Sunset and the others were all done with their check-ups at the hospital. While they were all waiting for Frosty's diagnosis on the Summerstar's repairs, many of them decided to spread out across town. Sunset Shimmer and King Craw were sitting together on the roof of a five-story building, underneath a tarp to avoid drawing attention to the latter, who was in his true form.
"Craw, I'd just like to thank you again for helping me and my friends on the Summerstar." said Sunset. "That was very sweet of you."
"I knew you would think that." grinned Craw.
"So, are you going to just fly off and disappear to Celestia-knows-where again?" asked Sunset.
"Against my better judgement." sighed Craw.
"Well, you really don't have to go." said Sunset. "Why don't you stay with me and my family?"
Craw's red eyes widened.
"Are you daft?" he said, confused. "How would they ever accept me? How would any of your friends or family accept me? Not only am I a Changeling, but...but I tried to kill you and them at least once. And all the implications that arise from--"
"It's okay, honey." said Sunset. "I could vouch for you. Plus, we live at a big mansion near Vanhoover. Lots of rooms for you to sleep in."
"I don't know, Sunset. I've actually gotten used to my...nomadic lifestyle." said Craw. "It's simply not in a Changeling's nature to just settle down in one place for very long. We are always hungry, my little pony. Hungry for love, for affection, and so on."
"So you say you won't find love or affection with me...your own girlfriend?" Sunset tilted her head.
"Well...I didn't say that." Craw stammered, and his face seemed to turn a hue of dark green for a moment.
"Gosh, Craw." said Sunset. "Are you...blushing?"
"Uh..."
"So the big bad warrior-bug is actually shy around little fillies?"
"Sunset..." Craw started to chuckle. "I wouldn't recommend it. There's a reason why I try to stay with you for too long."
"Really? And what's that?"
"You told me you're not too familiar with the mating rituals of Changelings." said Craw. "Well, here's one detail I think I could explain. Changelings feed off of love. But there have been stories about Changelings that have grown so reliant on a single source of love that they...develop an addiction to it. That they just can't live without that one source."
"Love sickness." commented Sunset.
"More or less." said Craw. "I always thought it was a rumor passed down to the drones to encourage them to share love with their peers instead of hoarding it to themselves. But ever since I...absorbed your love in Umbriel's Vanhoover stronghold, I..."
He began to excrete sweat.
"I just couldn't stop thinking about you, my lady." he said, heavily. "I never felt so much love in a single pony. And without any other Changelings to share that love with...I couldn't get over you, no matter how much I tried. I actually believe I'm succumbing to this...'love sickness'."
He started to pant frantically. Sweat was dribbling from his chitinous head. His heart was pounding against his ribs. How it hurt him! The longer he looked into Sunset's eyes, or studied the golden-furred equine face that they were embedded in, the more his heart jerked back and forth.
"Craw, just take a deep breath and relax." Sunset told him. "You'll be fine..."
Craw obediently froze in place. Then he tipped over and laid down on his side.
At that moment, they saw Golden Sun walking down the street below.
"Let's talk about this later, okay?" asked Sunset. "Just take it easy, and you'll be okay. Maybe someone at the University of Baltimare could explain what's the deal with you."
"Very well." said Craw, nodding mechanically.
Sunset teleported down to her father.
"Whoo! Where'd you spring from?!" Golden Sun exclaimed, with a leap.
"Sorry, dad." said Sunset. "I was wondering if you and I could go for a walk. You know, show me around town."
"Definitely." said Golden Sun, smiling. "That sounds like a great idea. A little father/daughter quality time? Why didn't I think of it before?"
The Red Rippers and their new accomplice boarded the powerboat, and sped hastily down the river, away from the ferocious monstrosity in the water. They were able to make it a quarter of a mile, before three long tendrils rose from the shore where the sea monster attacked them. They simmered in the sunlight, lashing side-to-side like gigantic whips. Suddenly, the tendrils shot clear out of the water and crashed onto the shoreline. From what the templars could make out, it seemed two of them began to bore themselves into the earth, while the third dove into the water in pursuit of the powerboat.
"What the heck's going on?!" one of the templars exclaimed.
"Mmmmm....probably something bad." said the gremlin. "But even I don't need to tell you that."
A submerged red light was speeding towards them like a torpedo.
"Hostile on the keel-side!" shouted Sgt. Crude. "Blow that thing straight to the Great Abyss!"
The zebra templar set up the salvaged turret on the back of the boat, and loaded it with what ammunition they had. He began cranking the handle on the side, and the gun started to slowly pop off one shot after another. But between its relative swiftness and the delay between each gunshot, the light was dodging every projectile fired at it. Another templar started lighting sticks of dynamite and tossing them into the water in the boat's wake. Fountains spouted where the explosives detonated, creating deposits of froth and steam behind them. But there was no telling if any of them were able to hit the creature in the water.
"Hold it! Hold it!" Crude shouted at the bomber. "You're just going to make it harder for us to see that thing!"
"Yes, sir!" said the templar.
"It's still after us, sarge!" said the zebra templar. "And I only got me twelve rounds left in this here ammo belt!"
"Conserve your shots, Zak!" said Crude. "Make sure you have it in your sights before you fire again!"
"Got it, mon!" said Zak, nodding hastily, as he adjusted the turret.
