Hal 9000, Space Impact

by Iridescence T Wind

Web and the Letter

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

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It took a few hours to coax the changeling out from under the bed. However the appearance of the changeling lead Daring to disappointment. The changeling was built in the same body shape to that of a pony, if a pony was a good head and a half taller with most of the height resting most of her height with tall hole filled legs and black Chitin covered body. Her mane was a pale dark red with a similar series of holes down it's length that ended near the changeling's knee's in length. The tip of a canine could be seen at her left edge of her mouth giving her a mischievous playful appearance that was almost completely opposite of the timid nature the obviously female changeling was displaying. Her back on closer look was similar to that of a beetle with a few stripes running from it down under the changeling and connecting back on the other side. Curiously she had a white web like mark on her front right hoof as well, but Hal dismissed it as a personal matter for the changeling.

Overall the Changeling didn't resemble Daring Do's description of one at all. Who, now that Hal thought about it, had been described more of a Drider in shape than the actual one in front of them. Also, it seemed Daring didn't even have the language nailed down. Evident as the Changeling kept trying to give Daring a pair of socks meant probably to fit the grand-daughter of the pony who traveled in the carriage. The pony kept insisting on giving Daring the set of socks and didn't seem to take no for an answer with a silent pleading look and another inquisitive and questionable chirp.

Reluctantly Daring took the socks and at the insistence of the changeling put them on. Hal resisted the urge to snicker at the sight, instead politely coughing to get their attention and asking quite clearly, "I'm Hal, what's your name?"

The changeling went quiet for a few seconds before quietly speaking up in the same language as Hal, "Web..." the changeling seemed to sigh, "Spinner Web."

"Well miss Spinn-"

Hal was interrupted by Web, "Just call me Web..."

Daring smirked, "Don't bother trying to convince him to call you something else it dose-"

"Well Miss Web," Hal resumed speaking interrupting Daring Do and drawing an surprised then irritated glare from his companion, "Would you mind explaining what happened here while I bandage your injuries?"

The Changeling seemed to consider the statement for a few seconds before giving a subtle nod and laying back down on the floor, presenting the back of her head, which was now noticeably leaking the same strange sticky dark purple substance now recognized as her blood. Grabbing a emergency first aid kit from it's position on the wall next to the exit of the cabin Hal opened it and took out a roll of strip like bandage cloth before replacing it back onto the wall. With Daring's help they began to wrap up Web's injury.

During of which Web started to explain, occasionally interrupting herself with a whimper when their less trained hooves accidently prodded her injured head, "Well I guess it would be explained that I was in...disguise... when I boarded this train as not to create an disturbance. Sometime over the night my disguise stopped working, having run out of magical energy gained from my... feeding habits..."

Hal pressed on, curious to her habits before wrapping the bandage around Web's head again. After all there was plenty of bandage and he wanted to be sure it was properly bandaged. Web closed her eyes, though out of pain or something else wasn't clear, "I don't really want to talk about it."

Hal didn't press further on the subject, seeing as how it was making Web uncomfortable. instead he asked, "So what happened then?"

The changeling tilted her head and raised it slightly, allowing Daring to wrap the bandage under her head and back up, "After that, the rest is obvious, my cabin mates saw my magic deactivate and the younger one threw a rather large amount of personal belongings at me and made a mess as the two ponies freaked out and left. Then a few minutes later you two arrived with that Unicorn in tow as well..."

Hal and Daring had finished up wrapping the changeling, once cute now the changeling looked like an mummy from the neck up, somehow Daring and Hal had wrapped so much bandage up on the poor Changeling that he would be surprised if Web could still see let alone speak. With Daring applying a final pull to tighten the bandages the Changeling seemed to squeak in both alarm and pain as it tugged against her head injury and locked her jaw shut leaving the impression of a faceless mummy with a somewhat jagged pointed horn and a few locks of hair as the only thing left outside of the case of bandages. The result caused the bug like ponies wings to flare out, previously hidden inside the bug like shell from two narrow near invisible slits near the base of where a Pegasus pony's wings would be and flare out in a defensive way. With a roll of his eyes, Hal took a pair of scissors from a scattered arts and crafts kit and cut holes from the mouth and eye areas so the changeling could see and more importantly, breathe.

A much more casual conversation started between the three of them as elsewhere other events began to transpire without their knowledge.

