Before the Fall
Chapter One: The Rainbow Home
Equestria: Twenty years before the Fall
Rainbow Dash woke with a sharp groan, sleep shattered by a dull weight landing on her chest.
“Rainbow! You promised you’d play with us today!” shouted a small cerulean mass from atop Rainbow. "So, come on, get up, up, up!"
Opening her eyes, Rainbow saw as she expected, her youngest half-sister looking up at her with large expectant red eyes, one partially hidden behind a long mane of silver, midnight blue, and white streaks. At the foot of the bed, heads peeking up just enough to see what was happening, were three more faces. Dash suppressed a sigh at seeing the white and blue coats of her other siblings.
"Ugh, five more minutes, Cerulean," Rainbow complained rolling over onto her side, and sending her half-sister tumbling to the soft cloud floor.
"But, sis, you promised!" Cerulean whined, her voice followed quickly by a chorus of 'yeah' from the three at the beds' foot.
"Fine, fine, I'll be down in a minute," Dash grumbled as she shook off her covers before heading towards the bathroom.
A few minutes later she stumbled into the kitchen, her mane still damp from a hasty shower, and Rainbow's eyes darting towards the bowls of fruit already waiting on the table. All three of Rainbow's half-sisters and her brother were already snout deep into their breakfast. From the counter Rainbow's second mother, Silver Whisper, looked up from the cantaloupe she was cutting into thin slices before setting them into small wooden lunchboxes.
"Rainbow, you're up early," Silver noted as Rainbow sat down heavily at the table. "Your mother and I are going to be shopping today, so you'll have to take care of the others for a little bit."
Grumbling a half-hearted acknowledgment Rainbow reached for the apples. She really liked the sweet red fruit that came from one of the nearby Earth Pony towns. They were the sweetest fruit around as far as Rainbow was concerned.
"What was that, Rainbow?" Silver's voice had that sharp disapproving edge to it that any filly instinctually knew was saying danger was close.
"Yes, ma'am," Rainbow said louder.
A few minutes later Rainbow found herself being practically dragged down the short wooden ramp that lead from the cloud house's porch to the hard ground by her siblings. Not for the first time Rainbow wondered what it would be like to live in a cloud home that was floating way up in the sky, not one anchored only a few feet off the ground. The house was large, almost palatial, with its shimmering rainbow falls and many levels, but it felt wrong having it so close to the surface.
Like many pegasus families, they had moved the cloud from the Upper City to the Lower City when the first foal had been born. Rainbow hated the idea that it was to protect her that the house had been moved. She wanted so badly to be in Upper Cloudsdale, where the Cloudosseum sat proudly. It was there all the racers, and stunt fliers, and everypony awesome lived and worked. Not down on the stupid muddy ground. The only thing keeping Rainbow from exploding in frustration was the idea that in a few months she'd be going to Flight School.
Not that she needed to go to flight school. Rainbow was already an excellent and strong flier, a prodigy, according to Momma Dew Drops.
Rainbow liked Dew Drops, her third mother. Dew, as she preferred to be called, was the third and final mare to join the family. She was always smiling and encouraging Rainbow and her siblings to try their best. Not like Rainbow's real mother, Spectral Dash, the family matron.
It wasn't that Rainbow's mother wasn't encouraging, or mean for that matter, she was just so, bland. Spectral was always so serious and involved in her work, or managing the family as matron. Her cutie mark even showed how she was all about the boring and lame. Rainbow couldn't understand who'd want a cutie mark of three scrolls, each bound by one of the primary colours.
Not her, not Rainbow Dash, she had only one thing on her mind; flying.
Except she couldn't as she had three ground locked foals to watch. Only her next youngest sibling, Fortune Whisper, could fly, and she wasn't very good yet.
"Okay squirts, what do you want to play today?" Rainbow asked with a slight sigh.
"Hide and seek!"
"No, too un-awesome."
"Tag!"
"Even un-awesomer."
"What about Pegasus and Earth Ponies?" Cerulean asked raising a shaking hoof.
Rainbow almost shot that idea down as well, but stopped herself, rubbing one hoof along her chin in thought.
"Actually, yeah, that sounds semi-cool. So long as I'm Commander Hurricane."
Following Rainbow's decision came the predictable squabbling over who got to what role. Fortune, as the only other able to fly, chose to be Private Pansy, while Lightning and Misty claimed the role of marauding dragons, leaving Cerulean as Puddinghead.