But even as he did so, the red light came closer, before rising out of the water as a long, black serpent-like creature. It had winding metal teeth that seem to rotate back and forth, clockwise and counter-clockwise. A loud noise like whirring machinery was in the air, drowning out even the powerboat's engine. It was somehow able to keep its head suspended over them, even as it pursued them. Its jaws opened up, revealing an assortment of shapes within that were too dark for any of the templars to make out. There was a loud humming noise emitting from within the serpentine beast, and then the templars all felt themselves being pulled towards it.
"Yow!" shouted a templar in sudden pain, as his helmet was yanked off his head and pulled through the air. "Did...did that thing just swallow my helmet?!"
"It's tryin' to suck us in!" shouted Zak, as he saw the remaining ammo belt of the turret, and then the barrel of the turret itself, being tilted upwards towards the beast's maw.
The gremlin, who was casually adjusting his gloves on the portside, turned around.
"Wow, would you just look at that?!" the gremlin exclaimed gleefully, fiddling with his hands like a nefarious schemer.
"What are you do--" Sgt. Crude, being all too familiar with the expression of the gremlin's face, began to ask.
But then the gremlin jumped up and into the black beast's mouth.
"He's crazy, mon!" shouted Zak.
"Maybe not!" said the helmetless templar. "Look!"
The moment the gremlin disappeared, the pull that the beast had on the Red Rippers' metallic equipment ceased, and there was glints of light inside. The beast abruptly halted in its pursuit of the powerboat. Then there was smoke trailing out of different parts of its body. There was a rather sour droning from the creature, which started swiveling its head in confusion, before rapidly sinking back into the water. Just before it sank completely, the gremlin emerged from its mouth, floating in mid-air.
"Call me sometime, honey!" he shouted as he waved the monster good-bye.
Then he shot his way back to the powerboat.
"It won't be bothering you anymore." the gremlin told Sgt. Crude.
"How did you do that?" Crude demanded.
"Let's say you have your specialties, and I have mine." said the gremlin. "But tell me this:"
"What?"
"Is one of your specialties operating powerboats with your mind?"
"No."
"Then who's driving this thing? Hmm?"
The templars all turned around when they realized that, since everyone was distracted by the creature's onslaught, nobody was still manning the powerboat's steering wheel. They all hollered when they realized they were about to crash into a nearby riverbank. However, the powerboat a curved rock jutting among the rapids, sending it flying over the river bank.
"Yaaaaaaahoo-hoo-hooey!" hollered a Red Ripper as the boat was hurled through the air and landed in the middle of a grass field near the river.
The templars slowly climbed out of the drydocked boat, and then looked around. Floating in the air was the gremlin, holding what appeared to be a scoreboard, which read:
8.1/10
Too much slapstick.
"That's not funny!" growled Sgt. Crude. "We're lucky none of us were killed!"
"Oh, my mistake." said the gremlin, who scrawled something on the scoreboard. "How's it look now?"
He held up the scoreboard again. This time it read:
8.17.5/10
Too much slapstick.Not enough slapstick.
"Is everything a joke to you?" snarled Sgt. Crude, seizing the gremlin by the neck. "But then again, what should I expect from a creature that makes a living out of ruining everyone else's--"
"Sarge, we still got a problem." Zak intervened. "There were two more of those things back there, and they didn't go after us. They seemed to be going North."
"They were on the North side, so what?" asked the helmetless templar. "That's all Royalist territory that way."
Crude let go of the gremlin, who blew a spiteful raspberry as he turned his back. But he was too frantic to acknowledge it.
"Don't you understand, Banded Fire?" spoke Sgt. Crude. "This whole ironclad business wasn't our fault, and it wasn't the Royalists. It was that sea creature and its three friends. We need to get the word out of what's really happening out here."
"Then we should get back to Fort Longhorn." said the buffalo templar. "Shouldn't be too far from here, right?"
"I agree." said Banded Fire. "If they're on Celestia's land, let her deal with stuff."
"No. Listen, all of you." said Sgt. Crude, adding as he turned to face the gremlin. "Even you, pest!"
"Whatever." snarked the gremlin.
"As Neo-Templars, it is against our code to answer to the alicorns' commands and laws." Crude spoke on. "But their citizens are still Equestrians, just like us. We protect Equestria in whatever way we can. It would be absolutely careless to let a threat of this kind escape our grasp so easily. This is our problem, so it's up to us to solve it, before we trigger another political crisis."
"But what about Fort Longhorn?" asked Banded Fire.
"We'll split up." said Sgt. Crude. "A few of you will take the boat, and head back to Fort Longhorn. The rest of you will come with me. We're going after those beasts. The gremlin seems to know how to stop them, so he'll be with me."
"Just why would I do that?" inquired the gremlin.
"Because you are technically a citizen of our land, even though I don't like to admit it." said Crude. "And as a citizen, you are bound to serve it as we would see fit."
Then he turned back to the others.
"Banded Fire will lead the other group, and head back to Fort Longhorn. Once you get there, I need you to forward a message to Admiral Maelstrom and the Prime Minister."
"Yes, sarge." saluted Banded Fire.
"Zak, what's the nearest Royalist-controlled settlement in this region?" asked Sgt. Crude.
"Baltimare, sir." said Zak. "It can't be a day-and-a-half away."
"Then we'll have to be quick." said Sgt. Crude.