Quantum Leap: Xenophilia

Chapters

Chapter 1. Arrival
Chapter 2. Big Problems
Chapter 3. Who is this?
Chapter 5. The Search
Chapter 6. Meeting More
Chapter 7. Good Morning. Good Evening and Good Knight.
Chapter 4. Canterlot
Epilogue

Chapter 1. Arrival

Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor 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 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…

Dr. Sam Beckett has been leaping for years now. He's been inserted in hundreds of lives. And there are times he likes to think that he's done some good. The main problem with leaping though, his memories are scrambled each time he is pulled from one life to another. He knows he's been leaping, but remembering the details is beyond him. This time he finds his eyes are closed, he's on a very comfortable bed. He feels the bed shift as though someone is getting off of it. For a moment, he keeps his eyes closed, relishing being comfortable for once.

"Lero, you need to take a shower and get ready, we have about an hour and a half before the herd meets with Twilight." A gravelly but feminine voice purrs. He opens his eyes and sees the door to the bedroom close. He takes a moment to assess his surroundings. A quick look tells him that it's a moderately upscale home. The woodwork is excellent, the furnishings are of obvious very high quality. He turns his head, damn, the bed is huge. With plenty of pillows. Then something grabs his attention, a feather, a long, purple feather. I don't hear any birds, but purple is an unusual color for a bird feather. He looks at the feather for a long time, then sets it back on the bed. A pretty big bed for a couple, he thinks as he stands up. Opening the first door he came to gets him access to what is apparently a master bathroom. He looks at the toilet, that is oddly shaped, he muses as he takes care of the typical morning business. A quick look around shows an absence of toilet paper, but he is relieved to find a bidet.

"How odd." He muses as he steps into the shower. In moments the hot water is washing over him. Ahh, plenty of water pressure, something to be relished. He closes his eyes for a long moment as the water pulsates into his muscles. He hears the door open, causing him to freeze.

"Hey, Fingers, Rainbow sent me to get you to hustle, we need to get moving." another feminine voice calls.

After several long seconds, "Lero, you okay?"

Sam thinks furiously for a moment, finally he calls out, "I'm fine, I'll be out in a minute."

He hears a rich chuckle from the other side of the shower curtain, "You sure you don't want me to hop in there with you? Make sure you are washing everywhere you are supposed to?"

Sam's eyes widen, what the hell? He's able to stammer, "Uh, no. I've got it." He reaches for the soap and starts washing, noticing the smell of the soap, wow. It's very nice, it smells like oatmeal. He relishes the shower for as long as he dares. Finally, he reluctantly shuts down the water, reaching out blindly he finds a thick towel and starts to dry off. Finally exiting the shower, he wipes off the mirror, time to see what he looks like.

A new face greets him, someone in his late twenties, with red hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. The hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and braided into the hair is a cyan feather, just like the one on the bed, except for the color. Sam shakes his head and looks at the various personal care products. In moments he finds a tooth brush and spies the familiar shape of a tube of tooth paste. He squeezes some onto the brush and inserts it into his mouth.

Then he immediately spits it out. Looking at the label. "Oats and mint? That's not a flavor combination I'm used to." He stares at the tooth paste for a long moment, then shrugs his shoulders, "When in Rome." He squirts a bit more of the paste onto the brush and brushes his teeth quickly, and then grabs a cup to wash out the very unusual flavor. Sam then takes a moment to look at the products. He picks up a bottle, "Mr. Mane's Mane and Tail leave in conditioner?" He picks up a second bottle, and then a third. Is everything here a horse pun?

"Oh man, you would not believe the trouble Ziggy has had finding you." A familiar voice calls out. Sam whirls around to see his companion, Al Calavicci, walking through the wall and stopping right next to Sam.

"Al, where the hell am I?"

Al starts tapping the comlink, after a few seconds he hits the side of it. And then he reads the display. "I'll have to get back to you on that. We didn't get much out of the guy you are switched with, other than his name. He passed out from the stress of the leap." He taps the comlink again, "One Bellerophon "Lero" Michaelides. That is such an odd name, so I looked it up. In Greek mythology, Bellerphon Michaelides rode Pegasus. Some guy had one hell of a sense of humor when naming his kid."

"Wait wait wait, Al, you are saying you have no clue where I am? Or when?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Sam." Al says apologetically, spreading his arms.

A knock at the door to the bathroom, "Hey Lero, you getting out soon?" It was the first voice this morning.

Sam freezes for a moment, "I'll be out in a minute."

They both hear a chuckle from the other side of the door, "Ya want me to help you dry off big guy?"

Sam checks to make sure the door is locked, it was. But how did the other woman get in? He shakes his head, "I'll be fine, I'll be out in a few minutes, let me get dressed."

Again, a chuckle from the other side of the door, "Oh, Lero, you and your nudity taboo."

Sam turns to Al, "You need to find out as much as you can about this Lero, get him awake, get him talking. If Ziggy can't find me, that means I'm somewhere out of the database. Which is impossible, because the database starts on the day of my birth up until the present. There have to be some clues for Ziggy to find. But, I have to ask, Al. If Ziggy couldn't find me, how are you here?"

Al looks at the comlink for a long while, "We were able to zoom in on your life signs, it was really weird, the signal is getting scrambled, but you are shining through. Maybe I should look around, get Gooshie to center me in various areas around here, get some idea of where we are."

Sam shakes his head as he finishes using the towel to dry off, "No, Just wake up this Lero and get him to tell us everything he knows, then we can track down what year this is, and exactly where this place is."

Al huffs and presses a button on the comlink, "Fine, I'll be back as soon as I can," He says as the door to the imaging chamber opens and he steps through. The bright light of the door disappears and Sam opens the door to the bedroom. Peeking his head out, he sees that the room is empty. He quickly dresses from the clothes in the dresser. A simple jeans and t-shirt setup. Sam walks to the door and opens it. Coming face to face with a four foot tall pony, cyan in color with a shocking rainbow hued mane. The pony rears back on her hind legs and puts her hooves on his shoulders, kissing him softly.

She pulls back, "Funny joke, big guy, but you need to get into the tux that Rarity made you." She lands back on all fours and trots to the closet, pulling out an outfit on a hangar and turning around with a smile, "This one, remember?"

Sam finally recovers from his shock, "Ohhh boy."

Chapter 2. Big Problems

"You're a pegasus." Sam blurts out, noticing the wings folded at the pony's side.

Rainbow sets the hangar on the bed, she looks up at him, it takes him a moment to decipher her facial expression, bemusement, "I've been one all my life, and in case you didn't notice, big guy, that's my feather in your hair."

Oh…yeah, Sam stumbles to the bed, looking at the clothing. He looks at Rainbow, she's peering at him intently, "Big guy, are you okay?" Amazingly, her wing unfolds and brushes across his forehead. Many times he's ended up in very unusual situations in his time leaping from life to life. But this is so outside of every experience he's been in. His autopilot takes over, and he mechanically dons the outfit the pegasus laid out for him. In a matter of minutes, he's downstairs, then he receives another shock. They are exiting a large tree, what he had taken for wood work was actual living wood! He stumbles a bit as he looks at the huge tree. The rainbow maned pegasus leading him gently down the dirt path.

