Author's Note: Calling all Minions, calling all Minions! (That means you, reader) The Almighty Overlord is in need for some peasntry, Original Characters or OCs if you will, for a great feas- I mean, party...But I digress, We shall take an OC from the first 5 or so people in a private scroll for His eyes only. This chapter is short for your measly eyes because the next one shall be quite a tome in itself! The Dark One needs just a quintet for a small little scenerio coming next chapter. We need the name, type of pony, colors, and personality. Just a few words like: hard-headed, prideful, brave, loyal, you get the idea. Also, don't forget their gender. We wouldn't want the Greens to eat a male horse pe-

“Right then, since none of us have names, and I was appointed leader by Gnarl himself, I shall give us all a name to make things easier. I shall be called…Ten!” The Brown who spoke with Gnarl reasoned.

“Who made you leader?” Another Brown asked.

“Shut your trap! Just for that, you can be number Two!”

“Aww..I hate number Two…” Two kicked at the floor.

“Since there are ten of us,” Ten pointed to each of the imps and counted. “Then we shall go from that order. I am Ten, and he is Two. Everyone else call their numbers!”

“I call One!”

“I got Tw- Oh wait, Three!”

And the rest of the self-assortment went on. By the end of it, ten minutes had passed on account of the Minions being so ignorant and feisty amongst themselves. Finally, Ten raised his sword and butted all the other nine with his sheath.

“Silence! We must go and scout for the Master!”

All of the others nodded in agreement and began to explore through the thick forest. They spotted a large pile of ruins in the distance. Ten took notice of this and began to lead them towards it. After cutting down some loose vines and eating a few bugs here and there, they arrived at the place. It resembled a broken down fortress or castle of some kind. Ten began to examine the placing and scope of the view. After some mental contemplation, he concluded his idea.

“Aha! This shall be the Overlord’s new bathhouse!” Ten exclaimed and patted himself on the back.

“Uh..won’t this be a better place for a keep?” Two suggested.

“Right, that’s what I said! Take the wax out of your ears, Two!”

“But I just…okay, I’ll unclog them.” Two accepted while picking his ears.

“Four, Nine, go back to the advisor and inform him of this place. It shall please the Master.”

Four and Nine saluted and began skulking back to camp. Ten turned back to his remaining eight imps, including himself.

“Okay, now that this place has been claimed in the Dark One’s name, let’s go find some women, eh?”

“Yeah!” Six jumped in the air.

And so, the scouting party began to trek north. Little did they know, there was a zebra nearby who was taking notice of the strange invaders. The lush green seemed to be working against them; as if it didn’t want them to leave or complete their goal. Ten was getting more furious by the second.

“This place is like Evernight Forest! Oh, I hated that accursed dwelling of the Elves. Can you believe a unicorn there actually killed my brother? It picked him right up and jabbed him on its horn! Evil save us if we have to encounter more of those wretched beasts!”

The only noises that filled the air were the sounds of birds calling, Manticores growling, bugs buzzing, and the clunking of the imps’ steel armor. With each step, their equipment bobbed up and down, followed by their little Brown heads. If there was something that they smelled right now, it was the smell of something unmistakable. Ten’s following lone word confirmed their guess.

“Children.”

“Do my eyes deceive me so? Or do I spot an evil show? To Ponyville, I must run quick. Lest these monsters take over it!” Zecora spoke to herself.

She made a beeline, avoiding the possibility of intersecting with the path of the foreign beings. She knew this forest quite well, for she had been spending years now living in the Everfree Forest. She knew of the wild creatures and exotic plants that grew here. She knew where to where to travel and where to stay away from.

SHe knew of the many dangers in this wicker forest. Its roots were grown into the ground longer than anypony but Celestia amd Luna could remember. For it was their castle that was once built in the very center of this place. Had it not been for Princess Luna turning into Nighmare Moon, it might've still been the captial of Equestria. There were plenty of foreign and exotic living things that dwelled in the forest, the zebra herself being included.

Zecora had been staying in the forest for simple reasons, despite the many dangers that lurked about. She simply wanted a place that was peaceful in a sense. An isolation away from society, one could say. Her past life was the reason for this. What happened in her past life, no one will ever know. For Zecora's past itself is a whole other story and advneture in itself.

