//------------------------------// // From a Leap to a Fall // Story: Quantum Leap: The Leap of Faith // by Starbird //------------------------------// Theorizing that one could travel in his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the quantum leap accelerator and vanished. He awoke, finding himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, driven by an unknown force to change history for the better.His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time who appears in the form of a hologram that only he can see and hear. And so Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the one home. Sam started looking around, scanning the area like he always did after a leap. “Jeez,” Sam thought, “That one was weird. I’m normally less shaken up by a leap” He began to sit up, rubbing out his eyes. He opened his eyes only to see a pair of light blue hooves. “Whoa, what the!” He stumbled backward a bit, and much to his surprise, he began falling. He started yelling as loud as he possibly could, “AL! Al help me!”Al opened the holo-room doors and seen Sam falling. “Flap your wings, Sam!” Al yelled to his close friend in mid fall. “What wings!” “The ones on your back!” Sam turned to see that he did indeed have two blue wings. Rather than argue the logistics of such an occurance, Sam unfurled his flight giving appendages. As if by second nature, Sam started flapping his wings and slowing his dangerous descent into death, keeping him from slamming into the ground. He stood up on all fours, looking around at all of the others staring at him, some out of concern, others from watching the self-acclaimed ‘Best Flyer in Equestria’ almost certainly injure herself. “That was a close one Sam.” Al told him before he notice the swiftly approaching yellow pony. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” the yellow mare asked in a soft, concerned voice. “Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Sam said. He however was very confused. So many questions had arisen that he scarcely knew what to ask AI first, or for that matter if AI would even be able to answer. “Where am I Al?” he said, as if the yellow winged pony wasn't even there.. “Who’s Al?” the pony asked. “Uh, never mind. I guess that fall kind of messed me up.” Sam said with a slight chuckle. “ I guess. We should probably get you to the hospital.” She said. “You’re right, that would probably be best.” Sam started to walk with the yellow pony when Al butted in. “Okay Sam, Ziggy has added it all up for me. Your name is Rainbow Dash, you are a pegasus who lives near this city called Ponyville, you work as captain of the weather control team., and your friend here is named Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash was practicing a new flight move to show off to a group of entertainers called the Wonderbolts, a squad of superb flyers, when you leaped in.” “So I’m here to help this Rainbow Dash join the Wonderbolts, right?” Sam asked, hoping it would be that simple. “No Sam, you’re here for her,” he pointed towards Fluttershy, who was walking just out of hearing range, though she would often flash Sam a concerned look, “According to records, she gets killed in a few days, and you’re here to save her from her death.” “Well how does it happen?” Sam asked. He had gone through this routine before many times, who did he have to save, how, why, and when. He had even failed before, trading his brothers life for that of a young photographer and several North Vietnamese soldiers when he had jumped into Magic, a navy seal with a sixth sense for danger. “We haven’t come up with the answer to that yet.” This response wasn't new to Sam in his many years of leaping. “Oh Al, just one more question.” "Oh, Sure Sam" “Why am I a pony?” “Well that's simple. When you leap into someone, you go into their body. When,-” “Well yea, Al, I came up with that theory. That doesn't completely answer my questions though. Why am I a pony? Why can I fly, and what is this ‘ponyville’ place?" asked Sam, becoming rather annoyed. “Don’t worry Sam. When we learn something, we will let you know. In the meantime, see what you can dig up around here.” “Thanks, Al.” Sam said as Al walked out of the hologram chamber. Sam had faced weird leaps before, swapping gender, race and even species; but never had anything this unusual happened to him. This completely shattered anything Sam had ever scientifically achieved previously. Just the thought of inter-dimensional leaping overjoyed him, giving him a bright hope that maybe one day, he might be able to leap home. He decided to spark a conversation with Fluttershy, hoping to see what could possibly be the reason for her death. "So, Fluttershy," Sam began. He still found it a little weird that he was a pony, but was getting used to the feeling. "Whats up?" "Oh, um, nothing in particular." she responded quietly. Sam looked at his injured wing and almost had to do a double take, it was practically twisted into a pretzel! The bones and the ends were twisted every which way, and half of his feathers were gone. Goodness, Sam thought to himself," my wing looks as though its about to fall off!" "How far until we reach the hospital? My hand, I mean, wing is killing me." "Not much longer," replied Fluttershy," it's just a few miles away." "A few miles?" Asked Sam incredulously. "Well yeah, you know how big Ponyville is, you get a bird's eye view of the whole town everytime you fly." Sam looked away and said to himself, "Oh boy!"