"I don't want to be a Puddinghead!" the youngest filly moaned as her sisters all ran off to set up forts or caves for the game. "Why can't I be a Pegasus fighter like you and Fortune?"
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow patted her sister on the shoulder, saying, "Because then who would Lightning and Misty terrorise and me and Fortune save?"
"I don't want to be saved," grumbled Cerulean, hooves crossed and a sour look on her face. "I always have to be the one getting saved. Why can't I save you for once?"
"That's easy," Rainbow laughed, puffing out her chest. "Because I can fly, and you can't," she added before leaping up and heading towards a low drifting cloud that would make an excellent observation post.
Mumbling to herself about how unfair it was to be the youngest, and how things would be better once the foal Dew Drops was expecting arrived, Cerulean headed off to find a place to hide. Rainbow hardly noticed as she had already started to shout challenges towards Lightning, the bright blue colt making roaring noises before running off laughing. Joining in the laughter Rainbow dived off her perch sweeping back and forth across the field. It was an hour before any of them realised Cerulean was missing.
"Um, Rainbow, have you seen Cerulean?" Fortune asked flapping over awkwardly after catching and 'slaying' Misty.
Looking up from where she was tickling Lightning, Rainbow frowned. "No, I thought she was with you and Misty."
Then the words that Rainbow dreaded echoed in her ears.
"I thought she was with you."
"Oh, buck, mom's going to have a fit," Rainbow moaned jumping up into the air and spinning in a circle.
Spotting Cerulean's dark blue coat was normally easy on the ground. To Rainbow's dismay she saw nothing. Just as panic was about to set in a thin, distant, shout carried on the afternoon breeze reached Rainbow's ears. Over a hill a little way off Rainbow spotted her youngest sister waving and shouting something.
"Fortune, stay with the others," Rainbow said, wings propelling her north towards the edge of the Buckwheat Woods.
As she approached, Rainbow saw Cerulean was laying on the lip of a short drop overlooking a little field beside the woods. The woods themselves were undistinguished with no feature that made them important beyond their name on a map.
"What are you doing way over here, squirt?" Rainbow snapped as she dropped down beside Cerulean.
"I was looking for a place to hide from Misty and Lightning, and, and then whoosh, there was this silvery thing zipping through the air. One moment it was there, then the next it'd be way, way, waaaaay far away! Then it went and landed next to the woods! You all were busy playing so I went to investigate and-"
"Whoa, slow down, what the hay are you going on about? Silver flying things? Zipping around? You're making no sense, squirt."
“Come on, I'll show it to you!” Cerulean gleefully said grabbing Rainbow's hoof and dragging her towards the lip of the hill. "See?" she said pointing down into a hollow next to the woods.
There, hovering only a few feet above the grass, was the strangest thing Rainbow had ever seen. It was fat and vaguely oval in shape, like two wide brimmed soup bowls pressed together. Sunlight reflected off the objects silver skin as it hung in the air without any visible wings. The object bobbed strait up and down twice, each movement happening with a fluid speed that dazzled Rainbow. In the space of a couple seconds it climb hundreds of feet and then descended back to the ground. Nothing the young filly had ever heard of could move in such a manner. The object repeated the motion twice and then landed on four long bug-like legs.
Overcome with curiosity Rainbow smiled as she began to slide down the hill, “Not sure what that is, squirt. Let’s go investigate!”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. Momma Silver says-”
“Oh, don’t be such a foal. I can fly and you aren’t that much younger than me. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“We don’t know what that thing was, Rainbow. Maybe it’s zombies! Or worse!”
“Pshaw, zombies? As if. Besides, I ain’t afraid of no zombies!”
To make her point Rainbow kicked off the ground, opened her wings, and began to fly in the direction of the mysterious silver disk. Turning her head Rainbow saw her sister running after her.
“You should be afraid of zombies! They are all, ‘rawwrrrr, brains,’ and will go chomp-chomp on your head and slurp out your brains. That’s what Eggs told me.” Rainbow’s sister tilted her head to one side rolling her eyes around, tongue hanging from the side of her mouth. Covering her mouth with a hoof Rainbow tried to suppress a laugh.
“Eggs? You mean that nerdy Unicorn in school?”
“Hey, Eggs is nice! He doesn't tease me, unlike some ponies!”
