//------------------------------//
// The Leap Into Magic 
// Story: The Strange Leap 
// by RDFan1701 
//------------------------------//


Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator - and vanished. He awoke 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 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 leap home.



The Strange Leap



Written by RDFan1701




Leaping through time has taught me many things, especially to expect the...unusual and unexpected. Like the situation I currently find myself in. Firstly, if the darkness didn't say anything about unusual, it was the fact that I was hunched over and walking on my palms and feet. Then there is the fact, that overall, I feel off...like there is something extra about me that there wasn't there before. In any event, I need to find out why it is so dark in here and find some light. Then I need to figure out what I am doing here exactly and what I need to change. 

Sam started to fumble around in the darkness for a few moments before being completely stopped in his tracks with a yank on his legs and arms. Blinking and despite the darkness he looked down, "Chains? What am I doing in chains?" he pulled with his legs trying to see how taught the chains were. He'd nod a few times, "Ok...definitely not coming off of the wall." He then tugged with his arms, "Same there..."

A single moment later light flooded the room Sam was in as a door slammed open against rock. Sam looked up and squinted at the sudden brightness. He then heard...trotting? He blinked trying to beat the light, and then looking around. In his vision he caught what he thought was a small animal walking through the room. Sam shook his head, no there was no way he saw an animal in here with him. Especially what he thought it was, a pony. He scoffed to himself, a pony, yeah right.

"What? What's going on?" Sam asked still looking for the source of the trotting. The trotting stopped a few moments later and a sigh could be heard. Then some rattling and then another sigh. "Who...who's there?" Sam asked loud enough to get the other figure's attention.

"You're being released." A deep voice replied from somewhere in the room. "You done your time and made up for your crime." More trotting could be heard as the figure made it's way from what Sam could tell around and over several objects in the room. Sam groaned and wondered, how long could he have been in this room and not fallen over from exhaustion.

Sam tried to find the voice again, "Well...well that's good then." a nervous chuckle escaped his lips as he felt the chains being loosened. The first chain fell and Sam moved his now freed arm with a relieved sigh. Despite having only just leapt into a new body he felt the strain of what seems like several months worth of wearing of the chains and shackles. Another thud echoed in the room as another set of chains were taken off of Sam's leg and arm. He gave an expression of confusion as he noticed that whoever was releasing the shackles, wasn't touching them. The shackles he noticed, glowed green slightly as they fell.

Sam shook his head again, no he was imagining it. There was no way that shackles glowed like that, not unless they were from the max security prisons he had read about before leaping. They'd glow as a sign that they were locked...but these were being unlocked. Sam's head started to hurt, something was already telling him that this leap was not going to be easy.  Sam heard the chains being dragged and then dropped. He sighed as he realized that it wasn't a joke about being let go. But...why was he in here in the first place? Sam needed to figure out that first before he could do anything.

"Heh, yeah, sure. Cause anypony, is gonna give you a job or be near their families after what you did." The voice called out as Sam felt the hard kick of two hooves on his hind quarters. "Go on! Git you thievin' pony you!" 

"Pony?!" Sam asked with a yelp as he was kicked, forcing him forward and out of the cell. Only to smash face first into the stone wall in front of him. He shook his head with a groan as he noticed a water bucket to his side. He moved his neck to the side and looked down into the water, seeing his reflection for the first time. Staring back at him was the face of a orange colored pony, with a yellow and blue mane. Well...that was the answer to his question of what he was doing in a prison in the first place. Now to figure out what he needed to do in order to get out of here.

Sam looked up and looked back at the cell being closed by another pony. Who in turn looked at Sam and spoke, "Well! I said git! Or do I need to give you another swift kick in the rear!" Sam shook his head rapidly, "Good! Then git otherwise you'll get one!" Sam started to walk away and then stopped, looking at the barrel again. Tilting his head towards it and gets a small drink from it. Sam looked back at the water and simply replied, "Oh boy."