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Dr. Grounds was irritated. Just where did these two go? No pony seemed to know, the elderly pony and his granddaughter seemed to have just vanished from the train as if they had jumped off the train. A very unlikely event since the train was going way too fast for such a old pony to jump off safely. He opened the door to the next section of the train, a Dining hall by the looks of it, complete with a moderately sized kitchen with a chef preparing food. The cabin itself was relatively empty except for three ponies, a light grey waitress who seemed to be looking for something, an extremely fat green pony who was eating mountains worth of food, and another guest garbed in a dark blue cloak decorated with strange amulets sewn into the fabric with a black and white striped tail sticking out of the edges while the pony drank tea staring into the window and off into the distance.

Sighing he went to the Waitress first, but not to be rude he asked her about her problem first, "Excuse me Ma'am? What are you looking for?"

The Unicorn Waitress stood back up righting her head from searching under a table, "Oh, thanks for asking mister, but I can't seem to find my wedding band. Perhaps you have seen it? It's made of gold and has a ruby on it."

"Nope," Dr. ground stated, "Have you seen a young mare screaming her head off, and a Elderly pony with a cane go past here perchance?"

"Nada," the Waitress replied in turn, "If you see my ring would you mind returning it? For a reward of course."

Dr. Ground grinned, adding onto that offer, "the same to you then if you find those two perchance, I'm in cabin thirteen A."

They nodded to each other in agreement and Dr. Ground began to backtrack. his way searching each cabin in the opposite direction of where they ran off for the two ponies. If there was no luck this direction then maybe the opposite would prove useful as well. Though something caught his eye as passed into the narrow hallway that held cabins twelve A to eighteen B. Their cabin door was wide open. With a sudden urge of urgency Dr. Ground galloped to the door and launched his first front hooves into the doorway facing the room. Inside nothing had changed except there was now a black letter on the floor two inches thick and one foot long. On closer inspection he noted It was a giant letter E made of black construction paper. Confused, he picked it up only to reveal an actual envelope under it. Chucking the letter E into the nearby waste basket; Dr. Ground opened the letter and read it to himself.

Dear Doctor Grounds,
If you know what is good for you, you will stop this hunt for my treasure. If you refuse to jump off this train in one day then you will only find a sticky yummy disaster that will stall you and everypony else on this train by several months. By the time you get out I will have already claimed what is rightfully our leader.

With the worst concern for your health, because we dislike you very much,
-Agent of L

P.S. As per usual, I stole your cigarette cases.

Dr. Ground lost grip of the letter, but he didn't care. He rushed to his saddle bag and scavenged through it. Sure enough his secret cigarette case he kept for when he was alone was gone. So was the secret second one he had disguise as a lunchbox and the third case which he had disguised as a small book. He fell to his knees and quietly cursed, "Buck him with Celestia's holy beard this isn't going to get away unpunished! I'll find you my little thief, that was three hundred bits and two months worth of stress relief! When I find you, you will wish you were bucked by a Ursa Major until it was red from exhaustion."

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It had been half an hour since the panic and Daring as well as Hal was preparing to leave back to their cabins with their new friend in tow when Dr. Grounds walked in, a dead solemn look on his face and a black envelope in his mouth. Judging from how it was open he had already read it. Hal inquired, watching with a look of confusion that was mirrored onto Daring's face as the letter dropped to the ground and the usually cheerful Unicorn said solemnly, "It was under the E in our cabin."

"Pardon?" both Pegasus ponies and the changeling asked confused, not sure if they heard him right.

"It was in our cabin... Under E..." the Doctor replied, looking down at the ground with an look between despair and deep anger on his face.

Hal picked it up and read the letter aloud to his companions, though oddly enough the letter inside had a tear mark under the signature of this stranger 'Agent of L' almost like somepony had ripped the paper, probably off a bigger sheet, and put it in the pitch black envelope. Several questions rose up to Hal's mind but Daring beat him to it, "Who's this 'L' pony anyway?"

That drew Doctor Ground's attention, "She's my archenemy we... differ... on views when hunting for artifacts and treasure. So far since I have met her, she's been able to use superior resources and infantry to force me to give up whatever treasure or artifact I find into either destroying it or capturing it for her own needs."

Web chipped in, "Sound's like a threat though, I wonder what could be sticky and yummy and delay everypony here several months if it went off..."

