//------------------------------// // Phase Four: No Weaknesses // Story: King Crimson's Bizarre Adventure through Horse World: The Crimson-ing // by 81298821227777777_ //------------------------------// The next few moments were drowned in a tense silence. The dust around King Crimson settled as the mysterious new figure stepped forward. It's eyes looked about the room, an indecisive expression of either curiosity or boredom on its face. Crimson stepped forward, prepared to face his next enemy. The sudden standoff seemed to last forever. The Stand blinked, and then meowed. King Crimson stood his ground, his mind filled with uncertainty. Was it harmless, or did it have an intent to kill? And where was the Stand user, anyways? "H-hey, Crimson..." Epitaph beckoned, but Crimson's focus did not shift away from the Stand that stood before him. Twilight, who was currently unaware of the immediate danger, began to regained her focus. Seeing the pony stirring behind Crimson, the Stand's eyes widened as it took a step back. It then hissed, and swung its left hand forward. Suddenly, as it swung, a small object manifested in its hand and was thrown directly at Crimson, who dodged and then caught the flying object. The object, upon closer examination, appeared to be a small, blue tank with a skull attached to the front. A faint ticking came from inside. Tick... tick... "Crimson, I think..." Tick... tick... Click. "Crap, it's a bomb! Crimson, toss it-!" Just as King Crimson had let go, he was immediately thrown back against the far wall by the resulting explosion. Once he was back on his feet, Crimson saw that the enemy Stand was now perched on top of a bookshelf, watching as the small tank moved slowly towards the still partially stunned Twilight. "LOOK OUT, TWIGHT-LIGHT!" She quickly glanced around in confusion. "What?" Tick... tick... "Look this way." Twilight stopped and looked towards where the voice had came from, only to see two small tracks coming towards her across the floor. Tick... tick... "Look this way. Do you see me? Judging from your confused expression, I assume you cannot." Twilight was frozen with fear. "I-" The voice cut her off. "No. Do not speak. Save your breath. You will need it if the hole I blast in your throat doesn't kill you." "Twilight!" Spike called out, but Crimson stopped him. "QUIET." Tick... tick... "You must be quite scared to have not run from me. You should know that Killer Queen does not like the creatures in this world." The tracks stopped. "W-Who's there? Show yourself!" Tick... "Honestly, I couldn't care less. But as long as I am connected to them, I am under their control. No hard feelings." Tick... Epitaph blinked. "Wait... Crimson, you aren't thinking of-" Click. "YES, I AM!" King Crimson yelled, just as his ability activated. He walked about the room, overviewing the situation. "I was about to call you out on how diving to save... er, 'Twilight' wasn't worth it, but what you actually didn't was actually kind of smart! Erasing the moment the explosion went off, making it so the explosion basically didn't happen!" "SMALL FACE MAY THINK CRIMSON IS NOT VERY SMART, BUT AT LEAST CRIMSON IS SMARTER THAN CAT MAN AND HIS TALKING BOMB," Crimson replied as he approached the bomb. As his ability wore off, King Crimson swung his leg at the bomb on the ground, kicking it and launching it directly into Killer Queen's face, knocking them off the bookshelf. Killer Queen got up, hissed, and began to flee on all fours out of the library, leaving his bomb in the dust. "Hey, come back here, coward!" Before the bomb could speed off after them, King Crimson stomped down on it, holding it in place. The force of his foot began to slightly crack the skull. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." "Crimson," Twilight called from behind him, fear lingering in her voice, "Would you mind explaining to me what the hay just happened!?" As she said that, Spike came running in from outside, avoiding the rubble. "Twilight, what's going on in here? I heard a loud explosion, and then I see the front door missing!" He looked at King Crimson, his foot hovering over nothing. " You weren't experimenting on him, were you?" "No, Spike, but I think we were just attacked by a ghost. I think. Are ghosts real? Crimson, did you see any ghosts?" "Well, yes, I suppose we were attacked by a ghost," Epitaph responded, "But I believe that the attacker has fled the scene." King Crimson bent down and picked up the bomb. "THE CAT MAN ALSO LEFT BEHIND HIS TALKING BOMB." "'Cat man'?" Twilight questioned. "'Talking bomb'?" Spike questioned. "No, I am called Sheer Heart Attack." The three of them stopped and look at King Crimson's hand, the source of the voice. "Yes, yes, look at me. I am called Sheer Heart Attack, Killer Queen's second bomb. And while they might be a coward in this world, they are not stupid. They know that they are physically unable to leave me behind. They know my range is not infinite." "Twilight, what is that?" Spike asked nervously. The ticking had started again. "Because of that, they will have to come back to this place and retrieve me, and when it comes to that, they may very well have to kill each and every one of you just to get me back." "IT'S THE TALKING BOMB," Crimson answered. "'Bomb'?! Twilight, come on, let's get out of here-!" "NO!" King Crimson yelled, "NOBODY MOVES!" Tick... tick... Heart Attack turned around in his hand to face him. "Look here, Crimson." Tick... tick... "You were smart, telling them to stay. If they had run, I would've surely killed one of them. You are more intelligent than you let on, sure, but now you face a dead end. What will you do, now that I'm armed? Throw me out in the street, risking innocent lives for your own? Toss me upwards as I explode, causing the entire structure to collapse around you? Or will you hold on tight, sacrificing your own existence to save some worthless animals? Or maybe..." Tick... tick... "...maybe you will use that ability again. The one that stopped me before. But if you do, maybe I'll just arm myself again, so who knows...?" Tick... tick... "...Who knows?" Tick. Tick. The room had grown so quiet with dread that Twilight could hear a branch snap from outside her bedside window. "YES." "What?" Heart Attack and Epitaph both questioned in unison. Tick. "YES, I WILL." Heart Attack hesitated. "I do not understand." "I WILL." Another branch snapped. "THANKS FOR THE IDEA." Click. Without hesitation, King Crimson reeled back, and threw Heart Attack directly towards Twilight's window. In the moment before detonation, a third branch snapped as Killer Queen suddenly fell the tree, and directly into their own bomb's explosion. Killer Queen's yowl trailed away as they both went flying off into the distance. The result left both Twilight and Spike stunned in a cloud of lingering fear and confusion. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the loud scream that rung in her ears. "KING CRIMSON WINS AGAIN!"