and love for scribbling and writing his putrid filth that he calls stories down and showcasing it. This chapter was meant to have tons and tons of killing, but he has faltered from his girlish behaviour. He had...refused to kill off the ponies you call the Mane 6. But do not fret, as we made sure to have a torturi- I mean "convincing" session to have someone killed. Sadly, there is no mass killing in this chapter..But do not worry, Minions, for we have accomplished in having some in the next, although it is a small amount. We'll be sure to do some more "convincing" with PonyManne the next chance we get.

“Hey! Let me go!” Rainbow Dash screamed.

“Get offa me, ya varmints!” Applejack followed.

“Ahh! You’re all so dirty! And you’re touching my stunningly clean coat!” Rarity whined

“Shut up!” Ten commanded.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and finally Twilight Sparkle walked closely against each other, each step making their coats rub up against each other. Rarity found it all the while disgusting as she was not only being pelted with the sweat of her friends, but the touch of the imps surrounding them. They did, however, remain silent as a mouse whenever the Overlord turned his head back towards them, staring at them with the two malicious red eyes. They remembered what had happened earlier.

“-And that’s when I used the Banish Spell. Then, when all of the small thingies started to go wild, I used a teleportation spell to throw a bucket of water on you. We have to warn Princess Celestia. These creatures are definitely hostile, seeing as how that big one picked you up and almost killed you!”

“Ya got that right!” Applejack added.

“So what now?” Pinkie Pie inquired.

Twilight began. “Right now we-”

“Found them, Master! What do we do to them?” A voice from behind Twilight asked.

Twilight felt a huge chill travel up her body. It was even worse than the feeling from before. She looked to all of her friends who sat across from her. All of them had their eyes wide open, too scared and shocked to even speak, staring right at something tall that was behind her. The fillies were cowering and whimpering yet again.

With every single part of her, Twilight tried to fight the temptation to turn around and look at the things, closely inspecting them for future research. Yet again her will was overcome, as Twilight couldn’t defeat her bookish and studious ways and she turned around hastily and found one giant metal finger pointed at her, two red glowing eyes right behind. No noise but the single word that followed filled the air. It was deathly silent.

“KILL.”

The girls behind Twilight were just as scared as the former was. Who wouldn’t be terrified of a gigantic metal beast that had two piercing red eyes? Not to mention the fact that it’s attire was giving off a rather evil aura. Being the leader of the smaller monsters were no help either. His voice itself was something. It wasn’t shrilly or annoying, but it was attention grabbing. The Overlord’s voice, although only heard from that one word, was deep, resounding, and downright horrifying. Just hearing him speak seemed to put more fear in the fillies, shake the land itself, and darken the clouds.

That was another peculiar thing too. Right at that particular moment in time, while the events were unfolding, the Everfree Forest decided to have a dark downpour occur. The tiny drops of water blended with the already present drops that were being emitted from the nervous ponies themselves. The water just oozed off of their bodies, also amplifying the tears that were dwelling in their corneas.

The rain had an impacting effect on the other beings as well. For the smaller things, the water made their armor seem to shine and gave their weapons a frightening clang or clonk every time a drop hit against them. The creatures stood there, their small barely audible breaths causing a bust of steam to brew from the mouths. Their little yellow eyeballs stared right at the targets in front of them, examining each and every single movement from the peaceful equines.

Then, there was the Overlord. The water seemed to make a shield of some sorts around him. It did touch his armor, but it didn’t shine it, or dampen it. No, it was as if the water enhanced his strength or presence. When the rain poured onto his steel armor, each little tap sounded like a thunderbolt crashing through. His hand that was wrapped around tightly around his mace kept its luster, holding the weapon ever so tightly. The other free hand was lazily slung to his side. It hanged about, still brewing a spell.

Accounting all of these factors into the equation, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the befuddled mares could do the only thing that they could possibly think of. Let it be known, that this particular moment in history would go down in Equestrian knowledge. The actions of these girls would forever decide the fate that would ensure their actions. Their actions would be so life-changing, that calling it a simple mix-up would be controversial. What they were about to do was perhaps the most irrational thing one could do.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!” Every single mare and filly present screamed their heads off.

Twilight, panicking from the sudden break of silence, tried to teleport themselves away from the horrid atrocities. She closed her eyes with as much power as she could muster, having the image of Ponyville burned into her mind. She just needed to focus a little more and she could get there in no time. Just a little more…

*Spark*

Some small bursts of purple magic came out from her horn. Her magical aura was building up. She just needed a few more seconds. Just a little more….

*Spark* *Spark*

Even more magic bursts this time. She could feel her soul tapping into the back-up reserve well of magic that she would save up for dire situations. Almost there…

*Spark* *Spark* *Spark* *Spark*

One more second!....

*Snap*

It took Twilight a few minutes to fully register what had just happened. She could smell it; the carrots from Carrot Top’s stall, the apples that Big Macintosh was selling, the fruit juices that Berry Punch was giving away at half price, everything. She could smell the flowers that were planted all around Ponyville. She could hear the idle chatter of its citizens as they walked by. She could feel the sweet warm rays of Celestia’s sun shining down on her. And she opened her eyes to see it all.

And there in front of her was the Overlord with her horn in his free hand.

Real Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter guys but whilst writing the final part, I just got lazy. For some reason in my mind, I decided that ending it here was the best thing I have ever accomplished in my sad life. No just kidding, but I did think it was a great line to end with. Don't get mad or annoyed though, because a longer chapter is coming tommorow. :D

Diplomacy Is Dead, Great One

Unicorns are a mysterious race of creatures. Some say that they had descended from gods themselves. Others say that they are an abomination created by the Elves to act as guardians. They could be the fusing of normal horses with magic. No one knows for sure of the origin of unicorns. All who do know of the beings, however, know to stay away from said creatures.

Their horn, as magical and sharp as it looks, can impale almost any who are not quick enough to act. The Overlord can account for this. In his ventures, he has encountered hundreds or even thousands of unicorns. In every single instance, they have always tried to charge him or trample him. They all proved fruitless of course, as he quickly slew the beasts.

They had killed many of his Minions though. If he could recount how many were trampled, impaled, bled out from cuts from the horn, or eaten by unicorns, and be paid for each one, he would have a pile of gold as large as his Dark Tower. He had never in his experience, however, snapped off a unicorn’s horn.

There is little to no knowledge on the subject of snapping off a unicorn’s horn. Almost no one alive had dared to do such a feat on the Overlord’s world. In fact, it was most likely impossible to even attempt. But for some reason, he was able to do it with ease in this new world full of talking horses, Pegasi, and unicorns. When he reached for the purple unicorn, who the others called ‘Twilight’, he grabbed for her horn and attempted to break it off.

With quick success, he stopped the little mare from doing what he thought was another spell that would envelop him in flames. Thank Evil he had stopped her, for if she was successful, she would’ve teleported herself and her friends away from them, making the domination of this new land more difficult. It was actually a little surprising for the steel-clad ruler, himself. The thought of actually doing the action was foreign to him.

There was something that he felt in the air as he did it, though. It felt like an electrical storm or shock, almost like a lightning bolt. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt like he gained a power of some kind. He felt re-ignited, revived. It felt like a thousand souls had been lifted off of his shoulders and he was able to move more quickly and efficiently. He embraced this newfound energy as he brought up his bracer and called for the Minions to gather them and bring them back to his temporary camp.

And the entire walk was silent, save for some occasional grumbling or complaining. The Overlord was surprised though. One would think that something like a horn was like a leg or an arm, and breaking it off would result in pain, wailing, and crying. In this case, the first and third possibility happened. He took it in stride though, as he would do the same if he were put in that situation……not really. But anyway, Twilight Sparkle was crying to herself and wincing in pain from the absence of her magical appendage.

This experience for her was something that only Celestia could bear. The pain itself was unbearable. It felt like someone had taken an entire herd of cows, and ordered them to trample her horn stub. She could feel little bursts of magic coming from the uncontrolled stub. It was as if the magic was being drained from her. She had read about this. It was called “Magical Withdrawal”. The removal of horns was a very unlikely event, but had happened on occasion. The repair was quite easy, for one just had to see a magical expert such as Celestia, Luna, or Star Swirl the Bearded and they would be able to use a spell that would cause the stub to grow a horn anew.

Unluckily for the mare in question, Twilight had no access to Princess Celestia or Luna, let alone Star Swirl the Bearded who had been gone for a long time now. She knew one thing from all of this; Equestria was in trouble if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna didn’t get here to defeat the monster. If things came to the worst possibility, then the Elements would be needed. So for now, she remained quiet while keeping her pain to herself. She had to let out some pain, however, as she cried her eyes out the entire way.

The Overlord, along with Ten, Nine, and a group of guards that came with them earlier, walked in a straight line while the Minions cleared a path for their Master with prisoners in tow. They were marveled at the sight; a unicorn with its horn snapped off and in the hand of the Great One. Some couldn’t help but laugh and jeer at the captives, all of whom bowed their heads in fear and shame.

“Ahh, Master, you have found them, have you?” Gnarl asked.

“Yes, we have! Now what does Master want to do to them?!” Ten asked ecstatically.

The Overlord looked at the little things before him. Upon mention of what choice was he going with, the mares and fillies quivered. After the brutish display of strength and evil with Twilight, they concluded that he was the leader of these rag-tag imps.

The Overlord, realizing the possibility of the entire land being covered and occupied with these sentient beings, let out a whole hearty laugh. It was menacing, to say the least. It was deep, much like his voice, and it seemed to make the sun shine darker. If the girls thought that Nightmare Moon was evil, then they had yet to see the full potential of the Overlord.

Amongst his laughter, he saw the white unicorn giving him an angry stare. He stopped midway and stared right back. In this battle of stares, one would fear the death looks they were giving each other. If looks could kill, then Rarity’s look would kill the entire city of Fillydelphia. But her look was a worm compared to the magnitude of the Overlord’s. His look, like always, was amplified by his appearance and red eyes. His stare would be able to wipe off the entire population of this planet, his planet, and just all life in general….and then some.

Rarity blinked in response and her entire effort collapsed on itself. She smiled at him nervously while looking around for any support from her friends. In return, she received a good glassful of silence. The Overlord bent down and reached his free hand for Rarity, after putting Twilight’s horn on his belt. She tried to back away but the Minions behind her pointed their swords and spears, making it impossible for her to escape. Rarity gulped as the Dark Lord grabbed her by the back and picked her up.

He looked to her horn for a good while before returning to her two giant blue eyes, widened in anxiety. “Oh you wouldn’t want my horn, would you? No, it’s absolutely drab and out of your style. I think a black horn would fit you better. Now if you would be so kind as to let my friends and I go, unharmed? Pretty please?” Rarity pleaded with two big glittering eyes. She batted her eyelashes at him in an attempt to maybe tap on a lonely and romantic side.

“NO.” The voice, resonant and booming, declined her requisition without a single thought.

He put Rarity back down and turned his back towards them, waving his hand dismissively, ordering the Minions to put them somewhere that would secure them. He heard a bouncing noise coming from behind him.

“Now wait just there, you big meanie! You think you can go around and break Twilight’s horn and take it?! And then you have the nerve to take us here and be all meanie grumpy pants to my best friend Rarity?! I don’t think so! You should be ashamed of yourself! You just lost the right to have streamers and confetti at your party, Mister!” Pinkie scolded.

Throughout her entire lash out session, she was somehow managing to pick herself up on her tail alone. This new use of her tail allowed her to be almost face-to-face with the Overlord, staring into his red eyes with her blue ones. She furrowed her brows in a attempt to gain some reaction from the Overlord who was looking right back at her. Her puffy and huffy breathing was the only noise at that moment.

The Overlord, just realizing that these ponies might make his domination a bit more difficult because of their rebellious and brave nature did the only thing he could think of to inspire fear and quell any further attempts at hindering his rule. He raised his mace and swung down at Pinkie Pie, causing her to go flying a good twenty feet away and face first into a tree. He didn’t put too much effort into the strike, so it shouldn’t leave any permanent damage or any broken bones hopefully.

Why would the Overlord, Master of Good and Evil, Destroyer of the Dwarves, Ruler of Spree, and Ruler of the Land be using steel weapons, you ask? The Overlord, being the high supreme being on his world, should have magical weapons or some of higher quality, right? Well, this can be explained. Last he knew, the adventure to the Abyss would be just that, an adventure. He left his Arcanium and Durium weapons in his armory, bringing with him his standard weapons, he ventured off to find treasure and power from the Abyss and planned to return to his home. Since his way home was shut, he was not able to return and remained in the Abyss for a long time. With only those simple weapons, he entered the portal that brought him here instinctively.

The Minions nearby ran over, pulled from her back, and struggled to worm her head out of the tree. Her head had punctured a straight hole through the timber. With all of their might, the six Browns present pulled her out of the tree, causing her to go flying into the Overlord’s chest plate. She slammed against his armor with a loud thump and slid down towards the floor. On her side, where he had hit her, was a large blue mark. So she was bruised on her side for sure.

Her head was not as bad. She had a few cuts and bruises here and there, but overall she was fine. A little droplet of blood ran down her face, almost blending in with the pink coat. She coughed a little and some small spatters of blood followed. She would definitely need a doctor if they got out of this alive. Pinkie had definitely learned her lesson this time, as she remained silent for the rest of the time. There was something odd about the usually happy party mare. Her mane had gone from its curly state to one of deflation. So everyone was back to being qui-

“Take this! Nopony hits mah friends like that! Ya hear me?!” Applejack shouted while bucking the Overlord’s legs.

The Overlord was a patient man; there was no doubt about that. After all, he had been kept in stasis under the Tower for who knows how long. He had waited for right opportunities to strike, he waited for people to respond to his decrees of submission, and he waited for many things. But his patience had run out when the little peasant pony kicked him on the shin guard. He had enough of the kicking and hitting that they gave him and just decided to end it right there. No more Mister Nice Overlord.

The towering six feet tall conqueror brought his foot up high, and quickly stomped down on the orange mare’s head. He heard an audible crunch follow. He looked down to admire his new painting that he had created. And there, under his feet, was the giant sea of color that he was always used to; the very color that had decorated his own land since his rule.

Under his foot that had just struck down, was grass.

“My my, a bit violent aren’t we? I mean, I like myself a bit of chaos and all, but that was a little harsh, don’t you think?” A new voice asked from behind him.

The Overlord turned to meet this new foe and was baffled at his appearance. There, before his person, was a creature almost as tall as him. It had a lion’s paw and eagle’s claw. Its legs were that of a lizard and a goat. It had a bat wing and a Pegasus wing. Overall, the entire thing was a mash-up of different animals thrown into one.

The Overlord tightened his grip around his mace, his hand ready to call the Minion horde upon this hideous thing in seconds.

“Now before you even try to attack me, let me tell you how much I like your appearance. Oooh! Just looking at you gives me shivers. The dark armor, the red eyes, the whole unseeable face and the cape, you know how to dress sharp, my good sir! And don’t get me started on your little friends here. They are absolutely funny. They’re so stupid; most of them can barely speak. But don’t get me wrong, they’re brute force makes up for it. Also, if you’re wondering where Applejack and the rest had gone, I teleported them back to Ponyville. As much as I like seeing them lose to you, I like to be fair and put a bit of chaos on both sides. So I brought them back so that they can warn the Princess. Oh, this is going to be such a better game than earlier!” Discord waved his arms around like a little school filly.

The Overlord, Gnarl, Ten, Nine, and every Minion there paid no attention to most of what he said. The only things they paid attention to were the parts about the ponies disappearing, the insults about the imps, and the compliments it paid to their Master.

“Oh, where are my manners! My name is Discord, a draconequus, pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Mister Evil.” Discord introduced himself while extending the eagle’s claw.

The Overlord stared at his weird hand and then back to the eyes of the creature named Discord himself. The Overlord heard only one part of the entire monologue this draconequss had said.

“As much as I like seeing them lose to you, I like to be fair and put a bit of chaos on both sides. So I brought them back so that they can warn the Princess. Oh, this is going to be such a better game than earlier!”

Here’s a more concentrated version of what was important in this line.

“So I brought them back so that they can warn the Princess. Oh, this is going to be such a better game than earlier!”

And another….

“Oh, this is going to be such a better game than earlier!”

And the possibly best word to describe what the Overlord was thinking about.

“Better game.”

So by now, many know that the Overlord hates games, especially if he is a pawn in one, himself. So, doing the only thing that would not end in Discord being tied to four unicorns and being pulled apart, or being thrown into a volcano whilst being eaten by a polar bear, the Overlord brought his hand forth, and the rain of Inferno followed.

Luckily, all of the Minions backed away from the Overlord. The moment they saw his hand go up, they knew that the entire area was a dead zone. And their conclusion was proven correct when a giant barrage of melting flames spewed forth from his hand and unto Discord. In fact, the very grass and dirt underneath Discord was burned as well. After the fire was quelled, the only thing that remained were a pile of ash, heat, and the smell of burnt meat.

“Well done, if I do say so myself, Master.” Gnarl complimented.

“Yeah! That was great!” Nine added.

“Of course it was great, it was His power.” Ten corrected.

“Yes quite. It was a pretty good fireworks display, wasn’t it?” Called from above them.

Everyone looked up and saw Discord lazily lying on a pink cloud that was raining chocolate. “I must say, that was a pretty close one. You certainly gave me a run for my money. Well, it was nice chatting, gotta go. Ta ta!” Discord flew off with five other pink clouds.

“Don’t mind him, Master. We will get him soon enough. What do we do about the ones who got away?” Gnarl asked.

The Overlord looked to Ten and Nine and pointed at north. They understood what he wanted exactly. Their Master wanted them to bring him to the place where they had found the ponies in the first place. With that, Ten and Nine both took a squad of five imps. The Overlord took one of ten, so in all, there were five Reds, five Blues, and ten Browns. The newly assembled skirmish party charged for Ponyville.

“Well, I guess that leaves us here…”Gnarl spoke silently. He perked up, remembering the old castle ruins. “Quickly, while we have the time, let’s move to the new castle site. Begin excavations and repairs immediately!” And with that, Gnarl and the Minion Horde travelled to the Princesses’ old home, ready to turn the once glorious sight into something that was worthy of being called evil.

“Watch your head, Master, there are things lurking that we might not want to fight now.” Ten advised.

The march of the skirmishers was loud and attention grabbing. The sounds of their armor, once again, echoed throughout the entire forest. They were travelling at a fast pace, wanting to take the citizens by surprise instead of having an ambush waiting for them. The lesser Minions were a bit edgy, as roars throughout the forest were scattered all around them.

The Overlord, albeit being undeterred by sights of monsters and giant creatures, was a little cautious as well. Just earlier, he saw two things that had the heads of lions, along with the tails of scorpions. He was surely not enthusiastic on getting stung anytime soon. He decided on his better judgment to stay away from those beings. That wasn’t the worst of it, either.

The Overlord saw a sea serpent with what appeared to be a comb and mustache flailing about in the river. Again, he wasn’t sure if a hindrance was the best course of action in their ongoing raid at the moment. He would be sure to take Minions with him when he would finish pillaging to wipe out the dangerous things of the forest.

They were almost arriving in Ponyville, as the Minions and Ten and Nine could smell the ponies once again. Just a few more minutes and they would arrive at their destination. They stopped in their tacks when the sound of a gut-wrenching shriek came from above them. The Overlord was the first to react and turned around and shot a fireball instinctively. It was the best choice he could have made as the fireball stuck a giant head right in the eye.

The eye was burned beyond recognition and the head recoiled back to its high towering distance in the sky. It turned to its other heads as the creatures conversed in what the Minions could only guess was their language. The heads then all turned back to the Overlord and slung themselves forward, mouths wide with giant sharp teeth ready to chew his flesh. The Overlord wished that slaughtering this hydra wouldn't consume too much time.

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders found themselves in the middle of Ponyville once again. They were completely dumbfounded on what exactly happened. The last thing that they had remembered was the Overlord bringing his steel foot down on Applejack’s head. They all closed their eyes at that moment, too scared of what was to follow. Instead of a loud cheering and the noise of their friend in pain, however, they heard the chattering of Ditzy Doo nearby.

“But I bought two muffins! You gave me a half-eaten one!” Ditzy was furious.

“Are you sure you didn’t just eat it?” Bon-Bon asked.

“Well….no..but still!” Ditzy forgot she instinctively bit one of her muffins as she bought it.

“Well then, goodbye!” Bon-Bon closed up her stall of sweets and baked goods and left the befuddled mailmare alone.

“But..Ah…Ah saw it! Ah saw that thing bring it’s back hoof on my head! What happened?!” Applejack was confused, the mutual feeling being shared throughout the entire group.

