I woke up on wood flooring with a pillow beneath my head and a blanket covering me from my shoulders to my knees. Out of the corners of my eyes I could see bookshelves lining the walls. Judging by how many there were it looked like I was in a library.

Weird. Not exactly the first place I would take someone if they suddenly dropped unconscious.

I started to get up but winced as I felt pain in my abdomin. I lifted the blanket to reveal my clothes had been removed and that I had been bandaged up around my stomach.

Damn, Rainbow Dash must have hit me harder than I thought.

As I continued to sit up I heard a gasp and it wasn’t long before I found the source: a yellow pegasus with long pink hair. I couldn’t even get a word in before she rushed over and started fussing over me.

“Oh my, are you alright? You aren’t hurt anywhere else are you? Twilight said you had suddenly dropped unconscious. Is your head okay?” Despite having known her for a total of five seconds, she seemed to be truly worried about me.

Wow, how kind of her. Also incredibly foolish, but kind. “I’m fine I think. My chest hurts a bit but it doesn’t feel too bad. If you don’t mind me asking though where am I? And who are you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You must be so confused right now you poor thing. My name’s Fluttershy and this is Twilight’s home.”

Wow, she lives in a library? No wonder she’s crazy! “Alright Fluttershy, I’m Don. I assume I have you to thanks for bandaging me up?”

“It was nothing, Twilight didn’t think a pony doctor could help you so she called me because I’m good with animals.”

Twilight thinks I’m an animal. Great. “Well thank you for helping me.” I moved to get up but Fluttershy, well, fluttered in front of me and pushed me back gently with her hooves.

“I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t be getting up right now. You bruised a few ribs when Rainbow Dash hit you.”

“Fluttershy, I’m fine. I don’t need to-”

“Listen mister!” Suddenly her kind eyes had changed into a glare. You would think a pony glaring would be more adorable than scary, but for some reason the way this pegasus was staring into me made me regret everything wrong I had ever done in my life. “You are not going anywhere until those bruises are gone. Now what are you going to do?”

“Lie down and rest.”

“That’s right.” And just as quickly as it had come the stare disappeared. “Now you wait there and I’ll get you some water.” As she walked out of the room I fell back onto the pillow in defeat.

Maybe she should be the Overlord instead of me. That stare of hers could probably stop an army.

Fluttershy came back with a glass of water as I was picturing her in the Overlord armor and silently snickering to myself. As I started drinking I heard a door on the other side of the room open up and heard Twilight walk in.

“Oh thank Celestia you’re awake. Rainbow Dash and I were so worried.”

“I’m fine thanks to Fluttershy here. Where is Rainbow anyway?” As I spoke she walked around so she was in front of me.

“She headed home once we brought Fluttershy here to help you, but she apologized about a hundred times for hitting you so hard. She’ll probably want to apologize to you herself once she knows you’re awake.” She then faced Fluttershy. “Thanks for the help Fluttershy. I’m sure you’ve got a lot to do though so you’re free to go whenever you want.”

“Oh my, you’re right. I completely forgot I need to make Angel’s dinner. I better get going.” As she was heading for the door she turned back around to face me. “Um, it was nice meeting you Don.”

“Nice meeting you too Fluttershy. Take care.” She smiled as she turned and left the library.

I really hope I don’t see her again. I don’t think I can take another one of those stares.

“Excuse me Don, do you mind if I ask you something?”

I took another sip of my water before answering. “Sure, go ahead.”

As she spoke a book pulled itself off one of the shelves and landed in front of Twilight open. “I was wondering about your glove. Where did you get it?”

Shit, shit, shit! Think of something fast! “I… can’t remember. I woke up with it.” Worst lie ever!

“That’s odd. You see, we were trying to get it off when we were checking for wounds and we couldn’t so I did some tests and it seems to be magically adhered to your hand.”

Wish Gnarl had told me that. Would have given me time to make up an excuse. “I really have no clue Twilight. Like I said I don’t know anything about magic. Did you find out anything else about it?”

“No, it seems harmless, though I don’t want to risk trying to remove it without checking with the princess first. I’ll send her a letter later today when Spike gets back.”

“Spike?”

“Oh ya, you haven’t met him. He’s a baby dragon and my personal assistant.”

Okay, Twilight just got a little more scarier. “What happened to the mother?”

“I don’t know. I hatched him when I was a foal and I’ve been taking care of him ever since.”

Nevermind “Well don’t worry about removing it if you don’t want to bother the princess. It feels rather natural on my hand and like you said it’s harmless.” At least as harmless as a gauntlet given to you by an evil imp can be.

