The Crustacean Lord

by Good Christian Ethesto

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Discord, Princess Celestia, Dark, Human, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 11883

You are the crustacean lord, commander and chief of all crustaceans. With your unstoppable crab, lobster, and shrimp army, you must prove your superiority through conquest. The ponies are in for some trouble. And make it double.

You are the crustacean lord, commander and chief of all crustaceans. With your unstoppable crab, lobster, and shrimp army, you must prove your superiority through conquest. The ponies are in for some trouble. And make it double.

Dedicated in loving memory of Irongalley who loved crustaceans. Got rest his soul.

Cover art by me (Ethesto@Deviantart)

Published 2015-04-05 13:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-04-05 13:50:01 UTC

Conquest

You are the crustacean lord, commander and chief of all crustaceans. You awoke on a random beach in this strange world a few weeks ago with no memories of the past. Naturally, you freaked out a whole lot, and you spent most of the first day doing what any sane human male would do in a situation like this. Which is to say, you laid down in the sand and pee'd straight up. The next twenty four hours passed with you basking in a pool of your own slowly-evaporating urine, contemplating what to do next.

You had an epiphany during those long hours in the sun with nothing but the smell of your own sweat and piss to keep you company. It felt like a dream, but you knew it was much more than that. It was a vision of the future. You walked in a valley, the bodies of countless innocents were left in your wake, the sheer volume of their blood creating pools and rivers that flowed across the land. Fires lit up the country side, spreading ash and choking out the sky with their smoke. You continued to wander, indifferent to the suffering and death, until the sky lit up.

You gazed up into the heavens in wonder as clouds of smoke parted to reveal the glorious figure of a giant crab. Its shell was a beautiful pearly white and it wore a white sash embroidered with detailed gold trimming. In one claw it held the skull of a unicorn, still dripping with blood, and in the other a platinum medallion on a golden chain. The great crab said no words, but in your vision, the message was quite clear.

You once again awoke on the beach, lips dry and parched. The cawing of sea gulls filled your ears as they circled overhead, waiting for you to finally stop moving so they could enjoy an easy meal. You paid them little mind as you pushed yourself up, instantly noticing the unfamiliar weight on your chest. It was the medallion from your vision, and it now hung around your neck. You took a moment to admire the care put into the crafting of such an artifact, noting all manner of crustaceans carved into its platinum surface with great detail.

Now that you knew what had to be done, you waded out into the nearby ocean up to your waist, feeling the waves crest against your body as though attempting to push you back to the beach and away from your destiny. The water soaked into your dress pants and duster, weighing you down. You stood strong, though, grasping at the medallion on your chest with one hand as the hours rolled by.

The sun had slid across the sky and was nearing the horizon by the time they arrived. You felt them on your feet and legs as they skittered past through the shallow water. You turned back to the beach, laying your eyes on them for the first time. From the very depths of the ocean emerged a swarm of millions of crustaceans of all kinds. They crawled up past the beach and onto the rolling hills, their numbers seemingly endless as they continued to emerge from the deep. You continued to watch the tide of crustaceans for hours until you couldn't stand any more.

With the last of your energy you limped back onto the beach and collapsed, tired and wet. You slept, uncaring of the millions of segmented legs crawling over your body and across the nearby sand, dreams of destruction haunting you through the night.

For the third day, you awoke on the beach, but this time you had company. You could feel them from the very moment you awoke, their presence like a tingling in the back of your mind. You pushed yourself up to your knees, looking around at the carpet of crabs, lobster, and shrimp of all types that covered everything within sight. Their numbers were without fathom, but you could feel the life force from each and every one. They stared at you with their black, soulless eyes, and you stared back. They spoke no words but you got their message quite clear, as though they were speaking directly into your mind.

You were their leader, and you would lead the crustaceans to the seat of power they so rightfully deserve. For too long they have been eaten by all manner of horrid sea creature, but that would happen no longer. Now, under your rule, they were legion, and they would take what they deserved. You could feel the desire for conquest from each and every one of them, flowing into you and burning like a massive fire. You were their leader and you would give them what they wanted. You would not let them down.

On that day you marched forth towards the mainland, not knowing what horrors awaited you there. You could only imagine the great beasts that would appose you on your quest for power. Images of dead crustaceans flashed through your mind. For the first time in your memory, you felt emotionally pained. You did not want your crustaceans to die. They had only been with you for a short time, but you already felt attached to them as though they were your children.

The crustaceans consoled you mentally, though. The simple-minded crabs shared their unconditional, almost child-like, love with you while the lobsters shared their knowledge. You learned that lobsters are immortal, their DNA does not decay over time like other animals. The most clever lobsters under your command were hundreds of years old, having survived the perils of a harsh ocean for centuries. They flocked around you, giving their wisdom and advice on all matters. Unfortunately, not even they had knowledge of the mainland.

You were completely blind in that regard, so it came as a surprise to you when you finally found a settlement just miles from the shore. It was a fairly small town and was inhabited not by beasts or vicious creatures, but tiny, colorful animals. You watched through the vision of a million crustaceans as your horde came close and the locals scurried away in fear like frightened rabbits.

You did not know what to think of these strange creatures, so you acted the way the lobsters advised. With a simple command, your horde overtook the town, running into no opposition. It was much too easy, you thought, but you weren't going to complain. So long as your babies didn't die you were happy.

The crabs and shrimp stormed the town, leaving none alive save the winged ones that fled at the first sight of your army. They feasted on everything in sight, and looted anything shiny, bringing them to you as gifts. You soon found yourself with a new horde of treasure of all kinds. You knew not what these things were, only that they looked valuable, and for some reason that seemed to fill a void in your heart that you hadn't noticed was there. They continued to pile up the treasure for hours until the town was picked clean with skill only a bottom feeder could ever replicate.

You sat atop your mound, content to watch your children as they continued to feast and celebrate their victory late into the night. They waved their claws around in a massive rave, the likes of which has never been witnessed, and you couldn't help but smile beneath your helmeted head.

Your lobsters soon informed you that this was only a beginning. They told you of the untold treasures that awaited further inland, and of the feasts your children would partake in. You knew that if all the creatures of the mainland were this weak you would have no trouble, and your crustaceans would continue to live and be happy.

So you continued on. Town after town you ransacked. Some were fairly large while others were small, but the results were always the same. In some places some of the colorful inhabitants even tried to fight back, but they were weak, and their weapons were ineffective. Their forces were quickly overwhelmed by your army, and each time all resistance was snuffed out. Not even thousands of these creatures would pose a proper threat. Even so, your lobsters taught you how to properly make use of the different species of crabs under your command in case you encountered a proper enemy in the future.