Rarity looked like she wanted to say something but simply kept her mouth shut. Pinkie, however, didn’t. She had suddenly regained her joyous attitude, although she didn’t bounce on account of her bruised body. “Look! Lookie here! It’s a letter!” Pinkie pulled out a giant paper letter ‘D’. She literally meant a letter, not one that one writes as a message to another. “And look, it’s a note!” Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled out another piece of paper that was a musical note.

“Pinkie, we don’t have time fo-” Rainbow Dash was shut off by the party pony again.

“I found a message. Here, take a look.” Pinkie passed it to everypony around.

“Dear girls,

If you’re wondering what happened, I Discord, just want you to know that I saved you.”

“Saved us? I don’t believe it.” Rarity commented.

“Yes, I said saved you. And I don’t need you to believe it or not. What I do need you girls to do is warn Princess Celestia of our new guest. He is the finest evil I have ever come into contact with. To be honest, he makes Nightmare Moon look like Fluttershy. But anyway, I don’t care if you think this is a trick or not, because I really want the Princess in this game. I wanted to mix things up a bit so instead of letting our friend have his fun attacking you; I wanted you to make things harder for him. You won’t be able to save yourselves, because he is one persistent little thing. He’ll get you all, I know it. Just give him a run for his money, eh? Oh, and be sure to evacuate Ponyville because he’s probably on his way there right now. Have fun and good luck!

Your great pal,

Discord”

As Twilight finished reading his name off, the message suddenly grew a mouth and ate itself, making the message disappear entirely. The girls, unsure of what Discord’s intentions were, ran off to the library to do what Discord had advised them to. Warning the Princess was of the upmost importance right now. As they galloped, Fluttershy flew from inside of Sugar Cube Corner and towards them.

“Oh my, why is everypony running?” Fluttershy asked, unaware of the dire situation at hoof.

“There’s an evil dude in the forest with evil thingies and he’s attacking Equestria. Other than that, Pinkie got slammed against a tree, I got choked, and Twilight got her horn ripped off. No biggie.” Rainbow Dash hid her fear successfully.

“Oh…that sounds horrible! Where is he..if you don’t mind me asking…” The timid Pegasus mare whispered.

“What’dya gonna do? Talk to him? Ah don’t think he’s one fer talkin’.” Applejack interrupted.

“Oh, nothing is that bad. I mean, he’s not like Nightmare Moon, right?”

“Fluttershy, he’s so evil, Discord himself said that he made Nightmare Moon look like you.” Rainbow Dash recalled.

“Oh…”

Twilight all the while was still crying. Her precious horn that she had since she was born was gone, hanging on the belt of the Overlord like a trophy of some kind. Her head wasn’t faring too well either. The bolting shocks were getting more sparse, but more intense. She could barely stand on four hooves anymore. She had to reach her library and warn her teacher.

The homes of the residents of Ponyville passed by like a blur. The warm wind and sun splashed their cheeks as they galloped at the speed of sound. As if on cue, Spike came waltzing out of the library with a quill and parchment. “Another letter to the Prin….cess?….” Spike saw the stump on Twilight’s head.

“No time to explain, Spike! Write this down!” Twilight screamed.

“Got it!” Spike brought the quill to the paper.

“Dear Princess Celestia….”

The Overlord was covered in sweat, adrenalin, and blood. It wasn’t his blood for sure though. It was the Hydra’s. Its lifeless body was lazily slung onto a giant pile of rocks nearby. The Minions could barely hold the entire thing up after such an exhausting battle. It was short-lived, but time consuming nonetheless. And saying that it was messy was an understatement.

When the creature’s heads lunged for the Overlord, he had cast a spell called Infernal Shield. From its name, one could tell that it was a shield that not only guarded the Overlord but set anything that came into contact ablaze as well. That was what happened with the creature; its heads were set on fire, each flailing and trying to cling onto their lives. The Reds began to lob fireballs at the Hydra, causing it to run madly. The Browns jumped onto its back and began to stab and jab and club whatever was there. The Overlord, Ten, and Nine drew most of its rage as they tried to attack the three, only ending up smashing their own heads into the ground.

Whilst their heads were trapped, the Overlord and his two captains cut down on the Hydra’s necks. With giant spurts of blood covering their bodies, the heads were undone and fell to the grass with a loud thump. Even though it had no heads remaining, its body still ran for a few consecutive seconds crazily before dropping in place, cold slowly embracing it. The stench of the Hydra’s blood was barely tolerable.

The Overlord was used to bad smells, having an army full of imps who barely bathed. But the Hydra’s blood made him want to gag. He held his tongue and ordered the Blues, who had been just sleeping since they had no part in the matter, to carry the thing to the nearby rock quarry and dispose of it. They did that, with a lot of grumbling, and came back. Now, after washing off, the Minions included, the Overlord stepped out of the Everfree Forest and onto a large hill that overlooked Ponyville.

The Overlord stood there, marveling at the great landscape that seemed almost artistic to him. His Minions were full of energy and awaited his next command. He stood there, thinking if he should relent and give some mercy to the harmless and weak ponies. Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe he needed to take things in stride and band together with the ponies against Discord. Maybe he needed to stop questioning himself and just attack already.

He recalled everything, the little cute fillies that stared at him, the one with a bowtie in its hair giving him a caring look, the seemingly peaceful nature that they had.

Then at that moment, conveniently placed by an unknown force who wanted to damn Equestria for his/her own enjoyment, came the rushing of images that showed him being set ablaze by Twilight Sparkle, hit in the head by Rainbow Dash, and kicked in the shin by Applejack. Screw it, it’s attack time.

The Overlord used his bracer, making the humming call and focusing the attention of all of his Minions. He gave an evil chuckle which they accompanied with their own. Then with his right hand, which had the steel sword tightly gripped, he pointed towards Ponyville.

“Charge!”

The Minions scampered away at the feast that was coming. They could taste it now, mead to last them a good while, women for their Master, and money for his upgrades. Life was good. They all cheered and screamed little funny battle cries.

“For the Master!” Ten shouted.

“For the Overlord!” A Red continued.

“Booze!” A Blue ensued.

The previously silent Nine spoke up.

“Where are we going again?”

The First Step Towards Victory, Master

“Are thou sure that Twilight Sparkle hath requested our presence immediately?” Luna asked again.

“Yes, Luna. I’ve read the letter multiple times. This is an emergency. We can’t even take the Royal Guards with us because it will take too long for them to mobilize.” Celestia explained.

“Hm..would you allow Us to see the letter?" Luna asked.

Princess Celestia magically hoofed her sister of the night the erratic scroll that had arrived not moments ago. Whilst they were contemplating inside of Princess Celestia’s room, the scroll had arrived hastily tucked. After scanning, reading, and then scouring the letter, Princess Celestia took on an even greater state of woe. They knew that Discord was on the loose, but they didn’t know he would act this soon.

“So this is it?” Luna inquired.

“Yes, that’s all of it.”

Princess Luna began to read the letter.

“Dear Princess Celestia and Luna,

This is of grave of importance. All of Ponyville is in danger, in fact, all of Equestria is. Something evil is arriving and he is planning on taking over all of ponykind. It..he.. I’m not sure what the thing is but Discord isn’t exactly friends with it. I thought it was one of Discord’s tricks again, but after the thing almost strangled Rainbow Dash and…snapped off my horn, I doubt it has anything to do with the god of Chaos. For one, Discord saved us from it. Anyway, please come immediately. He’s probably heading this way. Hurry Princesses!”

The letter was scribbled at the end, probably the rushed signature of Twilight Sparkle.

“She did not even bother to sign her name. How quaint.” Luna was aware of the danger approaching, but wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of Equestria being dominated by some otherworldly thing.

“Sister, prepare for arrival.” Princess Celestia’s horn began to glow as a bright white light consumed Celestia’s private study.

“Yes, yes! This is coming along rather nicely.” Gnarl commented.

The imps had been busy building the foundations of the Overlord’s new domain while the Dark One went with a few others to rule over the neighboring village. So far, everything was going according to plan. Nearby, the imps found an abundant rock quarry that they used as building blocks of the foundation. There was also a good amount of mud nearby which would serve as the sticking compound. There were only a few matters that villages would be needed for. The act of furnishing would be impossible without any linen in store.

Tapestries and décor would have to wait for later. For now, the beginnings of a new home were being stretched out before Gnarl’s aged eyes. He cackled to himself as he imagined the Overlord sitting upon a large throne, not different from his previous seat, and enslaving the inhabitants of this world. It was glorious to say the least.

The sounds of the Minions working filled the air as Evil had taken root. Equestria would be changed after this, after the Overlord’s rule. No longer would the name of Equestria be associated with the images of fun, love, and ponies but a dark steel ruler with a ravenous horde, ready to destroy those that oppose them.

“Evil always finds a way.”

“So where are we going?” Nine asked again.

“Are you stupid or something? Master wants us to start the fun!” Ten reminded.

“Oh yeah..for the Master!” Nine snapped back into a zealous nature.

The group of Minions had been running for minutes now as the home of the ponies neared. They could hear the small chatter from where they were. They could smell fresh food, fire, and drinks ripe for the taking. They did not even bother to stop for their Master as they charged the rustic village. Evil was on their side and they weren’t going to fail today.

Their armor covered their bodies from being exposed to the warm rays of the sun as they charged in the open field. Houses were starting to get within sight as the Minions quickened their pace. The Blues slacked in the back, the Reds stayed in the middle and sides, and the Browns formed the front guard, Ten and Nine leading them first and foremost.

Ten knew exactly how to make first impressions within a new village. The ponies that were near stood still, slack jawed at the imps’ appearance, and curious about how they moved about on two legs. Ten took notice how every single house was made the same way, out of flammable material. He laughed and Nine followed suit when he observed this as well.

“Reds, open fire.” Ten ordered.

“Yes!” A Red exclaimed.

“Finally!” Another Red said.

“Yeah..” A third agreed.

All five of the Reds began to lob fireballs at the nearby thatch-roofed buildings. Within seconds, the once peaceful town thrived with panic as multiple ponies’ homes were set ablaze. Unfortunately, the ones that were being torched were vacant of their tenants and none were harmed. Some ponies tried to defend their homes but a couple of glares from the mad Minions sent them scurrying away.

“This is too easy, Ten. It’s like taking a soul from a sheep.” Nine added.

“No, sheep are fun to mess with. These things are boring! None of them figh-” Ten stopped as he felt the air leave his lungs.

“That’s what you get for burning my house down. Come on, guys! Let’s get them!” A brown coated stallion withdrew himself after bucking Ten a few feet away. On his flanks, laid an hourglass Cutie Mark.

“You got it, Doc!” A stallion from behind said.

The group of stallions that Time Turner, or Doctor Whooves, was leading charged at the imps. If they knew that the imps had the intent of killing them, they might not have attacked so rashly.

Nine turned his neck to see the downed Ten. “Do you want the first one?”

Ten got to his feet as he wiped some blood from his mouth, and bared his sharp teeth in anticipation. “The brown one is all mine.” He took his sword in hand as he leapt forward, riding Doctor Whooves on his back. “You shouldn’t have hit me so hard. I might have killed you easier.” Ten stabbed the stallion in the side as he collapsed to the ground. Spurts of blood splattered across the floor when he fell.

Ten dismounted the knocked down leader and examined him. “Almost seems like you have family waiting for you. I’ll be sure to leave them your bones.” Ten impaled the brown colt multiple times, sending more streams of blood running down the previously brown coat and onto the ground. After he finished, the lifeless body was surrounded by a canvas of red that looked like a painting.

Ten turned to see his other imps. All around them were the dead bodies of the defense group minus one. There was still one more colt trying to drag himself away as he left a large trail of red in his wake. He whimpered like a child as the air seemed to get colder for him. “Someone kill the bugger already.” And with Ten’s command, all of the Reds threw flames at the attempted escapee as he burned to a crisp.

His burnt fur smelt like a badly cooked chicken. “Ew, that smells.” Nine taunted.

The other bodies looked no different. Some were burned, some were cut and stabbed. Also, a considerable two of them were clubbed to death, multiple bones were sticking out irregularly. “Okay boys; let’s go get us some drinks!” Ten commanded as he led them to a large ornate building in the middle of town. Too bad Ponyville had decided to take down the Ponyville Town Hall sign for renovations.

“Did y’all hear that? It sounded like screamin’.” Applejack mentioned.

“Y-yeah, it does. Do you think they already got here?” Rainbow Dash gulped.

“I think that’s them..where’s Princess Celestia?!” Twilight was beginning to panic even more.

“Oh my…calm down Twilight, I’m sure they’re coming right now….How about I go and meet them myself? Maybe they just need a gentle talking to..”

“NO!” Everypony there shouted in unison.

“Ya can’t, ya just can’t, Fluttershy. That big mister is bad an’ scary. Please stay.” Applebloom warned.

“Oh alright…but I still want to see them…”

A flash of light blinded everypony in the room for a few seconds. After rubbing their eyes, they saw who had arrived and immediately bowed their heads in respect.

“Twilight Sparkle, what’s going on here?” Princess Celestia asked.

“Princess…I think we’re under attack.” Twilight hesitated, thinking on the best choice of words.

“Attack? Who doth dare to attack my fare citizens?! They shall meet my wrath!” Princess Luna’s eyes began to become a pure white as she rose in the air.

“Lulu, we aren’t sure of this yet. Now let’s let them explain this entire situation.” Princess Celestia began. She turned her attention back to her little ponies. “Now what exactly happened?”

And so, Twilight Sparkle recounted the entire events of the day. From the Pinkie Sense doozy, to the missing Cutie Mark Crusaders, to Zecora warning them, to the encounter with the expeditionary force, and then the help Discord gave them.

Princess Celestia was contemplating all the while, not displaying any visual emotions or reactions. Princess Luna on the other hand was stampeding like a mad bull and fuming at the thought of her friends being hurt. The Princess of the Night was about to speak when her older sister interrupted her. The regal white Alicorn took a deep breath before addressing them.

“So not only is there a new being with an army planning on taking over Equestria, but Discord is helping us? This is truly confusing..did he mention anything else in that letter?” Princess Celestia examined the girls’ faces.

They all looked away, afraid to speak up on Discord’s words. They nervously moved their hooves back and forth, clearing their throats and coughing.

“Well?” Princess Luna was not amused.

“Well....” Pinkie Pie started. “He did kinda say that Equestria was doomed..but I think he was just playing a joke on us, am I right?” The pink earth pony looked around for some confirmation, receiving all nods from her friends.

“This is most dire, indeed. We must go and stop this monster. Elements, start to evacuate Ponyville. I don’t want anyone to get hurt from this.” Celestia ordered.

They all nodded and galloped out of the door. The two Alicorns looked at each other, scared of the words Discord had used. He was not one for helping them, especially in a game. But if was truly on their side, then the new being must be all powerful. With some deep breaths, they followed the others outside and prepared to fight whatever was before them. But they were not ready for the sight that they were beholding.

Flames encompassed a good amount of buildings that were on the edges and center of Ponyville. Dozens of citizens were fleeing for their lives, screaming in terror. Off in the distance, the sisters saw lifeless forms on the ground. When worse came to worst, ponies would be harmed from other creatures, but rarely were they killed. And there some distance away were over six bodies. They hoped that this bloodshed would cease. A loud and frantic shriek broke their train of thought as they flew towards the source.

“Dinky, run now!”

“I can’t leave you here, mom!” Dinky Doo replied.

“Just run!” Ditzy Doo tossed her daughter over the crowd of creatures that surrounded them in an alley.

Dinky Doo tumbled for a good while, but eventually came to a stop as she looked at her mother one last time. She started to cry as her mother followed suit. Ditzy Doo shouted to gain her filly’s attention.

“I love you, muffin!”

“I love you too!” Dinky replied as she hastily ran away seeking help.

“Aww isn’t that sweet? Coochie-coochie, haha, just kidding.” Nine laughed at his own joke, getting hit on the head in the process.

“That was horrible. Anyway, you’re lucky I don’t feed you to a unicorn. You drank the only brew they had in that forsaken place. I’m surprised their ‘mayor’ gave up so easily. She’ll be an excellent workhorse.” Ten said.

Ditzy Doo was trying her hardest to put on a tough face. It was to no avail as the sharp and crude weapons of the Minions began to get closer, frightening her of what was to come.

“She looks like a good slave, right?” Ten asked.

“Uhuh!” A Red agreed.

“Right, let’s chain her up like the others.” Ten pointed to two Browns in the back who began to skulk forward with a large set of steel bonds. “Chain her up.”

“STOP!” A loud voice forced them to the ground.

After rubbing their heads, they looked up at their attacker. Two large ponies with a horn and wings flew in the air gracefully.

“Ooh, shiny!” A Blue commented.

“FRET NOT CITIZEN! FOR WE HATH COME TO SAVE THEE!” Princess Luna shouted in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

Although Ditzy was a little scared of Princess Luna, she knew that if both of the Princesses were there, then she would be safe. She hastily flew towards them as the imps were sprawled against the floor from Princess Luna’s sheer force.

“Thank you.” Ditzy praised.

“It’s okay now. Go and find somewhere safe. Leave as soon as you can.” Princess Celestia smiled warmly at the frightened mailmare before her. Ditzy nodded in response and began to leave. As soon as she did, Celestia’s expression changed from one of calm to one of anger and disgust. “How dare you attack Equestria?!”

“Attack who’s-a-whatsa?” Nine asked dumbly.

“Forget these stupid ponies. Reds, fire!” Ten commanded.

The Reds began to throw fireballs while the other watched. Since the Reds were the only ranged attackers, the Browns and Blues were less than useless.

The two Alicorns weaved in and out of the flame arches being thrown at them. With some struggle, they managed to fight back as well. Using minor magical blasts, they knocked the Reds back and unconscious. Once they were free of any further attack, they began to question the by standing leader.

“Why are you doing this?” Princess Celestia inquired with a hint of abhorrence.

“The Master gets what the Master wants. It’s simple really.”

The two Princesses were baffled by what Ten had said.

“Who is thy Master?”

“Why, the Overlord. And you are going to be sorry that you ever messed with him.” Ten warned.

“Sorry? Thou art going to be sorry for attacki-” Luna was stopped by her sister.

“Can I speak with him?” She asked rather calmly.

“He’s not one for talking. How about this, surrender now and everyone will be spared. Then the Master can rule over you all.” He bargained.

“Rule over us? I do not think so. Luna, let’s push these monsters back to the place from which they came!” Celestia suggested with some suppressed anger.

Ten, Nine, and the others took notice of this. The two Alicorns’ horns began to glow as they pointed them at the Minions. Knowing what would probably happen, they picked up their losses, which were the knocked out Reds, and ran for the hills. Hopefully, their Master would be somewhere in between.

The two sisters did not relent. They fired magic after magic, trying to banish or defeat the evil that was retreating. It was exhausting, for flying and using magic was a bit of an exertion. So they both landed on the ground with a thump. The Minions had turned the corner around the building and disappeared. Not wanting to lose their targets, Princess Celestia and Luna gave chase.

“STOP MONS-ter…..” Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice was quelled as she and her older sister saw the Minions looking at them with cocky grins. Accompanying the looks, was their leader. He was a large dark being with piercing red eyes, a flowing cape to follow, and two weapons made for killing. Luna gulped after she analyzed all aspects of the Overlord.

“So you are these creatures’ leader?” Princess Celestia asked.

The Overlord raised his arm in the air as the hum followed. The imps began to smile even more madly as they answered for him. “Yes!”

“Do you intend on taking over this land?” Celestia stammered.

The Overlord looked into her eyes. The look that he was giving her would be forever burned within the outreach of her subconscious. Slowly, he nodded to her second question.

“Then..I..declare you an enemy of ponykind..” She and her younger sister both looked at each other, nervous about their next course of action.

The Overlord kicked Ten in the side, prodding him to pay close attention. The Overlord pointed to a nearby piece of cover, presumably so that the Minions are well within a safe distance away from the chain of events about to follow. Almost instinctively, the imps scurried to the building as they watched.

The Overlord looked at the two rulers of Equestria one last time before tightening his grip around his two weapons. He took one loud step forward.

*THUMP*

“Stay back, foul beast. Or We shall be forced to attack.” Luna warned.

*THUMP*

The Overlord took another footstep, raising his steel sword up as he did.

“Stop, now!” Celestia commanded.

*THUMP*

Princess Celestia and Luna charged their horns to fire. They knew no meager spell would stop something of his size. So they decided that a mixed attack of both the night and the day would quell the demon. Sparks and clicks filled the air, only to be muffled to a low churn from the Overlord’s footsteps.