"They are all ponies." He says quietly in wonder, multi-colored ponies are moving along the streets of this town. He notices many with wings just like the rainbow maned pony, and others have what look like horns on their heads, just like unicorns.

He feels a body brush against his legs, and he recognizes the lilting voice, "Hey Fingers, you doing okay?"

Sam is able to jerkily nod. A mint green unicorn moves up next to the rainbow maned pegasus.

Sam puts his hand to the side of his head, "I've got to be dreaming."

He walks a little faster to be able to hear the two ponies talking.

"Lyra, is it me, or is something wrong with Lero."

The green unicorn peers back at Sam, he tries to keep a smile on his face, but he thinks the smile looks as fake as it is.

"Rainbow, I don't know, I haven't talked to him much today, but he did refuse my help in the shower."

Rainbow brought her hip to rub against the unicorn, "You two would still be in the shower if he didn't." She gives a full throated chuckle.

Sam, for his part is still trying to figure things out, both these ponies seem to be attracted to this Lero guy. But they aren't jealous of each other. Sam shakes his head. He keeps listening to their conversation as they walk. Eventually, they end up in front of a restaurant. He reads the sign, Crispy's. He shakes his head as they enter the restaurant.

A light orange pegasus greets them at the door, Rainbow is apparently familiar with the pegasus, she says, "Hey Sky Gem, has Twilight made it here yet?"

The apparent hostess for the candle lit restaurant shakes her head, "I know it's time for your weekly herd date, Twilight hasn't made it here yet, but she should be here before too long. You guys are early."

Rainbow flicks her tail to whap Sam, "Ole Lero here decided to take his time getting ready, so I hurried us up so we wouldn't be late."

The other pegasus chuckled as she picked up some menus in her teeth and put them under her folded wing, "Your usual table, if you would follow me."

In moments they were at the table, all sitting comfortably. Sam found himself with Rainbow on one side, and Lyra on the other side, both leaning against him contentedly. After a few minutes, Sam saw Al waving at him from across the restaurant, he points to the apparent bathrooms.

"Uh, excuse me, I think I need to use the facilities." Sam is able to mutter.

Lyra chuckles as she moves for him to get up, "Fingers, you certainly are in an odd mood today."

Sam stutters for a moment, "I must have eaten something that disagreed with me." He chokes out as he excuses himself from the table. He quickly walks to the restrooms, taking a moment to decipher the sign to determine which was for mares, and which was for stallions, he enters the stallions restroom. Taking a moment to check to see if the room was empty, he flips the lock on the door.

"You know, Sam. If I wasn't looking at this with my own eyes, I would think poor Lero is off his rocker. But it's all true? Intelligent, thinking equines. In their own world. It's amazing."

"Al, I've leaped into the body of a chimpanzee, I've leaped outside of my own lifetime, something that should have been impossible. But how in the hell am I here?"

Al look at his comlink, "We don't know. You aren't even on Earth. Well, not our Earth, though apparently the ponies here call their world Earth. But we have been interviewing the young man in the chamber. Gooshie is still talking to him now, but we got some information, and given how unusual this place is. I rushed back here to tell you what we know."

"Okay, Al, I don't think any more surprises will surprise me today, this is, by far, the oddest leap I've ever done."

Al presses a few buttons, this hits the comlink, "Ah, here we go. You already know his name, Lero. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was brought to Equestria, that's the name of the nation, about three years ago. Since then he's found employment as a handyman, and a masseur. And most of all, he's joined a herd with three mares and a baby dragon."

"But these are sapient horses."

Al shakes his head, "They are not horses, we aren't on our world. They are ponies, and they are certainly equine, but they are not horses. It all started when he was sitting in a field after a hoofball game with the one with the rainbow mane. Her name is Rainbow Dash, she started by kissing him, and confessing that she was in love with him. And I trust you don't need all the details of their time together, right Sam?"

Sam just gives him a dirty look.

Al clears his throat and continues, "A while later, Twilight Sparkle joined the herd. She's the protégé of the Princess of this realm, Princess Celestia. And then the green unicorn, Lyra, joined their herd. The dragon's name is Spike, by the way. And they have formed a herd together. Some months ago, Princess Celestia sent Twilight a spell, which ended up swapping the personalities of some of the herd members. Though Lero hasn't gone through all the details of that swap yet, he did say that Twilight was able to eventually fix the problem, and rewrite the spell so it wasn't a danger anymore. That was where she gained wings, and became a princess."

Sam puts out his hands, "Wait a moment, she became a princess? How is that possible?"

"Apparently in this world, to be a princess isn't a matter of birth or heritage, you have to earn the right to become a princess, and become an alicorn."

"An alicorn?"

Al nods, "Yes, a pony with wings, and a horn."

Sam looks back at the door, "Are you telling me that those horns actually do something?"

Al shrugs his shoulders, "Lero said that Twilight is a very powerful mage, and although Lyra isn't as powerful as Twilight, she's strong in her own right."

Sam laughs, "So, you are telling me, that I'm in a world that possesses magic? That's not scientifically possible."

Al looks seriously at Sam, "I'm telling you that you are in a situation very different than anything you've encountered. You need to tread carefully."

Sam huffs for a moment, "Fine, can you tell me why I'm here?"

Al looks bleak, "I have no idea, neither does Ziggy, because Ziggy can't access the records of this world, she can't do a statistical probability study for any possibilities, and Lero has no clue."

Sam looks at the locked door, "Oh boy."

Chapter 3. Who is this?

Al quickly updates Sam on everything he was told by Lero. And finally Sam felt ready to join this herd date. He finally opens the door, finding a stallion waiting there.

"Took you long enough monkey man." The stallion growls as he runs by Sam. He is shaking his head as he sits down at the table.

Rainbow Dash chuckles, "Was beginning to think you fell in, big guy." She taps Sam with a wing, then snuggles close for a kiss.

Sam regards the puckered lips with complete internal horror, then after a few seconds, he remembers what is going on, and lands a platonic peck on her lips. She gives him a sour look, though it is transformed to joy as a purple pony climbs into the booth with the rest. Sam sees the horn, and the wings, so this must be Princess Twilight.

How does one address royalty in this world. "Princess Twilight." He says in greeting.

Uh, oh, wrong words. Princess Twilight smiles, her eyes twinkle, "Oh Lero, last night must have worn you out. You aren't thinking right today." Lyra disappears and reappears in Twilight's place as Twilight appears right next to him, and Twilight reaches up and puts a hoof to his cheek.

"I think she likes you, Sam." Al snarks from behind him. Sam glares quickly at Al, but quickly returns his attention to the table.

Twilight clears her throat, "Princess Celestia has requested for me to go to a summit in Saddle Arabia."

