//------------------------------//
// Hunting for a case of red 
// Story: Hal 9000, Space Impact 
// by Iridescence T Wind 
//------------------------------//


 "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."
-Sherlock Holmes

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The entire situation was impossible, any attempts to explain the situation was met with a laugh and a general dismissal by the majority of the ponies they talked to. Even the train's driver, an middle aged stallion named rail spike,  didn't take Hal seriously. They couldn't search the cabins themselves literally, though they only needed to look through the windows to spot the luggage racks as the night seemed to grow deeper. Daring and Web had opted to stay inside their cabin, in case the suspect came by again, leaving Dr. Ground trailing behind Hal, also offering his frequent, and talkative attention, as they passed by the last set of cabins into the luggage room it was Dr. Ground's voice that interrupted the silence again, "So what do you think about this wannabe bomber anyway?"

Hal raised an eyebrow, not turning around but searching through the piles of neatly stacked cases and luggage, "I was hoping you would tell me, after all the letter was addressed to you."

Dr. Ground shrugged, "It could be anypony at this point. The most we can expect is to search for this case. I would suggest we fan out in pairs and check the cabins again individually for anything odd."

They left in pairs, the first being Daring and Ground's, heading back forwards the front of the train in their search. Which left Hal and Web to head towards the caboose, either of which would be a suitable place to use as a getaway or a placement of the delicious yet potentially dangerous bomb in which they had no reasonable proof to suspect one passenger over another either. So the most they could do was manual searching. Though it was Hal and web who found it, heading to the very back to search the luggage cars and caboose with Web. Who of which was currently disguised as a white Pegasus of yellow mane and triple balloon cutie-mark. 

For one things had seemed to have been greatly disturbed, unlike the typical luggage situation which would designate neatly packed order all of the luggage was piled around in a form of half-wall made of suitcases and luggage bags. Looking into the miniature barricade they would spot a pile of messy clothes serving as a bed though who had caused it was a mystery except for a few strands of black and white hair. Stepping into it, Hal trotted forward looking around at the strewn luggage cases while Web circled around. It wasn't big however, just half the luggage car was taken in this miniature fort though halfway through his hoof would bump something rather hard, bulky and covered in clothes.

Looking down Hal uncovered the rectangular object, it was a briefcase. To be more precise a red briefcase. With a gesture Web would be drawn to see Hal's discovery, "Looks like we found the briefcase, though what about the person who stole it?"

Web would open her mouth to respond but she would be interrupted by a thin hiss as the door they had not so long ago entered came open once more. Their attention was transfixed as a figure in a rather shadowy cloak trotted a few steps in, before noticing the intruders and staring back at them with equal shock. The stallion was covered in black and white stripes, a small buzzed Mohawk shape of mane that was equally striped in alternating patterns of white and black. His mouth would be slightly agape revealing small bat like fangs as his jaw dropped and shadows covered half of his face and body with the cowl of his cloak. His eyes were mismatched, one yellow with a slit and the other perfectly normal and blue. Though the appearance would soon vanish as the Zebra like pony Looked towards the only light source in the luggage car, an air vent in the ceiling, and lunged forward tugging it close by the string attached to it. 

Half a second of darkness would pass in which Hal could feel himself getting tripped over as a set of hooves went through him followed by the body following in it's wake at an angle impossible for an earth pony. The impact would leave Hal breathless as the rear door opened and out went the suspect with the red briefcase glinting with it's handle in the mysterious ponies mouth. "After him!" Hal would shout to his changeling companion as he recovered from his sprawl.

Web wouldn't need any more urging, she would dart out with the assistance of her wings and bolt up to the top of the cabin in order to follow the thief. Hal would follow her a few seconds afterwards, nowhere near as agile as web but he would literally step onto the wall and kick off it with his hooves in a half spin flying back up to see his companion chasing the thief towards the front of the train, no doubt, where he planned to detonate the contents of the case when he got close enough.

They couldn't allow that though the wind current coming from the momentum of which the train was moving at didn't help at all. Web and Hal were grounded to the train as the slightest attempt to unfold them would probably cause their wings to open fully and throw the two ponies off as they tried to stomp through the wind after the thief. It was rather surprising that the thief opted to climb onto the next car however instead of taking the faster way and diving back down to escape the wind, Through the wind Hal forced himself to go faster in order to catch up to web who was having a miserly time trying to combat the wind as she gave chase, "Cut through the cabins and get the others," Hal would shout over the wind, "Surround him from all sides!" 