Your treasure piles continued to stack up, but the massive crabs under your command, overgrown from the surplus of food, were able to carry it all with little trouble. They made excellent laborers, not even complaining about having to carry the weight. You loved them very much.

It wasn't until the sixth town that you ever spoke to the locals. You had grown bored of simply watching as your children disemboweled them, and you were curious as to what they were and why they acted the way they did. You gave the mental command for the crabs to capture the villagers and bring them before you. You instantly noticed their garish colors, each one having a different color combination. You yourself preferred simple dark colors, such as the black of your clothes.

Unfortunately, with your loss of memory, you had no idea what to even call the things. You stepped forward to a bigger specimen that was shaking only slightly at the knees, examining it closely. You managed to quell the desire that was pooling up to squeal and clap your hands together in joy. The things were adorable, a fact that made you grind your teeth as you looked at them. They had big, cute eyes, and round wittle hooves. Some of them even wore hats and articles of clothing as though they were people. They was so adorable you just wanted to strangle each and every one of them. Squeeze their cute little heads until their eyes popped out. Make the children watch as you flayed their mothers.

Once again, you suppressed the urge. You turned and began walking away, ready to return to your wondrous bounty while letting your children feast on the cute little things, when one of them spoke up.

"Please! Why are you doing this?!" It called out in a semi-masculine voice. You were somewhat perplexed that you could understand the beast. You had yet to speak to anyone in your known memory. You turned and gave it a confused look, which was hidden behind the fierce glare of your helmet.

You worked your vocal cords, somehow recalling how to speak despite seemingly never having done it. "Excuse me?" You asked, your voice dry and deep, coming out as little more than a whisper. Clearly you needed some water.

"Why are you doing this? What did we ever do to you?"

You just stared at the thing as though it had asked the dumbest question in the world. Likely because that was a really dumb question. Why wouldn't you do this? They were just sitting here with treasure and food and no means to defend themselves. Your lobsters had taught you all about the natural order, how the strong took from the weak. These ponies were weak and you were strong, you saw no reason not to take from them.

Still, you were capable of empathy, a new emotion for you. You had learned that the vicious creatures of the sea had slaughtered your unorganized children for since before even the lobsters can remember. Now you were doing the same to these poor creatures. Perhaps, like the crustaceans, they could be your children too. You could not feel their emotions the same way you could with your real children, but maybe you could just talk to them instead. You felt excited at this new prospect, and for the first time you left the locals alive.

You had a long conversation with the one who had spoken to you and you learned much. You learned that they were called ponies. That there were three types of ponies and that they had princesses, powerful rulers, that they looked up to very much. You couldn't help but relate to the princesses despite knowing very little about them. It would seem that they are to ponies as you are to crustaceans. You couldn't wait to meet them, even if you would likely only meet them in battle, as your lobsters informed.

You also learned all about their culture. Most of it didn't make sense to you, but you listened anyway. One day these ponies would be your children, after all. At least, you hoped they would. They were grateful that you spared them, and offered a bounty of fruits, vegetables, and baked goods to your children in exchange for sparing their flesh. Your children were not happy with the gift, but they ate it anyway because you commanded them to. They loved meat, but at the end of the day they would eat just about anything you gave them.

You asked the pony to come with you, but he said he had to take care of his family. You knew you couldn't survive if separated from your family, so you let him stay. The next morning you headed off, continuing to travel towards the setting sun. You had now been traveling for over a week. You had no concept of time until the lobsters taught you all about it. You couldn't help but stare in wonder at the sun and moon as they travelled overhead. The sun hurt your eyes, though, so you didn't enjoy it as much as the moon and the stars that filled the night sky.

Your travels finally took you into a forest. You had seen plenty of trees in your travels, but these ones grew close together and seemed to go on forever. The trees hardly impeded your travel, and you found them fascinating, but you could hardly see anything through the walls of trunks. The forest seemed to stretch on forever, and you continued to travel it for days. Multiple times in your journey you had to ford small rivers, a feat which your crustaceans had no trouble doing. A swarm of crawdads and fresh-water crabs even joined your army along the way, traveling from all across the rivers to march in your ranks.

Your lobster advisors informed you that the crustaceans could only survive out of the water because of your magic. You didn't quite understand, but apparently they normally needed salt water to survive and they couldn't live in the fresh water of the rivers. They also explained that your magic was having strange effects on them, causing them to grow and become stronger. It made you proud that you were able to help your children so much, even if you didn't full understand how.

It wasn't until your third day in the forest that you began to grow tired. This constant walking every day was wearing you down, and it didn't help that your clothes were wet from the multitude of rivers and streams you had to go through. You felt your shoes wearing down from constant use, and blisters forming on your sensitive feet. You were thankful that one of your crabs has grown to the size of a small table, allowing him to easily carry you on his back. The crustaceans seemed to have an unlimited stamina, hardly growing tired even after a full days march. You decided to name him 'Hodor'. You didn't know why, but you liked the name, and naming your children had become a suitable pass time during these long, boring days.

You had already named each of your lobster advisors. There was Tony, Clamps, Tom, Steve, Hank, Bill, Ryan, Thomas, Kyle, Arnold, Tina, Sally, Frank, Patrick, Ken, Ann, Adam, Abduul, Ben, Berry, Adolph, Logan, Michael, Nicolas Cage, Ralph, Rodney, Wesley, Zach, Johnny, Hector, Greg, Paul, Stephen, Elijah Wood, Nigel, Rubin, Taylor(or Tay-tay), Wilson, Andrew Jackson, Martin luther King Junior, Obama, Tywin, Lisa, and Kevin. You doubted you had enough names to possibly name all your children, but you were damn-well going to try.

As you went along, your horde of children combed through the forest, killing and devouring any animal they came across. Even the larger ones were no match for the combined might of thousands of oversized crabs, and even the fiercest of predators were brought low. They brought you a great pile of squirrels to feast on, and you were pleased. These were fat squirrels, and their meat was succulent.

It wasn't until the beginning of the fourth day that you finally exited the forest into a great clearing. Without the abundance of trees, it was easy enough to spot the massive town in the distance. This one was definitely largest you had seen yet with buildings that seemed to reach out to the sky like angry teeth. It was daunting at first, but your crustaceans were there to assure you that everything would be fine. It was just another town like all the others, they said. There was nothing to be afraid of, they said.