*THUMP*

“Faster sister!”

“I’m trying!” Luna replied.

*THUMP*

“Hurry!” Celestia was feeling something she had barely felt before. She felt fear.

*THUMP*

One more step and he would be within arm length of the two rulers. He raised his club in order to club both of them in one fell swoop. He felt heat begin to build up from the two Alicorns. He felt some kind of reluctance of charging head on, but quickly swallowed that feeling and turned his focus on the two raging balls of fire. Wait a minute, that isn’t right..

No, indeed it was. The two sisters used one of the most powerful spells known to ponykind. Only few have mastered the spell itself and it took many years for the sisters to accomplish. But they had done it. They had never used the spell before but they had read of its effects on living beings. They sighed in relief as the flame fueled on. They had stopped the evil. But Celestia knew that this was too easy. There was no way that something that menacing could go down so easily. And her assumption was made correct when something swung out of the flame entity and knocked Luna to the other side of town. Out of the flames, the Overlord stepped out dramatically.

He laughed evilly as he cracked his neck, trying to relieve himself of the pains that had been dwelling in his bones for some time. The sounds of the bones moving gave him a sense of relaxation as he looked back at Princess Celestia. She stared at him, mouth agape, as he moved forward once more. Subconsciously, she used a powerful levitation spell as she knocked the Overlord’s weapons out of his hands and away from him. She heard some scolding in the background.

“You shouldn’t have done that! You’re gonna get it now!” Ten added.

And pause for dramatic music...

She tensed up from what the Minion said. Celestia looked back to the Overlord as he shook his head in disappointment. He took his hands into each other and began to fold them. Cracks and pops filled Celestia’s ears as he freed his packed joints. He brought his hands to his sides, and then began to slowly bring them up as if he were holding two heavy vases in each palm. His hands shook as he brought them closer to the sky.

The air seemed to get thinner as Celestia hesitantly backed away from the Overlord. The sky also seemed to be affected by the Dark Being as it began to turn a blood red. She could feel that something disastrous was about to happen. The air started to get hotter also. Small little embers began to surround the Conqueror as his hands almost reached its peak level. The air shifted with his force. And within moments, the entire area around the Overlord was set ablaze. Nearby buildings, stalls, and structures were almost instantly turned to ash or wreckage from his power.

Celestia did something she rarely had done. She cried. If he was truly planning on taking the world, then he might actually do it soon. She flew as fast as she possibly could, trying to recover her sister and leave with the remaining evacuees. She craned her head back one last time as she saw the Overlord surrounded by flame and ash. His red eyes met hers as she flew. Equestria was doomed.

Lyra ran outside to find any who could help her. After teleporting a very reluctant Bon-Bon out of Ponyville, she had very little power left in store. As she wandered the streets, she noticed that entire portions of the town were gone. She smelled burning wood all around her. From behind her, came some snickering.

“Another workhorse!”

Lyra was quickly unable to move as cold steel wrapped around her coat. She turned to see little unknown creatures surrounding her, smiling with sharp bared teeth. With some effort, she shot out two magical burst which knocked back a couple of the monsters. They took care of that quickly as they took a chain around her horn, rendering her magic useless. They pushed her to the ground, causing her to lose her sight for a split second.

Scrambling to her hooves, she looked up. All around the sea-green unicorn were flames and ash. She smelled the smoky fumes fill the air as the sounds of the once thriving town was nonexistent. It was as if any form of life had never existed in this place. To her side, she could spot the remnants of some of her friends’ homes. She could spot the door of Ditzy’s house, the bottom half of Berry Punch’s home, and a few others.

To her right, she saw others. Carrot Top, Berry Punch, Caramel, Diamond Tiara, and Cheerilee were all shackled up like prisoners. Lyra’ attention was quickly captured as two thumps were heard from her front. Hesitantly, she looked up and followed a path of cold and dark steel armor. Finally, she came to the occupier of the protection. Two red eyes were looking right down at her. The Princesses, the Elements, and Lyra herself was unable to stop the Overlord in any regard.

“Celestia help me.”

New Allies and Enemies Have Arrived, Your Evilness

“Okay, here’s the assignments you ten. Ten shall guard the Overlord himself. One and Two, you shall oversee the retrieval of materials for building the new castle at the ruins. Three and Four, you shall head west in search of villages or nations that will serve as resources for the Great One. Five and Six, you shall go east and do the same. Seven and Eight, you shall go south of here and follow the other two groups. Each of you will take a thousand soldiers each, giving each group a total of two thousand soldiers. Be careful, be swift, and be ruthless. We must establish a proper sense of order here, you know.”

Some time ago, Gnarl had given all of the Minions specific tasks to be done. One and Two were to help with the construction of the castle. As for Three through Eight, they had been instructed with the exploration of the surrounding land, the raiding of villages, and the forming of alliances in their respective directions. So far, nothing has been heard of from them. One can only wonder if they have been successful in their orders.

“So we’re in agreement, then?”

“Yes, yes! As long as we get the gems and the white pony, we will serve your master.” A Diamond Dog answered.

“Do you think they’d be useful, Four?”

“Maybe. They have weapons and armor, Three, so they might be good for raids. Tell them to have their forces meet the Big Guy back at base.” Four commanded.

“You there,” Three pointed to one of the three Diamond Dog leaders at their underground outpost. “Make sure you have enough. Once we start the attack, we need to have full strength. Don’t betray us.”

“Like we said, we want jewels and the pony. That’s it.”

“Fine then. Start to get to the Boss quick. We’re heading west.” Three concluded.

The entire vanguard of Diamond Dogs there whimpered at the sound of their intended direction.

“Did you say west?” A Diamond Dog asked.

“What of it?” Four asked.

“Hehe, be careful there. That’s Griffin territory.” The dog warned.

“Thanks for the tip, mutt. But I doubt some birds can stop us.” Four replied. The experienced Brown turned to his invasion force. “Minions, we head west towards Griffin Kingdom!”

All of the Minions there shouted, kicked, and screamed. There were some hostilities between the Diamond Dogs and the Minions when they first met. After a few dozen dogs and Minions were killed, they came to realize that the onslaught would continue. So they decided to see if they could have a mutual alliance. And so, the Diamond Dogs were now a part of the Overlord’s expeditionary force as long as they had their precious gems and Rarity. A good amount of Minions had been lost prior to the encounter with the canines.

At first heading due west, the forces of Three and Four ran into Dragonridge Mountains, a place where many dragons would stay and rest. One of the most flourishing times for the range was when it was the Great Dragon Migration. Thankfully, there were but a few dragons, but they were still very formidable. They’re scorching fire blasts had incinerated many of the imps who were not Reds. In all, at least a good five hundred were lost killing the dragons.

Somehow, more dragons started to arrive, thus proving the Minions’ attempts at emerging victorious futile. The two leaders retreated, following the opposite mountain range which led them to the Diamond Dog encampment. Four swore that the next time that the Overlord was with them, the dragons would be made slaves.

Three and Four could see a large city in the distance. Most likely Canterlot from what the Diamond Dog scouts had told them. Since the place was the largest city of the ponies, the imps decided that postponing an attack was the best plan. So the army stuck to the shadows, traveling passed the castle and trekking through the forest. Eventually, the forest started to thin out as the temperature began to drop. Snow was starting to become the common sight instead of grass.

Not long after arriving into the wintery kingdom, the Minions spotted large groups of griffins. They had arrived in Griffin territory. Four turned to his co-leader Three.

“Attack or talk?” Four questioned.

“......I don’t know...we always attack..we should try talking for once.” Three thought.

“Well, it’s settled then.” Four turned to his remaining force of just a few more than a thousand.

“Brothers, ATTACK!”

Five began to sweat as skulked along the half-desert half-savanna floor. He shook his head in an attempt to fling it all off.

“When do you think we’ll find any of them?” Five inquired.

“Be patient. We only got off the boat from Hoofington a short time ago.” Six reminded.

“We still could’ve stayed for an extra brew. Or at least we could have taken some of that delicious sweet cold milk. What was it called again? Ice cream?”

“Stop whining. I think all of it was gone after the REDS,” Six turned his attention to a large group of Reds behind him. He gave them all a chastising glare. “Burned the whole place to the ground before we could even tell them anything.”

A Red gave Six the middle finger.

“Can’t blame ‘em. One of those horses looked at me funny.” Five defended.

“Whatever. At least we were able to take their boats. And I can’t believe it was that easy. Almost no one tried to stop us. Oh, and the little piece of information that one griffin gave us was good. Now that we know these ‘zebras’ are good fighters, we have more things for use in an army.” Six explained.

The place that they had arrived in was heavily contradictory to the cool air of Equestria. In Equestria, it was mild to temperate climates. The weather wasn’t too one-sided and the travel was fairly quick. For such a large land, travel was fairly easy. In fact, one could travel from one part of the Pony land to the other in a fair amount of time.

Five and Six had experienced little to no resistance in their travel east. They only kinds of species that they had encountered in abundance were small little orbs with wings called Parasprites, to which many Greens ate, and as usual, ponies. Five and Six had hoped for a fight. They hoped that the others had better luck in terms of finding mighty foes.

The sun at this new land was beaming down on the Minions as they hastily moved. Half of the force was left with the task of guarding the ships while the others went in search of allies. Six had managed to keep his cool while Five was whining like a whelp.

“Would you shut up already?” Six remarked.

“But it’s really hot! Really really hot! I bet those damn Reds are enjoying this.”

The two veterans stopped when they heard commotion ahead of them. Instinctively, they prepared themselves for a fight. A large group of tribal beings stood a good distance away. Further back, the imps saw huts, campfires, and giant voodoo masks. One of the forms in the middle moved forward to greet Five and Six.

“Stop! Who are you creatures of metal, grey? What brings you to our fair lands of Zebrican, today?” A zebra with a staff gave them a questioning look.

Six and Five turned to each other, giving the other an evil grin.

Five turned to the zebra. “Submit or Die.”

Seven and Eight had been through a lot in their lives. They had been with the Overlord since the very start, before he even met Rose. They had helped him conquer many of his enemies, Goldo, Oberon, Sir William, and even their Old Master. But never, had they feasted quite like this.

After Gnarl had given them their orders, and after they had traveled south for a good while, they stumbled into a giant desert inhabited by ponies and bulls. As for the ponies, they put up some fight with futile physical confrontation and some meager ranged weapons that had always corresponded with apple pie. This proved futile as their beloved town of Appaloosa was taken by the Minions. After leaving a detachment force to watch the town as they went to deal with the other natives.

The bison were extremely strong. They were almost on par with Rollie, Melvin Underbelly the giant fat blimp hobbit king, and unicorns.These brown furred creatures had managed to trample hundreds of Minions to their deaths. After some wise assessment and thinking, Seven and Eight developed a new method of fighting these creatures. The fast and agile Greens would distract them as the accurate archer Reds fired from a safe distance.

It wasn’t long before most of the bison were burned and singed alive. After flaying their fur, the Minions ate for what seemed like an eternity. The only thing missing was a good brew. They had managed to keep a small group of bison alive though. These remaining survivors were made prisoners. Only two had revealed their names; Chief Thunderhoof and Little Strongheart.

After stationing more soldiers at Appaloosa, Seven and Eight decided to continue on south. There were more species to be dealt with. It was a long journey, in fact, it was the most grueling out of all of the other exploring groups. They had managed to reach their final destinations rather quickly while Seven and Eight had yet to finally meet an ally. The climates changed so quickly it was hard for the imps to comprehend.

They had traveled from a hot desert to an arid mountain range. Beyond the mountains were giant chasms that seemed to reach the planet’s core itself. It took them days to finally navigate through the black holes. Again, more desert followed and Minions started to fall from the heat. Luckily, many of them were brought back by the reviving Blues but there were still some who were lost completely.

The group managed to stumble into a city and ransack it for supplies. This city seemed to be inhabited by dogs that could speak and ponies alike. The city itself was called Quebark City. It was troublesome to take the metropolitan city over, as the dogs of the place were not willing to give up their homes. But eventually, good leadership caused the Minions to gain a foothold in the place.

From here, Eight decided that he would head a medium force to take the city while Seven would press onward. That way, when Seven came back there would be supplies waiting for him. The two leaders parted ways temporarily was Seven continued south. It was then that the Minions faced their hardest challenge. They had travelled into the Boarean Tundra. There was little to no food and warmth was almost nonexistent.

Many of the occupants there also didn’t take a liking to an invasion force on their territory. Polar bears and seals fought the Minions day and night, which was hard to distinguish from the lack of a sun. After managing to slip passed the persecution, Seven and a force of six hundred imps crossed the ice bridge that connected it to a dreary and dark place. They knew that if there was an ally to be found anywhere, this was the place.

The place was littered with fiery volcanoes, ash, and darkness. The sun was nowhere to be seen and the place itself was just evil. Finally, the Minions had found somewhere that they would be able to call sanctuary. There were hundreds of large towering hives that surrounded the land. Deciding to find some type of leadership, Seven led the others to the largest and centermost hive. They could hear buzzing and the flapping of wings enclosing on their position.

They hesitantly entered a large chamber that was dimly lit, albeit it was decorated in things fit for a queen. Seven didn’t feel safe exactly, as he felt hundreds or even thousands of eyes boring into the back of his head.

“Who dares enter my domain?” A female voice called.

“Seven, wench. I come bearing tidings from the Master.” He replied.

“Wench?! You dare call me a petty name?! Who is this master of yours?”

“Why, the Overlord, of course. Seeing as how you live in a place unlike my Leader’s, might you be interested in joining him?”

“Join him in what exactly?” The female asked.

Seven grinned in a mischievous manner. “We’re taking over the ponies. We’re taking Equestria.”

“Really? I’ve tried with my people once but we were....defeated by their magic. What makes you so sure that you’ll succeed?”

Seven laughed maniacally at the thought of those peace-loving workhorses beating the Dark One. “The Overlord is the most powerful being there is. He is Evil.”

The shadowed figure that sat atop the throne high up was silent. “Hmm...and what stops me from just trying to fight your ‘Overlord’, huh? If I was able to best their Princess by using their love, how will taking your leader’s love and using it against him be any different?”

All of the other Minions followed Seven as he led a chorus of laughter and mockery.

“Love?! The Master has no love! He has no soul. Now answer, will you help or die, and what is your name?” Seven ordered, now fed up with the tedious questions.

“If it means causing the fall of Equestria, I’ll help.” The shadow flew forward, revealing a crooked horn, black skin, and two menacing green eyes. She smiled at Seven who returned the gesture.

“Consider Queen Chrysalis your ally.”

What Is Going On Around Us, Dark Lord

“This is hard work!”

“Stop whining, you barely even did anything.”

“That’s not true, Two! I....lifted a stone or two..” One answered.

“You sat back and watched me work. You’re lucky we’re getting this done fast.”

One and Two had been tasked with the building of the new domain for the Overlord. It was tedious to say the least. Building a new tower was extremely difficult and timely. A large factor into this was the number of laborers one had. If the supply of workers was few, then it would take a long while to have any kind of task completed. If the supply was in abundance, which in this case it was, then completion would be swift. With more than an average number of Minions, the foundation was quickly repaired and the construction of walls were almost finished.

The same sounds of stone upon stone, metal upon metal, and Minions making complaints, were the only noises heard. It was quiet in a way, peaceful even. The new castle would require something though, a Tower Heart. They would have to make one, a new one. It would be something of a spectacle though. Constructing a new Tower Heart was no easy task. It requires a large source of power, a huge sacrifice, and thousands of alchemical ingredients.

For now, the idea of a Tower Heart, was unlikely and impossible. So far, there were no large sources of power......or were there?

One and Two wiped the sweat off their forehead and began working again. Because they were the leaders, they were involved in less work but still did some to keep the morale up. They began hammering away at the loose rock in order to smooth everything out. Although they were evil, an organized and neat keep was demanded. Before long, the Overlord’s new home would be complete.

Whilst they were working, a set of footsteps began to approach them.

“So, I see that you two are working hard.” Gnarl complimented.

One and Two turned to grin at their advisor.

“Yes, wise one. We might even have time to start a Tower Heart. Although...” One trailed off.

“We don’t exactly have a source of power for the core.” Two continued.

Gnarl laughed as he eased their worry. “Oh don’t worry about that. I’m sure the Master will have something just for that. I’m sure of it..”

“So, the preparations are all finished, my subject?”

“Yes, my queen. The horde is ready at your bidding.” The Changeling answered.

“Good, good. So,” Queen Chrysalis turned to the Minion leader. “Where is this leader of yours?”

Seven scratched his chin for a bit before speaking. “I think it was called...Ponyville?”

Queen Chrysalis grinned madly. “Excellent. Revenge is going to be mine.” She started to chuckle. “We go to Ponyville, tonight!”

Seven and his Minions followed Queen Chrysalis as she led them to a large balcony. “How are we going to get back, exactly? As you can see, we can’t fly.” Seven asked.

Queen Chrysalis threw her hooves out, motioning for them to look. They moved forward, leaning over the balcony and saw hundreds of Changelings flying about, fighting each other or just waiting. She began to address her children.

“Listen, my children! The time has come that we take revenge on Equestria. It is this time, that we will take over all of ponykind. We have new beings from the North that will aide us. Tonight, we go to Ponyville!”

Hundreds of shrieks, cheers, and other bug-like noises followed as the leader of the Changelings finished her speech. Queen Chrysalis turned back to the imps. “We’ll carry your people back. I want to be there when Princess Celestia falls.”

Seven gave an evil smile, ear to ear. “Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.”

The Overlord stood in the middle of the remnants of Ponyville. The place that was once a bright, cheery town, was now a dark shell of its past. Buildings were still littered with kindled flames, houses were broken and burnt, and its occupants were dead, captured, or left to escape without anything left of their lives. The ponies before him were cowering as he glanced at them. The Overlord looked to Ten and pointed him back towards the Everfree Forest.

“Ah, you want us to take them back or work? Right away, Master. Nine, stay here and keep others. The rest of you, come with me!”

Ten took half of the skirmish force with him. The chained up ponies, Lyra and the others, followed suit. Nine looked up to his Lord and kicked at the ground. “What do you wish of us to do?”

The Overlord scanned his surroundings, considering his next options. He could follow those who have escaped, or he could take the resources of this town and wait for his entire force to be mobilized. Being the wise human that he was, which was hard to recognize under his Evil disposition, he went with the second option. The Overlord brought his hand and pointed to every building that was still left standing, and seemed unscathed.

“Take.”

As always, his voice had an immediate effect. The Minions began to search the houses, stores, and stalls of Ponyville and gathered any kinds of materials that could be used. It was from here, that they would find furniture, linen, and many other furbishing items that be used for the interior of the Overlord’s new home. Most of the things were not noteworthy, save for a few carpets and such. The most successful prospect was from a white fancy building that read “Carousel Boutique”. This building yielded the finest things found in the town’s entirety.

Finally, after tearing apart Ponyville for anything useful, the Minions left to go back to their camp. Nine walked up to the Overlord and looked at him expectantly. The Overlord look back at his appointed leader and motioned for him to leave the Destroyer of Dwarves alone. Nine reluctantly complied and skulked back to the Everfree. The Overlord now stood alone in the dark place. It certainly wasn’t the way he wished for things to happen, but there was nothing to change that now. He wanted to keep the town for economic reasons but seeing as how the leaders of their kind reacted, this place was of little importance to him.

Some buildings collapsed behind him as he looked at the sky. He took a deep breathe before he heard a distinct buzzing sound. As he listened closer, it went along with more of a flapping. He turned his attention to the noise to be met with two green eyes.

“Well, hello.”

Nine walked but a medium distance from the others. As he moved along, he felt like someone was watching him. He spun in all directions, trying to find the unseen follower.

“Who’s there?! I know you’re here!” He took his small curved axe in hand as he tried to find a set of eyes.

This forest was much like the Evernight Forest in the way that it was tricky, dark, and deceitful. Many a Minion were killed from the treacherous body of green when they would wander off all by their lonesome. It was basically a form of suicide to travel by oneself in that place. It seemed to Nine, that this place was exactly that. He heard some twigs snapping to his right as he turned. And there, shadowed by the leaves of the trees, was a light blue aura flowing through the air.

He thought it to be just some insect but he was proved wrong when it spoke.

“What are you creature? The Great and Powerful Trixie demands you to answer!”

Princess Celestia and Luna were tiredly trotting with their subjects from Ponyville. Never, had they ever been exerted this much. After what happened, Princess Celestia rushed to her sister’s side and together, they made way for the Elements of Harmony.