Web would nod, her face taking one of visible strain as she moved from a crawls pace to a trotting pace from the wind and ducked down below, Hal however kept pushing himself to try and close the gap between him and the thief. The thief would grimace, knowing his cloak to be slowing it down as it was tugged back, strangling him, his hood would be blown back as the unending gust took an upward thrust as the train went downhill and with a grunt that would be carried to Hal through the wind he would unbuckle his cloak and let it flyback without warning into Hal's face, ten or so yards behind the thief. Showing his dark grey coat underneath with only the Zebra patterns going through the stallions legs, head and tail and ending abruptly. What caught Hal's eye more though, after spitting the dirty cloak out of his face himself, is that the pony had two grey bat like items, one on either side. 

Without the tugging of his cloak the thief was able to go a bit faster, though the wind against the briefcase still slowed him enough for Hal to catch up to him by the time they were three cars away from the train itself. Hal couldn't help but wonder where his reinforcements were as he began to engage the pony in combat. Typical of the bat-pony he would begin with a buck attempting to end the fight in one blow to Hal's head. Though that was predictable in this case, allowing Hal to dodge and deliver a kick with his front hoof to the stallions side. With a grunt the stallion swung around to face Hal, aiming the briefcase's bottom and smack Hal across the face, sending the stallion reeling back a few paces as the thief followed up with a wind assisted charge into Hal only barely missing the follow up attack by Hal landing on his back and allowing the stallion to trip over him and skid a few more meters away as the wind carried him back a ways.

With a glare the pony spat the case out, sliding it into vent before returning to face Hal taking on an aggressive stance. When their hooves met it quickly became apparent to who had the winning side. The bat-pony was just as tough as any military officer Hal could think of in terms of physical strength and speed whereas Hal was still only recently introduced to his pony body and not trained in the slightest to be stronger then the norm for a pony. He could only hope to stall for time as the guard tried to beat him within an inch of his biological life. Though at this rate he was going to win and his friends had yet to show up!

Dodging another blow that would dent the metal roof of the cabin car they were atop of Hal would deliver a few more ineffectual blows before the bat-pony would finally be able to circle around to have the wind on his side again. In almost an instant the bat pony was on top of Hal again, knocking the Pegasus onto his back and raising both hooves to smash his head in. Hal desperately tried a last ditch effort, while hardly clean he lashed out with a rear hoof at a place he suspected on the bat pony where the sun didn't shine. Surprisingly enough it worked, a combination of the sudden pain of being kicked in that particular spot and the wind knocking the pony over and past Hal again. as the stallion groaned from his crushed reproductive glands. That tactic still worked it seemed. Within seconds though the fight was renewed as Hal up righted himself and the pony recovered. Though before another blow could be struck three more figures finally came up from behind Hal, Dr. Ground, Daring Do, and Spinner Web. 

The pony grinned at this, "Well as much as I'd like to stick around, I'm afraid you have a much bigger situation on your hooves. Say farewell to Atom for me. Also you may wish to check the case."

With that the pony would flare out his wings, almost instantly being swept off the train by the wind and carried away by it, "Come back here you!" Dr. Ground would shout, his magic falling short as the bat-pony rapidly retreated, giving a mocking salute to the four of them. Though Hal's attention was elsewhere at the moment.

Web would wince at the wind blowing against her back, "What did he mean by that?" 

"Lets find out." Hal would answer, moving up to the abandoned case, tugging it out of the vent and opening it. 

Nothing was inside the red case. At once all of their eyes widened and a loud pop noise was heard coming from the caboose. of the train, on the precise opposite of where they were. Dr. Ground would then mutter with the perfect consistency of a scientist who had just discovered the atom bomb, "Oh bucking Tartarus." and they would stand there shocked into stillness waiting for the explosion of yummy disaster to strike...

Five minutes later and no explosion of dough in a unholy flood of badly undercooked sweets...

Ten minutes passed and still no sign of the bomb's appearance. Daring rolled her eyes, "For a bomb it sure is taking its sweet time blowing up..."

Back down the train they went to investigate this so called bomb.