Sadly, once you got close, you weren't prepared as a magical bolt flew from between the outlying buildings and arced across the sky. You followed it with your eyes, all the way 'til it came down and blew a chunk out of a large crab, easily piercing its shell and scattering its guts. You gasped in horror as a full volley of the magical bolts followed, dozens of them raining down on the tide of crustaceans that was nearing the city. You couldn't look away as the bolts incinerated your crustaceans in droves.

You felt so many emotions. Fear and pain at the forefront of your mind and a desire to pull away to avoid any more casualties nearly forcing you to pull back in a full retreat. Your children filled you with a different emotion; Anger. Their hatred was more intense than ever. You suddenly wanted nothing more than to see the ones who had killed your children shredded to pieces. Your lobsters informed you that you were too close to back out now, that the city was practically yours, so you continued with the charge.

Once you got close enough, you saw through the eyes of the crabs at the front line what you were up against. Over a hundred of the ponies, all armored and wielding spears had formed up in a defensive position between two buildings. Unicorn ponies stood in the back, firing magical bolts from their horns with startling frequency. Before long, the combat was upon them, though.

Their forces were more powerful than any other town to date, but they didn't fare any better than their predecessors. Once the crabs were upon them, the battle was over. Their huge, serrated claws made short work of the thin armor, rending the flesh beneath with ease. Like a great wave, the crabs and shrimp flowed over the defenders' ranks. They didn't stand a chance against such numbers.

Just like that the city was yours. Your children rounded up all the ponies and brought them to the center of town as you ordered them to, and the lobsters began tending to your wounded children. There were a lot more ponies than before, and you were excited to speak to one of them again. That is, until one of the ponies began yelling at you. You were confused, the pony from before never yelled at you. This one said all kinds of hurtful things, mocking you and trying to rally the rest of the ponies to its side. You were confused as you'd never encountered anything like this before.

Before long, you had all the ponies yelling at you, saying that their princesses would turn you to stone for what you've done. Your lobsters quickly came to your aid, advising you as is their duty. Kevin suggested that you just slaughter each and every one of them, but you didn't like that idea. If these ponies were to be your children, you couldn't just kill them all. These ones were hardly a threat anyway, it was their leader that was causing problems.

It was then that Nicolas Cage gave you a brilliant alternative. If you cut off their head, or killed their leader (Nicolas Cage is a very poetic lobster), then they would die. You took his advice.

With one command, Asteroth, as you named him, stepped forward. He was an absolutely massive crab, being more than twice the size of any of the ponies, and he wore a black hood, that he looted from one of the ponies' homes, over his head. Your other crabs held the crowds back as he snatched up the lead pony, holding her up in the air for all to see. They watched in horror as she screamed and kicked, trying in vain to escape the crab's clutches, but she was powerless against him.

Then, with one loud snip, his guillotine-like claws came together, severing her head from her body with a spray of blood. The rest of the ponies seemed pretty upset, but they didn't try anything after that display. You decided that this was a good strategy. If you killed off their leaders, there would be no one to turn the ponies against you, and they would grow to love you. It became clear what you had to do. You had to kill the princesses wherever they were. Then the ponies would have only you to look up to. You would rule everything. The crustaceans, the ponies, even the trees and all creatures that dwelled within would be your children.

The thought made you smile. You would be the greatest father that ever existed, but first you had to strike down the filthy princesses and anyone else who dared stand in your way. You soon realized that despite all your victories, you still lacked much information. Information the locals would be able to provide.

The ponies didn't seem too happy to tell you anything, but thankfully the will of ponies is weak, and after severing a leg or two they were always more than willing to talk. You learned much, such as where you currently were and where the princesses lived. Apparently they were nestled safe in their mountain-side city of Canterlot, sitting in their palace. The locals described it as an impenetrable city full of crystals and gold, guarded by the most well-trained ponies in all of Equestria and the princesses themselves who were supposedly some type of hybrid pony.

Your lobsters assured you that there was nothing to be afraid of, though. They said that the ponies were just trying to scare you off, and that you'd won every battle so far. Besides, you had been ransacking town after town. No doubt the ponies were hurting.

You learned that it was only about a week's travel to the capital in the heart of the country, and there were only a few towns between you and there. Even with what the locals had said, you were confident that you could overtake the capital fairly easily if you tried. The ponies had put up little fight as of yet, and you crustaceans were growing stronger each and every day. The lobsters had grown even more intelligent, some even developing magical abilities themselves. Your crabs were growing larger and more vicious, with chitiny shells and massive claws as were the shrimp. Perhaps it would take some strategy for once, but you knew you could pull this siege off. Even so, you sat down with your lobster advisers and began planning a suitable strategy. You weren't going to completely underestimate the ponies and get more of your children killed than need be.

That night, your army stripped the city bare just as they had with every city prior, but this time you took anything you thought might be useful in the coming battles. Then, in the morning, your army marched off, but in the opposite direction of Canterlot, and into the forest you had left from just the day before. You had made a show before you left, telling the equines that you had amassed enough treasure, as if you ever could, and that you would now be returning to the sea with your children.

You couldn't really tell if they were buying it or not, but you did it anyway, and the next morning you were gone. Of course, you had no intention of simply giving up on your quest for glory. You just wished for the element of surprise for once. Your crustacean horde may have been massive, but the seemingly endless forests that spread across the countryside would do well to hide it.

Once safely hidden beyond the trees, you circumvented the town, traveling on a new course to the capital. You had a map, but it wasn't particularly important seeing as you were pretty much just walking in a straight line through the forest anyway. The next week was pretty anticlimactic, and involved little more than your army marching through countless miles of foliage towards the setting sun. Your crabs slaughtered all animals in your path, and your lobsters continued to teach you all kinds of neat things. The shrimp, well, they were still being shrimp.

Eventually, one of your crab scouts spotted the Canterlot mountains in the distance, and the ornate city built onto a platform protruding from said mountains. Even from miles away, you could see how the buildings shone in the light as though they were capped with metals and gemstones. Surely there was treasure the likes of which you had never seen up there, and that just made you even more excited to start the siege. Unfortunately, the ponies would easily see your advance once you exited the trees. Day or night, a horde of crustaceans billions strong isn't very sneaky when out in the open.

You cared little, though. If your plan had worked, the equines would be unprepared for your arrival. Even if they did see through your thinly-veiled lies and had prepared their defenses, you had little doubt that your army could prevail. Under your command, your children had grown mighty, and you would not see their gifts wasted on peaceful activities. This is what they wanted, and this is what you wanted.

There existed but one town between you and the mountains. If the maps you had were any help, the town was called 'Ponyville' and was fairly tiny. You wasted no time, the second you were close enough to the tree line you ordered your army to charge. The last thing you wanted was to give the locals more time to prepare than they would already have.