Lyra clops her hooves together, "Oh joy, a vacation."

Twilight's face falls, "Well, actually. No. She requested only that I go. It should only be a few days, but I get on the train to Canterlot in the morning, we will fly from Canterlot to Neighad, Saddle Arabia and start the negotiations. It would be really boring. Stallions don't have nearly as much freedom there, and Lero would likely be stuck in whatever accommodations they have." She turns to Same, "It wouldn't be fair to you. Princess Celestia and I agree on that."

"Saddle Arabians? Next thing they'll say is the French are the Prench." Al laughs. Again getting a quick glare from Sam.

"Any words on the Prench ambassadors? Did they have a good time?" Lyra asks.

Al snickers and Sam can only apply palm to face.

"Something wrong Lero?" Twilight asks.

Sam shifts to the side, and Rainbow Dash lets him out of the booth, "I'm sorry, but I must have eaten something that has really disagreed with me. Can I see you at home later?"

All three mares look very confused at Sam, "Certainly, Lero. If you are not feeling well, we can reschedule our herd date night." Twilight says.

Oh no, they want to come with me, he thinks frantically, "Oh, no. You girls have fun, I'm going to go lay down. I really don't feel well, and you shouldn't cancel your date because of my being under the weather."

Twilight looks at her herd-sisters and back at Lero, "If you are going to be okay. Then fine, see you at home, Lero." To nods from all of the ponies. Sam gratefully heads towards the door.

"That green one, Lyra, she reminds me of my third wife." Al looks confused for a second, "Or was it my fourth. You better watch out for her. I have a feeling she can be very dangerous."

"Would you be quiet?" Sam snaps, then looks around, some of the other ponies in the restaurant are watching him with confused looks on their faces, "Oh, sorry." He's able to mumble as he flees out the door.

As the door to Crispy's closes behind him, he hears a new, masculine voice.

"Ahh, Doctor Sam Beckett, I've been waiting to talk to you."

Sam turns around and finds he isn't in front of Crispy's anymore, he isn't anywhere. It's blackness all around him. Though Al is right there with him.

"Al, what's going on?"

Al starts to frantically press buttons on his comlink, to no avail. "Sam, my comlink is dead."

"Oh, it's not dead, I just suspended its operation for a bit so we can chat." The same voice says.

Sam whirls around, "Who are you?"

"I am Discord."

"Now that's a name." Al says.

"Shush, Al."

"Oh, I can hear Mister Calavicci as well." Discord says.

Finally a flash of light announces a new arrival. Sam's mouth drops as he looks at the creature standing before him, a vaguely equine and serpentine shape, with a mismatch of other animals for limbs. The creature spreads an eagle's talon and a lion's paw, "Ta daa."

Sam just looks as the creature, so does Al.

After holding the pose for a moment, Discord finally looks at the stunned humans, "In fact, I'm the one who brought you here. You see, Princess Twilight is about to go missing. And I jumped up and down the time line and was unable to find where she went. And the reason I've brought you here through your incessant leaping is because Rainbow Dash gets so broken up about the loss of Twilight Sparkle, that in three weeks time, she kills herself." The draconequus looks very sad, "Then poor Lero succumbs to the pain a matter of days later from the loss of two of his loves. And Lyra. You don't want to know about what happens to her."

Sam looks at the creature, "So, you want me to fix what is going to go wrong? Why don't you do it? You have the ability to jump through time, you apparently were able to drag me into a completely different universe. You obviously have the power."

With a snap of Discords fingers, they are suddenly in the bedroom in the tree. Discord walks around slowly. Looking at the various knick knacks. "Now that wouldn't be fun now, would it?"

"So, you are saying you can fix this, and I'm not needed?" Sam steps towards the Draconequus, anger plain on his face.

Discord disappears and then a snake twirls around Al. The snake's head turns into Discord's head, "I am the spirit of chaos, human. I can do what I wish, when I wish, for whatever reason I wish. But I think the mystery being solved by you would be much better."

Sam crosses his forearms, "And what if I refuse to play your game?"

With a flash of light, Discord disappears from around Al, and reappears in front of Sam, his lion's paw and eagle's claw on his hips, "Then I won't help you."

Al scoffs, "And how can you help Sam?"

Discord looks slyly at Al, "I brought you here, didn't I?"

"No, that impossible, I'm in the imaging chamber. I'm a hologram right now to you."

"Are you so sure about that?"

Al walks to the bed, but instead of phasing through it, he trips into the bed, landing on the soft comforter, "This is impossible!" Sam blurts out.

"And I am Discord, the impossible is my specialty."

Sam rushes over to Al, and for the first time in years, the two men embrace. Tears of joy roll down both of their faces.

"That is how you are helping me?"

Discord chuckles, "No, it is merely a taste." Discord smiles, "I would actually send you back to your home, but unfortunately, your fate is in the hands of others. And I cannot change that, but I can bring some others here to give you some time with the family you so desperately miss."

With a wave of his claw, Sam's wife, and other people materialize. Sam runs to his wife, only to phase through her.

"Silly human, you haven't won yet."

Sam glares at the mismatch of animal parts in front of him, "It's simple, I'll simply tell Twilight that she can't go on the trip, that she won't make it."

Discord smiles evilly, "Oh, if it were so simple, Sam." He snaps his fingers and disappears, along with the visions of Sam's family, as he feels his consciousness fading, "You are going to have to solve the mystery, not avoid it, sleep well, Sam, because when you awake, Twilight Sparkle will be missing."

***

Sam is awoken to a tongue invading his mouth, and what feels like a pair of wings embracing him tightly. He opens his eyes and he notes the cyan fur and rainbow mane. He pushes her away.

"Where is Twilight?"

Rainbow shoots him a very sour look, "Big guy, are you still feeling bad? You've slept in pretty late today. And now you seem to have forgotten that Twilight took the early train to Canterlot this morning. She's been gone for a couple of hours now."

"Crap, we need to get going." He throws the covers off and gets up, then he notices something, he turns back to Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow, why am I naked?"

The cyan pegasus purrs, "Lyra and I found you passed out on the bed, fully dressed and above the covers, so we undressed you and tucked you into bed. You must have been really out of it. You didn't even twitch when I pulled your boxers off of you." She smiles lasciviously at him, then pouts a bit, "No reaction at all."

Sam scrambles into some clothes and says, "Discord visited me last night."

The pegasus' wings wilt, "What did he say to you?"

Sam hesitates, it never really does any good to divulge that he's a leaper, "He said that Twilight is going to go missing, and that we have to figure out what happened to her."

Rainbow's wings change, from being fanned out to the sides, they are raised above her back, looking more like a threat display, "That son of a…" She trails off as Lyra enters the room.

The mint green unicorn stops mid stride, a hoof raised, "Lero, why is Rainbow looking like she's about to kick your ass?"

"Discord told Lero that Twilight is going to go missing."

Lyra freezes, "Is this one of Discord's jokes?"

