(Third Person POV)

It had seemed like time had stopped, like even the snow had stopped falling at the sound of that voice. It was a voice that dripped with such condescension, such arrogance that even the most spoilt of nobles would do nothing but lift an eyebrow at it, while also filled with more malice and self confidence then even Sombra's voice had. It was the voice of one who had seen and done everything, conquered every threat ever made, even cast down gods! And had just rolled into a little nowhere town and been told by a five year old that he knew nothing about anything...

It was a voice of humorously explaining to an upstart youth why you could kill them, in any way you wanted, and nobody would be able to stop you.

"Oh my Master, but you do look oh so weak... and pathetic..." The voice came again, from behind the group of ponies. "It might almost bring me to tears... tears of joy that is." The ponies all slowly, fearfully turned while the Overlord desperately fought to turn his head in order to see who was speaking and they were all shocked at who was there. Hunched over, glaring with hateful eyes at the world, was the minion master. Gnarl.

"What is the mea-" Cadence tried to question.

"Silence!" Gnarl snapped, his voice echoing and his body pulsing with black energy for a moment. Cadence found her jaw snapped shut against her will, and began to panic when she couldn't open it. "You pathetic little wretches! I will make... heh, time... for you in a moment, but for now my focus is... Him." Gnarl said, turning back to the Overlord, beginning to stride to him.

"You got further than the others, I admit. Even made a stable country with an economy! But did you really think you could get away with this? This farce of being an evil overlord? Did you think I would stand by and do nothing?" By this time Gnarl had reached the Overlords still smoking, red hot body. Shocking all, he reached out and, bare handed, grabbed the Overlord by the neck, bringing them face to face.

"The funny thing is, had you just been honest from the start about your lack of evil I would have done nothing. I would have thought 'well, twenty years tops of this guy, not to bad, I'll just do the usual back-room trickery and then find some new sap, no harm no foul.'... But now, I'm a bit upset."

In a moment Gnarl and the Overlord disappeared from view. The Ponies looked around in confusion for a moment before a loud cracking sound drew attention to the castle. More specifically the nearby support strut at the bottom of the castle. Gnarl was standing on the now fully crumpled Overlords chest, but otherwise their positions hadn't changed. what had changed was the spiderweb of gouges in the wall of the crystal palace.

"You see you got my hopes up that I would be entertained, what with conquering everything around you, beating submission out of more than a few packs of dogs and then murdering all those poor crying changelings."

In a burst of motion the Overlord shot an arm out to strike (and hopefully kill) the rouge minion. To the horror of the onlookers, Gnarl almost lazily grabbed the blow mid-strike and pulled the arm from the Overlord's shoulder. The Overlord only gave a quiet groan at the pain while Gnarl continued as though nothing had happened.

"It was when you outlawed slavery that I began to suspect you were a disappointment. It was when you didn't persecute any of your people that my suspicion grew to dread. And it was when you refused to go to war with the undersized pit-ponies that I was certain."

Shining Armor, the knight that he was, shot a blast of magic at the diminutive monster, a blast strong enough to stagger Celestia, an attack of last resort which used all the magic in the unicorn. Gnarl didn't even take his evil eyes away from the Overlord, simply snapping with one hand... completely shattering the unicorn's horn, down to the root. Gnarl continued as the unicorn collapsed in agony.

"As difficult and entertaining as going behind your back was, leaving one or two of your world ending spells out in your lab and leaving the door unlocked was child's play. when that didn't work right away I tried something new, it was easy to bait that false Overlord into attacking you with promises of wealth and power beyond her wildest dreams. It was almost worth it to watch you exterminate them."

Nopony was moving. Few dared to breathe too loudly for fear of further enraging the elderly minion and suffering the consequences. But this was shown to be unnecessary as, seemingly for the simple sadistic pleasure of doing so, with a small smile Gnarl clicked his talons again. That was when the screaming began as several crystal ponies were lifted into the air and contorted in ways that made those around them feel sick.