In Ponyville, the ponies were going about their daily activities without a care in the world. It was another happy day, and, despite their proximity to a dangerous forest and all the disasters that happened on a near-daily basis, the locals were happy and ignorant of all danger. Needless to say, it was a surprise for them when the ground suddenly began to shake as though an earthquake was rolling through.

They ducked and hid behind anything they could to avoid falling debris, but as the quake continued on for minutes, they grew confused, and in their confusion they looked around and finally spotted the cause of the rumbling. From the tree line came a metaphorical tsunami of crustaceans, their many legs thundering against the ground in a massive stampede. The ponies did what they always do when something goes wrong, which is to say they ran around screaming before barring themselves in their homes.

Before long, the red wave of crustaceans were upon them, sweeping through the town and its lack of defenses like it was nothing. You rode in on Hodor's back, watching in boredom. Sadly, there wouldn't even be time to properly loot the place as you wanted to get to Canterlot as soon as possible. No doubt they were already becoming aware of your presence here, as the carpet of your children was fairly noticeable out in the open, even from miles away.

There were no battles as your crabs went from building to building, rounding up the inhabitants in front of a large wooden structure in the center of town. There were only a few hundred of them, none of which looked particularly threatening. Once that was all done, you wasted no time in confronting them. You had but one order of business before moving on to claim the capitol.

"Who is the leader among you?" You bellowed out, your voice deep and intimidating. Some hushed whispers went through the crowd and you say a gray and brown pony quietly arguing with another purple one near the front. After a few moments, the purple one stepped forward, holding its head high despite the fear that was clearly prevalent in its eyes. You instantly noted that this pony was different. She, as it was clearly a girl, wore a purple and gold tiara atop her head, and had both wings and a horn. You'd never seen a pony with both, but the locals had described the princesses as such. Perhaps this was one of the princesses.

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle and controller of the element of harmony," she said in a slightly shaky voice, confirming your hypothesis. You smiled under your helmet, happy to finally meet one for yourself. And here you thought they'd at least put up a fight. "What is the meaning of this? When Celestia hears about this she'll-"

"Silence!" You decided to interrupt. You weren't interested in talking to this pony. You had a siege to get to. With a mental command Asteroth lunged forward, grabbing onto the frightened pony princess and holding her down before she had a chance to react.

"Wha-what is this? What's going on?!" She shouted. The crowd was growing frantic as they watched everything unfold, but several dozen of your crabs moved forward to get them under control. The unruly were dealt with fairly easily by simply being pinned down or smacked around a bit by your childrens' massive claws. A few pegasi even took to the air, most notably a rainbow-haired one that was yelling all kinds of profanities.

Within an instant a firing squad of pistol shrimp had formed up behind you. They had grown nearly five times their original size over the past few weeks and each of their large, powerful claws had also grown. They clamped their claws together with such force that they creating bubbles of compressed air that flew forward with all the force of bullets. The volley was more than enough to knock the foolish pegasi from the air, perforating their bodies, and you watched them fall to the earth, bloodied, with sadistic glee.

Now that the crowds were in check, Asteroth held Twilight Sparkle up for all to see, her neck and belly held firmly between his two claws. She was panting and looking around frantically for some way to escape, and her horn began to light up with magic, only for Asteroth to put a bit more pressure on her throat and ruin her concentration as she began choking.

You stepped forward, managing to look into her eyes despite her elevated position. You are quite tall, after all. "I have plenty of reasons for doing this, but not the time to explain them to you," you said. "Just know that your death is important to my success. Also, that's a nice tiara."

You stepped back, seeing her staring at you with tear-filled eyes. Thankfully, you had no sympathy. This had to be done for the good of all your children. A crab scurried forth from your ranks holding up an ornate sword to you with its claws. You had looted it off one of the pony corpses in the last city you attacked. Most likely their commander, judging by how nice the blade was. It looked to be more for decoration than anything, and it was fairly small, but it was sharp, and you have strong arms.

You pulled the blade from its sheath, giving a few practice swings to test its weight before turning back to Twilight. You had already decided that it had to be you to kill the princesses. It was your duty, and it didn't feel right simply letting your crabs do all the dirty work.

"Any last words?" You questioned as you got into position to the side of her. Asteroth loosened his grip on her throat, allowing a scared sob to issue forth. Her eyes were pouring with tears now as she surely saw that this was the end and she kicked her adorable little legs out and flapped her oversized wings in a futile attempt to escape.

"P-please," she stuttered out after a few moments of panicking. "P-p-please d-don't hurt th-the rest of the p-ponies. Please!"

There was desperation behind her voice, making it clear that she cared for the locals. No wonder why she was their leader. You couldn't help but admire her a bit for that. Since that seemed like all she had to say, Asteroth tightened his grip once again causing her to choke as her head was held in place. The last thing you wanted was for her to start firing magical bolts at you.

"I wouldn't think of it, my dear. I give you my word that the rest of the town will not be harmed," you told her. It was the truth, assuming that they don't start attacking your children. In that case you'd have to give the small town the smack down it deserves.

Without another word you pulled your sword back, and swung it overhead in an arc, directly down on Twilight's exposed neck. The thin blade proved more than capable of rending flesh, and you managed to slice through most of her neck in one clean cut. Her head hung off, connected only by a thin strand of meat, and it was hemorrhaging blood everywhere. You brought your blade back again, delivering a second swipe and fully severing the head of the princess pony. It fell to the ground with a thump, its lifeless eyes staring out into space.

Asteroth hefted up the body in clear view of the entire crowd, swinging it around like some kind of trophy. The ponies stared in horror, most crying and screaming about something or another, but none acting against your superior army. After showing off his prize, Asteroth began feasting on the pony corpse's open neck stump, dislodging a long strand of flesh with his jaws.

You ignored the display, uncaring or ignorant of the emotional scars the public execution would inflict on the local populace. All you cared about was your goal. You picked the tiara off the ground, wiping some blood off its shiny surface as you admired the craftsmanship of the artifact. No doubt there would be even greater treasures awaiting you in Canterlot. You were so excited, you could hardly wait.

You turned back to your crustaceans who had taken up waving their claws in a victory dance as they feasted on all types of foods that had been left out in stands at the market. You hated to interrupt your children's fun, but it was time to get down to business. With a mental command, the entirety of your army turned and started heading towards the mountains that were only a few miles away. You elected to walk along side them, too excited to sit still at the moment.