Her vast knowledge of her home gave her one major advantage over everypony else. She knew a shortcut to Ponyville. In almost no time at all, and with the creatures nowhere in sight, Zecora ran straight to the center of the town. The rhyme-spoken zebra spotted Twilight and the others just but a few hooves away. She met them at half-length when they had seen her approach also.

“What is it, Zecora?” Twilight spared no time and ran by Zecora’s side.

“It is the forest, Twilight. There is something lurking that gives quite a fright.”

“But what? By Celestia, I hope this isn't something too bad.” The royal apprentice was getting more frantic by the minute. Not long after Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense went off, which was foretelling of a doozy, every single resident of town had heard a loud and ominous hum.

“Identifying them, I cannot say. But they are dressed in armor that is bright as day. Beware their looks, for are harmless to the eyes. Do not listen to your self-lies.” Zecora warned. The zebra who had seen the small little monstrosities trekking through the forest visualized a worst case scenario of what might happen should said things be hostile towards them. The vivid screams and fires caused Zecora to just tremble and eventually faint from the possible catastrophe.

“Oh my, I have to tend to her..” Fluttershy flew by the fainted mare’s side and began stroking her mane and bringing a towel over to wash her face.

“Don’t worry, Twi. I can take ‘em! I’ll give those things the one-two hoof!” Rainbow Dash bragged and proceeded to punch the air.

“What did you think she meant by ‘bright as day’, darling? I hope that these things don’t smell too bad. Or dress badly for that matter.” Rarity added.

“Aw shucks, Rare. Stop fussin’ over the little things. We gotta warn the mayor!” Applejack interrupted.

“I think we should throw a party! I mean, come one, who doesn’t like parties? I know I like them. And anypony who is living loves parties! In fact, I’m gonna go and throw them a party right now!” Pinkie pulled out her mobile party wagon out of literally nowhere and began to wheel it towards the forest.

“Stop Pinkie! We don’t know who or what it is.” Twilight Sparkle looked off at the mysterious Everfree Forest. She really wanted to know what these things were but something in her right mind told her it was the biggest mistake she could ever make.

“Uh..Twilight? Ah think we should check out the school house. There’s a bunch of little fillies running this way and screaming!” Applejack grabbed Twilight’s face and directed it towards her view.

There were indeed many little school children running amok, screaming in pure terror and fear. Rarity and Applejack both took note of this as their older sister senses told them something was wrong. Without hesitating, the two sisters galloped towards the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Not long after, they were joined by a cyan blur, who had gone along with them to ensure a certain orange coated filly’s safety.

The all-seeing and mighty Overlord stood upon the hill of the meadow in which he and his Minions stood. Not long after his arrival, the trans-dimensional portal closed behind him, leaving no trace of its existence. The imps and the Dark Being came to the conclusion that they were either trapped here forever, or they had to find a great source of magic to return them back.

The Overlord felt like someone was watching his every move at this moment, so he had decided to look back. With as much will as he could muster, he stared into the morning sky with hate and venom. The sky almost seemed to shift itself away from his gaze, but he did not relent.

If there was one thing that he had learned from his imprisonment in the Abyss, it was that he would never again be a pawn in some fool’s game. If this was, in fact, a game, then he would not hesitate to slaughter the bystanders watching and end the thing right there.

The tall steel-wearing warrior’s concentration was interrupted by two sets of approaching footsteps. They were also accompanied by sounds of panting, sweat droplets hitting the floor, and finally the imps themselves collapsing. Gnarl, who would handle most occurrences for his Master, addressed the two scouts.

“Where is the rest of your group? Don’t tell me they died or were eaten by something.” Gnarl scolded.

“No no, wise one, we have found something of great use to the Great One! We have found a castle for him to reign in.” Four answered.

“A castle, you say?”

“Yes! Though it’s a bit out of function…we can get it back up and running faster than you can stuff a Dwarf in an oven!” Nine reassured.

“Lord, what say you in the matter?” Gnarl turned to the Overlord, who was paying special attention to the newly presented information.

The Overlord nodded in agreement, but he beckoned for Gnarl to task some of the Minions with something. He pointed to his stomach, which emphasized his insatiable hunger with a very ominous groan. He was hungry.

“Yes, my Lord. One of you lazy knaves go and fetch food for the Master! He shall not be kept hungry or starving while I still draw breath.” Gnarl commanded.

A large group of sleeping imps bolted upright and ran to the tree line, for they were not going to let their His Greatness be left fatigued by the disadvantages of being unfed.

