Great, I'm the New Bad Guy...

It had been a few days since our new guest had come to stay at the Tower, and while she had healed fairly quickly she was put under 'house arrest' very soon after. She was still being taken care of, of course. It turned out that her feeding didn't cause any pain or weakness, just apathy which I felt at most times anyway. It was why she was so uncomfortable around me in the beginning, to her it felt like I had been heavily fed on already which was something that was frowned upon by most of the hives.

Speaking of hives, I was able to get the number of hives out of her. There were eight hives in total, and there were three alliances between them. Chrysalis's hive was at the edge of the badlands closest to Equestria, and was the only 'independent' hive. The only reason I had gotten that out of her was in exchange for sparing her hive, as I had told her that I planned to attack the hives on mass. What I didn't tell her was that while I would spare her Queen, it was only to have a changeling who could control all the hives population.

Regarding the mysterious door in the basement, a team of ten minions had been sent into the passage leading down, but had yet to reach the bottom. We knew that they hadn't been killed yet, as there was a way to track life force around the Tower. We would just have to wait for them to get to the bottom and then get back up.

I had sent for the Diamond Dog den alpha and the sheeple village mayor to come to the Tower to 'hear my will', basically so I could tell them what I wanted them to do. I also told them that it was about the changelings, as I wanted to see what their reactions would be. Depending on what they thought of changelings, I could ether have them live openly among the sheeple or live with the dogs away from the sheeple, or maybe some mix of both.

When they both arrived they both had upset expressions, though at this point it meant nothing. Both of them kneeled at my throne as I sat on the somewhat uncomfortable seat, it was stone after all, and said nothing as they waited for me to speak.

"What are your people's opinions of the changelings? How would they react to the changelings living among them?" I asked them, watching their expressions.

The dog alpha looked like she was more concerned about the changelings than anything, but the mayor just looked confused at the suggestion of changelings living in the open.

"Our den would happily welcome them. They're very good workers and don't ask for much, just a few cuddles and that's usually it." said the alpha, Sadie I had just remembered, with a cautious yet optimistic tone.

"Wha- no, nevermind! We would prefer that those... creatures... were kept away. They are dangerous, after all... they are dangerous, aren't they?" the mayor asked, starting out being very anti-changeling but getting more nervous as he talked.

"And what if they weren't? What if they caused no pain or damage?" I asked keeping a close eye on the mayor, meanwhile Sadie looked uncomfortable at the tone that the mayor had taken.

"Umm... w-well... I suppose that c-changes things... I-I, uh, don't really know... forgive me Sire." He said with a scared and worried look to Sadie. He found no comfort there.

"Well, you will think on it, and speak to your people about it. I'm going to... shall we say, 'visit' the changeling hives, one by one. Both of you will have a few new... 'towns people' when I'm done. Understood?" I said, stating it like a fact. The truth was however, that if the sheeple ha a strong enough negative reaction to the idea of changelings living with them then I wouldn't let them live openly there. If a few sheep don't go missing then who cares?

After getting nods from both of them, I sent them away so I could plan out how I was going to ensla- Ahem, I mean, umm... forcibly immigrate them. Yes, that.

After a few moments of silence, Gnarl broke it by asking me a question.

"Master? Why do you care what the people think about your conquests? Shouldn't they just accept whatever you decide for them? You are the Overlord, after all!" he said.

"You assume that position automatically grants power. That idea is wrong, as there is always a chance that someone could defeat me. Even if I were to crush their spirits and destroy their dreams, it would only embolden others to attack me, if only to spare their loved ones my wrath. In my opinion, the best kind of citizen is one who is happy with their position. They will not try to rebel from the government, nor will they shy away from civic duty. Even if they are slaves, how could they tell if they got everything that they wanted?" I told him, watching as his eyes widened.

He started to laugh, holding his sides and bending over, finally saying "Oh, Sire! And you said you didn't believe in evil!"

"To me, it isn't. It's just good population management." I said with no merth. Gnarl was still smiling, but just nodded and went back to whatever he was doing before.

"Time to go say hello to the bugs then. I hope I find a new hive..."

The magic of the portal dropped the minions and I at the bottom of a ravine. Everything was a shade of brown, even the sky, and there were hardly any plants and the few that were there were dead or dieing.

We began to move forward through the ravine, looking for a way up or into a hive. The path was somewhat winding and had multiple dead ends, it was lucky that I could sense the portal site otherwise we would have been hopelessly lost. There were some signs of life in the area, footprints, or rather hoofprints, and several 'camouflaged landmarks' which made a clear path after I noticed.

After two hours of exploring I was about ready to just give up, then I began to notice the smell. A smell of rotting fish heads and other dead things. The only things that I knew of that made that smell were the undead, and the Greens! I was hopeful that I was about to find a new hive, but I was ready to be disappointed if it turned out to be undead. I would still kill the undead, as I couldn't have mindless killers wandering my domain unless they were bound to me, and the undead really weren't in any state of mind to make such a decision for themselves.

I turned a corner to find a group of fifteen Greens all back to back, surrounded by a group of about twenty changelings. I could see the Green hive behind them on a small ledge with one path which the Greens were protecting. Two changelings tried to fly up and damage the hive, but before they even knew what hit them I had taken control of the Greens and sent my Browns as reinforcements. I for one did not want to know what would happen if a hive was damaged, as it would probably be somewhat similar to what happened when the Tower Heart was broken, ie: a big ass explosion which would poison the surrounding area with concentrated magic goop.

I charged in as well, as I was never one to sit back as others did all the work unless I knew I would just get in the way. Of the twenty, I chopped about three in half, Greens leaped to the ones who were flying to stab them, Browns taking the ones who were on the ground from behind. The minions as one slaughtered them all, except for one who would be of use to me. That last one was pinned to the ground by a Green and a Brown, the Green was holding the back legs of the changeling while the Brown was on it's back holding its weapon to the changeling's throat.

As I gave the mental command to the Greens to take their hive back to the portal, I began to talk with the changeling who was captured by the minions.

"What is your hive's name? Answer me honestly, I already know all of the names anyway..." I asked it as the minions gathered behind me. That was true, I did know the names of all of the hives as I had made Chitter tell me. She thought it was so that I knew which hive to spare, but it was mostly so I knew who I was dealing with.

"I-I'm from... Hive Septa!" He (I knew it was a he from the voice) tried to lie to me. I snapped my fingers, and the Green behind him started to sharpen its hand knives on his carapace.

"Would you like to try again? Or are you content with losing your leg? I would be happy to take all of your limbs, if you wish to be uncooperative." I warned him.

At that moment I felt pain lance through my arms and shoulders, when I looked at them I saw the beginnings of small... horns? Spines? Something like those... So that was 'corruption'... I would have to keep a close eye on my mental health after this...