Sam shakes his head.

Lyra whirls around, "We need to get to Canterlot, we need the Princesses."

Chapter 5. The Search

*** Quantum Leap facility ***

Lero paces around the room, shaking his head, “That admiral chap…” He shakes his head a couple of times, his memory is acting funky.

Gushie smiles, “Admiral Calavicci.”

Lero nods, “Yes, him. I’m glad he was able to get my herd to see me. But he said this is a time machine?”

Gushie nods, “This is a quantum accelerator, it allows for time travel.”

Lero looks at Gushie, “What year is it?”

Gushie frowns, telling a leaper the truth isn’t always a good idea, but this is outside what most of the leaps that Sam have been doing, have all been on Earth. Now it’s Earth, but not the Earth that they know. This one is occupied by colorful equines. Though Gushie is glad that it wasn’t a pony that leaped, but the lone human in that world. Though from what Al said, that is because of the creature named Discord.

“Gushie, please tell me.”

Gushie sighs, “It’s August 17th, 1999.”

Lero sits down hard, “Are you sure?”

Gushie nods.

Lero cocks his head to the side, “So, I’m actually from your future.”

This gets Gushie’s full attention, “That’s impossible!”

Lero nods his head, “I was taken from Baltimore, Maryland in 2010. And I’ve been in Equestria for about five years.”

Gushie’s eyes bulge, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” He stands up, “Do you need anything? Food, water?”

Lero shrugs, “Some pop. Something the ponies haven’t been able to make really well is good pop.”

Gushie nods as he steps out the door, checking to make sure it locks itself behind him. He heads to the control room.

“Ziggy, is he telling the truth?”

The placid voice of the computer Sam Beckett designed answers, “He certainly believes that to be the case, though further questioning may be necessary.”

Gushie moves over to the console, checking on Al and Sam in the imaging chamber. Al and Sam are walking along train tracks along with those colorful ponies. “Ziggy, how is it going with the new data?”

Ziggy takes a moment before answering, “Gushie, the creature Discord put a lot of data into my memory banks, but he put it in a completely chaotic manner. I’ve had to parse through the data to find some coherence with the time line. He put in literally thousands of years of data into my banks.”

Gushie looks up sharply at the globe that represents the computer, “Do you have enough data storage capacity?”

Ziggy chuckles, “Oh yes Gushie. When the data was pushed in, my data capacity was nearly tripled by doing so. I must assume it’s the work of this Discord. I have more than sufficient capacity, but I estimate it will be in excess of twenty-four hours before I can actually make coherent use of that data.”

Gushie sighs, “Fine.” He looks at Lero, sitting in the waiting room, sipping on a Pepsi and reading a book, “What is going on here?”

*** Sam ***

These ponies have walking endurance that boggles his mind. They’ve been walking and chatting for hours now. Along the rail line from Ponyville to Canterlot. Lyra’s horn is continuously lit as she quarters back and forth along the rail line.

“Anything, Lyra?”

The mint green unicorn shakes her head, “I’m not really feeling anything.”

Sam looks around, they are several miles from Canterlot. They’ve walked through two tunnels during the trip. Lyra had stopped and inspected each one thoroughly. But she’s come up dry. Nothing at all.

Rainbow Dash is the worst off, she’s almost vibrating as she hovers from side to side, she can’t feel anything magically, so depending on somepony else for what’s going on is driving her completely batty.

“Rainbow, calm down.” Sam calls.

The cyan pegasus looks at him severely, “The longer I wait, the more stressed I am. You aren’t Lero. I want my Lero back!” She plops to the ground as her wings clamp to ser sides, tears start to well in her eyes.

Sam is at a loss, he kneels down and pulls the pegasus into a hug, she grabs onto him, the dam breaks, “I miss him.” She sobs.

He awkwardly pats her back, “We will find Twilight, and I’ll be able to leap out, and you can have your Lero back.”

She sniffles, “We need to find her, now.” She pulls away, whirling to Lyra, “Please Lyra, do you feel anything?”

Lyra’s eyes well with tears, “I’m not the best at detecting spells, but the most I feel is a light touch of some kind of magic that I haven’t seen before. But there’s no way I can identify it.”

Sam looks around at the hologram of his friend, “You’ve been popping around, Al. Anything?”

Al hits his comlink a few times, then presses a few buttons, “Ziggy still hasn’t parsed the database, but she’s working on it.” He looks at Sam, “It would have helped if Discord had used some order when he pushed all that data into her.”

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes, “He’s Discord, and you want organization?”

Al looks at the comlink, then at Rainbow Dash, then he lets his hand fall to his side, “Good point.”

Sam continues walking, looking on each side of the tracks, the gravel that surrounds the ties is meticulously maintained, and then something catches his eye, “Al!” He calls as he dashes over.

Al disappears from next to the ponies and appears next to Al. He crouches down, “This looks like something.”

Rainbow Dash is almost as fast, though Lyra gallops over quickly, Sam crouches down next to Al, “I think there is something here. Look at the gravel, it’s disturbed.”

Rainbow Dash looks, “So?”

Sam points back the way they came, “The entire time we’ve been walking, the gravel has been level and clean, this looks like something landed here and rolled. And look!” He calls as he walks towards the trees, “These are horse shoe prints, a pony has been here.” He stands up and follows the vague horseshoe impressions in the ground, and after a few moments, “Looks like a cart or something, see the wheel tracks?”

Lyra looks at a few broken stems of taller flowers, and at the faint impressions in the ground, “I thought you said you were a doctor?”

Sam grins at her, “I’ve learned a few more things in my time leaping.” He stands up, “I think Twilight was taken this way.

Chapter 6. Meeting More

“Sam, time to wake up.” Comes a voice, Sam vaguely recognizes it. He snuggles into the warmth, they were out until pretty late the previous night. The cart tracks had merged onto a road, and best guess had taken them to this small town on the other side of Canterlot from Ponyville.

“Sam!” Comes the voice again, exhaustion threatens to pull him back into the welcoming oblivion of sleep.

“Lero!” Comes a small voice with a lot of volume, “What are you doing with my sister?”

That gets Sam’s full attention, he cringes as he opens his eyes. The warmth he’s been snuggling into, happens to be an orange flank. He shifts his head away from the blonde tail and gets an eyeful of the cutie mark, three red apples. At his knees, he feels something shift, and he lifts his head off the pillow to see a head matching the flank in front of him pop up, big green eyes compliment the orange fur, along with three white patches that look like freckles on each side of the face. She looks at him, one furry eyebrow slowly rising as she looks at him, and he can feel the flank start to tense.

“Oh…boy.” He murmurs.

Applejack chuckles, “Ah must’v been more tired than I thought Mr. Handy.” She looks over Sam’s shoulder, “Apple Bloom, what have I told ya ‘bout burstin in on the aydults.”

Sam jerks and looks behind him. A soft yellow pony is standing there, with a red mane and an impossible pink bow tied on the back of her mane, she looks at Applejack, “Ya sure there, sis?” She squints at Sam, making his insides wiggle a little. He has no doubt this pint sized pony can make his life miserable.

