//------------------------------//
// Train Troubles 
// Story: Hal 9000, Space Impact 
// by Iridescence T Wind 
//------------------------------//


"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer."
-Corrie Ten Boom 

|-((o)) ((o)) ((o)) ((o)) ((o))-|


Arriving onto the scene was rather... offsetting. The cabin which the screams and yell had come from was now vacated with the previous occupants outside of it, one of who was attempting to wedge his elderly cane into  the door handle to lock it shut from the outside while the mare next to him, presumably his granddaughter, was running in tight circles next to him speaking at speeds incomprehensible to anyone who bothered to listen. 

"Just what is going on?" Hal asked no pony in particular, not expecting a response back from the busy pair of ponies.

Surprisingly enough the response came from the elementary school aged mare, who took a deep breath before bellowing loud enough to make everypony within three cabin's wince and flatten their ears, "WERIDBUGTHINGYINCABINBIGGERTHANIAM!EVERYPONYRUN!" To which the Mare then bolted in the opposite direction from them towards the front of the train.

Dr.Ground rubbed his ears, "Okay, didn't understand that so, old-colt, why are you jamming that walking stick into the door handle?"

The old colt who looked positively ancient grumbled, still wedging his cane into the door with all the finesse of a penguin attempting to write mathematics on a chalkboard, "Changelings I tell you! A big mean ol' one who attempted to get ma' grand daughter!"

"Changeling?" Daring Do asked excitedly, "Big bugs with the lower half of a spider and the upper half of a pony? I've met a few a while back. Maybe we could help!"

The old stallion grumbled something about no spiders and sighed, "Fine. Go ahead, get yourself hurt, I'ma go and find security and ma' grand daughter."

The ancient looking pony removed his cane and slowly inched along at what looked like his max speed. Though it would probably take half an hour before he cleared the hallway. Especially with all the curious onlookers who were blocking the hallway, some watching with dreadful amounts of curiosity and some of the younger fillies who were staring wide eyed at Daring Do as if she was a super hero. Hal shrugged and followed Daring and Dr. Ground as they moved inside cabin number Seventeen, B. 

The first thing Hal noticed was the mess that had been generated inside the cabin, estimating from a dent in a nearby abandoned lunch box's and luggage bags and the lack of injuries that were present on the two that used to house it that the changeling, that it was injured to say the least. A sticky dark purplish substance, presumably the bug ponies blood, was also on a few of the dented belongings that had been discarded as the pair had left. Daring, drawing similar conclusions turned her head partially to face Hal, "Where do you think it went?"

Hal considered the options of escape, there was a shut window on the far side but after a day of being on the cabin he already knew it was too small for a pony to accidently fall out of. Let alone something that was bigger than a normal pony judging from what he gathered from the deafening shout not minutes before, "Eighty percent chance still in room, ten percent of escape through window if desperate and the last ten percent is a small chance that if they are like the changelings in lore back where I am from that it has assumed someponies identity and has already left as one of the two ponies we just encountered. Standard error present at seven point nine percent. Dr. Ground would you mind keeping an eye on those ponies we ran into and report if anything strange should occur again to me or Daring?" 

The doctor gave a jolly smile, "Alright, just don't make me miss all the adventure. Okay?"

Hal nodded and crouched as Dr. Ground left the room peering under a unfolded bed as Daring searched the luggage rack. What struck him as odd was a light pinkish red hair like substance that was peaking out under a blanket. Curiously he pressed on it with a hoof eliciting a shocked feminine chirp and a whimper as the blanket moved and a black hole filled hoof quickly reached out and pulled the now recognizable end of her tail under the blanket as well. Hal made a gesture for Daring to descend and pointed to under the bed. Sadly subtly wasn't Daring's strong suit, "She's under there?"

Hal sighed briefly, annoyed, "Yes."

Daring landed in a position similarly to a cat about to lunge on a ball of yarn to peer down, "Hmm?"

Cornered the bundle that had the covered presumable changeling whimpered, knowing it was cornered. "Oh, I know." Daring Do said to nopony in particular, "Maybe changeling lingo. Will help."

After that Daring began to chirp in a way similar to that of a bird. Hal raised an eyebrow giving her a incredulous expression, it seemed to work though as an answering chirp, more of a lighter tone but still shaky presumably from her situation. The two exchanged few chirps before Daring looked up with a mixture of confusion on her face to Hal, "Either she wants some nacho's or there is something seriously wrong with my translations.

Hal did the natural thing to do in such a situation where his friend had been clever but it turned out to be a major fail. He lifted his hoof up, placed it right in front of his face so that the bottom faced it, and pressed his face on said surface all within the span of half a second. He sighed, "Come on out Miss, no pony here is going to hurt you."