As you walked, you inspected the palace as best you could. It definitely did look fairly hard to assault as it was built on a stone platform extending out from more than half way up the mountain. It wasn't much of a city, and you doubted it was significantly larger than any of the towns you had assaulted in the past few weeks. From what you could tell, it was mostly a palace, surrounded by a tiny city, surrounded by walls. You had no way to gauge the strength or height of the walls from so far away, so you elected to just let your lobsters puzzle it out.

The main problem would be getting to the city itself. From what you could tell there were only two ways up. One was a train track that led through several tunnels and up into the city itself. You doubted that you could even use that way to get in, as you could only imagine that a small tunnel would be an easy spot to defend.

The other way was up a cobblestone path that led up the mountain. It was fairly wide, able to easily let two or three carts up side-by-side, but it would still bottleneck your forces. Unfortunately, you had no other alternatives. This would be much easier if you had some siege weaponry as you could simply blast the city from afar, but, alas, your army was too simple-minded to build and work such things without your constant support. You would just have to rely on using your crustaceans to their full potential, and not on their numbers alone. You did have at least a few tricks up your sleeve.

Once you reached the base of the mountain, your army funneled its way onto the dirt road. Considering the size of your army, your numbers stretching on as far as the eye could see, only a small fraction of your army was able to even go up the ramp. Even so, you organized them allowing the essential forces to scale the mountain first. The hike lasted over an hour, and you were getting finicky at how vulnerable your army was on the path.

Thankfully, you were only attacked once during the whole trip. A squad consisting of several dozen pegasi swooped in and began raining arrows down on your children. They quickly pulled away when your pistol shrimp returned fire, though. It would seen the cowardly ponies were going to hide behind their wall instead of attempting to take your forces head on. You couldn't blame them. You had expected the road to be blocked, or perhaps for an ambush to have been set for you, but there was nothing. Perhaps you actually did manage to take them by surprise, or maybe the ponies just weren't very good at strategy. Either way, you weren't complaining.

Eventually you got to the end of the road and saw what you were working with. The road widened as it got closer to the gate, the platform that the city was built on extending out further than the walls on this side. You couldn't help but smile at that. It wasn't a lot of space, but it was better than being confined to the comparatively-thin road. About a hundred meters past where the road ended was the wall, a sturdy-looking structure made from what appeared to be white marble bricks. It rose up at least forty feet, looking fairly daunting from your position.

At the center of the length of wall, directly in front of you, was a huge gate composed to wooden double-doors reinforced with iron bars and situated on heavy, metal hinges. The top of the gate, as well as a few key points on the wall had round bartizans extending outwards, giving even more surface area for guards. The battlements themselves atop the wall were packed with armored ponies. With your keen eyesight you could see what looked like heavily-armored earth ponies wielding all manner of melee weapons in their fetlock grip. All around them were hundreds more unicorn and pegasi guards that were wearing lighter armor. The pegasi themselves held bows and slings in their hooves while the unicorns would likely rely on their magic.

You couldn't help but feel a tad bit intimidated by the defense. Clearly there was some truth to the ponies' claims that this place was an impenetrable fortress. You were going to put the 'impenetrable' part to the test today, though. Despite your nervousness, your crustaceans were eager to begin the battle, and you weren't going to keep them waiting.

With a command, several hundred oversized shrimp ran forward from your ranks, charging headlong at the wall. Almost instantly the pony forces reacted. A hail of arrows, rocks, and magical bolts rained down on the charging shrimp, impaling, crushing, and blowing the majority of them into tiny bits. The magical bolts exploded on contact to the ground, killing them in droves. Within moments most of them were dead, and only a few of the shrimp even made it to the wall before being picked off.

You hated sacrificing your children like this, but shrimp are the lowliest of your army, so it's better them than others. Besides, you were able to gauge the strength of their defenses. It was clear that simply running headlong into the wall with your superior numbers would result in massive casualties. You had little doubt you could eventually overtake their forces, but it would come at such a price...

No, you would just have to use some tactics for once. You were equal parts glad to have a challenge and annoyed that more of your children would die than in any other battle. Overall, your desire to conquer these creatures for your children and claim them as your own won out over any other thoughts, and you gave the orders for the second wave to get ready.

Your crabs parted as the armored division scuttled past. Eventually, several dozen horseshoe crabs made it to the front ranks and began forming up in a phalanx formation, their wide shells overlapping. Each one was well over six-feet across, and their shells had grown both wide and thick. Underneath the exoskeleton canopy, hundreds of pistol shrimp lined up, being protected by the armor overhead. Once they were in position, the formation moved forward, instantly being beset by projectiles.

Hundreds of arrows and stones rained down upon the attackers, having little affect against the thick armor, while the high-explosive magic bolts did little more than chip out pieces off the horseshoe crabs' thick hides. As the armored devision got closer, some of the ponies switched up their tactics, opting to instead shoot fireballs down at the attackers while several pegasi tossed what seemed to be essentially molotov cocktails from the wall. The fire had little affect against the thick shells of the crabs, leaving scant more than scorch marks where they struck at.

Several of the molotov cocktails landed on the ground in front of the crabs' slow charge, leaving burning pitch in their path. As they scuttled over the flaming patches their undersides were immolated and the shrimp beneath them were set ablaze. Several of your horseshoe crabs were already cloaked in flames before you gave the order for them to split up into multiple groups. From there, they managed to avoid most of the burning patches as they neared the wall.

It was then that the ponies tried yet another strategy. Out of nowhere a fairly large stone, easily the size of one of the ponies, was lifted in a magical aura and hurled over the edge of the wall, landing perfectly atop one of the crabs. Not even its thick shell could protect it as it was suddenly crushed by the heavy projectile. A few more of the boulders followed after, being thrown with varying degrees of accuracy.

Even with the barrage, the majority of your crabs made it to the wall relatively unharmed and once they were about fifteen meters from the wall they stopped. The pistol shrimp underneath instantly scattered, leaving the cover to return fire on the guards above. Their claws snapped with resounding cracks, sending pressurized air up the hypotenuse towards the top of the wall and directly at the guards.

The first volley was met with a chorus of screams as the projectiles struck their marks on the thinly-armored unicorns and pegasi, leaving dents in the thin metal plates and grievous wounds in any unprotected areas. The ponies' massive eyes were especially vulnerable, and many were on the receiving end of the shrimps' barrage. The dirt ponies quickly raised their shields, forming up to protect the others, their heavy armor able to protect them from the majority of the attacks.

