//------------------------------//
// Leaping In! 
// Story: Quantum Leap: Feeling Hoarse June 14th, 1986 
// by N8C8XX 
//------------------------------//


Quantum Leap:
Feeling Hoarse: June, 14th 1986



Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and 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 Sam can see and hear. And so Dr. 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 leap home.

With a blue flash, Sam’s particles were rearranged, and being smashed back together over and over again. He had just put something right from his last leap. Sam had helped a World War II veteran forget his haunting past. It was also a good add on that doing so would prevent the vet from crashing a plane he was flying, saving innocent lives. He had no idea where this next leap will lead him, or who he will become. He never did, but that hasn’t stopped him before.
With another blue flash, he had appeared in his next leap. Sam began to scope out his surroundings. Everything seemed… cartoony, as if it was hand drawn. Let’s see… there were some apple trees, a barn, a bunch of technicolour horses, and-… Wait, WHAT!? Sam was a quantum physicist, so as far as he was aware, these shouldn’t exist! Before he could even process the slim possibility that he was in a cartoon world, one of the horses pulled him aside. It had an orange coat with a Stetson hat. That’s very strange to say the least.
The orange creature began to speak, “Y’okay there, Braeburn?” The horse had a southern twang. “Ya seemed purty dazed over here.” It was a girl.
Now Sam thought he was dreaming. He had to be. How can cartoon horses SPEAK? He asked this question in his head at least ten times before responding.
“Uhh… I’m fine… Why do you ask?” Sam said, choosing his words carefully.
“Ya looked like you jus’ popped out o’ the sky. ‘Fused ‘bout where ya were.” The orange horse responded. “Don want ya feeling strange on ya birthday, do we?”
“Um… no.” Sam forced a chuckle, “No, not at all.”
“Awright now, you ‘njoy tha rest of tha party.” With that, she walked away.
For as long as he was in her sight, Sam forced a fake smile. The second she was gone, he started worrying.
“…Oh boy…” Sam uttered his catchphrase.
Just then, a white door appeared, and then opened up from out of nowhere. Out came out a strangely dressed man (as he always was), smoking a cigar. The door shut behind him. It was Al.
Sam looked to Al and started to talk to him, panicking. “Al, am I glad to see you! Where am I!? What am I!?”
Al was looking at his handler to Ziggy, a super computer Sam and Al made before Sam made his first leap. It tells Sam where he is, who he is, and why he is there. It also keeps Al’s hologram at Sam’s location. He wasn’t focusing on Sam. Al banged the handler like he always does, because it doesn’t load very well.
“Hi, Sam. Ziggy can’t tell me where you are yet. It must be something far off the charts. He can tell me the date. Today is…” Al looked at Sam, and to his surprise as well, he was a cartoon horse. Al burst out into laughter at the hilarious sight.
“Al, shh!” Sam shushed Al, “They’re all horses too, and so can’t they see and hear you?”
Through leaping so much, Sam and Al learned that nobody can see Al, with the exception of young children, animals, mentally insane people, and of course, Sam.
“Now can you please explain to me what in the world is going on!?” Sam asked.
“Uh…” The handler Al was holding beeped. “Oh, here it is! The date is June 14th, 1986. Your name is Braeburn…’ Al looked strangely at the name, for it was very odd. “Today is Braeburn’s-”
“Birthday, I know.” Sam finished Al’s sentence.
“Right, and everyone here is Braeburn’s family. His most direct cousins are an ‘Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh.’”
Sam looked around him, “Everyone here is Braeburn’s family? This group is huge!”
“Yeah, and you’re in Eques-” Al hit the handler, for it would not load the full word. It did this often. “Tria… Oh, ‘Equestria.’ It’s apparently a cartoon country where talking… ponies are the dominant species. Humans are nowhere to be found. You are in ‘Sweet Apple Acres,’ an apple orchard run by Braeburn’s cousins, Applejack and Big Macintosh.” Al looked around him. He spotted Applejack and pointed to her, “There is Applejack right there.”
