Thanks to Seattle's Angels for their review of Quantum Vault!
Fleeing from a shattered future that never should have been, a mint-coated mare galloped into the Quantum Vault Accelerator...and vanished.
She awoke to find herself trapped in the ebb and flow of realities, facing mirror images that were not her own; and driven by those she had wronged to change history for the better. Her only guide on this journey is Hal, a pegasus from her own spacetime, who appears in the form of a hologram that only she can see and hear.
And so the minty mare finds herself vaulting from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that her next vault, will be the vault home...
(CROSSOVER NOTE: Savvy Ponies may have noticed that Quantum Vault is not ~exactly~ the same concept as Quantum Leap. It's meant to be more of an homage, though I've listed it as a 'crossover' due to the considerable, intentional similarities between the two. I wanted to have some freedom to put some original elements in the tale, and to keep things interesting, so readers can't just assume what will happen next based upon knowledge of Quantum Leap. I hope it's working out for everypony!)
This is good! I shall await more!
*favorites with the full atention of a thousand obsessive lurkers*
This is starting out very interestingly. I have high hopes here. Well-written, as well.
Hmmm, so no "Waiting Room" here.. or they just haven't figured that aspect out yet/found the displaced pony.
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The heavy influence of/homage to Quantum Leap is probably obvious in this story, but I have some differences from the original formula planned, to keep the story from just being a straight up 'existing story plus ponies' thing. Hal alludes to some of them a bit more in chapter 1.1, and there will be more on the topic in the future. I've gone into a bit more spolier detail below
Thanks for your input, Frission. I do appreciate it
For one, per the intro, Quantum isn't restricted to time travel within her own lifetime (which would only span the years 2014 to 2039), nor is she technically restricted to 'time-travel' at all. The prologue alludes to the idea that the Accelerator project is a product of the desire to travel between dimensions, in the hopes that contact with other realities will enrich ponykind. I'm hoping approaching it this way will leave the door open for an infinitely larger number of possibilities as the plot progresses. At this point in the story, none of the characters can even be certain anything Quantum does will affect their own reality, but since there is the possibility that it will, they are forced to take action (again, this is to allow for more exploration - there will likely be scenarios in the 'past' that have events that didn't occur in the MLP canon, or didn't unfold the way they did in the canon).
Right now, instead of a QL style 'waiting room', Hal and Tissy are assuming that Quantum is more like a ghost, 'posessing' the host personalities as she vaults into them and thus suppressing them. Of course, this is only speculation - the Accelerator was never meant to function this way to begin with (that will be covered in upcoming chapters).
5385470 Welcome!
I do like this story quite a bit, and I kind of feel like it's been criminally overlooked. 
What is this a crossover of?
Quantum Leap
Cuuuuuutiiiiieeeeee! You got some s'plainin' to doooooo!
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Hmmm...I think I deleted my last comment accidentally. Just wanted to say I appreciate your words, Frission. Hearing that somepony likes something you're working on really makes you want to keep working on it
As far as overlooked, well, I don't really know what to do about that other than to keep writing and hope ponies enjoy the story!
ohmai
Where's Cutie saying "Oh boy"?
Just something I noticed is that Trixie says Hell(same goes for later chapters), but the canon of the show is that they have Tartarus(Basically the same thing in Greek (?) Mythology). Examples of this are the Three_Headed_Dog (Cerberus), and Lord Tirek was imprisoned there, and I believe they mention it by name in those instances.(I wonder of that mean that the Elysian Fields are Canon?) Keep up the story! Jojo here is rooting for ya!
Oooh, for a moment there I thought you might have been going for something out of Stephen King's Langoliers. (By which the protagonist of the story arrive in a moment that hasn't happened yet and have to wait for that moment to be 'born'.) This is going good so far as I'm a fan of Time-Travel stories!
OK everything just became FAR more interesting. I swear if Twigai mentions Morphogenetic Fields I'm just gonna fangasm. Also like your term 'Vaulting'. I've heard of others: Leaping, Jumping, and Switching in the past, but Vaulting has a nice ring to it. Looks like I won't be sleeping tonight till I catch up.
8472... They say there is a significance in everything...
It might be just me, but there seems to be an error in the paragraph that starts out 'Quantum fell Silent'. It says that 'If only this innocent little filly, who was actually a number of years older than Quantum'... Now correct me if I'm wrong, but if Quantum is a Mare and Applebloom is a filly... Then how can AB be OLDER than QT? Let me know if this an oversight or I'm just overlooking something myself. Thanks!
QT gained +2 Tenacity and learned 'Backtalk'!
Well it HAS been awhile since I was held in suspense of something. There is a reason I usually don't read anything until it's finished...because, like this...I wanna read more!
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I see what you're saying. My mean reason for going with 'Hell' was just a question of usage. It sounded more powerful to me to have characters use phrases like 'Go to Hell!' or 'Snowball's chance in Hell' as opposed to Tartarus, the Underworld, Gre'thor, et cetera
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Oh yes, there is a significance in Cutie being prisoner #8472. A million points for the reference!
5432954
No, what you read is quite correct. Applebloom is indeed older than Quantum, even though in the chapter, AB is depicted as a filly and QT is depicted as an adult mare. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, and pretty much everypony you know from the canon are all older than Cutie. Remember the timestream! In the year 2039, Cutie is a college student in her mid-20s. In the chapter 1 arc, she has vaulted into the past (specifically the year 2008 - 31 years into the past). She was actually born in 2014, so in 2008, before Trixie Lulamoon has even visited Ponyville with her traveling magic show for the first time, Cutie hasn't been born yet.