It wasn't long before the unicorns and pegasi were able to recover from the surprise attack and they ducked below the parapets or behind their fellow ponies for protection before returning fire. Now that the pistol shrimp were out in the open, they were exposed, and took heavy casualties as the two groups exchanged fire back and forth. They had already done their jobs, though, and were managing to keep the defenders pinned down.

The ponies up on the wall were still shooting arrows, rocks, and magical attacks down on your crustaceans, but their aim and rate of fire had drastically decreased now that they had to protect themselves as well. You took this opportunity to send the next round of attackers in. As of right now, your primary goal was to breach the walls one way or another. If you could get inside you had little doubt the brute force of your crabs could overwhelm the guards.

A group of what would appear, to the untrained observer, to be a simple horde rushed forward next, but they each had their part to play. The slightly smaller ghost crabs ran ahead at mind boggling speeds, reaching the base of the wall in seconds. Without being the primary focus of the ponies, they were able to begin digging holes near the base of the wall. Their small claws acted like shovels as they bore into the ground.

Close behind them were a wave of pistol and mantis shrimp. The pistol shrimp reinforced the dwindling lines returning fire to the walls while the mantis shrimp rushed the gate, their garish colors making them easily identifiable. Pilling on top of each other, they began lashing out at the gate with their club-like claws. They may have been fairly small, but they a huge punch, and each acted like a miniature battering ram. They continued punching away at the wall, leaving dents in the metal and splintering the wood.

Next came a wave of slower spider crabs, crawling sideways across the battlefield with their insanely long legs. They strutted over the other crustaceans, making their way to the wall. Many were blown to chunks and filled with arrows on the way as they lacked the thicker shells of some of their crab comrades making them vulnerable. Once they reached the wall, they began scaling its surface as best they could with their long legs. The sharp, curved tips of their segmented appendages providing purchase on the bricks and allowing them to hold on as more spider crabs crawled over them creating ladders of bodies that were slowly stretching towards the top of the wall.

You smiled to yourself, seeing that things were going as planned. You could mourn the deaths of countless crustaceans later, for you had a battle to win right now. Once the spider crabs got close to the top, the bulkier 'battle' crabs, as you dubbed them, could move in. In actuality, they were a combination of many types of crabs, but they all served a similar purpose.

Lines of crustaceans continued crawling towards the front lines, each doing their job in some way. The lobsters hung back for the time being. Many of the more intelligent ones had learned how to use their newfound magical abilities, harnessing the magical fields with their claws in much the same way as unicorns did with their horns. They would be useful, but you didn't wish to throw them away on the front lines as they weren't nearly expendable enough for that.

The battle waged on like that for over a half an hour, each side returning fire. Already, hundreds of your crustaceans had been killed in the attack, but they were almost instantly replaced by their brothers. Their corpses littered the ground, skewered by arrows, crushed and bludgeoned by stones, or torn apart by magic. Unfortunately for the ponies, they didn't have the numbers that you had, and the stacking numbers of casualties and injuries on the wall from constant pistol shrimp volleys were starting to wear them down. They could not easily reinforce the battlements with new soldiers and, if the decreasing amount of magical attacks was any indication, the unicorns were quickly growing tired. You knew very little about magic, other than what you had gleaned from the ponies during your interrogation, but you did know that it was tiring to use continually.

The wearing down of the forces on the wall also meant that they were able to focus less and less on your spider crabs that were scaling its surface. The unicorns had made several attempts at stopping their ascent by both dropping stones and fireballs on them with varying success, but now they had all but stopped. The spider crabs simply climbed over the corpses of their brethren, and, as you watched, one of the groups of spider crabs had managed to make it all the way to the top, leaving a huge pile of bodies leading to the ground below.

The ones on top of the pile were quickly hacked away by the dirt ponies on the wall, but it didn't matter. Their corpses completed the pile as easily as their living bodies did. With a mental command a wave of crabs rushed forward, their claws raised and clacking loudly in their version of a battle shout. They climbed over the other crustaceans on the field without trouble and they were soon scaling the pile of spider crabs.

The dirt ponies on the wall were already surrounding the area, weapons at the ready. The first few crabs were instantly hacked apart as they made it to the top, only to be replaced by more and more crabs. They crawled over each other in a mad dash to the top, unafraid of the weapons being swung at them. It wasn't long before they managed to get all the way up, bringing the fight to the defenders. Despite the earth ponies' apparent strength and armor, your huge crabs, with their superior numbers, were able to match them now that they were on fairly even ground.

The melee continued as more earth ponies rushed in to support their friends, and more crabs climbed up to meet them. You turned your attention to the gate, only to see that the bottom few feet of the massive door had been turned to splinters. The continual pounding of hundreds of mantis shrimp proved to be more than a match for even the magically-reinforced wood. You may not have destroyed the entire gate, but a few feet was more than a enough room for your smaller crustaceans.

You ordered your mantis shrimp back slightly, expecting that the other side of the gate was likely already guarded by ranks of armed ponies. Instead of just sending them in, you sent in a new group of crustaceans. Lobsters, these ones not much larger than your huge shrimp, ran forward. They were a special devision of lobsters. The word 'special' being used because they were the ones with mental disabilities. With neither strength nor intelligence to aide them, you had trouble imagining their usefulness. Thankfully, you came up with something.

Tied to the backs of each of the lobsters was an improvised explosive, being little more than a cloth-wrapped tube full of some black, explosive powder you had commandeered in the last city you raided. The front end of the improvised explosives had a fuse stuck into it, and each of the lobsters held a match box in their claws. With a final command they lit the fuses before rushing through the gap at the bottom of the gate.

You watched through the lobsters' eyes as they scuttled under the gate and instantly ran into a wall of armed ponies. The front line of ponies lashed out at them, only to be met by a multitude of tiny explosions. The explosives weren't particularly powerful, but the amount of explosions was easily enough to blow the front two lines of ponies into tiny pieces and fill even more with shrapnel.

As soon as the last explosion ended, your mantis shrimp went through the breach, running through the smoke and gore with murder in their superior-color-visualizing-eyes. The club-clawed shrimp had been bolstered by hundreds more mantis shrimp that instead had sharp claws that they used like daggers.

The ponies were still coughing and trying to catch their bearings when a wave of angry shrimp came down upon them. They lashed out with their claws doing more damage than a creature of that size had any right to, and felled many of the ponies before they were able to do anything, before a magical barrier formed in front of them, blocking them from continuing their aggression. It formed a semi-circle, around the sundered gate, preventing any of your forces from circumventing it.  The shrimp attacked the magical wall, but it gave no signs of breaking, being powered by a large group of unicorns at the back of the pony formation.