“That’s great Al, but why am I here? I don’t like this leap already…” Sam said.
“Well, like I said, Ziggy can’t tell us much yet. He still needs to collect some data.” Al typed in something on the handler and banged on it a few times.
“Al, HOW am I here!? I’m in a cartoon for crying out loud!” Sam asked, confused.
“I don’t know. You can travel to places and people within your lifetime, and this is in your lifetime after all. Maybe it is possible…” Al guessed.
Applejack walked up to Sam, and took him by surprise.
“Braeburn?” She asked, hesitantly.
Sam jumped, “Y-yeah?”
“Ah saw ya over here talkn’ to yaself. Ya awright?” She questioned.
“Oh yeah, I’m fine.” Sam looked to the acres and acres of the apple trees. “I was just… uh… talking about how nice of a job you did with these trees.”
“Aw shucks, well thank ya kindly, Brae” She thanked.
Al was inspecting Applejack.
“Man, has she got a nice-” Al was cut off.
“Al!” Sam turned to Al and stopped him.
“Hat! I was going to say hat!” Al defended.
Sam shook his head at him.
Applejack looked confused, “Al? Who’s Al?”
Sam improvised awkwardly, “Um… All… of these trees look like they could be harvested today.” He tried to make “Al” sound like something else. In this case: all.
“What’re you talkn’ ‘bout? These trees can’t be harvested ina few weeks er so. How’re y’even runin’ that farm of yours back in Appaloosa?” Applejack joked.
“Oh, I guess I’m just out of my whack today…” Sam said.
“Well, ‘nuff of you bein’ ova here! Come on an’ join tha party!” Applejack grabbed Sam by the arm and dragged him to the crowd of Braeburn’s other family members.
Al shouted after Sam, “I’m going to go back to the lab! I’ll let you know if Ziggy comes up with anything new!” He pressed a button, and the white door opened up. He stepped through, and the door vanished.
Sam was stuck socializing, dancing, and playing with people he didn’t know. Some time later, the party was just about to end, but one of the ponies called an “end of the day square dance.” Sam was doing the dance with a mare named Apple Fritter, barely knowing what he was doing.
Al stepped through the disappearing white door again to find the square dance taking place.
Al was excited, “Oh, the famous square dance! If I wasn’t a hologram, I would be dancing like crazy.” He looked at Sam’s footing. “No, Sam. You’re doing it all wrong. You have to do it like this.” Al started to do an example. He knew how to do a lot of things, due to sheer life experience.
“Did you figure anything out?” Sam asked under his breath, so nobody can hear him.
“What? Oh yeah, right…” 
Al hit a few buttons on the handler. It didn’t respond, so he tried shaking it (which inexplicably worked sometimes). Nothing happened.
“Euh… Sorry Sam, false alarm. I need to go back and fix this thing.” Al said as he left through the white door.
The square dance ended. Applejack rushed to the front of the crowd.
“Yee haw! That was great! I think we hafta call it a night now. Thanks y’all fer comin’! Once again, happy birthday, Braeburn.” The crowd started to disperse, “Y’all get home safely now, y’hear?”
Sam was the only one who did not leave. To avoid looking awkward, which was a lost cause by now, he started to catch up with the crowd, until Applejack grabbed him by the shoulder.
“What’re ya doin’, cuz? Yer stayn’ with us fer a few days, ‘member?” Applejack reminded.
“Oh yeah, must have slipped my mind…” Sam pretended to remember.
Applejack directed Sam to the barn and opened the door.
“Ah hope ya don mind sleepin’ in tha barn.” Applejack said.
Sam took a few steps in, “Oh, no. Why would I?” He asked.
“There’s a sleeping bag on tha hay there, awright? G’night.” She shut the door to the barn.
Even though it was night, the barn was easy to see on the inside. There were some stalls with cows in them, and some with sheep in them. It reminded him of the farm he grew up on in Indiana, but except more… cartoony. He began to walk towards his sleeping bag when Al stepped through the white door again.