There are some allusions to this in the second chapter of the prologue, where Trixie (Cutie's mother) talks about Cutie's father 'probably' being one of the stallions that gave poor Trixie enough money to survive after she was run out of Ponyville - which is basically an alternate, darker ending to the canon episode 'Magic Duel'. Trixie also says 'They took everything from me - even my purity.' If two and two go together there, well...one might note that poor Trixie had to do some things she's not proud of to survive around the time her daughter was born
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I see! The only reason I brought up the AB thing is because I assumed she was speaking of the filly in front of her. NOT the one from her own time. AB in this time would, of course, be younger as the mare of QT's time would be older.
*zegasp*
Now that I think about it...Hell, Tartarus, The Underworld, and all the other versions of such are most likely all lore in Equestria just as much as it is in our world. Maybe Tartarus is just the most prominent. Just as a Christian would say hell vs a Jew saying Sheol, or anybody else with a version of 'Hell'. Keep up the good work. I am curious as to where QT will be 'Vaulted' next. I think I might have missed something, but why is Tissy so quiet? I mean why is everything she says relayed through Hal?
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Tissy isn't actually there when Hal is speaking - he's just relaying the data she is feeding him through his device - physically, Tissy is back at the Accelerator room in 2039. When Hal uses the phrase 'Tissy says', the 'says' part is kind of a misnomer...it's just that's what Al said whenever he ways relaying information from Ziggy in Quantum Leap itself
Tissy will get her time in the sun, though. As for chapter two, well...it'll be a little different from chapter one
Oh my. Well, things are really going to get interesting now!
A day late again, my apologies. Enjoy the new chapter!
So is it six foals or three foals?
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Technically three foals. The others are young enough that Hal was just lumping them all together as 'foals' , until he was obliged to be more specific. Like referring to one's offspring as 'my children', even if some or all of them are adults.
Loving the heck out of this. I have fond memories of Quantum Leap and I'm really glad you're writing this.
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I can only hope ponies enjoy it. Thank you!
Famous last words, cutie.
(That reality…there’s just no way to know if that was ours or not.”)
Could they not root around for info on the famine? I mean, it would be a rather large story. 'If' the crop was saved then the 'famine' story wouldn't exist. Am I overthinking this?
Looking back at a previous chapter I see Hal was giving out probability chances to QT. Percentages of events unfolding. So I guess a better question to ask is if the Probability chances that Hal is giving are reality or not. What I mean is, what do the percentages mean? Potential TO happen, Potential now that QT is there that the event WILL happen, or something else? Sorry if that sounds confusing...
Here is a better way to parse it. Did the famine ACTUALLY happen in QT's time or not? I suspect not for many reasons.
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Did the famine happen or not? Inquiring minds want to know!
I chalk this one up to the literary device 'show, don't tell', but look at it this way - if the famine never happened, there would be no way to research it, would there? History would simply record that the 2008 apple harvest was as successful as any other, and as this isn't particularly noteworthy information, it's likely there wouldn't be much else to find. It's possible Hal, Tissy, or a representative could go to Ponyville and interview the residents, or possibly even Applejack, as to those events - but they happened thirty years ago. At this point the cast has no reason to believe the idea that one vault's events will have any affect on another's, so going to all that trouble isn't really worth it, considering that monitoring Quantum and rebuilding Canterlot are tasks with precedence.
As for the percentages, well...if you asked Hal that question, he'd probably tell you he doesn't know. The causality strings Tissy researches are as fractal as any other event in time, in the sense that anything that one does or says at any given moment could affect what happens in the future. This is why the numbers are so often fluctuating. They're 'best guess' scenarios put together by the Vault team to try to help Quantum move safely from one vault to the next. Think of it as a fortune-teller (i.e. somebody with some knowledge of the topic) making educated guesses.
Ponies,
Forgive me, but I won't be able to make the mid-week release of Quantum Vault. I've just got too much going on right now - more to do at work, a publisher who wants me to do an interview, a potential agent who wants a manuscript synopsis, review blog that needs an excerpt....when it rains it pours
But don't worry - Quantum vault is still rarin' to go! I'm particularly looking forward to releasing chapter 3.5, as it contains some dialogue I really enjoyed writing. So, keep a look out!
--Twigai
Hal needs to get it through his head that's the reason she jumped in the accelerator in the first place.
Yes, I know I missed the midweek. Have been running a 102.3 temperature and didn't want to look at a screen even long enough to mention that before, heh. Well, here's the latest installment, but honestly the releases are starting to catch up with me...I may have to drop to weekly if I can't get some more work done soon. For now, enjoy - this chapter has one of my favorite tell-offs I think I've ever written
Someone's gotta post it...
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I totally listen to that whenever I need some motivation to write this!
*airdrops some fresh chicken soup to help ya get alll better*
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Thank you; not out of the Everfree just yet
Until I have a chance to keep up a bit better with the releases, Quantum Vault will be going on a once a week schedule, with no defined day. I'll try to get new chapters up around Thursday though. Chapter three will be wrapping up soon - if you're reading, let me know what you think so far!
Oh my.
I love Quantum Leap.
Woo! Sorry it took me quite a while to come back to read this. Graduation 'n all.
Still I can't believe nobody else has commented! I've said it before but it's utterly criminal how little attention your story's gotten, it's such a great homage to the source material!
Yay, Cutie's got help! Tilt won't know what hit 'em!