“Alright, but I still need to send a message to the princess about you. I went back to check the site where I found you while you were here resting and I couldn’t find any trace of it. No magic, no clearing, no anything. Without that site you’re all I’ve got to show to her.”

So what, I’m a science experiment now? I sighed. “Well if you need to then go ahead. I just don’t think you should bother the ruler of your country with something like this.”

“Up to you. If you like you can write her something.”

Make friends with the ruler of the country? Couldn’t hurt. “Sure, but I don’t really have much to say.” Twilight floated me over a piece of paper, a quill and an inkpot. Though it took some getting used to such a primitive way of writing I did manage write out a letter. I won’t bother telling you what it was word for word though because it mainly amounted to “Hi, your ponies are nice.”

Once I was done I handed it to Twilight. “By the way, where are my clothes? My race isn’t really comfortable naked.”

Twilight seemed perplexed by this. “Why aren’t you? Ponies are just fine with it.”

“As far as I can remember our race started wearing them because we didn’t have much to protect us from the elements. After a while though it just became a normal thing to wear clothes. The only time we don’t wear clothes now is when we’re cleaning ourselves or when we’re having… relations with another person.”

That brought a blush to Twilight’s face. “O-oh. Well, sorry but I gave them to my friend Rarity when I saw how mangled they were. Where did you get them anyway?”

Do I really want to tell her I got them off of corpses?

…

Nope

“I don’t know. Memory issues remember?”

“Right. Of course, sorry.”

That’s becoming a really good excuse.

“Anyway, Rarity is a tailor and a rather good one at that so I’m sure she’ll be done-”

Just then the door swung open and the most pompous sounding pony I’ve ever heard stepped in. “Twilight, darling, I fixed up those clothes just like you asked. It was a bit of a challenge considering their condition and the fact they aren’t for ponies but I managed.” She then saw me and her face turned to disgust. “Goodness, Twilight, what is that thing?”

I think I’m beginning see why the old Overlord developed such a temper.

“Rarity, this is my friend, Don. He’s the owner of the clothes I asked you to fix.”

“Oh my, how terribly unladylike of me. I am so sorry for what I said Mr. Don.”

Sure you are, and your fake accent doesn’t make me want to strangle you! “It’s fine. Rainbow kicked me in the ribs when she first saw me so you’re definitely doing better. And you can just call me Don.”

And just like that she was happy again. “Oh thank goodness. A bad first impression is always difficult to overcome. But enough about that, I have your clothes all ready to go.”

Please don’t be bright pink. Or any bright color for that matter! Thankfully they were not. The clothes she pulled from her bag had just been patched up and cleaned, though they still looked like I had got them from a crypt. It seemed like Rarity agreed with me on that one.

“Honestly the colors on these are just so bleeaagh I’m surprised you wore anything at all!”

I managed a fake chuckle. “These are pretty gross but like I just told Twilight my kind don’t like being naked so anything is better than nothing.” I grabbed the clothes as they were floated over to me and put the pants on underneath the blanket while Rarity continued speaking.

“If you’d like I can make you some new outfits. I’d love the chance to work with a new body shape. It would certainly be an interesting challenge for my talents.”

Somebody’s generous. I may exploit that later if I’m not avoiding her completely. “Sure, but if I might make a request could it not stand out too much? For the most part it just needs to fit well and survive day to day life.”

“Ugh, you sound just like Applejack. I can do that but I’ll need to get your measurements sometime tomorrow. And are you sure you don’t want a suit or something?”

A suit? I guess it couldn’t hurt, especially considering my possible meeting with a princess. That and I’m pretty sure this pony won’t leave until I agree.

I put my shirt over my head. “Alright, a suit would be nice. But I need the casual clothes first.”

“Oh, this going to be great! I can’t wait to get started. Can you come by my boutique around 9:00 or so?”

“I dunno. Am I doing anything Twilight?”

That confused Twilight a bit. “Why would I know?”

“Because you’re the one who found me in the clearing. I wasn’t sure if you had anything planned like tests or some other weird magical thing.”

“No, all the tests I had planned I did while you were unconscious.” That’s not creepy. “Unless the princess thinks you should go see her at Canterlot immediately you shouldn’t have any problem.”

“Great, looks I’m free. I’ll see you then Miss Rarity.”

She blushed a bit when I called her ‘miss’ but she quickly shook it off. “Of course, I’ll see you then.” And then she was gone.

Figured she would like to be called miss. A lot of people, and by extension ponies, who act like that often enjoy it when people take notice of them.