He started to talk to Sam, “Sam! Ziggy found out some more information!”
“Okay, what is it?” Sam asked.
Al looked at his handler, pressed a few buttons, and then read off what it said, “So you’re staying at this farm until tomorrow. Then you’ll be taking a train back to Braeburn’s hometown.” Al hesitated.
“What is it?”
“At the train platform… Applejack gets run over by a train, seeing you off… She was trying to save her little sister, Apple Bloom, who wandered onto the tracks. Apple Bloom was safe, but Applejack couldn’t get out in time. She gets hit by the train, and dies instantly.”
“So that’s what I’m here to do? Save Applejack’s life to leap?”
“Ziggy says there’s a ninety eight percent chance it is.”

The next morning came faster than expected. Sam woke up tired, because the party lasted quite late into the night. Applejack opened the barn door. Sam got out of his sleeping bag and stood up.
“Ah yer awake! We jus finished makin’ breakfast. C’mon!” She urged, walking towards the farmhouse. Sam followed shortly after.
At the breakfast table, the immediate farm family was sitting at the table, ready to eat. There were five plates of sunny side up eggs with an apple and a piece of toast on the side. There was also a bowl full of apples in the middle of the table.
Sam sat down, “Wow, you guys sure do like your apples.”
“Well, there’re delicious!” Applejack said, taking a bite out of an apple.
At the table, there was him, Applejack, Apple Bloom: a yellow filly, Big Macintosh: a red stallion, and Granny Smith: and old, green mare. They were all apparently members of Braeburn’s family. They started to eat, as did Sam, but more slowly.
When the meal was over, it was time for farm work. Apple Bloom went with Big Macintosh to the field, Granny Smith stayed inside doing housework, and Applejack also went to the fields with Sam. When Sam and Applejack got to their designated area, Applejack briefed Sam.
“Awright, so all of these trees ar okay ta be harvested.”
“I thought these had to take another week or something?” Sam recalled.
“Those were tha trees ova there.” Applejack pointed to another section in the orchard.
Sam looked at the trees as Applejack went off to harvest the apples. He started to climb a tree to pluck the apples, but he couldn’t with these new appendages. He fell on his backside.
“Brae, what’s wrong with ya?” Applejack asked. “Just buck ‘em.” She demonstrated by kicking a tree. Out fell half of the apples on her tree.
Sam shot a strange look, and then turned to the tree he tried to climb. He turned around, brought his legs back, and kicked the tree. One apple shook, and fell from the tree. He looked to Applejack and chuckled in nervousness. She rolled her eyes and went back to her work. Meanwhile, Sam kept trying to kick a tree to make more than one apple fall with not much success.
At last, he spoke up about the situation, “So… what time am I leaving again?” He asked Applejack.
“Uhh… I think yer train gits here at four thirty. Why?”
Sam flinched at the word ‘train.’
“What time is it now?” Sam asked.
“Well, I dun know, but it feels like noon-ish. We dun’t have any fancy big city watches.”
Sam figured that one way to stop Applejack from getting run over was to simply delay the time when it was time for Braeburn to leave.
“Well, don’t you think that’s not enough time for me to spend with you guys?” Sam gulped. “How about tacking on an extra day?”
“Why wud ya wan ta spend anotha day here?” Applejack asked.
“I… I feel like we don’t bond much for us being cousins, you know?”
“Listen Braeburn, I wudn’t mind lettin’ ya stay here fer an extra day, but… Hmm… How can I put this?” Applejack thought out loud, “Granny Smith dusn’t really… like ya all that much. She thinks yer… feminine.”
Sam looked confused, “Wha… What?” He asked, with a slight chuckle. “Why would she...?” He shook his head to stay on topic. “Well, I don’t have to stay here per se. How about I meet some of your friends.” Sam suggested.