“I don’t understand, Lulu. Our power surely should have done something. And....why were we so tired after flying and using magic? That never happens.” Princess Celestia was scared, and confused.

“We do not know either, sister. We have been through many encounters and not once have we been....drained..like that before.” Princess Luna replied.

The two Alicorns were at the head of the pack, leading them back to Canterlot for a safe haven. The Elements of Harmony were lagging back just a bit. They were tired from this whole ordeal as well. The celestial royalty looked to each other for comfort.

“It feels as if something is working against us.”

“Yes, it appears so.” Luna replied.

They heard hoofsteps moving towards them.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle. Pray tell, what do you know of that...thing..?”

Twilight, with her horn absent, looked to the ground. “I don’t know, Princess. It’s...I..I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of horrible thing that is. I can barely think at all. It’s just...this horn...well, lack of a horn, hurts. Can you fix it?” Twilight asked with two big, pleading eyes.

“But of course!” Princess Luna stopped and closed her eyes. She began to focus with all of her power on Twilight’s head. She could feel the magic beginning to take its toll as she shut her eyes even harder. When she opened her eyes, there was a half horn in place of the previous stump. “Sister, can you help Us?”

Princess Celestia nodded as she closed her eyes and followed suit. After using her magic, Twilight’s horn was anew. But both regal Alicorns were exhausted from the minor magic.

“What is this? This can’t be right. The spell should have worked with just one of us, not both. And why are we so worn out?” Princess Celestia wondered.

“I’m sorry, Princesses. I could’ve waited..” Twilight picked at the dirt floor with her hooves.

“Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle. It was our pleasure to help thou. But We ask that you help us find the meaning of this...fatigue.” Luna assured.

Twilight solemnly nodded her head and began to move backwards, going towards her friends. Fluttershy was scared, but had not seen the things that the others had. She was lucky in a sense, as she did not have to witness the evil the Overlord had. So far, she only caught sights of others being affected, the destruction of Ponyville, and other atrocities. But not once, had she seen the Minions of the six-foot tall gargantuan.

“So....is he that bad...if you don’t mind me asking..” The timid yellow Pegasus asked.

“Ya saw what he did to out home, Fluttershy. That thing ain’t any darn good. Him and his varmints destroyed our homes. Wait a sec...my apples! My Apples! He’s gonna take ‘em!” Applejack began to panic.

“It’s too late now, sweetie. There’s no point in trying to go back.” Rarity warned with a caring look.

“Ah know it ain’t safe...but sugarcube, those monsters are roamin’ about free to do as they please. Ah don’t like the thought of that.”

“Listen, AJ, relax. I wanna take them on as much as the next pony but the Princesses asked us to stay with them. I’m not gonna go and not do what they asked, get me?” Rainbow Dash added.

“Yeah...but..”

“But nothing, missy! That big old meanie is gonna eat you up in a big tasty stew! In fact, I think he could eat all of us in one bite!” Pinkie Pie chirped. This situation was much like another one. except that this time it was serious.

“I don’t think he would ea-” Fluttershy was stopped.

“Fluttershy!” Everypony else screamed.

Twilight moved up to the awestruck cream Pegasus. “I know you mean well, Fluttershy. But they aren’t like any of the wild animals that you’ve met. They’re way worse than anything you’ve seen.” Twilight informed gently. “Just stop worrying about them. They probably don’t care about us, either.”

Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. “I just can’t believe that some small little creatures could do this much harm.”

“Remember the ParaSprites?”

“Oh...”

Discord laid on his back lazily as he floated through the air. He took a piece of a cotton candy cloud and threw it into his mouth and began to chew. “Hm...this is pretty fun, eh Star Swirl?” Discord turned to the cloud on his right. “Well, it’s not like you have anything to say, anyway. This is the best game that I’ve ever seen!” Discord waved his paw and claw in the air madly.

“I mean I've not only helped the ponies, but I helped the big evil guy too! I have to admit, even I’m crazy. So,” Discord turned his view back to the land below him. “I helped the Elements meet their precious Princesses, and I help that guy there with the Princesses by weakening them. I am the best referee you’ll find in all of Equestria.” He bragged.

He turned from his back to his stomach as he kicked his legs about. “Huh..I don’t even know who’s going to win now. I could help the ponies....but that wouldn’t be fun. Also, I could help the...Overlord was it? So many choices, so little time. And I haven’t even thought about the other races! Zebras, Minotaurs, Diamond Dogs, Changelings, Dragons, there are just so many to choose from!” Discord brought his hands to his face and laughed.

“Oh well. I guess I can mix things up a bit. Let’s see what happens if I turn the Overlord’s most loyal subjects into enemies..” Discord looked to the construction site at the Princesses’ old castle. He teleported a telescope out of nowhere and zoomed into a somewhat hunched over old Minion. “He’ll do nicely.”

A Glimpse Into the Past

Author's Note: I know you're all getting antsy over an action filled chapter already, but I want to give more insight into the story. With how the game was made, the Overlord's past self was left entirely up to our imagination. So, from using every single movie, game, and book I've read, I have made an awesome backstory for our mischievous ruler. After this chapter or the next, I promise to go back to the ol' pillaging/ruling routine.

The Overlord had been to many places in his life, many adventures. And during said quests, he would run into foreign creatures and races. He had encountered Elves, Dwarves, Assassins, Elemental Bugs, Giant Sand Worms, Unicorns, the list is long in its entirety. But anyhow, he had been accustomed to meeting strange things in his wake. He would usually meet them with a hint of surprise or astonishment, but mostly a dark and hazy kind of look. But never in his life had he met anything so.......repulsive yet enticing.

A creature that was almost as big as he was flying just a small distance away. She, from what he could tell, was female. Also, she had a peculiar looking crown that adorned her cranium. It was the same color as her coat(?), a hue of jet black, and had multiple greenish blue beads. Her body itself was jet black, along with a light green chest piece that she wore, which looked like it could be used for a saddle of some sorts. Her hooves were hole-y. Some holes that showed right through were near the lower end. It was fascinating to say the least. It looked like something made the holes, like an arrow or something, yet it didn’t seem to burden her with any pain.

Apparently, it was a part of her body, like she was born that way. Her tail was no different as her mane, being an aqua blue along with holes in it. To the Overlord, she seemed like a living piece of blue cheese. Her wings, now he was unsure of what to think of those. They were...bug-like in comparison to any of the other pairs of wings he had seen so far. They were frail, see through, and were making the distinct buzzing sound that a bee would make as it flew around, pollinating flowers. Her teeth, by Evil, were sharp. They were very much unlike that of the ponies, in that they looked like for use of chewing meat. Her eyes were widely different in contrast to her other parts. Her pupils were green and large, just like the ponies. They were expressive, fear-inducing, yet...welcoming, for Evil that is. From what he saw inside of her eyes, he could tell she was...concerned, cautious, and even a bit scared.

If the Overlord was like any other man, he would probably take a bit of precaution or fear with dealing with such a thing. But seeing as how fear had become irrational for an evil being, he felt the need to move closer to it. If there was one thing that he had come to learn, it was that imposing fear on others was the best course of action in all scenarios. Being a peaceful, loving tyrant wasn’t what an Overlord was about. No, an Overlord was meant to dominate, pillage, and destroy. They weren’t meant to pick flowers and go frolicking in the fields. There was the one time however.....

A strong willed warrior stood in the midst of seven others. He was silent, but gentle. At first glance, some would think him to be a menace, a mercenary. His tall and fierce disposition caused many to think him evil. That was the contrary, as he was the Eighth Hero, the most noble of all. He wasn’t like Sir William, who was groomed and polished. But he wasn’t brought up like Jewel either. No, the Eighth Hero was something that none of the others could comprehend. He was Justice, itself.

He stood for country, for freedom. He wanted all to be safe and not under the tyranny of the Overlord. He was a mystery to the others. While they had been traveling to find the others, he simply showed up and heard them speaking of rooting out the Evil. Due to his good nature, he volunteered to go along with them. They reluctantly allowed him to aid them but were still weary of his presence, mostly due to his sudden enticement. So, he, along with the other Seven Heroes, stood in the farm fields outside of Spree. They were all conversing, deciding what course of action to take.

“I say we take him head on. He’ll never see it coming.” Sir William suggested.

“That’s foolish, young one. We must take the necessary precautions.” The Wizard advised.

“We must kill them.” Kahn added.

“I say we split up into groups.”

Everyone there turned to the speaker.

“What?”

“What you just said, it’s brilliant!” The Wizard praised. “I didn’t think you to be such a strategist, Jewel.”

“Well...you learn a few things after gathering treasures from everywhere. Speaking of which, what say we share the earnings from this quest with the people? We certainly don’t need it.”

“I second that motion. The people of Spree and my people as well have been living meagerly these past years. The wealth would certainly help to feed the poor.” Melvin said, folding his arms across his chest and nodding.

“Right then,” Sir William reached into his backpack and drew out a map. “So we take this road to the next fork, then we curve left. The Tower should be just that way.” The blonde knight began to follow the etchings on the newly drawn map.

“What makes you so sure that he won’t expect us?” Oberon Greenhaze inquired, arching his eyebrows to a questioning glance.

“Relax, laddie, you Elven folk worry too much. I have yet to see anything outsmart me.” Goldo Golderson taunted.

“That’s because you flatten them before they have the chance to raise their sword.” Jewel commented in a patronizing manner.

“She is right. You don’t have that contraption here, all you have is an axe.” Kahn supported curtly.

“Enough with the arguing, young ones! This is just what he wants us to do. Evil feeds on this infighting, this chaos. So please, put these petty squabbles aside so we can focus on the greater task at hand. After this, you can yell at each other from the top of the mountains for all I worry.” The Wizard spoke condescendingly.

Jewel and Goldo glared at the Wizard, looking as if they were to say something. Just as they opened their mouths to speak, Sir William interrupted.

“He’s right, you two. All of you. We have to rid the land of this pestilence. We go for the Dark Tower.”

“But what about our new friend here?” Oberon asked, discreetly pointing at the stranger who had offered his help not long ago.

“Hey, friend.” Sir William began. “Are you with us on this?”

The Eighth Hero was on his posterior, gazing up at the warm sun. Said celestial body seemed to radiate all of its heat on his as his armor shined in every aspect. The life of the field, butterflies and squirrels, flocked to him like he were their mother. He spoke no words, but just hazed in awe at the natural beauty of the world.

“Pal, you listening?” Melvin began to step towards the silent man. The distance between them grew less and less as the halfling’s bare feet moved across the grass. He came to an abrupt halt when a large shadow was cast over him.

The Eighth Hero stood to his whopping six foot tall height. His armor clicked with his movement. He continued staring at the sky. Sir William moved to him, about to nudge him for his answer. But the Eighth Hero turned around and put his steel gauntlet on Sir William’s shoulder. The large shadow he casted, along with the intensity of the sun, blocked Sir William’s view of the Eighth Hero’s face.

“I am with you.”

The Overlord groaned quietly as a part of his head began to flare up. He had just faded into a memory of a past life and quickly returned. He wasn’t sure what to think of the recall as his headache overtook any other thought. It felt like someone was hammering his head with a mace. The pain was head-splitting. If Chrysalis had been able, she would’ve saw that his eyes changed from its fierce red to a gentle blue for a split second. He endured the pain as he addressed the being before him. She still flew there, giving him a very bone-chilling grin. Her sharp teeth still curved in his direction.

The Overlord continued to stare at her, wishing her to speak first. She took in his full form as he watched her eyes travel from his feet up to his head. After scanning a few more times, she seemed to nod gently and whispered “Interesting” to herself.

She gave him a questioning glance, most likely confused as to his silent appearance. Seeing as how she wouldn’t receive an answer, she sighed audibly and spoke to him.

“Well, your soldiers were right. You certainly like to maintain a dark and silent presence, don’t you? So quiet and mysterious. Yet so....evil.” She smiled at him in a way that would make others' stomachs churn. “I love it.”

Unfaltering, the Overlord continued to follow her movements as she flew, pacing back and forth. “I am Queen Chrysalis, Ruler of the Changelings. But you can call me...Chrysalis. So, you are the Overlord, I presume?”

The Overlord nodded.

“I see that you really like to be mute. Fine. However,” She flew to his face suddenly. She breathed in his face, her large green eyes looking into his red beady ones. “I demand you speak with me. You can be as vague as you want, but with me, we are equals. If we are to ally with each other, then we must treat each other as such.”

Still, he had no answer.

“You wish to defy my request?......Good. Although I wish you were more...cooperative, it is nice to see that someone has a backbone around here.” She turned her back towards him. “But you will learn to be mine.” She whispered. She heard a loud step behind her, causing her to spin around quickly.

The Overlord had moved closer, mainly because he heard her snide remark. “I suppose you wonder why I ally myself with you? Well, your subjects seemed to take a good liking to you, as well as a reassurance that you were nothing but pure Evil. And every King needs a Queen, does he not?” Chrysalis shot a seductive grin and look his direction. Usually, ponies would fall prey to her charm, but it seemed that he remained unscathed.

“Hmm...what is this? It seems I can’t work my charms on you. This shall be interesting to say the least. Now, shall we proceed to your domain? Seven insisted that we retire back there to discuss plans.” Chrysalis pointed towards the Everfree with her left hoof.

The Overlord began to move towards the Everfree Forest, back to his new home. Queen Chrysalis followed, flying awfully close to the Dark Knight. She talked to him in an affectionate tone, trying to soothe and persuade him. His mind, however, began to drift off once again.

They were approaching the desolate waste that surrounded the Dark Tower. All of the other Heroes had grown still as the clouds above greyed, lighting up with the occasional flash of thunder and lightning. As they looked to the clouds above the Tower, however, they saw that the billowy forms turned red and black. In fact, the whole sky around it was red and black. Everyone gulped audibly save for Kahn, the Wizard, and the Eighth Hero.

“Fret not, children. Our bravery will keep us safe from their plight.” The Wizard tried to calm the others.

“They will die under my sword.” Kahn spoke.

The others looked to the Eighth Hero who had equipped his helmet a short time before. It obscured any vision from others seeing his face. It was actually a subject of interest actually. When they had first met the stranger, he had his face hidden behind his helmet. In fact, he almost always wore his helmet. His face was the matter of bets and gambling as to whether he was ugly, beautiful, or plain.

Very rarely would he allow others to see him. He wasn’t ashamed, he just felt the need to hide himself away from the world. He wasn’t disfigured or ugly. He was actually considered fair in his hometown. Well, what was left of it. He never revealed his intention as to why he wanted to fight the Overlord. Many of the others actually wanted to know. Sir William, more than anyone, tried to bond with the Eighth Hero. Out of all of the others, they were the closest friends. Though they didn’t know each other for long, it felt easy for the blonde knight to express his concerns and troubles to his silent confidant.

The Eighth Hero was like that for the group. He would listen to their troubles, concerns, problems, and just absorb it. He had become a friend to them though he barely spoke. To be truthful, he was someone who spoke on many occasions. But everything changed when the Overlord attacked.

The Eighth Hero’s home, his village, was raided without warning. It was a peaceful farming town that was never touched by outside forces for centuries. It received little to no visitors and mainly functioned from its own stores of crops. The Hero had headed off that day. He was just over the age of eighteen, finally being a man. His father, once a knight but now a family man, had tasked him with the hunting of a nearby wolf pack.

This was the Hero’s chance to prove himself worthy. As a child, he had always wanted to be a knight, just as his father had been. So he went off to the mountains to kill the ravenous creatures with his father’s old sword. Not long after his departure, visitors arrived. By the time the Hero came back with the pack leader on his shoulder, he was too late. He dropped the wolf to the ground as he ran to his home. On his way, he saw all of his friends, acquaintances, and family slaughtered in the streets. They were cut, burned, ripped apart, clubbed, and almost everything in between. The homes were all burning, and some were destroyed. It was as if a large storm had passed through and killed everything. That is, until the Hero spotted it.

A Red was alone, setting fire to nearby thatch roofs. Being the last survivor of the town, the Hero slew the creature. With its dying breath, it laughed at him and told him that the Overlord would make short work of him. And since that day, the day that the Hero lost his home and parents, he had vowed to cleanse the land of Evil.

“For Justice.”

The Eighth Hero charged at the Dark Tower, his allies in tow as they prepared to engage the awaiting Minions just further ahead.

The Overlord snapped back to reality once again. He blinked multiple times to focus his vision. Yet again, his eyes changed to a blue for a second as he regained his evil composure. Queen Chrysalis had grown silent for some time now. She flew some steps behind him, staring intently at his head.

I see. So he does have love, just deeply concealed. Oh, and what is this thing? Is this his loved one? Queen Chrysalis had used a spell to locate any form of love in the Overlord. Surely, such an enormous and overwhelming being had some kind of heart, right? So she wanted to use his love as a source of sustenance. If she could find out his love, she could take that form and he would love her forever. And the Overlord was not a bad choice either. It wasn’t your everyday convenience that something big, fierce, magic, strong, and able to defeat Celestia and Luna with an huge army came knocking on her hive.

Deep within his mind, Chrysalis felt chills. She could tell that he was once something like the ponies, something akin to them. But that had long died out and been replaced with a darker soul. But she could find love, in a sense. It was a hairless ape, most likely what the Overlord looked like himself should he take off his armor. It appeared to be..female. And she had a dress, a red mane, and a necklace that resembled a rose. If this was what the Overlord loved, then Chrysalis would take this form.

Using her horn, she clenched her eyes tightly, imagining the image of the female in the Overlord’s mind. Her body was surrounded by a white flash as she stepped forward clumsily. She would need to get used to walking on her back hooves. She spoke out to the distant Lord.

“Darling.”

The Overlord stopped dead in his tracks. It couldn’t be..but he heard her voice and no one else had it. He turned slowly to meet the sound when he loosened his grip on his mace upon seeing someone very familiar. It was Rose. Instinctively, he moved closer to her and felt along her cheek, looking into her eyes. They were the same shade of green that he remembered, and her red hair was as lush as it was upon their first meeting. She smelled just like her namesake, roses.

“I’ve missed you so much, Milord. This spell...I found it in the study! It allows me to see you for a certain amount of time. I can’t believe I’m seeing you again.” Rose’s cheeks flushed as she opened her arms wide, moving closer to her lover.

The Overlord closed the distance as Rose’s arms wrapped around his back. He didn’t feel emotions of happy or joy, but he felt relief to see that she was okay.

“This day is going to be perfect,” Rose began singing. The Overlord just kept still. His mind was relaxed, slowly going back to that place..that life. “The kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small...”

“Good work, men. We’re alm- Jewel, watch out!” Sir William charged towards Jewel.

“What?” Jewel turned to see the Overlord behind her, swinging down with his claymore. She stepped out of the way just in time as the sword cut through the air and smashed the tiled ground. Shards of ceramic flew upwards as she moved back for the others to move in.

“He’s still not dead? I put me axe in his side!” Goldo complained as he moved forward with his Elven counterpart.

“Perhaps if you waited until my magical arrows were fully charged, this might’ve been over some time ago.” Oberon reminded.

“Uhh, a little help guys?” Melvin asked as he was climbing on the Overlord’s back and hitting his head with a metal pole.

“Bad choice. Should’ve brought sword, halfling.” Kahn spoke blankly as he moved to aid his friend.

“Just hold him off for a few more seconds. The spell is almost complete.” The Wizard was reading out of an old tome, speaking in a forgotten tongue that was once very powerful.

“We don’t have time! How are you holding up?” Sir William asked the Eighth Hero.

Since they charged, they were put through many waves of Minions, conjured monsters, and pets to get to the top of the Tower. They were tired, sweaty, and injured. None of them could go out and say that this was easy as many of them had at least five cuts and ten bruises. The Eighth Hero had led them into battle, and had cleared out many of the dungeons. Now, he was holding off the impending wave of Minion bodyguards as the others would try to quell the Monster once and for all.

The Eighth Hero kicked a Brown in the face as he turned to his Paladin ally. He nodded and turned back to meet a newly emerged group of Reds.

“Can we hurry this up, Wizard? Our friend back there can’t wait any longer.” Sir William pleaded.

“Just a few more..He-” The Wizard was stopped as Melvin came crashing into the old man.

“Sorry.” Melvin apologized.

“No matter. Where’s the bo- Oh dear.” The Wizard gulped loudly as he saw the book that he was reading out of teetering on the edge of the balcony.

“I have to restart the spell.” He grimaced.

“Restart?! We have no time left!” Sir William turned to his allies as he saw Kahn and Jewel being cornered by the Overlord. Goldo and Oberon were tossed into the wall. Behind them were two visible trails of blood and shatters in the stone. “We lost. This is over..” Sir William looked to the ground.