Now fully clothed, I got up with a bit of pain and started looking at the books. Thankfully just as ponies speak the same language I do, so too do they read the same language.

Twilight looked up from her book and noticed me searching the shelves. “Can I help you find something?”

Yep, she’s definitely a librarian. “I was just wondering if you had any history books. I figure if I’m going to be here awhile I might as well learn about the place.”

Twilight beamed at the idea of me learning. “Of course! What kind of history are you looking for?” She then started naming off categories as books began to pull themselves off the shelves and stack themselves in a big pile on the desk in the center of the room. Soon the stack of books was getting dangerously high.

“Twilight! Slow down there.” I let her put down the books she had before I continued. “I just need a general history book of Equestria. I’m not looking to get a degree.”

She looked away with a sheepish grin on her face. “Oh, right. Sorry about that. Here.” A book pulled itself out of the center of the stack and floated in front of me so I could grab it. The rest quickly reshelved themselves and it wasn’t long before it looked as if nothing had happened.

Damn magic telekinesis. I could really use that. Maybe I’ll ask Gnarl next time I see him.

As I went to get comfortable with the book, the door opened up and a stack of paper with legs walked in.

Doesn’t even surprise me anymore.

Twilight on the other hand seemed glad to see the walking stationary. “Oh, there you are Spike! Here, let me help you with that.” The paper floated away to reveal a small purple and green lizard walking on two legs.

Okay maybe just a little surprising.

“Oh Spike, before you freak out or anything, let me introduce you. This is Don.” She waved a hoof in my direction as I put on a smile.

Notably Spike seemed as interested in meeting me as I was in him. “Oooookay, what are you supposed to be?”

“Human. What are you supposed to be?”

“A dragon.”

So this is the dragon Twilight was talking about. I was expecting something… bigger. “Cool. Do you breathe fire?”

“Well duh. What dragon doesn’t?” He then showed off his skill as he spat out some green fire. “Are you a guy?”

I wonder how much I can take before I turn into the bloodthirsty murderer the last Overlord was. I tried not to grit my teeth as I answered. “Yes, I’m a guy.”

The simple question got Spike more excited then I expected. “Awesome! The only guy I’ve met in Ponyville so far is Big Mac and he’s always too busy with farm work to hang out.”

Farm work? Wonder if he’s related to Applejack. I hope the country stereotype ends at the accent and hat. “Well Spike, if I ain’t busy then I’ll hang out with you.” He’s a fucking dragon. Definitely can’t hurt to make friends.

“Great! Well it was nice meeting you Don but I’m going to bed.” And with a yawn he went upstairs.

Sleep already? It isn’t that late is it? I double checked out the window to find the sun still well above the horizon. I guess if he is a baby. But wait, if Twilight hatched him when she was a foal, then wouldn’t he not be a baby anymore. Unless Twilight is a lot younger then I thought. Or maybe… Gah! This is too confusing.

I gave up on figuring out pony/dragon growth rates and decided to focus on my book as I got comfortable against the wall.

* * *

A few hours later the sun had set. Twilight and I had not moved much since we began reading, only leaving to get a drink or use the bathroom before quickly returning to our books. Despite going through the entire history book I could not find what I was looking for.

I closed the book and leaned my head back for a moment. This book doesn’t even mention Faust! If I can’t find out where those artifacts went I’m just going to end up getting destroyed like the last Overlord. And I refuse to let my demise be by rainbows!

A sudden yawn made me realize how tired I was. I guess I’ve had a busy day. Woke up in a crypt, walked around for a good hour without shoes- damn it! I forgot to ask Rarity for shoes. I’ll just have to ask tomorrow. Anyway, got yelled at by a cow, bucked by a pony in mid-flight, had a battle for mental supremacy, then there was that stare. I shuddered a bit at that memory. And then ended the day reading a book as I tried to figure out how not to die. If this is what Equestria has got for me then I don’t think I’ll ever be bored even when I take over.

I got up and stretched before looking over at what had been my makeshift bed. “Do you have somewhere I could sleep?”

Twilight looked away from her book as she willed it to return to the shelf along with the history book. “There’s a guest bedroom, but the bed’s pony sized. When we brought you in earlier we thought you might not fit in it.”

“Well it can’t hurt to try.” I walked over and picked up the pillow and blanket from the floor. “Mind showing me where?”

“Sure.” Turns out the doors were just a little short for me so I had to duck a bit to get through. The bed, as Twilight had said, was the same so I instead pulled the mattress onto the floor and just let my feet stick out.