“Those five? Ya met ‘em awready. Are ya sure yer awright, Brae? Since yesterday, you’ve been actin’ all strange an’ forgetful. Did you hit you’re head on somethin’?” Applejack asked.
Sam became desperate for something to stall time with. “H-how about… I throw you a party because you threw me such a great one!”
“Pulease Braeburn, you’re too kind. It’s nawt even ma birthday. ‘Sides, we’ve enuff parties ‘round here ‘cause of that Pinkie Pie.”
Sam was out of ideas. Throughout the day while they were working, he got a few more. He would pitch them to Applejack, only to have them be declined. There had to be something he was missing… By the time they finished up, it was around three. They were walking into the farmhouse as Sam was suggesting another idea.
“What about my train tickets? I don’t have much money to get any.” Sam brought up.
“Listen, while we were werking, Big Mac stopped by tha depot and picked one up.” She looked around the living room for it. It was on a table and she pointed to it. “It’s right there. Sorry, but ya can’t stay here any longer.” Applejack said, slightly irritated as she stormed off.
Knowing that his first plan was a bust, Sam sighed. His first plan took up most of the time he had. Now, he had an hour and a half to think of something, or else he’ll be trapped in this world forever.
Big Macintosh walked into the room to see a sad Braeburn.
“What’s the matter?” Big Mac asked.
“Ever had one of those days where you feel like you’re in a foreign world?”
“…No…” Big Mac said as he left the room.

The next hour passed too soon. Before you know it, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and Sam were all going to the train station. For some reason, Apple Bloom was wearing a cape. She said something about a ‘crusading session.’ Sam was unable to think of a plan.
When they reached the train station platform, Sam was handed his ticket.
“You guys don’t have to see me off. I’m fine by myself.” Sam assured.
“Naw, don’t be ridiculous!” Applejack exclaimed, “Why wouldn’t we?”
They waited for the train, and about four minutes until arriving time, Al stepped through the white door.
Al was shocked, “Sam, what are you doing at the train station!? This is where she dies!”
“What else could I do, Al?” Sam sighed. “I couldn’t convince her to keep away!”
Eventually, the train appeared in the distance. Its whistle blew twice. At that moment, a somewhat strong gust of wind blew. It was strong enough to fling Apple Bloom’s cape right into the train tracks. Sam could see how it all was happening so fast, all at once. Everything was falling into place. Apple Bloom, clearly without thinking, jumped onto the tracks to get her cape.
“Apple Bloom! Get oudda there!” Applejack yelled.
“Ah need ta get mah crusader cape!” Apple Bloom responded.
As Apple Bloom reached down to pick up her cape, the train was speeding closer. As predicted, Applejack was about to jump down into the tracks to get her sister out of there. However, Sam pushed her back, and jumped in himself. The train was dangerously close. Sam picked up Apple Bloom, and tossed her up onto the platform. The action was more of a jolt, so she lost grip of her cape. Sam tried to jump out, and in the nick of time, Applejack grabbed his arm and pulled him back up. The train sped past them immediately after, and then stopped eventually. Applejack was safe, so was Apple Bloom, and Braeburn was as well.
When Sam got back up, he was greeted to a ‘thank you.’
“Oh, Braeburn, thank ya so much for saving Apple Bloom!” Applejack thanked.
“Uh huh. That sure was a close call fer both of ya!” Big Macintosh said.
“Yes, Sam! You did it!” Al enthused. He typed in some things on his handler, “Alright, Sam. Prepare to leap!”
“Aww…” Apple Bloom sighed as she looked under the train to her torn up cape.
“Ah can’t thank ya enuff!” Applejack said.
Granny Smith slowly walked up to Sam with, surprisingly, a smile on her face.
She opened her mouth, “That was a very brave and manly thing you did there.” She praised.
Sam smiled as he was surrounded by a blue light. He turned blue himself quickly as his particles scattered. With a flash of light, Sam vanished, and the regular Braeburn took his place.

There’s only one question now: where will this next leap take him?