Kahn and Jewel tried to fight the Overlord but it proved useless as he hit them both with one fell swoop of his mace. They were knocked back towards a corner of a room where Minions began to converge on their position. Feeling extremely cocky and boisterous, he moved to the balcony and picked up the book.

“You fools think you could’ve defeated me?! How thoughtless. Insolent children! This is my domain. And you, Wizard, you thought to stop me?! How noble. But realize, that none of you can stop me. None of you.” His scanned the room and saw the ill-willed Seven Heroes. “Wait...Seven?! Where is-”

The Overlord’s question was answered as the Eighth Hero came into sight. It was too late for him to react though, as the Hero had already made contact with the Malevolent Being and they both began to fall to their deaths.

“NOOOO!” Sir William shouted and ran to the balcony. Below, he saw the two small specks, their bodies, lifeless and still. “It wasn’t supposed to end like this..” He felt a hand wrap around his shoulder. He turned to see the Wizard, along with the others stumbling over to their position.

The Overlord heaved softly as he came back to reality. The memories...why were they flooding him? His eyes did it again. They turned blue for a second, almost as if a part of him was trying to come out, to change him. But he closed his eyes when his Mistress soothed him with her gentle voice.

“Shhh...it’s alright, darling. I’m here.....I’m here.” She smiled evilly as her green eyes lit up and turned even lighter. “I love you.”

Something changed between the Heroes. Something was off...

“Is he dead?! Surely no one could survive that fall!” Sir William reasoned.

“We must help him! He fought beside us. There may still be a chance!” Oberon added.

“No! We gotta go, take what we can and get outta here!” Kahn ordered.

“He’s right...” Sir William began reluctantly. “We’ve vanquished the Evil. He has earned his rest. Leave him..”

Rallying All of Ponykind

Author's Note: I'M NOT DEAD. YET. Sorry for the really late chapter! Oh, and my pre-reader is asleep, so any mistakes are his fault! MWUHAHA! I have had a serious case of Writer's Block, overall laziness, need to criticize those bad stories that you see on the front page, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent-itis. That's right. It was mostly due to the Writer's Block and me buying Amnesia, though. And let me tell you, they really meant it when they said you shouldn't play at night, in a dark room, with max volumed-headphones. *Shiver* But I finished! So the schedule is back to normal now, hopefully. A new 2k-4k chapter every 2-4 days. If I don't keep this planned return, shoot me in the head with my own potato launcher, please.

“We hath arrived!” Princess Luna exclaimed a cheerfully as she possibly could, which suffice to say, was not much.

It was a tiring and time-consuming march from Ponyville to Canterlot. Considering it took half a day’s time, and they had gone sometime in the early afternoon, one would think they’d have arrived in the late evening or night. But this was not the case. No, this estimation was made in cases of ponies not being forced out of their homes, made bedraggled, and emotionally hurt.

Seeing as how they were made all of the above, the trip was delayed considerably. But at least Prince Luna and Celestia’s worst case scenarios had not come true. For the worst, the Overlord could have given chase, and taken many more of the royalty’s citizens. But no chase was given, only refuge. The trip was hindered by outside forces, however.

The ponies of Ponyville had not packed much food, only things like family treasures, photo albums, and other mementos. Clothes, money, and food were left behind. So basically, there was no food. The only pony to have brought any food were the Cakes, and even they had not brought enough to feed everypony. It was chaotic, to say the least. First and foremost, the Princesses were fed. After that, the Elements and the Cakes themselves. But passed those two groups, the rest of the feeding was a frenzy. Ponies jumped, kicked, and screamed at each other to eat something.

Princess Celestia and Luna had to move on. There were no rest stops, villages, or cities in between the two places. They were in somewhat close proximity, so it was expected to go fed, bathed, and ready. Also, the day had not helped any further. The almost scorching hot sun distracted and irritated many of the refugees, considering they were not only starving, but ragged.

Not only were these the things that disturbed them, but there were also the dangers of roadside bandits, thieves , and woodland creatures. Many were fearful of sudden attacks on the caravan, along with the thoughts of the Minions coming to get them. But after reassuring their subjects many times, the Princesses finally got the trail moving along again. And thus, it took them until the dead of night, the witching hour, to get to Canterlot.

As per usual, the streets of the place were empty. Mainly due to the late hour at which they had arrived. The ponies were tired, grumbling, and ill. The light lamp posts were still lit, and few guards were patrolling their daily rounds. But as soon as they group had arrived, the guards stirred and rushed to their majesties’ side.

“Princess Celestia!” A tired and unkempt Shining Armor adressed. “And Princess Luna, as well. What happened?!”

The two sisters looked at each other, conversing telepathically on how to explain the current situation. After some persuasion, Princess Celestia sighed and gave in to her younger sister. “Fine, Lulu,” She turned to her Captain. “Well, the most important thing is that the guards settle these Ponyvillians to new homes. All of Ponyville is no longer inhabitable.”

Shining Armor nodded, and waved to a few sub-lieutenants to move over. “You, you, and you. Organize these civilians and get them to proper sleeping quarters. There’s plenty of room in the left wing of the castle.”

“Yes, sir!” They all answered. The three stoic, blue eyes, white coated, Pegasus stallions moved to their subordinates, ordering said soldiers to escort the disenchanted peoples.

The Princesses let out a collective sigh of relief, then they started to trot back to their rooms. Shining Armor stopped them abruptly with an extended hoof. “Hold on, Princesses. I know that it’s rude to stop you, but what happened to Ponyville.” He looked to both regal ponies for an answer.

Luna pawed around at the ground, looking at her sister expectantly. “What, why don’t you talk?” Celestia asked.

Luna just tilted her head in a cocky manner, almost saying “You owe me for that one time.”

Giving in to her sibling yet again, Princess Celestia began to recount the events of the day. She told him of how Ponyville was attacked, raided, and destroyed by a species that they had yet to see. She spoke of the ferocity of said beasts, and the sudden exertion they had experienced during the ensuing fight. It was as if something was weighing them down, as if somepony was working against them.

And then, Princess Celestia paused for a moment. The white Alicorn felt that burning sensation she had received when staring in the Overlord’s face. There were no words to describe it. Sure enough, the lower creatures that served the tall, bipedal Evildoer had visible faces, which bore definitive expressions. So the Princess knew that these things were somewhat similar to ponies, in that they could speak, show emotion, and perform specific functions by will, not instinct. But the Overlord was something else.

There was nothing definitive about him, nothing that showed expression. There were only those two, red, beady, piercing eyes. They glowed with an ungodly radiance, and the rest of his face was a pure black, as if he was shadow or death, itself. And that voice...it was eerie to say the least. Discord paled in comparison to the Overlord.

Discord stood for something, he stood for chaos. He wanted nothing but disharmony, but at least he was very objectionable. He hadn’t taken his acts to an extreme. Sure, he had changed the Element bearers from friends to foes, but it wasn’t in an extreme way. They merely fought with each other, and played tricks. But killing was never Discord’s intention. He leveled plains, alternated time, and defied physics, but never had he thought to slaughter their race. So in that, he was somewhat good intentioned.

The Overlord was entirely different. He wanted to conquer the land, to rule it. He was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his goal. Now, mind you, after he would become a ruler, he would be a lenient and noble leader. But that was his only wish, to be the leader of the realm in which he lived. He had been a fair ruler back on his own land. He had been sure to give the peasants of Spree their due protection and watch, and he was fair with his taxation, which was suffice to say, low.

The Overlord didn’t care about money, just having adventures, defeating all in his path, and having the occasional boast was good enough for him. Gnarl, on the other hand, loved money. Well, money and Evil to be more specific. He had a coda, a belief of sorts. Gnarl thought that those with the most power and Evil, should deserve to live in high standards, right? Red velvet rugs, giants feasts, and royal luxuries should be deserved by his Master. But a little money on the side for upgrades and the advisor imp himself wasn’t so bad, was it?

“Evil.”

Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard, Prince husband of Princess Cadence, and older brother of Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, guffawed. “I’m sorry, what?” He asked after wiping some tears out of his eyes.

“Exactly what I said, Captain.” Princess Celestia replied, a stern look on her face.

“I apologize for the outburst, but evil? Evil hasn’t exactly been anywhere. I guess you could say that Queen Chrysalis was bad, but not evil. She had a pretty good reason from her perspective, to invade Canterlot. Although I still watch out to this day, she was only trying to save her starving and dying race. I’d do the same thing if I were in her hooves. But anyway, what exactly are you talking about?” Shining Armor inquired after explaining his take on the Changelings.

Princess Celestia turned her back towards the two older ponies, looking up at the moon-lit sky. “Have you ever seen a pony killed?”

“Well...no,” He reluctantly replied. “Except for wild animals, like Manticores, Hydras, and other things.”

“But have you seen or heard of it in any other case?”

“No.”

“Right. In the other lands, killing isn’t as badly looked upon. But here, death comes from accidents, age, and nature. But never, have I seen a colt burned alive..let alone killed.” Princess Celestia answered solemnly.

“That’s-”

“I’ve ruled for thousands of years, seeing precious friends and acquaintances pass in their sleep. All the while, Luna and I stay as how you see before you. It was hard at first, but we’ve learned to be mutual to it. But this is something else, Captain. This is war.”

Luna’s jaws dropped to the ground, while Shining Armor had grown stiff and fell on his side. He shakily got to his hooves as he looked at his sworn ruler. “W-war?!”

“I don’t see it any other way. This..Overlord, as they called him, had no compassion in his eyes, he had no mercy. All I could see was hate and a deep void of black. He, without thought, smacked Luna aside, who still has that pain, correct?”

Luna grumbled in response, rubbing her side to which still bruised.

“Tell me, would you have this any other way? I doubt negotiation is reasonable. His subjects expressed their wish to slay and enslave our kind. I wish there was another way, I so do. But there isn’t any. We must protect Equestria.”

“How are we going to do that?” Shining Armor was still trying to get around the fact that they were going to battle and kill others, but wanted to know her method.

“The Elements. For some reason, we were weakened during that first contact. I feel nothing now, except some exhaustion from the day. Are you alright, Luna?”

“Yes, We are harmed on the side, but tis nothing to be worried about.”

“That’s good to hear. But during the fight,” She explained. “There was something almost draining or restraining our power. We could’ve had him done there, perhaps even banished or teleported back to his home, but something was stopping is. But this time, we will combine our powers with that of the Elements of Harmony, and will save our world.”

Shining Armor sat down on his haunches, and began to think all of the viable methods to proceed. After some long, silent minutes, he nodded his head and spoke again. “What do you need me to do?”

“Protect Canterlot, and take in any displaced ponies. That is all.”

“But-” Shining Armor’s plea was interrupted by the sounds of frantic hooves, wings, and the like.

“Captain! Princess!” Three messenger guardsponies came. One was flying, visibly shaken and tired from a long flight. Another was ragged from galloping his entire route. And the third, a unicorn, was sitting down urgently, untouched like his fellow brothers. His teleportation spell hadn’t taken as much from him as the other two’s means had.

“One at a time, please.” Celestia asked.

The Pegasus guard moved up first. “Princess,” He began. “Reports have been filed all over the east side of Equestria. Zebrican is under siege from an army of small, ravenous monsters! The entire west coast of Zebrican has been taken! The delegates request aid from everyone else in the Alliance.”

“No...”

The earth pony messenger moved up next. “My Princess,” He bowed in respect. “I’ve received word that the Diamond Dog Tribes are moving near Ponyville. The dragons have been sent into a rampage, destroying nearby settlements, and taking all of the gems they find. But there is some good news! The Griffin Kingdoms are finally cooperating with us! They were attacked, but were able to hold off the attackers. I received word that they are sending a detachment to deliver the attackers’ leaders.”

“The Diamond Dogs and the dragons? This is not good. But you said they are helping us now? That is good. We need to find out all that we can. What do yo-”

The calm guard finally began speaking erratically. “They took it! Quebark City has fallen! The dogs are slain, and our embassy there is destroyed. I’m the only one alive....”

“How could this get any worse?” Luna asked.

The guard turned to Luna. “They have the Changelings on their side.”

Shining Armor looked at everypony present. Clearing his throat, he rectified the situation. “Well, we’re fuc-”

After the gathering, the guards, including Shining Armor, went home. The Princesses retired to their rooms. For once in a long time, Luna asked to sleep in her sister’s room with her. They laid next to each other, stroking each other’s mane.

“What is going to happen, sister?” Luna asked, her blue eyes glittering in the dark.

“I don’t know, Lulu. So much has happened. But I won’t let them hurt you again.” Celestia smiled lovingly at her younger sibling.

The Princess of the night began to tear up. “I was so scared. When he hit me, I thought..” She was stopped as she was pushed into Celestia’s coat.

“Shhh...it’s okay. We got out of it, didn’t we? Just like how mom and dad promised that they’d always watch over us, I promised that I’d watch over you.” She said as she stroked Luna’s back gently.

“I miss them.” Luna said.

“Me too.”

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Princess Cadence asked.

“What I said, I’m going.” Shining Armor replied as he began to put on his Royal Guard suit.

“It’s late at night, and you barely had any sleep! Come to bed.” Cadence waved over.

“I have to do this. I already sent word to the others to meet me.” He answered as he bit on a latch, pulling a strip that tightened his belt.

“Where are you going again?”

“A meeting with the fellow captains. Take care of Twily while I’m gone, okay?”

“She needs you, Shining. Twilight just got back from that whole thing. Come on, should’t you be here, with your family, than being outside with a bunch of sweaty old colts?” Cadence reasoned.

“But she just flopped onto the bed as soon as she got here. Just,” He stopped for a second. “Just watch her. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Cadence sighed, showing her disdain for his sense of loyalty, “Fine. But don’t think I’m going to have cookies for you for breakfast!” She waved a hoof at him, clearly upset.

“I’lll have to mope later. Bye!” Shining Armor said as he moved outside. When he was far enough, he whistled and two distinct shuffling of hooves came. “Are they ready?”

“They’re on the move now, sir. So far, Manehattan, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia are sending their best guards on their way to the meeting point. But why the Crossroads, sir? Isn’t it an open spot?” The lieutenant asked.

“Well, yeah. But nopony is crazy enough to just attack the head guards of cities. So tell me, how many stallions and mares could we get so far from the Guard?”

The other lieutenant butted in. “So far, we have at least twenty stallions and mares, all decorated veterans, and fifty recruits.”

“Those aren’t the numbers that I thought we’d get.” Shining Armor grimaced.

“Well, sir, we can’t exactly be picky. Besides, most of the guards were redirected to escort duty, remember?”

“Oh right, the refugees. Fine, but I hope that the other cities bring more than we do. Or else this might be hopeless.” Shining Armor accepted.

“Sir, why are we going again? I thought the Princesses were going to handle this.”

“Because our job description is the protection of them, lieutenant. And I don’t think they were going to bring us if we waited.” The Captain explained.

“Makes sense.” The two lieutenants said.

“Well, we should get a move on. Let’s end this.”

Convincing Evil to Betray Itself

“Hm....yes, everything is going according to plan.” Gnarl spoke to no one in particular.

As said earlier, the castle was moving along nicely. The flooring was practically finished now. Gnarl just needed to-

Money, land, and all that you desire. Come to the forest for all that you seek.

Gnarl looked around. “Who said that?”

“What is it, boss?” One asked as he picked up a stone.

“Did you or Two say something?” Gnarl asked.

“Nuh-uh.” Two answered.

“Weird...” Gnarl hesitantly turned around, continuing his inspection.

It was getting quiet, seeing as how the time had passed rather quickly with the construction of the Overlord’s new home. Speaking of, where was he? The advisor imp decided it was about high time he check on the munitions. He walked over to the place in which any weapons were being forged from a mediocre anvil and hammer station.

“What do you want, Gnarl? I sword perhaps?” Giblet laughed as he jested at the old imp.

“Very funny, Giblet. Now, how are the weapons coming along?”

“To be honest...not good. There isn’t a Forge here, so I can’t make anything out of Arcanium or Durium. And to be honest, there isn’t any steel for the Master, either. It’s been nothing but whatever I could melt down that was useless.” The loyal blacksmith answered.

“I’ll be sure to get the Minions on that on the next raid. Anything else?”

“Well, now that you mention it...I am getting hungry!”

“Feed yourself!” Gnarl said as he walked away.

“Fine!” Giblet answered.

“Filthy blacksmith. Alright then, weapons aren’t being made. What else...that’s right, the meals for the Overlord. How could I forget?” Gnarl berated himself as he moved towards the makeshift kitchen. More over, it was a pot roast with a spinning stick above it. And so far, there was just the stick.

It was hard starting over. It took hundreds or even thousands of years for the imps to set up the Dark Tower. Scores of Overlords made sure of that. Yet, the small little undermined creatures were able to do it after endless sacrifices, work, sweat, and stone. And Gnarl was there to see it all. He was the oldest, after all. Sometimes, he questioned his mortality. Was he able to die? Was he immortal? Or was he just given a longer life span among all others? Well, that and the fact that most Minions died before having a double-didgeted birthday. And Giblet was the second oldest anyhow.

Since he was getting older, one would have to go with the latter. His train of thought was interrupted as he felt two sets of hands on his shoulders.

“Hey boss, you feeling good?” Two asked with some concern, more over with kiss-assery.

“Yeah, you’ve been acting pretty weird.” One agreed.

“Just been thinking, that’s all. Have you seen the Master, by the way?”

“Nope.”

“No sir.”

Gnarl sighed. “Bugger, I haven’t seen him since that raid. Think he’s just taking his time?”

“Yep.”

“No doubt about it.”

“That’s reassuring.” Gnarl said sarcastically. “Any word from the others?”

“Negatory.”

“Actually,” One began. “I heard that-”

“Quick! Monsters!” A random imp ran up, stopping One’s small snippet of information. He was clearly out of breath, sweat beaming down his forehead.

One, Two, and Gnarl all looked at each other, sharing a look of confusion. One and Two ran with haste, the old advisor going as fast as he could. There was one thing that bugged Gnarl about his old bones, he could no longer see the battlefield himself, only gazing from the Tower afar. Oh, he missed the days of old, where he would follow his masters with ease, slaying any who dared to stand in the preceding Overlord’s way. But those were just fond memories now.

As Gnarl reached the hill that the others had run off to, his jaw dropped immeasurably. “What is that?”

“More enemies?” One suggested.

“Food?” Two guessed.

Gnarl and One looked at Two, belittlement showing on their faces. “What, I’m pretty hungry.” Two said with a shrug.

There were two things before them right now. One, there was a considerable gathering of dog-like things with spears, armor, and gems. And two, there were flying bug things that resembled the ponies in a extremely small way. Deciding to take charge, Gnarl moved forward to address them.

“Who are all of you?”

One of the former creatures moved up, scratching a spot behind its ears and howling. “Is this the Overlord’s base?”

“Yes....” Gnarl responded.

The Diamond Dog dropped on one knee, bowing its head in respect. “We are Diamond Dogs from up north. Your lieutenants, Three and Four, told us that in return for joining you, we would get gems. And a certain white pony...”

“Did they now? Well, is this your entire army?”

“No, more tribes rally from father north. Will have more tribes here, more than five hundred.”

“My my, that’s a whole lot of mutts. Tell you what, we’ll give you your gems and your....white pony?”

“Yes, the pony’s name is Rarity. She has three diamonds as her Cutie Mark. Very good at finding jewels.”

“Three gems....” Gnarl started to think back, remembering that he had seen it before. “That’s right, she was here just before!”

The Diamond Dog almost whooped. “What? She was?!”

“Yes, but I’m afraid she’s gone back or something. But I can tell you this, we’ll find her for you.” Gnarl promised.

“Good, then you have help from the Diamond Dogs.”

“Splendid. We’re building a new castle, as you can see behind me. Help out anyway you can. Once the fort is finished, we can arrange for proper sleeping quarters.”

“It’s not a problem, we can dig tunnels around and under castle! We can protect it!”

These reinforcements were proving more and more reliable every minute. “Get started right away!”

The Diamond Dog leader then whistled, motioning for his kind to follow him to the castle. One of the other race flew up to Gnarl.

“And who might you be?” Gnarl inquired.

“A Changeling. And this is the Overlord’s land, I presume?”

“Yes, I am guessing one of the lieutenants called for you as well?”

“The Queen is out somewhere talking to your Master. But yes, Seven told us all about your kind’s plan. We are here to serve, but the Queen will give you our terms.”

“That’s fine. Go and do what you please, be it help or set up a home.”

The Changeling hissed for the others as they went and started to gather random things. Some of the Changelings began to construct a new hive.