With the crabs on the wall occupied with their deadly melee against the many pony soldiers, and your forces at the gate blocked out, your hope now went towards the ghost crabs that were burrowing under the wall with resounding speed. They worked in teams, making the tunnels wide enough while also removing any excess dirt. Within a few minutes a few of the groups had made it to the other side of the wall, dislodging rocks as they exited on a cobblestone road.

You were pleased to find that the holes weren't instantly noticed by the surplus of pony guards along the ramparts, as they were seemingly focused on the attacks already going on on two fronts. Your ghost crabs cleared out of the way, allowing thousands of tiny, red shrimp to pour through the tunnels. They emerged on the other side of the wall, their numbers making a red carpet across the streets. By now the ponies had noticed, and a large number of guards moved in to attack them in whatever way they could.

You were finally able to properly gauge the number of pony guards, finding that their forces only numbered a few thousand at best. Most were occupied on the wall, while several hundred more made a tight formation on the other side of the magical shield. A large group of them peeled off along with any others that weren't immediately busy and met the shrimp in combat. They swung their weapons haphazardly and stomped around, crushing the shrimp in droves. For their part, the shrimp climbed all over the guards, using their tiny claws to mutilate any flesh not covered by the armor.

The guards screamed and rolled as they were completely covered by hundreds of the tiny crustaceans, their flesh being stripped bare in a matter of seconds. Several unicorns joined the defense, their horns lighting up and spewing streams of fire into the seemingly endless ranks of shrimp, immolating hundreds at a time. The ponies did their best to cover the holes to prevent the tide of reinforcements. Pegasi flew overhead, dropping as big of rocks as they could hold into the openings while unicorns attempted to levitate their own rocks over.

Some holes were completely blocked, but a the same time, more holes opened up as more teams of ghost crabs finished their work. Before long, small crabs and crawdads joined the shrimp in the fray, the many ponies doing their best to fight off the swarm of intruders without being stripped to pieces by the thousands of tiny claws.

  The ponies managed to hold for now, but you knew that their dwindling forces couldn't hold out forever. Already their numbers were being thinned out, and it wouldn't be long before they were completely overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of your crustaceans. More of your spider crab ladders had managed to scale the wall during this, allowing even more crabs up.

The ponies on the ramparts were already being overrun. With their fall your battle crabs could move in and and assist your other forces in the taking of the gates, and then the city was as good as yours. You couldn't help but feel a bit smug despite all the death that was going on. Things were going along nicely. At this rate you'd be sitting on a throne of treasure in the palace in but a few hours.

Your brief fantasies were interrupted as a bright light shone from the ramparts, consuming over twenty of your battle crabs in its glow. You had to turn away as it continued to glow brighter and brighter. Then, after a few seconds, it dissipated, leaving piles of ash where your crabs used to be. It was then that you saw the biggest pony yet. It was large and white, floating in the air with the aide of two swan-like wings. Its mane and tail flowed in the breeze, looking to be made of magical light as appose to actual hair, and its horn was aglow with a golden aura. You briefly made eye contact with it from your spot far outside the walls before it turned and began blasting away several more battle crabs with its magic. It wasn't hard to deduce that this was another one of the princesses.

As it, or rather, she, continued to burn away your crabs, the ponies started pulling back. They ran down the stairs on the inside of the wall and onto the main street. Before long, all the guards were in full retreat, and the princess flew after them. The magical shield around the gate dissipated, and your crustaceans entered the city unopposed. Your forces briefly chased after them, but most of the ponies were able to outrun them with little problem, their adrenaline giving them strength. Only the wounded were intercepted as they weren't able to flee quickly enough, and they were torn to shreds and devoured.

It would seem that they were regrouping at the palace. You were slightly annoyed by their cowardly strategy, but at least the city was yours now. You had little doubt that you could take the palace too, especially with the ponies' diminished numbers. The main thing that you were worried about was the princesses. You had only briefly seen one in combat, and its powerful magic had dispatched dozens of your crabs. According to the ponies, there were actually several of the princesses, leaving you worried that you had yet to take everything that the ponies could throw at you.

Either way, you weren't going to be cowed so easily. Your forces pushed the gates open, now entering the city hundreds at a time. Your horde flooded through the streets unopposed. You admired the architecture as you walked, noting the precious minerals, metals, and gems built into the walls in decorative patterns on some of the more important looking buildings. In fact, pretty much everything was overly decorated. And colorful... You would enjoy stripping all these garish structures down and adding their contents to your ever-growing treasure pile, but that could wait for the time being. You wanted to mobilize at the palace and start the assault as soon as possible. No doubt the ponies were already preparing their defenses and it would surely pay to give them as little time as possible.

Once you got within a few blocks of the palace you began examining every aspect of it, trying to think up a proper strategy for assaulting the place. It looked more decorative than anything, being made mostly with a similar white marble to the walls but with decorative, gold trimming. Instead of being surrounded by walls, it simply had a tall, golden gate separating it from the city. The palace itself hardly seemed fortified, either. It was composed mostly of a bunch of tall spires built atop a main building which had an abundance of windows and a fairly non-fortified wooden door. Now you really wished you had some siege equipment. Knocking down the spindly-looking towers would bring great joy to your heart.

No matter where you looked there was no sign of any ponies. You sighed to yourself, realizing that they had likely retreated here to hull themselves up. No doubt the remaining guards were all bottled up in the entrance, waiting to slaughter any crustaceans that entered in a deadly crossfire from their easily defended position. Sadly, there wasn't really any alternative at the moment. You had to strike now while the guards were tired out, otherwise things would be even more difficult. You could probably find another way in, but that would take time. Besides, the ponies probably had a secret escape hatch or something and if you left them alone for too long they'd run away. The last thing you needed was an army of pony rebels running rampant through your newly-conquered empire.

You continued to contemplate your strategy as you got closer to the palace, when the front doors slid open and a single guard pony walked out. It was a unicorn, and he was waving a white flag around in his magic-grip. You couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Apparently the ponies were surrendering or something. At least, that's what the lobsters said the white flag was for. You ordered for your army to make way for the messenger, allowing him to walk out, past the palace and towards where you were standing.

It wasn't hard to spot you among the crowd of crustaceans as you were fairly tall and your black suit made you stand out against the sea of red chitin. He walked towards you on shaky legs, head held high and eyes locked on you as he continued to wave his flag. Once he got within speaking distance he stopped, standing straight and willing his legs to stop shaking. You matched his stare with your own, though your hawk-like eyes were blocked by your helmet.

"You are the leader of this army, correct?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"I am," you responded.