“I’m sure if you end up staying here we can get something custom-made.”

These ponies are just way too nice for their own good! “I already am staying here for free. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“It’s fine. Besides, I’m sure I could find some work for you in town. Applejack could always use a hand down at Sweet Apple Acres.”

The Harbinger of Doom goes to work on a farm. Sounds like a bad children’s book. “Works for me. Good night Twilight.”

“Good night”

* * *

As soon as I closed my eyes I found myself sitting in the same throne room as before except there were a few differences. The first was that all of the ornamentation of the first was gone. Second was that it looked the place had been hit by an earthquake. And the third difference was that instead of a violent copy of myself, Gnarl was here.

“Ah Master, there you are. We were worried when we could not get a hold of you.”

“You were trying to contact me? How?”

“Ah yes. Your memory, my apologies. Allow me to explain. This is your fortress sire, or what’s left of it after you disappeared. In your absence no one could reach this place so it was left to fall apart. However now that you have returned, us minions can find our way back.”

I placed a hand on my chin. “My own fortress huh? I already had a few ideas for one but this place sounds much better. Now what does this have to do with contacting me?”

“Well sire, the throne you are sitting on has a rather interesting spell worked into it. It allows your mind to manifest itself into a physical form here while you slumber. It only works though if you have the gauntlet I gave you.”

“The gauntlet? Some unicorn was checking it for magic earlier but all she found was something to keep it on my hand.”

“That is the beauty behind this spell Master. The magic that brings you here isn’t within the gauntlet, rather it is here in the throne. All the throne needs is a specific object to lock onto and it’s set.”

“Neat. I’ll assume that’s rather difficult to do by the way you’re speaking of it. However, if it only works when I’m asleep then why were you having issues contacting me?”

“It isn’t just when you sleep Master. Anytime you are unconscious you will be brought here. Earlier today it appeared that the throne was trying to bring you but was being blocked. We feared the worst.”

Blocked? I wonder if that contributed to the old Overlord’s sluggish pace. Speaking of…

“Gnarl, I should be honest with you if you are to be my advisor. I’m not the same Overlord from the past. That Overlord tried to retake this body but I defeated him and drained his power.”

Gnarl cackled a bit before speaking. “I had a feeling you weren’t the same when we met. The Overlord I once served wouldn’t have endured dealing with the ponies for this long. But you are still evil, I can feel it! You just have a different way of going about it, and if I may be honest sire, I prefer it this way.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Really?”

“Yes, what you probably don’t know of the old Overlord was that he had such a short temper he wouldn’t bother with resources and tactics. Every battle was a blind charge. Things like armor and weapons went to waste as he burned everything in his path. He never even had the greens use their natural stealth.”

“Greens? What is that?”

“Nothing to worry about right now sire. There is too much to be done for you to worry about something we cannot achieve until further down the road. You must focus on gaining power so we can begin spreading evil once more!”

“I’m ready when you are Gnarl.”

* * *

Now Gnarl, he’s the kind of organized you can’t help but like. He knows what you need and how to get you there in a timely manner. Apparently he had recorded all the times the previous Overlord had been here while asleep and used them to get a rough idea of how long we should spend so that my body would still get a decent amount of sleep. He then divided up the time between everything I needed to learn so that nothing was forgotten.

First came swordplay. Since my previous combat skills had come from the predecessor feeding me information, we quickly found I had no skill whatsoever. Thankfully being a physical manifestation of my mind meant that any bruises I got now would be gone when I woke up. The minion who trained me was a fairly good teacher named Clobber (not even joking). I was surprised by how knowledgeable he was considering how the last ones I had met seemed borderline retarded.

We had just finished and were heading to magic training. “So minions can do magic?”

“Well, yes and no sire. There are minions that can do magic, but similar to having different races of ponies we have different races of minions.”

“Please don’t tell me it’s a minion with a horn.”

Gnarl cackled in response. “No sire. It is not something so ridiculous. You will see when we get there.”

“Oh, and I forgot to ask. Can I use telekinesis?”

“But of course, though how well you will be at it I’m not sure. The last Overlord didn’t care much for it. He only used spells like fireball for the most part.”

After a few more minutes of walking we entered a room with the sound of running water in it. The source of the noise was quickly determined to be a pool only a few inches deep that made up the entire floor except for a small pathway. Spouts of water poured out of the walls. There were also a few lilypads and mosses growing in the water.

Wow, I’m surprised a place like this exists here, especially considering the previous owner.