“Interesting...” Gnarl said to himself.

“They look creepy.” Two commented.

“Be careful around who you say that to.” One advised.

“It’s not like it’s a bad thing!” Two replied.

Gnarl left the two lieutenants to finish up the rest of his checking.

To the forest. I’m still waiting. Go now, or else.

Again, where was that voice? Gnarl was not even near anyone now, as he was in an empty patch of land. The closest Minion, Changeling, or Diamond Dog to talk to him would be minutes away. Just who was it? Against his better judgement, Gnarl moved towards the forest. It was dense and the treetops shadowed the lands in darkness. It would be hard to spot others in here.

“You’ve made it.” A familiar voiced laughed, clapping in applaud for Gnarl.

“Who’s there? Show yourself?”

“We get to talk alone, finally. So tell me, as the Big Guy’s right hand imp, you ever get tired of doing things for him, not you? I mean, who likes being the second in command? Throw some Chaos out there!”

“You again.” Gnarl said with venom, displeased with the appearance of the thing called ‘Discord’.

“Yes, me again. Discord, like I said earlier. So, what’s the answer? You never told me.”

“I’ve served the Overlords for hundreds of years now, that isn’t going to change.”

“Oh, but why? It’s soooooo boring!” Discord whined. He snapped his claws together, causing a couch and ice cream to come out of nowhere. He sat down as he ate.

“Our race is called Minions for the sole fact that we serve Evil! Not the other way around!” Gnarl was getting furious. If the Overlord were here, he would skin Discord alive. And Gnarl berated himself again for not bringing backup.

“But think of all of the things that you could achieve without that big dummy in the way. You could have it all, money, power, fame, mistresses. No longer would you have to watch from the side, from the shadows. No, you’d be in the spotlight! Just think of it!”

“I said no.” Gnarl moved forward. He raised his cane. Perhaps a beating would do something.

“You aren’t thinking of hurting me, are you?” Discord grinned in a cocky manner. “That isn’t going to gack!” Discord’s voice became strained as he tried to speak. Gnarl looked up to see that out of the darkness, came something much more Dark.

“Perfect timing, Milord. What are you going to do with him? Make him a trophy? Eat him? Oh, I always heard that hybrid creatures taste good!” Gnarl advised.

Discord’s head did a 180 as he turned to meet his captor. Two red eyes filled his vision as he smiled nervously. “Oh hey there.” He nervously stammered out.

“Die.”

We Got Him!

Moments before the encounter between Gnarl and Discord

Chrysalis, in Rose’s form, took joy in the fact that the Overlord was falling for her guise. Was his love for Rose the only emotion he bared? Or was hate just so great that it overshadowed his good-natured side? Chrysalis did take a liking to this though, she was being filled with so much sustenance, much more than that of Shining Armor back during the Canterlot Wedding. If she thought that the ponies’ love was a feast, than this was a buffet.

But Chrysalis couldn’t fool him for too long, else she’d drain all of his power, garnishing him weak and useless. He’d be no match for Celestia, Luna and the Elements of Harmony if he wasn’t at full capacity. So, with much reluctance, the Changeling Queen broke from the Overlord and ran away, waving him farewell. As soon as she was out of sight, she changed back to her normal self and escaped to the keep. He would be none the wiser...

The Overlord stood still. Rose had just suddenly let go, running into the treacherous greens. Was her time up? Or was she just fearful? He thought it best to follow, making sure to see her safe. She had run off somewhere, he was sure of that. The specific direction was lost to him, so he just wandered vicariously in the general area of which she had gone. He cut down some vines, broke down some branches, and gave a few menacing glares to some creatures that eyed him hungrily. If they had even attempted to make him a snack, he’d have them thrown down a canyon.

He was about to abandon his mission when he heard voices speaking, debating without ease.

“I’ve served the Overlords for hundreds of years now, that isn’t going to change.” Gnarl? What was he doing out here?

The Overlord moved up to a tree, glancing to the side and examined what was transpiring. Upon seeing that thing called Discord, the very being who openly said to the Overlord’s face that the Halfling Chastiser was a pawn, a part of a much larger game, the Overlord’s grip on his cover tightened ripped through half of the bark.

“Oh, but why? It’s soooooo boring!” Discord whined. He snapped his claws together, causing a couch and ice cream to come out of nowhere. He sat down as he ate.

That thing, that draconequus, still thought this was a game? Well, all games end. If Gnarl didn’t have any Minions nearby, then the Overlord would be the one to apprehend this prisoner.

“Our race is called Minions for the sole fact that we serve Evil! Not the other way around!” Gnarl was getting furious. And the Overlord understood why, after all, Gnarl was the most loyal Minion there was, speaking of course on the assumption that there was only one Overlord, not two.

“But think of all of the things that you could achieve without that big dummy in the way. You could have it all, money, power, fame, mistresses. No longer would you have to watch from the side, from the shadows. No, you’d be in the spotlight! Just think of it!”

“I said no.” Gnarl moved forward. He raised his cane. Perhaps a beating would do something. The Overlord laughed lowly. Seeing the old imp become spry all of a sudden would certainly be an amusing feat.

“You aren’t thinking of hurting me, are you?” Discord grinned in a cocky manner. “That isn’t going to gack!” Discord’s voice became strained as he tried to speak. Gnarl looked up to see that out of the darkness, came something much more Dark.

“Perfect timing, Milord. What are you going to do with him? Make him a trophy? Eat him? Oh, I always heard that hybrid creatures taste good!” Gnarl advised.

Discord’s head did a 180 as he turned to meet his captor. Two red eyes filled his vision as he smiled nervously. “Oh hey there.” He nervously stammered out.

“Die.”

“That’s all you have to say to me, Big Guy? Come on, we can be friends?” Discord’s mood changed considerably. “You and me,” Discord snapped his claws and vanished from the Overlord’s grip, now sitting on his shoulders. “We can change the world, baby. Just with the blink of an eye, err, red eye.” Discord corrected.

“Are you really that foolish? Master, the choice is up to you.” Gnarl reminded.

The Overlord knew one thing, and one thing only. Again, he hated games, and again, he hated being in one. Now, seeing as how the thing on his shoulders was not only making the Overlord partake in a game, but he flat out said it to his face, and he took away his perfect chance to make mincemeat of those ponies, there was only on reasonable thing to do.

The Overlord grabbed Discord’s leg, and pulled him down to the ground. After Discord realized what had happened, the Overlord punched him square in the mouth, rendering the god of chaos unconscious.

“Excellent choice, Milord. Knock him out so he can’t escape with that magic out his. So what are we going to do, eat him? Kill him?” the advisor suggested.

The Overlord shook his head in declination. He extended his free hand and showed it to Gnarl. A small blue orb floated just above his metal palm.

“Ooh, good one! With all of the magic that this Discord has, he’s bound to give you a good supply of mana! Good thinking, if I do say so myself. Do you think he’ll squeal like a pig?” Gnarl looked up at his leader as the Overlord slung the unconscious Discord over his shoulder.

The Overlord began to move forward, his trusted right hand imp behind him, when some nearby twigs and such began to snap under weight.

“Ughh, unhand me, foul monster!”

“Move it, pony! Now!”

Two figures moved out of the tree line besides the Overlord and Gnarl. It was Nine, along with a cerulean blue pony wearing a wizard’s hat.

“Master! Look what I’ve found, another workhorse!” Nine said as he pushed Trixie forward.

“Don’t touch Trixie’s coat, you disgusting thing!” Trixie complained. She turned her sights to Gnarl, thinking him to be the master of these strange beings. “You seem smart enough. Don’t you know true beauty when you see it? Don’t you know that you should serve me, the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

Gnarl looked around before concluding that Trixie was talking to him. “Me? Oh, silly girl, you have this all wrong. Now then, you do realize your insolence is going to cost you? What say you, O Great One?” Gnarl looked up.

Trixie followed his vision, examining the weird metal statue thing that stood aloof. Finding the attire tacky, Trixie spit on the meager cape that was flowing behind the statue’s back. “Begone with this stupid monument, it makes Trixie’s eyes want to shrink.”

“Oh ho ho,” Gnarl laughed, Nine following. “You do realize that you can now say goodbye to that horn of yours, right?”

“Excuse me?! The Great and Powerful Tri-” Trixie suddenly felt herself being hoisted up into the air. “What the?” She came to an all too horrifying conclusion. This towering statue, was not in fact a statue, but a living thing. And with it’s tall posture, it could definitely beat Trixie to a pulp. Now of course, it wasn’t as scary as an Ursa Minor, but still. “Let go?” It came out as more of a pleading, questioning tone, rather than an order.

Like with all of the other ponies, the Overlord red eyes just scared the living Tartarus out of Trixie. Had she been a filly, she might've let her bowels unleash themselves on that very spot. She wanted to get those two red beads out of her mind, but it was bored into her very existence.

Gnarl, Nine, and the Overlord all laughed evilly. Trixie had a blend of fear, and annoyance.

“So sire, do you wish to attack their capital, Canterlot, now? Or perhaps after the lieutenants come back?”

Trixie’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing the mention of Canterlot. “I can help you,” She whispered. Perhaps she had just saved her own coat.

“What?” Gnarl asked, one of his greying eyebrows raising up in response.

“I said I can help you. There’s a secret way in that only Trixie knows about.”

“And how would you know?”

“Trixie.....may have lived in the sewers beneath Canterlot, but she knows how to get in! And quietly too!”

“Perhaps she might be of some use to us, eh Master?”

The Overlord put her down, but not before bringing her close to his face and huffing a ball of steam at her. She smiled nervously in response. The Overlord, along with Gnarl, Trixie, and a guarding Nine went to the new castle.

“So, are we all here?”

“Yes sir, Shining Armor. The captains of Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Baltimare are waiting inside. I don’t know if any of the other cities are coming.”

“By Celestia, I hope they do.”

Shining Armor stepped inside of the command center in which the other leaders were waiting. He looked to each of their grizzled and scarred faces. Shining Armor was actually the youngest captain of any place in all of Equestria. All of the captains were almost in their mid-life stages.

They all bowed their heads, acknoledging his presence. One from the shadowed corner spoke up.

“The famous Shining Armor, I thought it was too good to be true. You just called us out of nowhere, you realize? So, is this threat as great as you said it was?”

“Yes, we have to stop them right away. Just a few miles from here are the remnants of Ponyville. It was the first place so far to get attacked. Anypony who didn’t make it with the Princesses were captured.......or killed.”

All of the others had a collective gasp.

“This can’t be!” A voice commented.

“That’s mad!” Another voice said.

“It’s true,” Shining Armor reassured. “The Princesses saw it, themselves. So colts, stallions, and the like, we have to attack now.”

“What’s the plan of attack?” An aging captain asked.

“It’s simple, we start by flanking....”

Some time later

“Then are the soldiers ready?” Shining Armor asked.

“The Fillydelphian Guard are enclosing on the right.” The captain of Fillydelphia informed.

“And Baltimare forces are on the left” The captain of Baltimare added.

“We’ve got the back,” The captain of Manehattan reminded. “”We’re really doing this, aren’t we?”

Shining Armor looked at his fellow leaders, and he nodded with much pride. A sure grin spread across his face. “For Equestria!”

Embracing Chaos, Big Guy?

“And so then he said to me, ‘All of my gold? What are you, crazy?’. So that’s when I took some Reds and we burnt his sheep. That farmer never saw it coming, I can tell you that.” Ten said as he took a big swig from the ale they had plundered from Ponyville.

“Haha! That’s a good one!” Two applauded.

“Let me tell you about the time I rode a pig through the Master’s mistress collection. So I was walking around, when all of a sudden a pig shows up and I just feel the need to ride that sucker. And so, I slapped it on the arse and it went wild throughout the entire castle. And just that moment, one of the women the Master took from Spree comes out with some pork. Word of advice to you dimwits, don’t let a pig eat pork. That thing just charged and ran over three girls without stopping!” Seven recalled the events of that day. “Oh boy, that was a good day. Evil at its finest. The Master wasn’t exactly pleased though. He made me kiss that swine’s snout and then sleep with it. Wasn’t the funnest when it farted twenty times in a row, either.

He sat at a table with One, Two, Seven, Eight, and Nine. It was the lieutenants table, if one were to judge from the looks of it. They sat in a giant hall that was clearly the dining room. Just behind them was a giant table with three chairs. At the left turn sat Queen Chrysalis, the leader of the Changelings. She was drinking some wine but was gazing at the person in the middle, almost enchantingly. On the far opposite end at the right sat Gnarl, munching away at some chicken legs. It was fitting for the old imp, seeing as how he was the Overlord’s right hand man.

And where was the Overlord? He sat dead in the middle, in a giant black ebony chair that spikes and such jutted out of the sides. A hearth fire burned behind him, making orange glows emanate around his person. Whether that was purposeful, to induce fear into the others from this increased feeling of menace, or just a pure coincidence, no one would ever know.

The Overlord ate nothing. In fact, none of the others had seen the Overlord eat at all. Not even the lieutenants had. And very much in correspondence to this was the fact that Gnarl had yet to witness this sight as well. Did he just never have the need to feed? No, that was not the case, he had eaten on plenty occasions in his own room. He did, however, have a giant flagon in his right hand as he brought it up to his mask and let it seep through the cloth that covered his face underneath his helmet.

When he finished, he slammed the empty container down on the hard wood, causing the noise to echo throughout the entirely occupied eating room. Everyone, Minions, Diamond Dogs, and Changelings alike all turned heads to meet the noise, only to return to their business upon seeing it was their new leader.

Gnarl whistled, prompting Ten to fall out of his chair and landing on his rear end. He stumbled for a few good moments before regaining his sense of direction and waving at a few guards near a door. They nodded and went inside.

It was amazing how quickly the castle was coming along. As promised, the Diamond Dogs built a tunnel system for their underground home. And the Changelings had created a temporary hive. A moat was still in the making, but most of the walls were up and as one could see, the dining room was finished. The other places finished were the barracks, the living quarters of the higher leaders, the dungeon, and the Overlord’s private quarters, of course. It had yet to have towers constructed, but the effort was still overwhelming.

The lighting was pretty dark, though. There weren’t too many windows or openings in the walls as the Dark Tower had. Most of the light came from torches and fireplaces, and those were far and in between. Chandeliers were still in the making, so everyone had to make do with the flickering heat source.

The two guards reappeared, this time dragging chains along with them. Slowly and one by one, the slaves showed themselves as the entire room went wild with cheers, jeers, and the smacking of lips. Now, to anypony else, a regular pony of Equestria would release their bowels right there and then, perhaps even produce some liquified manure. But these ponies had been through much already.

Cut, whip, chaff, and other marks adorned their coats as they unwillingly trotted out of the dungeon. At the head, was none other than the Great and Powerful Trixie. She was not harmed in any sense, save for a tufted neck area from the grip of the Overlord. And, apart from the others, she was not wearing a muzzle. So she was good in that sense, right?

Ten took command of the prisoners as he led them to the Overlord’s table. With a kick and shout, Ten ordered the ponies to bow down. Cheerilee took an angry, exhausted, and somewhat fearful Diamond Tiara into her hold. Caramel along with Berry Punch and Carrot Top complied, bowing down without a peep. They had seen just what these evildoers were capable of.

But Lyra stood her ground. She had been dealt with bad guys before, after all, she and Bon-Bon got some catcalls from some shady colts in Ponyville. And a good share of them were the high and mighty type. She furrowed her brows in an attempt to intimidate the Overlord. Ten took notice of this and was about to hit her when he heard a chair scrape from behind him.

The Overlord stood up and looked into her very soul. Bravery was an admirable quality in his opinion. A good servant needed to be willing to do anything, including death, for his master. Now, the Minions were by all means fearless, save for the reluctance of fighting unicorns back in their world, but this ultimately stemmed from their nature and stupidity. His hands rose to his sides and he clapped.

This resulted in a big ‘what’ from every single body in the room, including Gnarl and Chrysalis. It wasn’t a grandeur clap, just a single subtle one. After he applauded her ballsy attitude, he went up to her and grabbed a nearby apple served in the mouth of a roasted pig, giving her the decorative fruit. She reluctantly took it as she backed away from him.

Gnarl sighed and understood his demeanor.

“It makes you look weak when you do that, Master.” He whispered.

“Why did he do that?” Chrysalis asked from the other side of the table.

“Her attitude, he doesn’t see much bravery in many. She stood her ground, despite knowing what he could do. The other time with that Rainbow one, that was just a pure dumb charge. This one, however, could’ve been roasted. And he’s commending that where it’s due.”

“Pretty chivalrous.” Chrysalis commented.

“Miss, you have no idea how wrong you are. This is the same Overlord who gave villagers back their much needed food, only to end up taking half of said village’s young women for servants.” Gnarl informed her of his past.

“What is this mockery?” A voice blurted out from the side. All eyes were on Trixie as she looked at the Overlord with indignity. “I can help you, monster, and I am so more deserving than this trash heap. Now then, if I tell you even more secrets, will you let me eat in peace?”

“What do you know?” Gnarl piped up from his far side.

“I know about the Elements of Harmony, and I know what they can do to you.” Trixie said as she pointed her hoof at the Overlord.

“I forgot about those...” Chrysalis remarked.

“And what are they?” Ten asked, raising a knife up to the mare’s neck.

“They are,” Trixie felt the dull end of the blade coming up her abdomen, then passed her neck. “Magic that nopony truly understands. Not even Trixie, herself, understands them. But they are powerful, even powerful enough to defeat Discord.”

The Overlord brought up his arm and the collective calming hum followed. Ten looked over and understood his order. “Fine,” He accepted as he sheathed his knife and walked back to his table.

Gnarl took the initiative and said, “Feed them.” Some Minions came over and tossed them some vegetables, allowing them to finally eat ever since their entanglement and capture in their hometown. Trixie was given looser chains, but was still treated as a slave nonetheless. But the Overlord remembered something because of Trixie’s words. Discord.

He took this moment to go to the special chamber in which the Minions had been deviously working at; the Magical Attuner. Like the wells or sacrificial structures that the Overlord used to heal himself or regain mana immediately by sacrificing Minions, this place was made just for those cases. This was, in fact, the first room that the Minions were tasked with building besides the castle itself.

The Overlord walked down the dimly lit hallway, which was also being brightened with moonlight, and looked for the giant metal door that led to the mystical room. It took some moments before a giant steel entrance stood in his way, a giant skull Minion emblazoned on its center. He pushed it open as it cranked and creaked with each passing inch. When it finally came to a stop, the Overlord stood inside of the dark room. Normally, guards would have been posted there but this night was a special occasion.

In the very middle was a giant well with a blue and red substance contorting in it. Just above that was Discord, unconscious and bound by two sets of ropes on a pot roast type handle. The Overlord walked up the granite steps, moving closer to the god of chaos. As he reached the top, the draconequus began to stir, slowly waking up.

The Overlord was within arm length, staring intently at his most prized prisoner, the one who had thought of this entire thing as a game.

“W....what’s going on...?” Discord asked as his eyes started to blink lazily in order to wake himself up. He tried to move but found that he was constricted. He also tried to use his magic but nothing worked. It didn’t take long for him to understand his situation, somepony had cast an anti-magic barrier on his location. He looked up and laughed upon seeing the Big Guy, himself.

The Overlord was glad he had Chrysalis and her best subjects cast that spell on Discord. That way, the abomination could not escape and was left within Evil’s clutches.

“So, pal, what brings you here to my humble abode?”

The Overlord just remained silent in response.

“Still not the talker, eh?” Discord retorted.

The Overlord stepped closer, his hand going for Discord’s head.

“What do you think you’re doing? You’re not planning on killing me are you?”

The Overlord’s hand firmly held its grip on the prisoner’s head. The cold steel gave the god of chaos a few shivers. He looked up to be met with two almost mocking red eyes.

“Whatever you think you’re doing, just qui-”

A small wave began to form between Discord and the Overlord’s hand. Discord felt himself being drained of something, he wasn’t sure what. But he was tiring with every passing moment. The Overlord himself was laughing with the deep and menacing voice of his.

“Stop!” Discord shouted.

More energy left the pony mocker’s body as it travelled up to his temple and into the Overlord’s hand. Discord looked upon his attacker, gasping at the sight. The Overlord’s body was starting to emit a red glow. It was as if he were sucking all of the magic out of him. Discord struggled but the pain and exertion were being multiplied exponentially.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Four shadowed groups moved across the valley and into the entrance of the somewhat mediocrely built fort in the middle of nowhere. So far, their stealth and invisibility spells were working. They had managed to pass a large group of Changelings, some bumbling Diamond Dog guards, and a ravenous horde of weird creatures that Celestia and Luna detailed greatly back in Canterlot. So far, everything was okay.