Suppressing a ‘harumph’ Rainbow didn’t respond to her sister’s indignation. Landing several feet from the disk, Rainbow began pacing around it as Cerulean caught up. Little red lights rotated around the edge of the disks top but otherwise it was nothing more than a featureless giant plump silver Frisbee.
“What do you think it is?”
“Got me. It’s just sitting there doing nothing,” Rainbow muttered unable to contain the disappointment in her voice.
“Well, that’s good. No zombies or nothing?”
“Why would there be zombies in a big flying silver thing?” Dash asked, rolling her eyes and rubbing her temples.
For several minutes the two fillies continued to watch the object.
It sat there with its red lights blinking doing nothing.
Suppressing a groan Rainbow rolled onto her back looking up at the sky. She wanted excitement and adventure. The disk was weird, but boring just sitting on the ground. Rainbow quickly grew tired of watching the blinking red lights. An idea popped into her head to living things up. A long mischievous grin slowly grew across Rainbow’s face and the filly rubbed her hooves together.
“Say, squirt, I dare you to touch it.”
“What? No way! You wanted to come down here. You go touch it.”
Rolling her eyes Rainbow huffed, “I thought you wanted to be a brave warrior Pegasus. Brave warriors would go touch it.” Rainbow paused for a moment as her sister considered before adding, “If you touch it you can be a real warrior you know."
"Fine," Cerulean grunted, edging slowly closer towards the large disk. Every few steps she'd pause, look over her shoulder, and get waved forward by an impatient Rainbow. Tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, and her back legs knocking together, Cerulean stretched up, gave Rainbow one last pleading look, and tapped her hoof to the side of the disk.
A sound like a gong rang out and a wave of white raced from where Cerulean's hoof touched the disk. Wings flaring in surprise Cerulean tried to back away, but her hoof had become stuck.
"Rainbow! It's got me!" she screamed, sudden panic making her wings beat irregularly.
Biting back a response Rainbow jumped forward. She knew when her sister was faking being afraid, and wasn't. This, Rainbow knew in her rapidly beating heart, wasn't some prank. Grabbing her sister's stuck leg Rainbow tried to pull her sister away from the disk.
"Ow! You're hurting me!" Cerulean yelped as Rainbow tugged harder.
"Okay, don't worry squirt, I'm going to get you free," Rainbow said, eyes darting around for something she could use, and settling on a rock. Picking the rock up, Rainbow used her wings to hover before smashing the stone against the silver disk. Nothing happened, not even a dull ring of stone hitting metal, just the whinnying of Cerulean's panic. "Ugh, this is working. Okay, new plan. I'm going to get mom. Just sit tight squirt, we'll be right back."
"No! Don't leave me Rainbow, I'm scared."
Cerulean laid her ears flat against her head and whimpered, wings still beating to hold her up. Rainbow winced at the look her sister was giving her, but couldn't think of anything else.
"Don't worry, I'll be back in a dash," Rainbow tried to give a confident smirk at her lame pun, but she felt it was wavering and weak.
Wings working hard Rainbow sped off towards where her other siblings still played. Landing next to Fortune, Rainbow took her eldest sister aside and very quickly told her to take Lightning and Misty home. Not waiting for Fortune's predictable questions, Rainbow then took off in a blaze of colour towards the market district of lower Cloudsdale.
"Mom? Mom!? MOM!?" Rainbow shouted, her scratchy voice high and panicky the longer it took to find any of her moms. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a couple minutes, Rainbow spotted the spectral mane she'd inherited from her mother near a stand selling alfalfa. Sighing in relief, Rainbow raced over, landing next to her mother and started to explain everything.
"Whoa, slow down there, Rainbow, I can't understand anything you're saying," Spectral Dash said, waving a hoof for Rainbow to take a breath. "Now, what is it."
"We were playing in the field, like momma Silver told us, and Cerulean went missing, but then I found her, and there was this flying silver disk thing, but it was kinda boring after it landed, so I dared Cerulean to touch it, but she didn't want to, so I teased her, and then she did touch it. But now she's stuck!"
Rainbow would never admit it, but she was on the verge of tears. They vanished before they could form, halted by two simple words.
"Show us."
Performing a simple backwards summersault in relief, Rainbow took off, her moms at her wingtips, groceries abandoned in the market square. It took them only a few minutes to reach the hilltop overlooking where Rainbow had left Cerulean and the odd disk.
Both were gone.