"Princess Celestia wishes to offer you a chance to surrender. She doesn't want any more unnecessary fighting, and is willing to discuss the terms for your immediate retreat." You were confused by this. She was offering you a chance to surrender?

You laughed, feeling all the more confident in your victory. Clearly this princess was bluffing. "Little pony, go tell your princess it's her head I'm after. Should she turn herself over I'm willing to spare all your lives." The pony looked hesitant to leave, having clearly failed at negotiations, so you decided to give him some incentive. "You can tell her, or I can kill you and tell her myself."

He nodded and trotted away, clearly not liking the second option very much. You figured this was likely just a ploy to buy some time, and decided not to offer them any more. You were going to continue the siege even with the risks.

You gave a mental command, and your legion of magical lobsters scurried to the front of the horde. Their claws lit up with reddish light as they began channeling their energy into offensive spells. On your mark, they fired a volley of several hundred magical bolts. Simple as the spells were, they were sure to do some damage to the flimsy defenses. As they struck the golden fence, however, the shots were deflected, their power dissipating as various moon runes lit up along the walls.

"That won't work, you know," said someone from just above, startling you as you turned your head. There you saw a strange-looking creature, clearly some kind of chimera, just floating in the air as if by magic. "The palace is protected against magical attacks."

"Who are you?" You asked, skipping any formalities.

"Straight to the point, I see," he chuckled, "I'm Discord, the incarnation of chaos. Though your ranks seem surprisingly devoid of chaos, you are rather entertaining to watch. Even so, I've grown rather fond of these ponies, and it wouldn't be in my interest for a new power to take control. Besides, Celestia offered me more freedoms in exchange for my help, and I just can't say no to her." He explained, still floating lazily in the air. "But enough about that, I suppose it's time for me to deal with you."

With lightning speed, it shot up into the air, firing some kind of spell from its claw tips. Thankfully, the lobsters nearby were ready for this, and had already cast basic shielding spells, deflecting the offensive magic into the nearby ranks of crabs. They were seemingly electrocuted, before they started going crazy. You could feel their tiny minds filling with confusion as they began turning on their allies, and all around you a brawl broke out as crustaceans attacked crustaceans.

"Hahaha," chucked Discord from above, "how easy it is to alter the minds of such weak-willed creatures. Surely you can already see that your army doesn't stand a chance against my power."

You gave him a harsh glare, before turning back to your crabs. You didn't have time to deal with this, you had a palace to take. You focused, your will overtaking that of your crabs as you commanded them to stop, and they immediately went silent, following their master's instructions without delay. You realized then and there that as long as you gave the crabs an order, this Discord would have no control over them, so you instructed them to begin the siege.

As one, the army marched forward, converging on the golden fence, easily tearing it down as though it was made of wire. You turned back, seeing Discord looking confused that his magic wasn't having any effect.

"What's the matter? Is that all it takes to put a wrench in your plans?" You asked, pride filling your voice.

He turned and scowled back at you, clearly annoyed that his tricks weren't very effective. "Well, no matter I suppose I'll have to settle things in a more personal manner. I didn't want to get my hands dirty, but I can't have you ruining all my future plans to sow chaos, now can I?" As he finished, his body started growing, and he took a more beast-like appearance. Within a few moments, he was as large as a dragon, and looked equally menacing.

With a roar, he fell to the ground nearby, crushing a squad of crustaceans under his claws. "I'll just have to destroy your army the old fashion way," he yelled, his voice having changed with his body.

Once again, Discord had underestimated your children, and you'd be sure to make him pay for it. With a simple command, the horde converged on him, grasping for purchase anywhere on his hide to hold him down. He struggled and writhed, killing droves of them, but they did their job. You could hear the very ground shaking as your secret weapon charged through the city heading straight for discord. Discord turned his head just in time to see a gargantuan crab, easily the size of a pair of school buses, crash through a nearby building. he tried to pull away, but the crabs held him down just long enough for the massive crab to grasp onto him with it's car-sized claws.

Then, with tremendous strength, it pushed down simultaneously with all its legs, launching itself and discord up into the air. With swan like grace it pulled Discord close before flipping 180 in the air. Discord hardly had time to shout before he was supplexed head-first into the pavement. The ground heaved and cracked as their combined weight came down, followed by a tremendous crack as Discord's neck snapped clean in half. After a few minutes the dust cleared, and the devastation was apparent. The giant crab clawed its way from the smoking crater, leaving Discord's broken husk behind.

After getting up, the gargantuan crab waved its claws in victory, before scampering off to rest. It had done its job, and the rest of your army could easily handle it from here. You marched forward, catching up the the front line as it was already beginning to tear through the gate. It was only a matter of minutes until the various units had turned the gate to mulch, and with confidence born of victory, you strode in yourself, surrounded by a contingent of lobsters.

There you spotted Celestia, standing behind the ranks of guards that made a half circle around the door. "Forfeit your defense," you commanded. "This battle is already decided."

Celestia's eyes narrowed as she leveled her horn at you. "I'll never surrender to the likes of you. And you've so foolishly made yourself vulnerable. It's clear that you're the head of this dark army, without you it'll just as soon fall apart."

"Hm," you chuckled, realizing the position you were in, "well played, princess."

Her brow remained furrowed as she gave the command to fire, hundreds of bolts of both magic and wood flying at you, but you'd prepared for that before you came inside. In unison, your lobsters released the spell they were holding creating several layers of a repulsing shield that reflected the projectiles. Celestia's eyes widened, realizing all too late her mistake.

In such a packed room, the projectiles wreaked havoc on the defending ponies, the explosive blasts of magic tearing them apart and blasting pieces from the ceiling. Their previously-organized defense was utter chaos, and hardly stood a chance as hundreds of crabs stormed in through the door and swept through their ranks. Within minutes it was over, and you were standing on a pile of carnage, the distinct form of Celestia in the midst of it.

As the battle ended, you couldn't help but smile to yourself as you took a seat on a massive throne in the main room of the palace. Already the crabs were piling all kinds of priceless treasures around you, filling you with glee as you gazed upon your vast wealth. But it wasn't until they found and brought in a large map that your interest was piqued.

According to that, the lands you had lain claim to over the past three weeks made up but a fraction of the continent, and there were others beyond the sea as well. You realized then that you had a long road ahead of you, taking over the world, but with your crustacean army, no one could possibly stop you. Even then, you were also curious, and hoped to perhaps spend some time experimenting with pony-crustacean breeding. Any further thought on the topic was interrupted as a new character stepped its way through a side door, looking drowsy as it came into the throne room.

"What'd I miss?" asked Princess Luna.