"Of the four of you, only the second came close to meeting my expectations... if only he didn't lack imagination. I mean honestly, how was that little plan of his supposed to stop the third? Bleah! Just mentioning that overbearing villain wannabe leaves a bad taste in my mouth! The fourth had potential but his damnible mother left him in a nordling village for his formative years and while prejudice is a good start, nothing beats a proper evil upbringing."

By this point Sarra had teleported nearby, hiding from the deranged minion, alerted to the danger by the connection to the hive mind that she and her Overlord shared. From the alleyway that she was crouched in she could see the Main Six and Spike trying to quietly inch away from the Overlord and minion master while the princess simply cradled her beloved on the ground where he lay since his horn was annihilated.

Sarra had already begun the process of evacuating the Domain before leaving, hoping that as many lives would be saved as possible in the worst case scenario... which was quickly looking more and more likely. She used special changeling magic to teleport as many ponies as she could out of the city without alerting Gnarl, doing the same to bring the main ponies involved with her husbands current state to her... to hide them, she would deal with the rest of this once they were all safe.

The Ponies and dragon almost gave themselves away with gasps of fear or shock before being silenced by sarra, who motioned for them to be quiet. She then pointed to her horn and made the hoof-language sign for 'where?' with a pointed look at Twilight. Twilight in turn mouthed 'Canterlot" and both nodded. As a group they turned to look as they heard something new.

"And just wh-what... *huff* gives you... of all people the... right to judge th-the Overlords? Age? Posi-ition? Tradition...? You a-are just a... a minion!" The Overlord stammered and gasped out, in pain from... well a few things really but mainly...

Betrayal.

"The right?" Gnarl questioned as an audible snap of bone rang out over the still screaming ponies hanging in the sky. "Heheh, Why, is it not the right of a father to judge his children? Of a god to judge his creations? Of a demon to judge others sins?" Clouds of black corruption began to roll off of Gnarls form as it contorted worse than those in the air, bloating and shrinking and twisting arbitrarily across his body while the obscured minion simply laughed at the sensation.

"What Right?" the tall, elderly, thinly muscled form of what used to be a minion, hunched over to keep eye level with his prey, asked in a much softer, yet more menacing tone. "By my right as the First Overlord, Crafter of the Tower Heart, Maker and Master of Minions, Defiler of the Light and Holy Places, Dragon Slayer, Fear of Man, Elf and Dwarf, The Great Patient One. By my right as your better."

The First Overlord straightened up, sighing as his back popped after so long spent bent over hobbling around, dragging the Fifth Overlord up with him. The dessicated carcass of a brown minion flopped to the ground from the First's knee, quickly forgotten.

"I tolerated you as long as I could. I have tolerated this whole damn world, all it's idiotic 'kindness' and 'mercy', for as long as I care to. Do not worry, you have impressed me in one respect, that being how quickly you have managed to gain power. Inspiring really. In honor of that, I will make your death quick and painless. And if that doesn't comfort you then think about this! By the time I'm ready to go back into hiding, you will either be remembered as a saint compared to me or not remembered at all!" The First Overlord smiled fondly before clenching the fist holding the Fifth up.

Sarra could do nothing but cry silently as she watched her husband collapse into dust, his still dark red armor bouncing and clanging as it fell apart, some pieces splitting upon touching the ground. She watched as his helmet thudded to the ground, empty.

The First examined the ashes and slag for a long moment, as though the idea that he had failed to completely end his replacement lingered in his mind. He then nodded in satisfaction before turning to the crystal ponies who had gone silent, not due to the pain dulling or expiring, but simply because there was a time for screams and that was not one. One by one they transfigured into small figurines, all still conscious and very much still in pain, and pocketed.

Sarra managed to grab the Fifth's helm before teleporting away with the others, The First barely sparing them a glance, there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. He would find them, when he wanted to.

But First...

Author's Note

One more chapter after this