The New Overlords are... Ponies!?

As the three came out of the portal, they found themselvees in a small, grassy meadow, near the top of a small hill.

Sunset said, "This looks pleasant."

Gnarl concurred. "Disgusting, is it not?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's get the Tower's Heart back to where it belongs."

Their attention drawn back to the task at hand, the other two said simultaneously, "Oh. Right."

Gnarl encouraged, "Try calling some Browns from the Spawning Pit."

Starlight called three of the few remaining Browns from the nearby Spawning Pit, Sunset doing the same. But these guys were complete newbies.

The Browns awaited their next command. When neither of the Ponies reacted, Gnarl coughed and promptedd, "They await your orders, Overlords."

Sunset reacted first. She Willed them into line.

Gnarl was quick to explain. "Now, you can summon more Browns if you get some upgrades. Provided that you have enough Lifeforce."

"Lifeforce?" Starlight queried.

"It exists in all creatures. For example, those sheep over that way." Gnarl had directed their attention to the nearby enclosure, which had about a dozen or so fluffy sheep therein.

"Using that, you can summon more Minions at any Spawn Pit. For example, the one besidew the portal there. At the moment, you can likely only control five Browns each."

"I'm not entirely sure about this." Sunset mumbled.

"Oh, worry not. These sheep are rather... frisky. They crop up faster than you'd think. No one will notice a few less."

Sunset shrugged. She Willed the five Browns there to attack the sheep. As they did so, Gnarl spoke, "Worry not, master. These things barely know they're alive."

After gathering all of the available Lifeforce from the sheep (as it turns out, there were 16), They called up enough Browns to fill the ranks, ten in all. Thusly, they were able to move on to the next area, after moving some debris.

The next thing they came upon was what seemed to be a scarecrow. However, it was a man tied to a couple of sticks, set out to scare away crows, until he starved or something, as he explained.

Gnarl sneered, "Halflings. Even we have standards! Honestly. They could have just killed him and used him as a scarecrow like that. Dead ones make less noise, too."

"Now the pumpkins haunt poor Bob!" the man said. "I can hear 'em speakin' 'bout terrible things."

The two Ponies felt pity for the man. Clearly all sun and no food makes Bob a dull man.

Sinc it was on the way, they agreed to smash the pumpkins that were along the way there.

Bob seemed rather pleased, until the Browns got overzealous and wrecked the long barn that was nearby.

"Sorry about that." Starlight said. "They tend to be... excitable."

Bob shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time. Maybe I'll start over with some marrows. Yeah, those don't talk as much; that'd be nice."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "You mean like zucchini? Might I suggest adding carrots, potatoes and beets? Those can't talk at all. And even if they did, they grow in the ground."

Bob seemed pleased by that notion. "We'll even lend you a few Minions to help. BUUUUUT..." Starlight said, "Half of your crop is forfeit. Deal?"

One of the Browns commented, "You must be kidding. Why should we follow orders like that?"

Gnarl was taken aback by this. Since when did Browns start asking pertinent questions?! The audacity!

Assertively, Starlight snarled and grabbed the speaker in her magic. Then she slammed him to the ground. forcefully. " Clear enough? You'll follow my orders because I said so. Capisce?"

Oddly, the Brown seemed pleased at this. "Just... Checking. Ma'am." he said, grinning.

Bob smiled, also amused.

Gnarl warned, "If you give him some of your Browns, that'll leave you fewer to control at once."

Sunset and Starlight nodded. That seemed fair. they gave one of each of theirs to Bob, to help out. They were warned to be careful, which they promised to do, without even crossing their fingers.

Proceeding further, they saw another pumpkin patch. In the middle of that was-

"The Tower Heart!"

I was just getting to that. Yes, the Tower Heart was set in the middle of the pumpkin patch, greatly enhancing the groeth speed of the orange fruit.

Five Browns were required to carry it back. Eight were directed to do so, the olther two being left with Bob. A white "8" appeared above the item, to their vision.

Gnarl directed them as well. "Careful with that! CAREFUL! Gubbin, I see you pretending to hold it with one claw! Cut that out!"

Along the way, they passed by what seemed to be part of a stone pillar.

Gnarl said, "Ah! An Upgrade! Those come in handy. We can get it on-"

With that, Starlight grabbed it using her magic, a white "10" appearing over that.

Gnarl raised his eyebrows briefly. "Never mind."

The Tower Heart was set on the Portal, being immediately sent back to the Tower. After that, Starlight carefully set the Upgrade down. The two felt thtemselves grow marginally in power. Gnarl explained, "Now you'll be able to summon 15 minions at once! 15!" he chuckled before adding, "That's about twice the number of active braincells in your average sheep." he then coughed. "For now, let us return to the Tower. Now that the Heart is back, we can really start setting things to rights."

Before they left, the Browns sent themselves back through the Spawning Pit. Then the three stepped onto the Portal, vanishing from the area.