Now that they were in the safe zone, they undid their energy-consuming magic and took a few breathers.

“Okay we-” Shining Armor was cut short by a shout from behind them.

“Intruders!!!!” A voice called out.

“Okay, charge ponies. No holding back, use all your powers and find anypony who’s been taken captive! You ten,” Shining Armor called out to a group of stallion guards. “Follow me. Everpony else, stay in groups.”

The four groups of city guards all moved in different directions. It wasn’t long before they were met with the fortress’s defenders, all of whom were either unarmored laborers or Diamond Dogs. The sounds of battle filled the hallway and the kills started to pile up. Shining Armor and his group of soldiers all moved along a single hallway, using magical flames, bucking, or flight to defeat and kill any in their way. Dozens of Minions laid on the ground, their skulls broken apart or their bodies singed beyond recognition.

Finally, they reached the end and pushed open a set of wooden doors. And what was before them caused them to almost want to retreat. There were dozens of Elite Changeling, Diamond Dog, and Minion guards, all eating as Queen Chrysalis and Gnarl sat at the end. Queen Chrysalis waved and smiled at Shining Armor, out of arrogance of course.

Gnarl finally jumped onto his table and shouted, “Lieutenants, Dogs, Changelings, the first one to bring me all of their heads gets a triple portioned meal!”

Now, it didn’t take even a second for them to charge madly at the group of ponies. Everyone in that dining room was evil, and very much so, were almost always hungry. So, without hesitation, Ten and the rest of the other Elite imps charged, swords, maces, shields, and hammers at the ready. The Diamond Dogs charged straight on with their tongues hanging out of their mouth. But Chrysalis’ people stayed, strategically planning for an opportunity to strike.

Shining Armor’s usual feel of bravado started to wither away but he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He turned and was met with courageous smiled from the other Captains. They had blood on them, some from their own wounds but the rest came from their vanquished foes. Behind them, their soldiers stood, most in fit form while a few unfortunate others were barely hanging on.

“We lost a few good guards on the way here, but we made it.” One of the Captains barked.

“I’m not sure we can handle this.” Shining Armor examined the room.

“We’ll handle this. Go and find their leader.”

Shining Armor was about to stop them when all of the others charged, leaving the Captain of Canterlot and his chosen stallions alone in the back. The clash that came between the meeting of the four races ended up in an uproar of bloodshed. Ponies, Diamond Dogs, and Changelings alike all died off one by one. The Minions, however, were still living. And why them? Because they had been through Hell and back and none of this mindless drivel would kill them, but that didn’t mean they were invincible. A normal buck that would kill any other imp only damaged them, mainly because of the strong extra reinforced armor that Gnarl had gifted them when they all returned without their Master from the burning realm.

These lieutenants happily killed the guards, all working as a team. And they cackled evilly all the while. Shining Armor and his group charged for Queen Chrysalis, but stopped upon seeing prisoners being chained up. Putting his duty first, the Captain of Canterlot whistled to a group Pegasi and ordered them to evacuate the civilians.

“Thank you!” An orange maned mare said.

“It’s my duty, miss. Just go, take everypony else and go!”

The Pegasi nodded and carried off all of the civilians, including a certain cerulean blue magician.

Now that the captured residents of Ponyville were left unharmed, Shining turned back to Chrysalis.

“You! This is over, all over!”

“Yes, it is.” Chrysalis grinned smugly.

“Today is the day when you and your kind, along with this other scum all fail to the power and unity of ponykind. Prepare, this is your last!” Shining Armor charged when something stopped him. The castle began to shake and soon the ground followed. Everyone in the room stumbled over each other before the shaking came to a stop.

The guards rebalanced themselves and set their sights on the Changeling Queen when a sudden blinding burst of light protruded from a nearby doorway. The doorway slammed open as a new shade of red light replaced the previous white one. All of the eyes in the room turned to the dark red hued figure standing in the pitch black abyss. Two extremely glowing red eyes floated near the top of the archway. A hand rose out of the black, a metal hand following. Red mist surrounded the appendage as a booming voice followed.

"Submit!"

Master? Master! Master?!

This power, it was different. It was strong, that was for sure. But what was it capable of? What were its side effects? Could it be trouble, seeing as how it came from Discord, the god of chaos? The Overlord wasn’t sure. As he drained the energy and life force from the creature, Discord wailed as his feet began to solidify into stone and went upwards until his shrieks were no more. And just as the Overlord was about to smash said statue so that nothing may ever come of it again, Discord crumbled into dust and was swept into the breeze. Truly, the draconequus was slain.

The Overlord felt surges all over his body. His entire self was covered in a red aura that just beamed with venom. It felt good, pleasurable even. Should he try to drain others of their powers as well? He had yet to find out, his new powers still were ripe for trial and he had plenty of test subjects. The Overlord stepped down from the huge pedestal and moved towards the door, hearing the recognizable sounds of battle throughout his newly established domain. Who dared to attack him? He kicked the door open and lumbered back towards the main dining hall. He could hear voices, somewhat muffled, from under the small opening in the bottom.

“You! This is all over!”

“Yes, it is.” The Overlord recognized that voice, it belonged to that she-devil, Chrysalis.

He kicked the door open and quickly accessed his predicament. There were ponies, everywhere. They were fighting, a good few injured, against his newly established guards. Not only that, but there were flying Pegasi carrying the prisoners away, Trixie included. And lo and behold, their assumed leader was standing near Gnarl and Chrysalis.

He raised his arm, warning the intruders and casting his spell.

“Submit.”

Shining Armor looked at the large entity in the dark archway. He braced himself for battle, ready to engage this would be leader of evil, when he found that his body was not willing to obey. He felt himself....kneeling! He bowed his head down in respect and said, “What do you wish for me to do?” What is this? Why did I say that?!

The Overlord looked to the other ponies, his eyes squinting in joy.

“Kill.”

Shining Armor turned towards his fellow guards, and fired blasts of shock spells at them, stunning some and completely electrocuting another. The one smoking stallion spasmed for a second, but then fell stiff onto the ground. With all of his might, Shining Armor screamed. “What’s going on?!”

“This is a strong one, Master. You have to give him credit for that at least.” Gnarl was impressed. When the Overlord used the Submission spell, no one had ever been able to resist. So it was an amazing feat to see a unicorn do it.

Shining Armor jolted upright all of a sudden and reclaimed his previous blank expression, firing upon his allies and serving Evil. The soldiers just stood there, confused as to just what was going on. Not even an hour ago was the stallion who led the charge had now come to be coerced. They let more and more guards fall before they regained their senses.

“Stop that one! He’s controlling the Captain!” A guard shouted as a large group charged towards the Overlord.

Ten and the other lieutenants slid in front of them. “Oh no you don’t, no one touches the Master.” The two groups fought as Shining Armor’s body was covered in a black aura. It enveloped his entire being until he was no longer visible.

The Overlord felt drained, not much so but enough for him to notice. He focused all of his will on the leader and used as much hate as he could to corrupt the righteous colt. He felt his entire mind being clouded with images of a wife, a Princess, caring for the guardpony as darkness enveloped his target. More and more, it showed images of his life, with that one mare and then with another, a sister. It was the one the Overlord had removed the horn from. What was happening? Were they linked?

Suddenly, an image appeared with flames, swords, and guards all sneering at somepony. Chrysalis. It showed Chrysalis at some sort of wedding, ruining it and having the battle in her favor. But then, it also showed her losing. But those weren’t what captured his attention, oh no. There was a final look into this mind, it was of Chrysalis turning into the Princess, but with green glowing eyes. The Overlord’s eyes snapped open as he recalled them.

Chrysalis was playing as Rose and was thinking to take advantage of him. And this would not forgo. The Overlord looked at his work, along with Gnarl and Chrysalis. And they all laughed. Shining Armor stepped out of the black, but this time, his normally red with gold sashed attire turned to a black with white sashes, and his eyes were a red. He bowed down and looked up at his new master. “What do you wish me to do?”

The Overlord looked at the horrified injured and disabled guards in the back, pointing to them. And his new minion followed suit.

The Overlord turned his back and went for his private chambers, letting the others bask in the glory of the fight. He heard hoofsteps behind him and spun around, being met with two green eyes floating in the dark.

“That was good work,” Chrysalis commended. “I never thought you were this powerful.” Chrysalis grinned at him, batting her eyes in an attempt to persuade him some.

The Overlord just turned back around, went to his door where two Minions were lounging around, and slammed the door shut on his way in. He sat down on his high chair and looked out of the window, admiring the beauty of the night accompanied with the sounds of death and battle....

“Pretty good sight, eh?”

The Overlord turned to the sound and almost jumped back from what he saw.

“Cat got your tongue?”

In all of his ventures and expeditions, this one included, he had never ever seen in his life what laid on his bed relaxing. It was frightening and almost mind-blowing. There, before him, was the child version of the Overlord. “Big place, I like it.” He said.

The Overlord drew his sword and pointed it at the apparition that was toying with the bed linens.

"Whoa, big guy, we’re the same person. It’s me, well you, but you get what I mean.”

The Overlord was undeterred, still ready to strike at the stunning resemblance of his young self.

“I’m going to have to explain this to you, huh?”

The Overlord nodded in response.

“Aww, you’re no fun. Big me is sooo boring. I think the neighbor’s chicken talked more than you.”

The Overlord lunged forward, his arm grabbing for the child’s neck, but suddenly he found himself grabbing for air.

“Over here,” Young Overlord said as he waved from the balcony. “Let me explain, when you absorbed that weird thing’s power, you not only took the energy but the chaos itself. And that made me,” He jumped in the air as if he won a medal. “You, I mean, I really changed, huh?”

The Overlord threw his sword at the specter, ending up phasing right through him and jutting into the stone wall.

“I told you,” Young Overlord said as he stepped into a bookshelf and out the other end. “I’m you! And you’re me! So...that means we get to go on big adventures together!”

The Overlord shook his head, slamming his head into the wall a few times. Perhaps he had a headache? Or maybe he was going crazy from those long years of desolation and isolation?

“What are you doing? Trying to make your face appear in the wall? We tried that already, remember? Pig slop isn’t the place to stick your head in, mother really knew what she was talking about when we dived face-first.”

The Overlord was clearly daydreaming, this wan’t possible. He went over to his bed and pulled the velvet cover to the side as he jumped down onto the furniture and slept. Maybe he could sleep this off.

The battle ended quickly, mainly because the leadership had been abandoned. Most of the guards were killed, some very lucky few were able to leave harmed or unscathed, but the less lucky were kept alive as prisoners, slaves.

Shining Armor had changed. The loyal captain of Canterlot was no more. Now, he was the Captain of the Everfree. Well, behind Ten, that is. And what was so great about this? The Minions finally had some good meat to eat! The Diamond Dogs and Changelings gagged at their actions, mainly because the Diamond Dogs ate unintelligible creatures, not ones that were coherent.

And Queen Chrysalis went to her private chambers as well, her seductive attempt failed miserably. And what of Gnarl? He lingered in the dining hall, waiting patiently for his leader to return. But not seeing him for hours raised some suspicion. One that would be enough to motivate a trip to the chambers of the Overlord.

The Overlord woke up, feeling much less weary and more refreshed than the night before. He went up to the large glass mirror on the left wall and looked, noticing something behind him.

On his left, though, was the Young Overlord, patiently watching. "I forgot to mention, Discord didn’t just bring me. He also brought him,” He pointed at the figure that the Overlord had noticed during his glance into the reflective surface.

Two blue eyes met his red ones, a similar blue aura clashing with his own crimson red. The Overlord turned around and was met with a split image of himself, except this one was the same age and height as him. The only differences were in the colors. Where anything the Overlord had in red, this opposite had in blue, including a blue cape.

“What happened to me? After I fell, I was sure the others would save me. Now look,” The copy of the Overlord said. “You’d think I’d be good. Do you know how long you’ve had me locked up in that mind of yours? How far back I was? How empty it was?”

“Oh yeah, I call him the Good Overlord.” Young Overlord called out while toying with the Overlord’s bookshelf. “He’s pretty fun, but he can get serious a lot. Not as much as you, though.”

"Yes, and Evil has corrupted me long enough. Assuming direct control,” Good Overlord moved forward into the Overlord’s body. His whole body twitched, jerked, spasmed, and cracked in every way possible as if he were being possessed. Then, he quickly stopped and stood still, breathing in a raspy manner as the door opened, Gnarl stepping in.

“Are you okay, Master?”

The Overlord, now with a blue aura and blue eyes, looked over at his Minion and nodded.

“It’s time to do some Good.”

Quick Note For Those Who Didn't Read This Thoroughly: HE'S NOT GODDAMN GOOD. HE IS CONTROLLED. AND HE DOESN'T SPEAK IN COMPLETE SENTENCES EITHER. IT IS THE GOOD PART OF HIM (A LOCKED UP MEMORY), SO IT IS REALLY THE GOOD ONE TALKING IN BLUE. THE ONLY TIME THE REAL OVERLORD TALKS IS WHEN I HAVE ONE-WORD COMMANDS THAT ARE BOLDED. JESUS CHRIST HELP ME TO STOP USING THIS CAPs lock..really though? Come on, people.

Author's New Note: Okay, apparently you guys didn't understand a single word I wrote....suddenly losing interest because he's good? Who said he was? It's just a part of the story. You really think I came all this way to make him a good guy? Come on, readers, have faith in the guy who's been driving this ride of a story. It is DISCORD's MAGIC. Jeez, if I can't do a sudden plot twist, it won't be fun writing anymore. I did foreshadow this in the "Glimpse into the past" chapter, and again, I'm not going to make a Gary Stu (Guy who's invincible and can't lose to jack diddily.) I need to make this a favorable story, not just "Oh, Overlord beats everyone, he is best master." And another comment just made me lose more hope in my viewership. Really? The Overlord talks in complete sentences? Dude...I...I..Can anyone help here? Any other readers or authors who understand what I'm trying to do; Make an interesting and wild story? *Sigh* Whatever, lose interest, I had huge interesting events in store but leave at first sight of a good guy, I guess. And it was just getting good too (Not in that way).

An Ending For People Who Didn't Understand the Thing I Was Doing in the Last Chapter (Not True Ending, Just for People Who Think It Sucks Now)

This chapter is so bad, I want to cry. This is obviously a troll on the readers who lost faith in me, so note that it won't degrade my writing, nor the story, but just something for the people who want to quit the story because my context was a bit too subtle...Oh, and this is just a joke, I don't hate you guys. I'm just a little steamed at myself for not putting my intentions in bold/underline/italics/ and size 69 font. Sorry boyos. Oh, and any errors will have been left alone intentionally. This is just the ending I made out of pure rage, nothing to do with the real story. And sorry if I seem childish because of this, but anger makes you do dumb things.

So the Overlord was Good and everything he did was good. He looked at Gnarl and said, “Let’s put a smile on that face.” And then he proceeded to punch the old imp’s face off until bone showed. Then he herped to the derp down the hallway, cause he was all good and stuff, and punched everything in his way. He punched flowers, plants, vases, shields, everything. Nothing screwed with this badas- wait no, good-reared mother-sexual intercourse participator.

Then Ten went up to him and grinned, “Didn’t get any sleep? You mad?”

The Good Overlord then punched his face off. Basically, then a giant baby seal came out of the sky and together, the Good Overlord and the Giant Baby Seal, which was quickly named ‘Mr. Khil’, destroyed all of Evil. Then, the Reapers showed up and the Catalyst was all like, “I have a new friend now. And you must choose to be Synthesized or to be Annihilated.”

So the Young Overlord suddenly pulled out some Old Spice and said, “Where’s Billy Mays?”

At that precise moment, Saxton Hale jumped out of the sky and informed them of very grave news, “He died while fighting a polar bear.” The Australian removed his hat. “He was a good Oxy-Clean salesman, unlike that new one.”

So then, Evil was beaten, Chrysalis got turned into a cheese grater, and harmony was back in Equestria. And then, the Good Overlord was made into a cliche and was immediately shipped with every single female pony in the world for no reason whatsoever. He was just that cool.

One day, when the sun was high in the sky, smoking a Ganja and wearing shades, the Good Overlord decided to skip along a meadow. And that’s when it happened.

GIANT CRABS!!!

A whole army of giant crabs and crab people were like, “We want your lands and stuffs because the water is no good. Sea creatures rule! Oh, and uh, lobsters suck.”

The Good Overlord was soo touched by these things’ plight that his Good died and he turned Evil again. Without a Minion Army, he used the crabs as a way to beat Celestia. That is, until they were all thrown into a boiler and became fish food, literally. But he was the Overlord, the biggest and baddest mofo who could never die or get hurt, no he was soooo powerful nothing could stop him, not even for plot development or a literary technique. No, fanfiction writers feared him at every stop. So, after beating the pulp out of PonyManne215 for making him a good guy, albeit for a small time just for plot’s sake, he went to fight Celestia.

The crab people were dead, and only their females remained. And yet again, the Big Ol’ Overlord was shipped with every single one because of no reason other that he is cool. With his abundance of babes, ponies and crabs, he attacked Celestia who was busy playing a coat hanger in chess. She lost, of course.

And then Celestia turned to Overlord and shouted, “Why you no be good?”

Overlord sneered at her and kicked her into a puddle of conveniently placed piranhas and crocodiles and she was made their janitorial slave. Luna got turned into a fully so Overlord could raise her to be, “My Little Evil Filly Luna”, and everything got set on fire as jazz came on and a similar song called, “I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire” started to play from out of nowhere.

So there he was, the Overlord in his dark and spiky chamber with guns, weapons, babes, more spikes, potato salad, and a gardening rake. These were the most evil and badass things of all time. But then the phone rang.

And the Overlord picked up, listening for the caller.

But....

There was no phone...

Then who let phone?

And how phone come?

Then there were......

Aliens!

And then a giant bowl of cereal saved the day and ate the Overlord for irony’s sake.

THE END!

Again, this is just me venting, but hey, it has some creativity in it, so you can't say I wasted your time. It wasn't what one would expect. huh? And no, this isn't the real ending either. That is a ways to come.

A Spilt Difference, a Mutual Look

And so, like, the Overlord was Good but turned Evil, shipped with every female, and was eaten by a giant bowl of cereal, but the cereal was Lucky Charms, so.....

No, just kidding. No more of that, unless you guys doubt me and this story again, which will result in more troll chapters and less actual story chapters....not really, I won't make the story shorter, but it'll take forever if you cause me to do more troll ones. Oh, and hopefully, I can keep doing chapters from the Overlord's side, more so than the ponies because I find it much more freeing to write about destroying things than the typical "Hurr durr friendship beats pineapples, my hair is a bird so you are invalid." Oh, and sorry for the late chapter, but.....Mann vs Machine, guys. Played with my pre-reader Boolyboo, and writers Ragemoar and Darrtaa. It was great. Playing MvM, I've been out of rhythm for story writing so forgive me for this short chapter. And chapters might take a little longer to be released, I have a summer assignment that I haven't even started yet, but that should be cleared up soon.

Something wasn't right here, the Overlord was not normally filled with blue colors, but the loved crimson red hue. Why was he like this now? Something wasn't right.

"Who are you? What have you done to the Master?" Gnarl asked as he backed out of the doorway.

"But I am your Master, can't you see that? Come in, Gnarl, we have work to do." The Good Overlord said.

"No, you aren't him! He never speaks this much, gives him a more eerie tone and look. You, You're more like a trickster, like the Jester."

"But Gnarl," Good Overlord moved closer, an undertone of excitement in his voice. "You are sworn to serve me. Now then, let's go, shall we?"

Gnarl whistled for the guards. "Guards! Guards! Intruder! There's an intru-"

The Good Overlord picked Gnarl up, choking the life out of the old advisor, and then threw him into a wall, rendering him unconscious.

"Can't have you stopping my plans, any of you. Let's see if this still works..." He raised his hand, expecting fire as his Evil self had. But instead of emblems, came shards of ice. "Interesting...."

He heard some footsteps behind him, not even bothering to try to defend himself, and jumped out of a large window, causing large juts of glass to spray in every direction as he slammed into the ground. "I need to find refuge before helping these....Equestrians."

Just as he moved, a head-splitting pain caused him to stagger as his eyes flickered from their now-blue shade to the previous of red, albeit for a millisecond. Uh-uh-uh, I haven't even been able to do anything yet, so don't think you're getting out. What I'm going to do will ensure it stays that way, meaning I get my body back. With that, he ran towards the treelike and disappeared, hanging on the intent thought of a nearby farm that he had seen from a vantage point.

"Kill him!"

