Gnarl bowed before the pair of Ponies. One of whom was still unconscious.

"My lady. Please, don't be TOO harsh on them. We merely needed a new boss and apparently you're one best suited for the job." he said.

The Pony looked to one of the Blues (Davik) and said, "You have 15 seconds to explain. Or you end up like your friend." she seethed.

"Uh, you see, our previous Overlord has recently perished and to find a new one we decided to do a summoning ritual. The ritual was supposed to reach through the dimensions and find someone who was most suited for the job. But APPARENTLY someone hadn't been studying their ancient languages, so instead of summoning a dark lord that you might expect it summoned the two of you here and you know the rest- Please don't disintegrate me!"

"And time. Very nicely done."

Gnarl was grinning widely. Yes, this would work PERFECTLY. "Before we explain our situation further, we should probably exchange names. I am Gnarl, your advisor and confidant."

The orange Pony nodded and said, "I am Sunset Shimmer; Unicorn Mage first class, Versebreaker, Bearer of Magic... esquire. And this is Starlight Glimmer."

"Versebreaker?" one of the Browns asked, "What's that mean?"

Gnarl was startled. Most Browns typically weren't the type to ask questions. They were more about action.

"My friends and I fought a trio of fully-empoowered Sirens. And we won. After that, they were unable to sing ever again."

"And her?" a different one asked.

Getting to her hooves, the lavender unicorn replied, "I am Starlight Glimmer; Unicorn Mage second class, Agent of Change, former mayor of Our Town, Principal of... a recently opened school... and also Black Belt in Tai Chi, Karate and Hidzume no Michi(1)."

Suddenly her horn flared and another Blue minion slammed into the wall on the other side. "That was for waking ME up too!"

Gnarl chuckled. "I think the spell worked out well enough. There is much to explain."

The two Ponies made their way up the hall, Gnarl leading the way. At one point there was a CRACK and he paused. "Agh! Just some stiff joints. Five centuries of time will do that to you."

Starlight's horn glowed and his pain eased.

"What... What did you do?"

"It's basically a small healing spell. It won't prolong your life, but it makes things run much more smoothly. Including yourself." she quipped at the end.

Gnarl flexed his joints experimentally. No creaking. No cracking. No pain. "My lady, I don't say things like this often, but... thank you. This is a gift beyond price for someone of my age. Shall we continue?"

"As long as you start that whole explanation thing." Sunset demanded.

"There are two unspoken rules that all agree on, my ladies. Good will eventually triumph over evil; Evil will always find a way." he began. "The previous Overlord, he was avaricious, destructive, a real womanizer... but he had a sense of honour and dignity. He gave food to starving people, but let us take their sheep. I'll explain that later. He threaded the line between good and evil. Leaning to the Evil side." he chuckled at that.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean treaded the line?"

Gnarl chuckled at that. "No. Quite often he could combine kindness with cruelty. He weaved either way whenever he wanted to. He would destroy foes and... Convert their citizens to his cause. He let us slay other evil creatures mercilessly. And break their stuff."

He took a deep breath.

"We Minions need an Overlord to command us, to control us. Some of our magics can only be done when we are bonded to an Overlord. Without one, thing just seem to..."

As if on cue, a portion of a brick wall crumbled and disintegrated.

"Well... fall apart."

Starlight was pensive. "Hmm... Evil. Not sure about that. Lawful Evil I can do, perhaps?"

"Even that would do." Gnarl said. "And judging by the way you... introduced yourselves, you'll do just fine."

They came to the end of tghat area, where a throne was situated. "Ah. Right. We usually only have ONE Overlord. Let me fix that." Gnarl said. Incanting a spell briefly, he thrust his hands forward and a second throne started to rise from the floor. "Much better."

Sunset and Starlight sat upon the thrones. It wasn't exactly comfortable. Sunset frowned and her horn glowed. The two thrones merged into what was more like a large couch. Taking a more comfortable posture, she said, "Much better. What now?"

"Simply declare yourselves the new Overlords. The rest will come naturally."

As one, the two Ponies declared, "We, Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer are the new Overlords. Together we pledge to rule this land! Who stands with us?"

Gnarl felt the compulsion to bow and welcomed it. When he looked side to side, he saw that the remaining Minions were doing the same. "We do." all spoke as one.

Gnarl smiled again. Not one, but TWO new Overlords! This day just couldn't get better.

Sunset said, "Alright, alright. Now let's get this place cleaned up, huh? This castle is a DUMP!"

Gnarl chuckled. Perhaps he was wrong.

Author's Note

1: That's "Way of the Hoof", by the way. Basically the Pony version of Kenpõ.