Mouth opening and closing slowly as a wave of cold shock slowly climbed up Rainbow's back. Flapping down to the base of the hill, Rainbow spun in circles looking for any sign of her sister.
"She was right here! Honest!" Rainbow whined, pre-emptively denying any claims she was pranking her moms.
But no such claims were made. Both mares were flying in wide circles overhead, scanning the ground and edge of the woods for any sign of the missing filly.
"I never should have left her," Rainbow moaned, collapsing onto the grass. This time she didn't even try to fight back the tears.
* * *
Hundreds of miles away, on the artificial plateau that supported the capitol, Long Stop was not having a good day. Small beads of sweat trickled down the back of her neck, heightened by the sensation of hundreds of eyes boring into the back of her skull. Scratching at her grey mane with a light pink hoof, she gave a long nervous laugh.
"So, um, Princess, with a bit more funding I am certain that we'll be able to get the Communication Stones to work," Long Stop's voice was nasally and unsure as the mare looked up at the radiance of the Princess.
Held in the white-gold aura of the monarch were two large rubies. The life's work of Long Stop. Stones that by tapping would resonate with a linked aura. By timing the taps messages could be sent between the stones regardless of distance allowing instant communication between cities or even continents. At least, that was the theory.
The problem was the charm wasn't 'sticking' like it should, resulting in one or both losing their magic, or not responding in sync. Long Stop knew she could work out the problems with the enchantments, she just needed time, and money. But the theory was sound, even proven, kind of.
Setting the two gems down in front of the shaking pony, Celestia stepped down from her thrown, saying, "Could you give us a demonstration?"
"Um, now? I, uh, yes! Yes, of course!" Long Stop gave a short panicked laugh. "I just need to make sure the gems are still, uh, fully charged."
Channeling magic into her horn, Long Stop double checked the enchantments she'd placed on the gems that morning. She felt certain that they'd work, it hadn't been long enough for the complicated set of magic contained in the gems to start to unravel. That wasn't likely to happen for another three days based on past experiments. But she wanted to be absolutely certain everything was perfect. This was one of the most important moments in her career, and Long Stop wanted it to go perfectly. Confident in her spell-work, Long Stop reached a hoof towards the right gem.
Tapping it three times fast, three times slower, then three times fast again. The taps were meaningless, but it had a nice little ring that pleased Long Stop. Each time she tapped the gem, both glowed with a brilliant light. Everything was going perfectly. Smiling Long Stop took a step back from the gems. She was going to get a royal grant for continued research for sure.
Then the unthinkable happened; the gems started to repeat the flashes. First once, then twice, then over and over, with each repetition they glowed brighter and brighter.
"Wait, this isn't supposed to happen," Long Stop yelped, channeling magic back into her horn and reaching towards the gems. "I can fix this, just give me a moment."
Several voices in the throne room began to mutter and Long Stop could feel the eyes again, the hateful judging eyes, boring into the back of her skull. The gems were on their tenth repetition, glowing so bright they looked like two tiny suns. Just before starting an eleventh repetition the two gems shattered, bits of ruby shards spattering into Long Stop's and Celestia's faces.
The throne room was deathly quiet. A pinned dropped would have been like the crash of thunder. Celestia continued standing at the base of the steps to her throne, the eternal clam smile that poets had been smitten with for eons on her face. Long Stop couldn't move, think, or even breath. Celestia didn't sigh, or make any indication of anger or disappointment, she just channeled magic into her horn and gathered all the gem shards into a small collection.
"Y-your majesty, I am so s-sorry. I just don't know what went wrong! That shouldn't have happened."
"No, it shouldn't have, as you're not trying to make gems that explode," Celestia said, but her words were not cruel, in fact a slight smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "I see promise in this spell, Miss Long Stop. Given time, and more funding, I am sure you'll get it to work properly. When you do, I would love to have several pairs of the stones for use here in the palace."
Long Stops jaw fell open so fast she thought it'd go through the palace floor and end up somewhere in the vicinity of Tartarus. It took several long moments, and Celestia whispering to her clerk, before the Princess's words sunk in.
Long Stop had her funding.
Smiling from ear to ear, Long Stop bowed so low her nose left an imprint on the floor.
"Thank you, Princess Celestia, thank you so very, very much," Long Stop said, repeating the words over and over as she back away from the throne, her place quickly taken by the next pony in line to see the Princess.
The smile remained on Long Stop's face for weeks once she returned to her lab on the out-skirts of Manehattan.