“Yes…this is so very interesting! Haha! It’s even more fun than when I turned Fillydelphia into a giant cupcake!” Discord mused to himself.

After escaping from his stone imprisonment for the second time, he flew to where his scales had pointed to. The god of chaos simply reveled in joy after witnessing the spectacle that was the Overlord re-uniting with his followers. He could sense a great amount of evil just beaming from the tall monstrosity. He sat down on his cotton-candy cloud and ate some parts of it while he watched.

He did feel a tingling feeling when the Overlord looked at him directly, shooting him a death glare with those two menacing red eyes. But he quickly recovered when two approaching soldiers ran and distracted him. He teleported some popcorn into his claw and began to eat.

“What do ya mean they’re gone!?” Applejack was pent-up and angry.

“I’m sorry all of you. I have failed myself as a teacher and as a caretaker to you three and my students. It’s just that..when I let the kids out for recess, everyone was out running about and being chaotic, as kids are. But I heard a shriek coming from outside and when I got there…I saw these metal little things carry off the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The kids were kicking and screaming but the things were fast and strong. By the time I could run up to them, they were gone into the forest. I’m so so sorry!” Cherilee was crying and chastising herself for being so careless and useless in this situation.

Rarity, although very fearful for her little sister, composed her ladylike appearance and coaxed the crying mare.

“There there, Cherilee. I’m sure that you did everything that you could during that time. We don’t hold it against you. Rest assured, we WILL find them. I promise.”

Cherilee looked up to Rarity with the pale green eyes she had and began to calm down. Her pink striped mane was tousled from her freaking out and her face was drowned in tears.

“Yeah, we’ll get ‘em in a flash! They’ll be back before you know it!” Rainbow Dash added.

Applejack sighed and breathed in and out to lessen her anger. She looked to the teacher and gave her a warm and genuine smile. “Which way did they go?”

“That way.” Cherilee sniffed and pointed southwest.

“We’ll be back. Take care of yourself.” Rarity gave Cherilee a comb and the three Elements ran out of the door and towards the forest.

The Overlord was back to his regular old contemplation and meditation. Gnarl had meanwhile started developing plans and assignments for the Horde. He needed to get ahead with the tasking of imps to construct the castle, repair it, making or finding the stone itself, and start making furniture out of the surrounding thicket.

The Overlord was still getting mocked by that sky. He wanted to throw his hand forward and spout a stream of fire at it, setting ablaze whatever was hiding in there. He wanted to fly up there, teleport up there, he didn’t care. He just wanted to kill whatever was using him for enjoyment. He had never been this furious than when the previous Overlord dared to use him as a means of rebuilding said Overlord’s forces and resources.

He also didn’t like the fact that the Old Overlord tried to take his mistress and even destroy her when she refused to bed with him. There was one thing that he did thank the Old Overlord for though. Through his rebellion, the Old Overlord showed him which Minions were truly loyal and how loving his wife was. It proved to him that Rose was the fair and kind maiden of the land, one that he would have to take as a true woman.

Shortly after defeating his enemy, the Overlord held a wedding with Rose and consummated their romance, creating a newborn beautiful son. He just wished that he would be able to see what his heir looked like. He had felt the baby kicking in Rose’s stomach, but had never the pleasure of witnessing his son’s birth. And this was all on account of the Old Overlord and the Jester.

More scampering could be heard approaching. This time, it wasn’t just a two pairs, it was hundreds. Also, if he heard correctly, there were muffled childish screams. The large Conqueror turned and found small little horses tied up and crying. One was a normal horse, from what he saw. Another was a pegasus. He could stand that, as he never had any encounters with the beasts themselves. They lived on another land. Now, once he turned his attention to the last one, his hand came forth and flames began to brew. There, in a scout’s arms, was a unicorn. He hated unicorns. They had trampled and crippled many of his soldiers. But that wasn’t even the worst of it. The most heinous thing that the race of unicorns had done to him specifically was that they ripped his velvet red cape off and peed on said fragments.

“Master! Master!” Ten ran up to the Overlord with a big fecal-eating grin laden on his face. “We have found you fresh meat!”

Author's Note, IMPORTANT: If the above quota is not met, well, let's just say you can bid farewell to your beloved school children. We're sure these three without any markings on their rear ends will do just fine. Mwuhahahahahaha!