Applejack chuckles, “Ahm sure, sis. Now go wake Pinkie and Rarity up, k?”

She turns and scampers from the room. And after a few moments, Applejack clears her throat.

Sam jumps, and scoots out of the bed, “Ah…Sorry.” He says, scrubbing his hand through his hair.

She levers herself out of the bed, and hops to the floor, “Now, I reckon there’s a reason you aren’t sleeping with yer herd mates? I took my time walking in last night, and in the dark, I guess ya was Pinkie Pie, and just thought ah was snuggling up with her.”

Sam stumbles a bit, the physical intimacy of these ponies was more than he had ever been used to. At first, Rainbow Dash and Lyra had snuggled in with him in the bed. But after a while, he felt so uncomfortable with them, knowing that he wasn’t their Lero, he woke Rainbow up enough to say he’d sleep in one of the other rooms they had gotten. She had agreed, probably because he isn’t their Lero. But of course, he isn’t going to say all of that to a pony that’s not a member of their herd. So, he ends up fluttering his hands around.

“Oh, Lero, I had wondered where you went off to last night.” Comes another voice, Sam suppresses a groan and looks back at the mint green unicorn, Lyra comes up and hugs him tightly, “I know what happened last night,” She whispers into his ear, “Thank you for being so nice, Sam.”

She gets back on all fours and hugs Applejack, “Thank you for coming so quickly. We need to find Twilight, and we are starting early this morning. Seeya downstairs.”

Applejack smiles and follows the unicorn out the door. Sam is momentarily alone, except for Al, who is standing there, his face showing he’s trying not to laugh.

“Oh, go ahead, laugh it up.” Sam growls, to which Admiral Calavicci folds in laughter.

After a moment, he stands up, though waves of mirth still are passing through, he finally gets control of his voice, “When I came in this morning, I saw you sleeping with her, your arms around her…”

Sam rolls his eyes and walks a bit towards the door, “I know, Al. I know.”

“Did you know you were very nearly in the perfect position to…”

Sam cuts him off, “I’m quite aware of where my face was, Al. Did you find anything?”

Al looks at his comlink, “Ziggy is getting closer to compiling all the information that Discord tossed in her systems. She said I’ll be the first to know when she’s done.”

Sam sighs, getting that information may be key, but they won’t know until Ziggy is done, and trying to rush her would be a mistake. His swiss cheese memories don’t affect that bit of knowledge, Sam opens the door once again, “Come on, I guess we had better meet the rest of the ponies that Princess Celestia said could help with this search.”

A quick walk down the hall and down a wide flight of stairs has Sam in a large common room. Breakfast smells are wafting from the kitchen at the end of the room, and several ponies are sitting and eating.

A loud gasp interrupts everything. Sam gapes as a very pink pony with wild hot pink hair and bright blue eyes continues to gasp an impossibly long time.

The pony starts to talk, but it takes a moment for Sam to catch up as she’s speaking about four times faster than anypony else, “Oh My Celestia! Princess Celestia said that things were weird, but you aren’t Lero, and you are a new human, and I love your jacket, it’s shiny, and why are you standing in the middle of the table? Are you a hologram? Can anypony else see you?” She stops as blue magic engulfs her muzzle.

Al looks down, and indeed, he is standing inside a table, looking like his lower half is underneath and his top half is sitting on the table itself. He looks at Sam sheepishly as a white pony with a bright indigo mane speaks, “Oh, dear Celestia Pinkie Pie, I don’t think anypony here has had coffee yet, we aren’t ready for that yet.”

The magic fades and Pinkie Pie bounces from her seat and lands on the table, “So, nopony else can see you! That’s so cool. And what is all of this?” She pogo hops around and then she stops, “Oh, what’s this?” She sticks her head forward, and half of her face disappears.

“Uh, Sam. She’s looking into the waiting room.” Al says softly.

Sam moves forward to grab the pink pony, but she pulls her head out of the nothingness of the door to the waiting room and pogo bounces towards Sam, “So, who are you, who’s your shiny friend, and why doesn’t anypony else know why Lero is stuck in that hidden room over there?”

Rainbow Dash steps forward, “Pinkie Pie. I know who that is. His name is Dr. Sam Beckett.” And over the next half hour, she explains what is going on, including Discord’s interference in what is going on.

Finally Applejack steps forward, “Ah really don know ‘bout all this. Time travelers, and holograms and waiting rooms. But if’n Mr. Handy is stuck back at yer Quantum Leap place. And to get him back we have to find Twilight. Then let’s get going.” The other ponies nod in agreement.

They spend hours searching the town. Rarity has the idea to interview the residents, and she gets busy with that. Sam stays with Rainbow Dash and Lyra as Al uses what information he can to pop from one place to another.

Finally Al stands still, working his comlink, he looks at Sam, “Ziggy is able to search now.” He smiles as he continues working his comlink, “Okay, the odds of her being in this town is very low.” He taps a few times, “Ziggy’s checked out two weeks, now a month. Her body has not shown up. So it’s likely she’s still alive.”

Sam smiles, “Okay, how far ahead can you look?”

He hits the side of his comlink, and reads the display. Then Al visibly pales, “We need to get to a place called Griffinstone.”

Sam can see the next words are hurting Al to say, Al gulps, “Her body is found, in Griffinstone, nearly six months from now.” Tears start to form, “This sparks off a war…and Equestria may win the war, but the casualities.” He shakes his head, “Will be catastrophic, among the element bearers, Rarity and Applejack will not make it. The same for poor Spike.”

Sam looks at Lyra and Rainbow Dash, who have been watching him converse with the air. Rainbow chimes up, “What’s going on, Sam?”

Sam looks at Rainbow Dash, “We need to get to Griffinstone, as soon as we can."

Chapter 7. Good Morning. Good Evening and Good Knight.

The train ride gets more and more tense as the train approaches Griffin Gorge. Sam has updated Lero’s herd, as well as the other ponies that joined them. Lyra had called them the Element Bearers. Which leads to even more confusion, when the ponies explain to him what the Elements of Harmony are. Though the one called Pinkie Pie did tell him that the Elements of Harmony had turned Discord to stone for a thousand years.

Rainbow Dash perks up as the train’s brakes squeal as it slows down. She hops off the bench and trots quickly to the door. She waits impatiently as the train finally stops and the rest of the ponies join her. The door opens and she immediately takes to the air. They get onto the platform and Rainbow Dash rushes over to a… Sam takes a step forward as he tries to understand exactly what he’s seeing.

“A real life griffin.” Al murmurs, “Sam, if I wasn’t seeing this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.”

The griffon and Rainbow Dash embrace and they both turn towards Sam, “Dr. Beckett, This is Gilda.”

The griffin extends a claw, “Nice to meet you, I received a letter from Princess Celestia, letting you know we were coming, and it was related to the lost Princess Twilight.”