"He's a monster!"

"Starve him! Throw away the key!"

"Boo!"

Dozens, no thousands of tomatoes were being throw at the Overlord. After seeing the Good apparition of his self, his vision become blinded until he found himself in the place he did now; Spree. But, it didn't look like the Spree he knew, it was a rich one, where all of the peasants looked like nobles, as if the town had prospered enormously. And another thing was he found himself tied up in a stockade, along with shackles and a few other constraints. And these villagers were relentless. He had tried to escape, but it was as if the world was working against him.

"People, people," A familiar voice called out. "Calm down. Please, I beg of you."

That voice, the Overlord could recognize it anywhere, he could never mistake it for another. It was.....

"Silence, peasant!" A wealthy villager ordered as he slapped the woman across the face.

The Overlord's blood boiled, every nerve in his body shot up like an electric shock spell, and his mind was filled with nothing but bad, ill intentions on these villagers. For the woman the man slapped, was Rose.

And with an ignited fire, the Overlord broke through his shackles to charge at these people and protect his love from further harm.

The wooden stockades broke as the Overlord moved his arms apart widely until the metal chains attached broke or at least loosened. Then, he ran straight for the people gathering around Rose, his fists ready to choke the life out of those they met. Rose was within arm length, and the Overlord jumped for her. But, just as he touched her, he vanished and found himself in a deep void of nothingness.

“Hahahaha! Welcome to your subconscious, or should I say, our subconscious?”

The Overlord looked everywhere, not seeing anything but still able to hear the booming voice that belonged to his former self.

“Do you know how long I’ve been here? How long I’ve had to be alone with these.......fake apparitions? These......illusions? It’s been quite some time. Why, I’ve even become more talkative, more than you- we have been. And in this hold, this cell, I’ve changed a few things in your mind. Like how you saw Spree. It used to be a terrible place when I was still fighting the Overlord. But now....you saw how beautiful it was. And that’s what I plan on doing now that I have my body back. You, on the other hand, will be staying here for some time. At least until I found out how to get rid of my bad side, or you.”

The Overlord suddenly got blinded by a ray of white light as he attempted to shield his lids from the tireless spectrum onslaught. He opened them again after a few heart-pounding moments of silence, finding himself in a cramped prison cell. Using all of his power, he charged at the weakly supported and built door, gaining him entry out. The door flew off the hinges and the Overlord looked to see where he was now. And he only got angrier upon finding out that his cell was inside of a cell. And beyond this current cell’s bars, he could see he was in another. He was in a game, a trap.

The Good Overlord broke through some trees, charging head on to get to hiding. Bringing an entire army upon his soon-to-be allies would not bode well for the future. This time, the forest was not against him, because his intentions were pure, they were just. And time was also on his side, as he quickly reached the farm he had wanted to take refuge in. The place was homey and had a calming feel to it, despite the old and battered look it displayed. The wood creaked under his feet, partly in due to his large size and cumbersome attire. But he braved on, needing to escape the gaze of the ever watchful Gnarl and the Minions.

He went up to the thing that one usually stores pictures and other mementos above the fireplace, you know, that thing. Which was later found out to be a mantle. (I honestly can’t remember the word for it, can someone please say it in the comment section? I’ve been going crazy over it ever since I thought of this scene.) Upon the...thing, were pictures of ponies, ponies that had a love of apples. One that was most notable was the mare with a farmer's hat, wrangling a herd of cows.

The family looked tranquil, calming the Good Overlord’s nerves. But something stopped his momentary peace, a head splitting pain that erupted his temples.

“AAAAAH!”

The Overlord was in a world full of mirrors. He had broken through the endless torture of prisons with all of his power and strength. Upon breaking through the final one, he saw a blinding light in which Rose’s voice called out to him. Instinctively, he ran to it, reaching this reflective new test in conclusion. And everything was a mirror, above him, below, to his sides. It was mind-numbing.

He moved on, not stopping for anything. But around him, the mirrors began to shift and turn into something else, memories from the past. Memories of his life as a child, as a baby. Memories as a lone drifted when his entire village was slaughtered. Visions of battling the Overlord, then later becoming one, himself. Then there was Rose....

“Looks like you got out of the first maze. You won’t this time. At least, not in time to stop me from ridding this world of you, forever.”

The Overlord continued, despite the barrage of jeers and bad life glimpses that surrounded him. There had to be a way out, there just had to.

“Do you want to live? Is your life not that important to you?”

That voice....

“You can do this, I believe in you. As does your followers. Go, darling, and become whole again.”

Far up ahead, there was a white light, not blinding, but bright enough to give the Overlord some recoil. But out of its epicenter, there was a hand reaching out, beckoning for him. There was a ring on a finger, and the hand looked soft and fair. It could only belong to one person, Rose.

The Overlord charged without end towards the hand, reaching out his own for his love. And his hand latched onto her’s when they just grazed over each other....

The Good Overlord examined his hand again, ice and cold streams of air still coming out. He clenched his fist and a frost layer enshrouded it, giving him some joy that his body was returned to him. But...... water started to drip from his hand...and the shield disappeared with each passing moment. Within a short amount of time, his power had been melted and in its place was a burning flame. He ran over to the cupboard and peered into the mirror, seeing his normally blue eyes were flickering to a blood red. And unable to control himself, the embers in his hands spread and lit the entire building in inferno. The entire farm caught fire with the Overlord inside.

“No....No! This isn’t happening, it couldn’t be this soon. I must-”

“Die.”

Save the Master, Deletion Inbound

Author's Note: Laziness and staggering amounts of lines I have planned for the Good Overlord has led me to take the action of no longer using blue text for his dialogue. Or actually using colored text for any others. Sorry, but it gets pretty annoying. Anyhow, the story is- actually, let me surprise you with that. Have fun, next chapter will be.....very promising. Hehehehehe.

Shadows, few and many, sparse and close, big and tall, they all surrounded the forest of the Everfree. For all of them were taking a watchful look as to a conflicting, tall, bipedal creature in front of a giant flame enshrouding what used to be somepony’s home. Some of these shadows were the forest, others small woodland animals, and few were of larger creatures. But most, yes most of these shadows, belonged to something else. Many of these somethings, with yellow eyes and slitted, black pupils, all grinning as if it were an enjoying show.

The figure before the flame clenched his fists, wondering just what had happened. He had surely switched places with his damned other, the part of him that had been occupying his body for who knows how long. It was a bleak and dreary realm, that imprisonment, that subconscious. And all of that time, the Good Overlord had yearned to get out. Day after day, months after months; and soon, time was lost to him, forever beyond his reach.

The mind had created some sort of split world, where he was no longer a merciful man, but a wrathful demon who swore to kill those who had caused his life to become a living spiral. A hellhole in itself, absent of a beginning and end. No origin, no threshold, or breach, just an ever-expanding landmass that continued to bear the seeds of poverty and famine. And he was stuck without an exit. So, he worked to bring this world to that of a beautiful and bountiful one. And that had finally succeeded. That is, until he saw a mirage of what he thought to be his body, floating in the middle of Mental Spree with the limbs of different creatures grasping it. One belonged to a lion, another an eagle. Then there was a goat's leg, among other varying assortments.

Curiosity gaining the upper hand, he stepped through and it was but a moment's daze before he realized he was in an ethereal form, alongside his child self. But between them, was a being like the Overlord. And indeed, it was the Overlord. But, it was also him, the Eighth Hero. Formerly a bringer of justice, his body had been bent to the will of avarice and ambition. And he gained no pleasure in seeing such a corrupted form. So he did what any other sensible man would do, he retook his former self. And he imprisoned his Evil self into the catacombs of his mind.

Then how, just how did the Evil break out? Only one explanation could be reasoned at this moment; it had grown immensely, both in power and in size. And that gave the Eighth Hero all the more reason to quicken his pace of action. He needed to befriend the equines so that they could assist him in eliminating this Evil splinter part. So, seeing that heat had no longer resided in his palms, he apologized in a hushed voice to whosoever had owned the now smoldering home. The home, from his short visit, looked very traditional and old, a family value. It wasn't unlike his own home, his lodging with his parents. If his predictions proved true, he had just incinerated, albeit unintentionally, a very esteemed establishment. He showed and remorse, but the Hero knew his counterpart, the Overlord, wasn't.

The Eighth Hero suddenly flipped around, realizing the watchful eyes on his encounter and performance. He had lingered too long, it wouldn't be long before the Minions came crashing down on him. He pretended not to notice the hundreds of eyes in the tree line, heading towards the town to which the home's road led to.

As he walked, the wind's gentle breeze drifted through the forest, causing its leaves to flutter and dance to the quiet tune's direction. Leaves bristled against one another, all in correspondence with the small little imps running stealthily in pursuit of their Master, or better yet, their target.

The Overlord, the real one who had been ruling all of these years, was back in his prison that was his subconscious. It was disappointing, but worth the effort of escaping. Even if it was for but a moment, he was able to break through and return to his living embodiment. And this meant two things. One, he would be able to escape with more efforts and added vigor. Two, he could learn and destroy whatever plan his 'Good' self was planning. The Overlord laughed, his voice echoing throughout his containment, as he looked off into the dark void. And he moved forward.

Moments before at Castle Overlord

“Gnarl, Gnarl! Get up you ragged pile of bones, what are you doing?”

Gnarl batted his eyelids in an attempt to clear his currently distorted vision. A few towering black figures obscured his sense of sight. After shaking his cranium a few times, light passed through and he was able to see that some of the lieutenants had found him unconscious.

“Wh-what happened? Last I remember, the Mas.....Ten!” Gnarl suddenly yelled. “Assemble a tracking group. Have them follow the Master, or actually, the impostor, while you ready the forces to follow him to whence he goes.”

“Impostor? What are you talking about?” Ten asked, looking at the others for help and promptly receiving unknowing shrugs in return.

“Just go! You’ll all find soon enough, hurry before he escapes.” Gnarl commanded.

“Fine, fine,” Ten said while skulking to the barracks. “You miserable pile of sh- Omph!” Ten fell to the ground as he gazed upon what, or more so, who he had crashed into.

“Having a bit of trouble, are we?”

“Eh, screw off, cheese holes.” Ten insulted as he was followed by the others to the barracks.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes, trying to kill the Minions with her death glare. Regretfully, it didn’t work so she turned her attention back to the Overlord’s right hand imp. “Something important, I presume?” Knowing every fault, every detail, and overall, having the ability to turn friends into enemies were her first priorities. In this case, she was working both with and against the Overlord.

If she could somehow manage to turn or coerce his forces against each other, she could take control and destroy the Overlord and the Alicorns in one fell swoop. All she needed was an opportunity.

“Nothing that concerns you.” Gnarl quipped as he took his cane and started to walk to the barracks.

“Oh, but it does. I am your ally, so I should know everything, correct?” She reasoned.

“Wrong, you’re a resource. As much as I care to say, the Master has no need of you. The only advantage of having allies is to use them as auxiliary forces. We could take on this, ‘Equestria’, of yours with the bare might of Minions and the Master alone. So remember that lest you ask him, yourself.” He had no time or temper to deal with this at the moment.

“Oh,” Chrysalis’ horn glowed a dark green as Gnarl got swept up against the wall. “I understand. Just pure strategy.” She grinned as she used her magic to take a look into the Minion’s mind. “I completely understand.”

“Okay you whelps, chase down the Master and bring him back. It’s as simple as that, understood?” Ten asked.

“I don’t think they actually do,” One guessed.

“Eh, you only live onc-“ Two got smacked in the face by Nine upon saying that hated line.

“Never again.” Nine hissed.

“Shut it, you idiots! Anyway, do you other idiots understand the plan?”

“Yeah, yeah!” A Blue responded.

“Master!” A Green followed.

“I wish the Overlord had trained more Minions, it’s pathetic to speak to children.” Seven complained.

“How about we name them? They look like new spawns anyway.” Eight suggested.

“Fair enough, let’s see if they make it far enough for us to remember their names. I say the Blue one here is Freezey and the Green is Stinks, because he smells like manure wrapped in human baby piss along with a pint of unicorn seed” Ten concluded.

“That’s....one way of doing things..” Nine complimented.

“Okay, Freezey, Stinks,” He addressed the two properly. “Take your other Minions and follow the Master’s scent. Do not let him leave your sight.”

Freezey proceeded to stick his hand in his nose and Stinks, in an attempt to salute, somehow ended up punching Freezey in the face.

“Newborns,” The lieutenants said as they facepalmed.

Flames, cinders, ashes, and smoke all littered the Eighth Hero’s sense of smell as he cantered into the scorched town. It was once a humble place, much like his hometown. But that all changed, it was destroyed, devastated, and would eventually be forgotten as the ashes crumbled away one by one. Homes were ravaged, gardens salted, and places were memories were previously kept in high esteem, annihilated. And worst of all, these peaceful ponies were killed, something of which they probably had yet to experience. Something that ruined their innocence. It only meant one thing for the Hero; he needed to rid the world of his Evil. So, with a mental contemplation and apology to the former occupants of this town, he looked to a singed sign nearby that pointed towards the castle named, 'Canterlot'.

“Follow the Master!” Stinks ordered, tripping over some vines in the Everfree Forest.

“Yes, yes! Go!” Freezey added as their group of pursuers, which were composed of Blues and Greens, moved hastily along the green maze. They witnessed their Master stop for a few moments in the town, then he headed towards the large castle in the mountain off in the distance. And wherever he’d go, they’d follow.

“You think we can’t take this, you weaklings?! We’ve suffered more than you’d ever know!”

“Talk already!” Cadence shouted as she bucked the imp in the face with some power. His head slinked back for a second before realigning itself.

“Whoa there, don’t wanna kill the guy, do ya?” A griffin asked from the sidelines, enjoying the sight before him, which was an enraged Princess taking her anger out on two foreign prisoners.

“They know where Shining is!” Cadence screamed. She was practically fuming.

“Hey, Three, did that hurt as much as when Rollie got your hand?” Four asked, laughing and coughing as Cadence punched him in the gut.

Three spit out some blood, then grinned with blood-stained teeth. “This wench couldn’t hurt me even if she tried. I’ve seen beetles better than her.” The two Minion lieutenants laughed as they both got socked in the face by a newcomer.

“Thou shall hold thy tongue!”

Gnarl, along with the lieutenants, all stood on a stand in full armor as Queen Chrysalis hovered above them. Before them were giant masses and embodiments of sweat, armor, and weapons. And every being in this field heaved and panted with each passing second. They had just been gathered, in full equipment no less, for a mandatory meeting.

“Minions, Diamond Dogs, and Changelings alike, we gather in a large force today because the ponies have mocked us all long enough. Today, we show them who is truly the strongest and most fit to rule. Today, we show them why Evil will always find a way. This day, we bring to them the true power of the Overlord, of the Master, of Evil! This day,” Gnarl stepped towards the microphone device that Chrysalis had given him prior. “WE TAKE CANTERLOT!”

Shouts, screams, and laughter filled the air as hundreds of helmets were thrown into the air. The armies all converged on a single path, heading straight for the Equestrian capital, marching in unison as their sheer numbers stomped and trampled the dirt path. Drums boomed and horns called as the Invasion of Canterlot was at hand.

A Fool's Dream

-Will be written in Bible format
-Has a hidden conspiracy!

The Book of Good: Chapter 1

The Hero reached the city/castle/place of Canterlot within a moment’s notice upon escaping from the madness of the newly constructed fortress of Evil. Had he been there a moment longer, things might’ve ended on the less desirable side for him. But alas, he did escape, and his other personality’s comrades were nowhere to be found. Upon immediately sighting the Hero still clad in the Overlord’s armor (Since they are the same person, but different sides of a coin), they rushed to meet him at the gates. Peace, he proclaimed, and it was rightly so.

“Be wary not, my fellow livers of life. We are all but a single being under the same banner, one and the same.” The Hero spoke.

“Be it not you who hath destroyed the fair town of Ponyville? The one who hath wrought unrelenting injustice upon its citizens? One who bringeth a declaration of war, not peace?” A guard asked.

“Hark, lo and beware, that was the influence of one who is destined to be cast to the hells below. One who would see that the seeds of your future be torn asunder, and that they might never see the verdant pasture of this lively world. I cometh to not wrought horrors, but to make amends for the Evils that hath been committed upon thineselves. It is I who seeks to unite us all, to rally us against the greatest of foes; our own greed, envy, and hate.”

The Hero’s words were ever-so-gracious that the ponies of Canterlot were invigorated with a love for the morally good human being! They rallied behind him, all-loving all the while, and drove towards a collaborative effort to end the dangers of Evil. As was tradition of their olden times, the Hero was to marry the most beautiful mare as his new love companion, followed by concubines that would make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens above itself. Then he was to be birthed under a new name that would signify a new revelation.

And so, the Hero took the name of Sir Bob the Hope.

It would be from then that the Hero, newly named Sir Bob of Hope, would marry and bedden the fair-maned lady Princess Celestia. And it was so that their children would be as numerous as the stars, because he also received his sister-in-law as a concubine, who was subsequently the God of the Night Sky. Not only would Sir Bob of Hope conquer these two beauties in the private chamber room, but as well as almost the entire female population of the fair world Equestria. This would not lead to generations of inbreeding amongst the pony-human hybrids. Oh, and yes, ponies can absolutely bear the seed of human beings and give birth to horsemen and horsewomen. Minotaurs? Centaurs? Who knows, they had intercourse and consummated the relationship endlessly, that is all that you need to know.

The Book of Good: Chapter 14

The living stood among the dead in a formerly verdant field of harvest.Formerly known as the fruitful land of Appaloosa, a Western form of a town. Its past self was of a thriving and exciting place of trade, dance, food, and song. Its people were content to the fullest extent, and all was good. Ponies and other animals lived in harmony together. There was nothing wrong with this place, and life was peaceful. Now, it had become a desolate wasteland after the purging of Evil from the world of Equestria. Evil had fought without quarter, killing all those that they had captured, while Good would spare those that they had apprehended. But just as an otherworldly benevolent being, perhaps a writer -who has been struggling with his/her own life challenges to predict/decide future events- would will it, the forces of Good won without a doubt and all was right with the world. Evil was slain, the Overlord was gone, and all was done in a just manner. No more Evil could possibly exist in a world filled only with Good, a place with no common enemy or goal to strive for.

The Book of Good: Chapter 901231246

Good had conquered Evil and this was rightly so.
Good advanced in technology and the sciences and this was rightly so.
Good was rallied under one banner, the banner of the Hero, and this was rightly so.
The Hero, Sir Bob of Hope, ruled supreme, and this was just.
The Hero would exterminate those who did not follow his orders, and this was just.
The Hero would impose taxes upon his subjects, taxes that would cause living to be destitute, and this was rightly so.
The Hero would forbid all forms of further freedom, causing life restrictions and repopulation restrictions, and this was just.
The Hero would decimate and annihilate all those who tried to rebel against him at Manehattan, and this was just.
The Hero would rename himself Overlord of Equestria, clearly not a dominant ruler, and this was just.
The Hero would limit all power from the Elements of Harmony, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna, and this was all right.
The Hero would wear black, heavy armor, his blue eyes would turn red, and this was all right.
The Hero would enslave all of ponykind and employ those the power of otherworldly beings that smelled foul and were distasteful, and this was all right.
The Overlord would be no longer Good, but ‘Self-Conscious’, and this was all right.

The Overlord was Evil, and this was destiny.

Author's Note

April Fool's Day!

Man, I am lazy as shit. Don't worry guys, I'm still writing! Just...very slowly. But I picked up the slack just for today's special occasion!

Just Kidding!

You guys just got trolled! How mad are you? Seriously though, the real chapter will be up in an hour from this one. This does not count as a real chapter, just a little fun I wanted to have with you guys. If you guys feel like I've made myself childish or just abandoned my professionalism, I agree. But come on, you have to admit this was funny at least. All of you expected a chapter, but instead you got...well, this..

At least I didn't troll you on a major level. I originally had the lyrics to this as well, and copy and pasted over and over until it reached well over 1k. But that's besides the point. I was jus-

Who's there? Mom, can you get it? No? Fine.

*Opens door*

Not again!

A group of small shadowed figures stood in the writers doorway, slinging maces, whips, and sticks over their shoulders. The oldest one in the middle grinned madly at the human as he started to laugh.

"Playing another joke on the readers? First, you didn't allow us to kill the children, or 'fillies', but now this? For shame, now you must pay."

Wait no! Please no! AHHHHHHHH!

The writer tried to run back to his room but was dragged out of the front doorway. His hands lingered on the side posts before his nails gave way and broke, causing his hold on his home sanctuary to be lost.