Chronicles of an Evil Overlord

by Melancholy

Rule 87

Domination of Equestria - T+48 days.

“Now, if you look here Supremeness, figure one here clearly shows the benefits of the new route on guard patrol efficiencies. Patrol routes in the area can be cut down by four minutes due to not having to backtrack from the Solar Furnace, instead they can loop through the chamber.”

“Indeed your Overlordness, not only that, but you can reinvest that time elsewhere in the castle! By having guards come off shift four minutes early, by the end of the week that adds up to a whole half an extra shifts worth of time, as demonstrated here by figure two.”

“Quite right brother mine! And with that extra half a shift you can reduce the number of bureaucratic staff in the public areas of the castle. And with them freed up…”

“You’ll be processing paperwork at an expected 12% speed increase! Very important for the nascent totalitarian government!”

“Excellent point! And here’s another, with properly installed Flim-Flam highrise walkways in your castle, you can save even more time by not having to cover those giant vats of burning hot plasma!”

“Quite so! See here in figure 5-”

“Enough! Take these two imbeciles outside and shoot them.”

“What?”
“Huh?”

“No, even better. Throw them in the plasma storage tanks and record the whole thing. You can use it in the training videos.”

Overlord Rule No:87 My vats of hazardous chemicals will be covered when not in use. Also, I will not construct walkways above them.

Comments

[HoneyBadgerr]

I almost feel sorry for Flim and Flam.

Almost.

[cyberlord4444]

6502164 What I want to know was what made them think it was a good idea?

[Pentel123]

Interesting question thought,

Does it benefit an evil overload to have a slightly inefficient government, outside of the military, in order to ensure more people are employed and thus having less time to devote to rebellion?

OR does improced effieceny mean the ability to hold events and give tax breaks thereby making your rule more enjoyable for the common pony thus making them less inclined to join an attempted uprising.

Furthermore, does is benefit an evil overlord to allow local elections in loyal areas to give the people an illusion of choice, or does that breed unhealthy thoughts of democracy?

[sinatra45]

6502274
The correct answer is WHY HAVEN'T MY GUARDS TAKEN YOU AWAY YET?!?!

[howard035]

6502274 I feel like an Evil Equestrian Overlord wrestled with those questions long ago, and consistently chose the pragmatic non-evil option time and time again, without realizing it had made her go soft....

You can guess who I'm referring to, right?

[grievousrommel]

6502328 Yes......it was the cake.

[Eonflare]

If said things never had to be opened, then it probably be better in the long run to do that as long as you had the proper safety features.

[Leonzilla]

Safety over efficiency,

Better do things right than to do things fast.

The thought of reducing seemingly redundant efforts might sound tempting; but if it comes at the cost of possibly compromising the safety of facilities and resources, then you might want to dodge that bullet.

~Leonzilla

[C197]

To hell with just saying, "no" to a stupid idea, eh?

[mastermenthe]

I love how it is left unexplained if the Overlord is or isn't a pony.

[PonyAmorous]

6502274
Well if you need to keep employment up, your all consuming military industrial complex is pretty good for that. Always room for more storm troopers, and it's a great way to gain important job skills and gain money for college.

As for local governing, I say stick with governors appointed by your military command structure, but make it a very open meritocracy. Essentially a giant civil service. Even the lowliest of common ponies can enlist in the army and get promoted to a position of power if they show the right competency for the job.

[garfan]

with no walkways above them how can you tell how well they're covered

[Dastardly Hun]

6504724
Just put the walkways in a way they won't be above the vats, but more to the side. That way you can still look down on the cover, and don't have to worry about the catwalk falling into/onto the killy-stuff.

[Kage no Brony]

6505779

And then you get into close combat on the walkway and your enemy throws you off.

[Scornas]

6507428
and you brake your neck from the fall

[WorldWalker128]

6502164
I don't. At all. Their inventions have merit, but they're annoying twits.

[msgunner501]

Most fanfics I read usually end with the Flim Flam brothers having something like this happen to them. I like them and find them hilarious but it fits them to have these kind of things happen to them (even if most of the inventions they make work really well, they are still charismatic scammers).

[erictheblue]

reminds me of a gag in the online comic "antihero for hire", where two women were getting ready to fight on a catwalk above some acid tanks...which were EMPTY!
"i guess they took the stuff with them before they abandoned the place."