Doctor Ground registered the new voice and began to ask, "And who are yo-" before interrupting himself with a shocked expression as he took in the undisguised changeling wrapped up in heavy bandages around the head, "What in Equestria is that?!"

"She," Daring emphasized, "Is Spinner Web, just Web for short. She's a Changeling."

"Well, how interesting. Just Web huh?" A scientific aura manifesting around the Doctor sending a visible shiver down the Changeling's spine, "Intriguing, I was lead to believe your kind had giant spider lower bodies. This deserves an... Examination."

The last word even gave even Hal a shiver and Sent the timid pony back under the bed they had found her under. With a mock punch to the shoulder Daring scolded, "Bad Doctor! No experimenting on living creatures. Eww."

At this Dr. Ground raised an eyebrow in a obviously false innocent quip, "By whatever do you mean? I was only hoping to make an observational study of this being, after all one hasn't been seen since the fall of Discord. Oh how much I can learn about her species if given the chance."

"Eep!" Went the first bed of Cabin Seventeen B.

"Cut it out." Daring stated again.

"Fine." With a curt nod and turn the Doctor turned and left the room, "Bring her to our cabin anyway, she can't stay in this one forever. Those two ponies are most likely to come back into this room after all if only for their possessions."

"If she wants to that is." Daring added leaving with Dr. Grounds to argue with him while Hal crouched down to offer web a hoof to help her back out from under the bed.

The receding voices of the two arguing friends of his faded away as they went back to the cabin leaving Hal alone with Web. A few minutes of comfortable silence passed before Web spoke up in a quiet voice, "L-Lively aren't they?"

Hal grinned, to reassure her, "They are eccentric alright, but you grow used to it over time. Also quite exciting to be around them, where I'm from adventure she makes happen isn't possible due to ninety nine percent of all reachable land in traditional methods having already been explored entirely."

"What was the last percent?" Web asked curious to what had defied exploration.

"Death of course," Hal stated absently, "The one door Mortals do not want to tread before their time. Though I guess I was a first to go through that door and come back, and I wasn't even a organic then." Hal chuckled to himself at the irony but he didn't elaborate instead giving her a polite yet stereotypical, "Long story, don't want to seem crazy either," Following up with a quipped tone, "how's that head injury?"

"Still sore," Web gestured to it quietly, curiosity and her shyness fighting against each other, the later winning by a sucker punch it seemed, "T-thanks for asking..."

"So..." Hal began, looking outside, down each side of the hallway for any ponies, "Where you off to?"

"H-Here and there..." Web laid back down crossing her front hooves so that the one with the spider web like mark on her hoof was on top with her staring down at it, "J-Just traveling around... You?"

Hal raised an eyebrow at this but didn't comment on her response, instead answering her question, "Searching some ruins in Neighagra Falls for a specific artifact. Should be calm, though after that threat I feel more comfortable knowing that we brought stuff in case we need to defend ourselves."

"Do you think that threat the letter mentioned is real?" Web asked, honestly curious for the welfare of those on board with them with the expression of innocence in her eyes.

Hal gave it some consideration tilting his head ever so slightly, "I give it a seventy thirty split if its real or not. Never heard of a violent chemical reaction that could stall a train for a month and remain nonlethal as well. Let alone sticky and yummy. But then again this world is full of strange things like magic and giant spiders which I haven't seen before."

"Alright then..." Web trailed off looking off to the side not quite sure what to make of that statement before realizing something, "W-Wait... 'This world'?"

Hal shrugged, "Long story, I can share it if you really wish to know back at my companions cabin. Since it sounds like your going to be hanging with us for a while."

Hal awaited a response but when none came he turned his head back to look at Web, who was again looking scared for some reason, when it struck him why, "Don't worry I'll stop the big scary doctor from doing experiments on you."

There wasn't a response from the bed of Cabin seventeen B for a few moments before the voice whispered, "Promise?"

Hal chuckled, "Yes, I promise."

After a short while the two left for their cabin where they would talk until the sun was starting to set, and the next strange event happened in the form of a new missing object and a suddenly very real threat to the passengers on board.

Comments

[Tech_Priest]

You know, you should find a way to make Hal sing Daisy.

[Iridescence T Wind]

2680728 Saving that particular thing for a certain event in the distant future.

[spomeg]

So there's a sticky, yummy threat on a train and someone's gold ring has gone missing. Thanks for stealing the plot of chapter 6 of TTYD.