Sam looks at the claw for a long moment, Gilda leans over, “You are right, he looks exactly like your Lero, are you sure it’s not him?”

Rainbow Dash nods as Sam finally breaks from his fugue to grasp the extended claw, Sam smiles, “Yes, I’m just trying to find Twilight.”

Gilda smiles, something that Sam would have sworn impossible in a creature with a beak like the griffin, but it’s quite unmistakable, “Then, let’s get going. But where, exactly?”

Sam looks at Al, who is working the comlink as quickly as he can, he looks at Sam bleakly, “According to the report, her time of death would be within a few days of today, Sam. And the report specifically states that an exact date or time of death was impossible to determine due to the condition of the body. I can’t say for certain if she’s alive or not right now. But her body was found in the caves outside the city.”

Gilda looks at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, “Are you thinking the same place that I am?”

Rainbow nods as she spreads her wings, along with Gilda, “We’ve been there before, Pinkie, lead the rest over there. We are going ahead!” Rainbow Dash zips over to Sam, and she gently wraps her forehooves around Sam, who gasps as the compact pegasus lifts him off the ground like he’s nothing. He watches in amazement as she zooms into the air with the griffin. He turns his head to watch her wings furiously working as they fly along. There is no way that wings that small can lift this much weight that easily. He closes his eyes, once again, these ponies treat physics like it’s a plaything. No wonder that pink pony can do everything she does.

Rainbow quickly shifts as they fly, he watches a city populated by griffons flow by, he has to catch himself mentally, Twilight’s life hangs in the balance. He can’t be gawking at everything he sees. She shifts to change direction again, and she starts to descend. A cave entrance seems to be her destination. And in moments they land.

Sam holds out a hand to keep Rainbow Dash quiet, and Al appears. He looks at Al and gestures, Al smiles and taps his comlink a few times, causing him to disappear. After a few moments, Al’s voice floats back, “Sam you had better get in here.”

Sam leaps up and sprints through the entrance to the cave. He quickly takes in the scene before him. Twilight is unconscious, a violet unicorn is standing with a griffon.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash screams as she streaks towards the griffon, Sam pumps his legs as he rushes the unicorn, unheeding the potential of magic from the pony. He crashes into the pony and they crash into the ground. As they roll, he can feel something he’s only felt twice before. The pony melts and changes shape in his grasp. And in moments he has a unicorn in his grasp, though this one is pure white with a black mane and tail, and he can see the cutie mark on his flank, a stop watch with a lightning bolt through it. He scrambles to hold onto the unicorn as he starts to squirm in Sam’s grip.

“A leaper.” Sam murmurs.

“Another jumper.” The unicorn whispers.

“Hold on!” Gilda says, she’s standing before Twilight, keeping her body as a block to keep the others from getting to her, “That was a unicorn mare just a second ago.”

Sam wraps his arms around the unicorn’s neck, and his legs around the stallion’s barrel as the unicorn tries to squirm away. The unicorn’s horn lights up, and Sam remembers something that Lyra had told him, he reaches and raps on the unicorn’s horn sharply, getting the magic to extinguish and the unicorn to growl in pain.

“Hold him.” Rainbow Dash says as the griffon she had tackled bats her hard with sharp talons. Her blood drips on the floor as she scrambles away.

Sam keeps a hand on the unicorn’s horn as he watches the pegasus and griffon fight. Rainbow Dash flashes forward, hitting the griffon impossibly fast before leaping away as the griffon attempts to swipe at her again. Rainbow leaps into the air and does a short loop in the air, before landing on the griffon’s back, she uses a hard hoof and smacks the griffon repeatedly in the face. After several devastating hits, the griffin’s body goes slack. Rainbow stands up, her chest heaving, “How is Twilight.” She pants.

Gilda works to get the purple alicorn onto her back, “She’s alive, but I don’t know why she’s not waking up.”

The unicorn in Sam’s grip chuckles, Sam hits the unicorn’s horn, hard, the unicorn flinches, “So, you are stuck like me. But then, I’ll jump out of here, and continue to disrupt the harmony of Equestria in somepony else.”

Rainbow Dash gasps, “Jump, as in a leap, like what you do, Sam?”

Sam nods grimly as the unicorn attempts to squirm away once again, “Yeah. I hope the rest get here soon.”

Rainbow looks back at the entrance to the cave, “Yeah, they’ll be a couple of hours. I think we need to get going, now. We’ll head towards town.”

Sam wrestles the unicorn, snapping his horn as it glows again, the unicorn growls, “I’ve failed. Why am I not jumping?”

Sam growls right back, “I think it’s because I’m holding you.”

“Well, let me go!”

“Are you kidding me? You’ve got my herdmate, and because of you, Sam here had to leap into my stallion. So don’t you start whining about your leaping.” Rainbow Dash snarls.

“Sam, ask when he’s from.” Al says, tapping his comlink.

Sam repeats the question, to sullen silence from the white unicorn. Rainbow Dash extends her wings, then remembers that an unconscious Twilight is on her back, she subsides and simply glares at the unicorn in Sam’s grip.

They walk in relative silence for a while, every so often the unicorn squirms in Sam’s grip. He keeps an eye on the horn, snapping it forcefully if the unicorn tries to use his magic.

Finally, Rainbow perks up, “There they are!” She says as she breaks into a gallop. Gilda stays with Sam, her carrying the unconscious griffin on her own back.

Lyra’s magic lifts the alicorn off of Rainbow Dash, then she turns to the unicorn in Sam’s grip, “And what do we have here?”

Sam frowns as the unicorn is gently lifted from his grip. Lyra’s green aura enfolds the unicorn’s horn. She smiles at Sam, “I’m a member of the Royal Guard, I’ll hold him.”

Sam keeps a hand on the stallion, “I think I’m somehow preventing him from leaping.”

Lyra looks at Sam, surprised, “He’s like you?”

Sam nods, “I think so. When I touched him, his form changed. I’ve only had that happen when I’ve had to deal with another leaper.”

“It’s over, right?” Rainbow Dash chirps, “We’ve caught him, we’ve saved Twilgiht.

Sam looks at Al, “What does that do to the history?”

Al starts to walk around, tapping away at the comlink, “It’s really weird, war still happens. This unicorn seems to be dedicated to disrupting Equestria.”

Sam turns and hits the unicorn’s horn, hard. The unicorn flinches, “Hey, I wasn’t doing anything! What gives?”

“You are going to tell me why you are doing this?”

The unicorn cocks his head to the side, “And why would I tell anything to a monkey man like you?”

Sam growls, “Because Twilight is still unconscious. And I don’t know what you know about humans.” He glances at Rainbow and the other ponies, “But I’m getting hungry.”

“Oh, wh-whatever.” The unicorn stammers, “I k-know that humans don’t eat ponies.”

Sam grabs the unicorn’s muzzle, staring into the unicorn’s eyes, “You know about Lero, you don’t know about me. I’m human, and I think you’ll be a good snack.”