At the end of the path an imp sat in the water, although the similarities to the other minions ended there. Rather than brown or even grey like Gnarl, this minion was blue. Fins filled the places where the others had pointy ears while his hands and feet were webbed.

As we approached the minion he spoke in a tone of voice that was much less scratchy than the others I’ve met. “Ah Master. I am honored to be the one teaching you magic.”

“Gnarl, when you said greens earlier, were you talking about a minion race?”

“Yes Master, but there are no greens here otherwise I would have just shown you. The only minions that are at the fortress right now are a handful of browns, myself, and old Phlgem here.”

“You said we could spawn minions. Why don’t we do that?”

“That would require the nests, and when you disappeared the minions took them to the most dangerous places in Equestria in hopes that no one would come looking for them. If we are going to get them back you are going to need your skills in both combat and magic.”

So for the next few hours I sat at the edge of the water and attempted magic. Despite what Twilight had made it sound like it wasn’t that difficult to learn the basics. By the end of our practice session I had managed some rather shaky telekinesis.

Phlgem seemed proud of me. “You are learning this much faster than the last time I taught you. I think it took you a week to even get this far.”

“Well hopefully this steep learning curve continues. Having magic when no one thinks I know anything about it will be a rather useful ace in the hole.”

“I agree. The power that comes with magic can be devastating to those who are not prepared. I might even be able to teach you a few spells you can use without anyone even knowing it’s you.”

“Well I’m not sure how your curriculum looks but if possible move up any spells I can use in stealth situations. Telekinesis is a good start though.”

We said our goodbyes and then Gnarl and I were once again navigating the halls of the fortress.

“There is one last thing I would like to discuss with you before morning. We can do so in the throne room.”

Once there I took my seat on the throne though I didn’t bother sitting up.

“Before you leave I would like to see how much you know of your predecessor. That way I’ll know what I can teach you of our history when you return.”

So I told him the battle I had been shown, including the artifacts that had been the key in defeating the previous Overlord. Throughout it all Gnarl simply kept a claw on his chin and nodded.

“These artifacts will be a problem.”

“Don’t worry Gnarl, I am already looking into where they went though I seemed to have hit a snag. The battle doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the history book I found despite it being a major war.”

“Ah, that is because Faust is no longer considered history. After all, a story where a mighty being gives up her power and ascends would be rather difficult to take as the truth even in a magic-based world as this. When you return I suggest you check for fairy tales and other such stories.”

“I’ll see what I can find. Either way, we can’t risk exposing ourselves until they are found and neutralized. They are an achilles heel I much rather have cut off.”

“Of course sire, but I must warn you that we are not the only beings who remember that era. There are two others though they were only toddlers when the battle took place.”

Others? Damn. Things are never easy are they?

“Who are they? We must make sure that if I am to come in contact with them that I be able to keep all evidence of who I am hidden.”

“It’s those damn princesses sire. Celestia and Luna.”

Of course. And I just happen to be the one thing Twilight wants to show her mentor. “Is there anyway for them to detect who I am? There is a good chance of me meeting one if not both of them very soon.”

“You shouldn’t have any trouble as long as you don’t attempt magic. A being such as yourself cannot be shown magically capable unless you channel magic while someone else casts the proper spell.”

“Alright. Out of curiosity, how have they been alive so long? I thought that battle was millennia ago.”

“About 3 millennia to be exact. And they are alive because they are the daughters of Faust. Her damned immortal blood runs through their veins.”

Great, so not only are these princesses the only beings in the world with a chance of detecting who I am, but they also have a good reason to want to rip me apart. I sighed as I rubbed my forehead with my hand. “This just got a lot more complicated.”

“Things never go as they are expected to sire. What shows you are capable is the ability to adapt to the situation.”

Easy for you to say. I’m the one actually doing shit!

“Anyway, it seems about time for you to go. You wouldn’t want to be late for your appointment, would you?”

My frown turned into a scowl as my thoughts turned to Rarity. “Trust me, I’d rather be anywhere except there. That pony is the most prissy thing I’ve ever seen.”

Gnarl cackled as he spoke. “If you don’t like prissy, then you definitely won’t like Canterlot. Entire city is full of the like.”

Note to self: Burn down Canterlot

“Alright Gnarl. I’ll see you later.” My body began to fade as I felt my mind drawn back to my body. I heard Gnarl say farewell as the throne room disappeared.

“Goodbye Master.”

Author's Notes:

Don't know why but I've been really wanting to continue writing this story ever since I started it. Already to chapter 4!

As per my usual request, don't be shy to critique. You can even message me if you don't want it to be a public comment.