The white unicorn visibly blanches and tries to shy away, Lyra holds him fast in her magic, “You can’t kill me. It’s wrong to kill.”

“Does that include those that have been killed by your creating chaos?”

He flinches at the heat in Sam’s voice, “That’s different, I’m merely disrupting the harmony. The consequences of that are outside my control!”

“Ah, but creating chaos is my job.” Comes a new voice. Sam turns back and looks, he knows that voice.

“Discord.”

With a white flash of light, the draconequus appears, his mismatched forelegs spread wide, a red fez on his head and wearing a bow tie around his neck, “Ta-daa.”

“Sam, something changing, I don’t know what yet, but I think we are changing things.” Al calls out.

Discord steps up to the unicorn, “Well, White Knight, I didn’t know you were jumping around in my domain.”

The unicorn flinches, “Discord, since you’ve gone all namby pamby on the ponies, there is not enough chaos in the world. Everything ends up…” He sticks out his tongue, “Predictable.”

The yellow and red eyes of Discord narrow as he leans down, “I am the seeker of balance, the injector of chaos into the harmony of the ponies. If the balance goes the wrong way, I will know. You…” He flicks the unicorn’s horn, “Have no right to decide differently.”

Discord turns and looks at Sam, “So, your mega computer has a solution?”

Al steps forward, “A quantum surge through the chamber at the right phase, if it’s transmitted when Sam and this unicorn are in contact.” He taps his comlink, “it should disrupt the other’s ‘quantum signature’ and knock him back to his correct time, locking him there.”

Discord glances at Sam, then back to Al, “Go on.”

“The problem is it risks cutting the connection to Sam, or worse, getting Sam ‘stuck’ in Equestria and have him continue to leap here.”

Discord brings up his lion’s paw to his chin and plays with his beard for a moment, “Dr. Beckett, I’m guessing you need to make the decision?”

Sam sighs and looks around at the ponies, “Yes. There is a chance I’ll be leaping up and down your history and timelines.”

Discord smiles, “And what is wrong with that?”

Sam’s hands flutter a bit, “Well, the only human I would able to leap into would be Lero.” That gets a gasp from Rainbow Dash and from Lyra.

“And?”

“Well.” Sam gulps, “I’ll likely be turned into a pony by the surge. And the Quantum Leap institute would lose track of me, forever.”

Discord’s eyebrows raise up, completely off his forehead. He notices and grabs them, placing them back where they belong, “Well. Make your decision.”

Sam looks at Rainbow Dash for a long moment, her standing there with Twilight Sparkle on her back. After a long moment, he looks at Lyra, “Give him to me.”

Her magic floats the unicorn over and Sam grabs him, “Go for it, Al.” Sam says softly.

Al starts tapping on his comlink, “Okay, yes, this does it Sam. Here we go.” Al comes forward and taps the link a few times, Sam can hear the sound of the Quantum Leap starting to take effect, Al continues, “The war is averted, Lero, along with Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Lyra all end up getting married and they live a long time together, happily.” Al continues to talk, but the words are drowned out by the effect of the leap. He closes his eyes and lets the energy of the leap take him.

Chapter 4. Canterlot

The train ride to Canterlot was actually uneventful. Al was actually able keep quiet during the ride, instead he was working on getting information through the comlink. But finally the train pulled up to the Canterlot station.

They barely make it off the train when, "Mommy, there's a second human there." A small voice says. Sam turns to see a small filly, light purple in color with a blonde mane. Her golden eyes are locked on Al.

Sam looks to Al, who shrugs his shoulders, "Sam, you know young kids can see me."

A gray pegasus gently pushes the little unicorn onto the train with a wing, "Dinky, there is only one human there, and it's Lero. You know him."

"But Mommy, there are two humans there."

The members of Lero's herd look at Sam, then at the filly as she finally makes it into the train car. Though her face appears in a window, her eyes locked on Sam and Al.

"That was…. odd." Rainbow says.

Royal Guards are waiting at the entrance to the train station, and they usher the small family quickly to the castle. Sam simply follows instructions and they shortly are in front of Princess Celestia.

They get right down to business, "When I got your letter, I sent guards to the train station to meet the train arriving from Ponyville." The princess says quickly, "She never got off the train, and when the royal coach was checked, she was not aboard."

Lyra steps forward, "We interviewed the attendants at the train station in Ponyville, they saw Princess Twilight board the train."

Princess Celestia nods, "That means that whatever happened, it was during the trip. We are interviewing every pony that was on the train, and the conductors already said that the trip was entirely uneventful."

"Uh, Sam. Apparently that Discord fellow pushed a lot of data into Ziggy's databanks, A good portion of what's been happening in Equestria is now available, though Ziggy's trying to catalogue the information, it has to be organized."

Sam focuses on listening to Al as he continues, "Okay, we have some of it now. No one on the train noticed anything unusual. One of the attendants talked quickly to her a bit over an hour before the train arrived."

Sam whispers, "So whatever happened, it happened on the train, fairly close to here?" Al nods.

The ponies were still talking while Sam was updating Al, "We need to send guards to check the tracks, it's a long shot, but they might be able to find some clues." Celestia says.

They are all interrupted by a loud gasp from the back of the throne room. Sam looks up, a midnight blue pony with a dark mane that looks like the night sky interspersed with stars is trotting into the room, her wings up in alarm, "Sister, not just one, but two new humans? Both of them with Lero's herd? What's going on here?"

Celestia looks at her sister in confusion, "I think you are mistaken, my sister. There is just Lero here."

The blue alicorn looks hard at Sam, then glances at Al, then looks at Celestia, "Sister, dear, I see two humans here, one is dressed how Lero usually dresses, the other…" She stops and looks at the shiny outfit that Al is wearing, "I'm not certain how to describe his clothing."

Rainbow Dash chimes in, "Princess Luna, there's just Lero here. You are looking at a blank wall right now."

A faint grimace of anger passes over the night alicorn's face, "Rainbow Dash, I know quite well what I'm seeing here, and there are two humans here."

Celestia steps forward, "Dear sister, I only see Lero."

Luna rolls her eyes, "Let me show you all." She steps forward, her horn igniting, and Sam is rooted to the spot as her horn gently touches his forehead. He feels a cool feeling all over his body, and apparently that did something, because gasps are heard throughout the throne room. Rainbow Dash tackles Sam and ends up on top of him, holding him down, her wings spread in rage.

"What did you do to my Lero?" The pegasus screams at him.

Sam looks at the enraged pegasus, and hazards a quick glance at Lyra, her horn is glowing, and she has a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Uh, Al, what do I do now?"

Princess Luna quickly trots over to Al, and her lit horn passes through Al, but apparently he becomes visible as well. Lyra tries to use magic to immobilize Al, and she grunts in frustration as the spell passes right through him.

"Uh, Sam, they can see both of us now."

Sam puts his hands on Rainbow's chest, pushing the pony a little from him, "I can explain."

"Where is Lero?" Rainbow pushes her snout right in Sam's face, "Where is my stallion?" She screams, she uses her wings to lift herself and grab Sam, in moments he's near the high ceiling of the throne room, "You tell me where he is right now, or I will drop you."

"He's in our waiting room!" Al calls. Rainbow looks at the hologram.

Rainbow looks at Al, "Bring him back, right now." She snarls at him.

"I wish I could, miss, I really do. But Sam and him have switched places, and until Sam leaps out, Lero will be stuck in the waiting room. He's being taken care of, food, drink. He's on Earth right now."

Rainbow Dash stiffens, "He's home?" Tears well in her eyes. She slowly brings Sam down to the ground. She backs away, "Why? How?"

Sam looks down, then kneels to be eye level with the cyan pegasus. Though he pitches his voice loud enough for everyone to hear him, "I am a scientist, I started a program, where we figured out that I could travel in time. And I went for it. I jumped in the accelerator. And I started leaping."

"Leaping?" Princess Celestia cocks her head to the side, "What is that?"

Sam sighs, time to explain it all. He spends the next several minutes explaining what a leap was, and what he's been doing. Al helpfully fills in some gaps due to Sam's swiss cheesed memories."

Princess Luna comes forward, "So, you are here because Discord brought you here, so you could solve the mystery? Yet he could solve it himself."

Sam looks at Luna, "I had the feeling that it was something that he thinks I'm uniquely qualified to handle, though I have no idea how. I've never been to a place where magic is real, where you completely baffle the laws of physics. And yet, I've watched unicorns teleport, and levitate, and do all sorts of things that, a day ago, I would have flatly said are impossible."

Luna looks at Celestia, "Sister, if Discord really thinks that this Dr. Beckett is qualified to find Twilight Sparkle, then we should help him. And the faster he has done his task, the sooner he can leave."

Celestia sighs gently, "I agree. Though your presence should not become widespread knowledge. Lyra, Rainbow Dash, I hate to say this." She steels herself, "Until this problem is resolved, you need to treat Dr. Beckett here as though he's Lero, like he's a member of your herd."

Lyra nods slowly, Rainbow Dash growls, "Not until I see Lero himself."

Sam flinches, Al speaks up, "That would be kind of awkward."

Rainbow Dash stands tall, "That is my price for maintaining the charade, I want to see if Lero is okay."

Sam looks at Al and nods quickly. Sam sighs, "I can't get him synchronized to your brainwaves that easily, the most you will be able to do is see him." Al presses a button, and the door to the imaging chamber opens, and in moments he's gone.

Rainbow turns to Sam, "You should have told us. Last night, at our herd date, you should have told us."

Sam puts his hands out in front of him, "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. In my experience, most people are really confused by a leaper, and having me simply say out of the blue that I was a time traveler would likely have not gone over well. You likely would not have believed me until you saw what I really look like. Until the illusion from the leap was somehow broken by the Princess there." Rainbow looks thoughtful.

Sam turns to Princess Luna, "Princess, how did you see? There are very few instances of people that can see through the illusion of the leap."

Luna draws herself up, "I am the Princess of the night, I must peer into the dreams of our subjects, I must be able to see what is going on in this world. I felt an odd resonance when I awoke. And it got more profound as I got closer to the throne room, then I saw the spell around you, I was unable to cancel it, but I was able to make it so the ponies here could see you for what you are."

"So others won't be able to see me except as Lero?"

Luna shakes her head, "No, only Princess Celestia, myself, and the members of your herd are able to see you as you are rather than as Lero."

They are all distracted by the sound of the imaging chamber door opening and closing. The all look over at Al.

"As I said, you will be able to see him, but you won't be able to hear him." He reaches out his hand, and as he grasps, another figure appears.

"Lero." Rainbow Dash breathes and rushes towards him, he smiles as she gets close. She skids to a stop in front of the holograms. Lero kneels down, she can see him mouthing her name. Tears start to fall from her eyes.

"He says he's okay. His memories are a little swiss cheesed, but he certainly remembers you, all of you."

Lero speaks again, and Al repeats him, "If Twilight really has gone missing, please find her. He misses all of you, and can't wait to be home soon."

Celestia moves closer, the human stiffens at her approach. She sighs and relaxes, her flowing mane ceases to flow and becomes simply pink. Lero relaxes a bit, Celestia speaks, "Lero. I assure you that this leaper, Sam, and the rest of your herd will do everything they can to find Princess Twilight. Just stay safe until you are brought home to us."

Al replies for the red headed human, "Thank you Princess. Please hurry."

Lero hold's Al's hand as long as possible so they can see him until he steps out of the imaging chamber. Rainbow Dash deflates visibly when he's gone, Sam is close enough to hear her murmur through her tears, "Love you, big guy."

Epilogue

Sam opens his eyes, where is he this time?

“Sam, what happened?”

He looks around, everything is blackness, this has never happened before.

“I am a creature of my word, I cannot hold you here for too long, but Lero is back home, and the ponies will be continuing their lives as they should have, before the meddling of one who doesn’t understand balance.”

Sam whirls around, “Discord!”

“None other. And I promised you.” The sound of fingers snapping reverberates throughout where they are standing, and a white door opens, “You will have a few hours here before you are pulled into your next leap. I think some magician or some other is in need of your unique brand of help.”

“So, the surge happened as it was supposed to?”

Discord smiles evilly, “Yes, you will remain human. Though I can’t blame your computer. Ziggy didn't take into account the ‘world phase’ as well as the ‘quantum state phase’ in the calculations. But it’s quite difficult for even a brilliant computer to handle those kind of variables. The pony leaper is taken care of.”

A face appears at the open door, eliciting a grin from Sam, “Gushie!”

“Oh, Dr. Beckett, it has been the most unusual time the last few days here.”

Sam smiles, “I know.” He puts an arm around Al and they both walk to towards the door.

***

White Knight shakes his head hard, whatever that monkey man did with Discord, he’s got a horrible headache. Then the sounds assault his senses. A loud honking causes him to look around, adjusting to the sudden bright light. He finds he’s lying on concrete, in some kind of doorway. A glance up tells him it’s early morning, and the world is waking up. Then his jaw drops, instead of ponies, those strange bipedal creatures like that damnable Lero are walking around. His nose flares, those carts moving along the road have a unique odor to his nose. He shakes his head again and touches his temple, “Dizzy.” He murmurs.

“Daddy, what’s that?”

He looks down, they wear clothes in this world, and he’s not wearing any.

More and more humans stop to look at him as White Knight stands up, he’s got to get away from here.

“Everyone, get back!” Comes a voice from an officious looking human, wearing a dark blue uniform of some type, along with a golden small shield on his breast along with a big belt holding all kinds of things around his waist. Is that some sort of gendarme? He puts his…hand? On his waist, gripping something, is that a weapon?

He tries to run but his legs tangle, he’s too dizzy to get anywhere really. He looks around, “Oh…boy.”