//------------------------------//
// Rise of the Everlasting Song 
// Story: Rise of Equestria: The War Begins 
// by Israel Yabuki 
//------------------------------//

The rumbling goes on for quite a while as the locals take shelter, unaware of what's going on. Even Twilight and her friends were getting a bit scared. Except for Pinkie who was let the rumbling in the ground take her in circles without her moving a single muscle.

"He-e-e-ey, th-i-i-i-i-s i-i-i-i-i-s, f-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-n." Pinkie exclaims happily with her shaky voice.

"Pinkie, what's wrong with you, are you crazy?!" Twilight asked.

'Did she really just ask that?' Rainbow thought to herself.

"Pinkie, this is no time to be playing, something's not right here!" Spike says

"We can save the arguements for another time, but right now, we've got ourselves an emergency. Everypony take shelter and don't come out unless I say so! Celestia, you search the village and the valley for any ponies that need help tryiing to take shelter. I'll go head back on the mountain to get a good vantage point on where this is all coming from, got it?" Blaze Burn explains.

"Alright, but just be careful! This isn't a natural earhtquake!" Celestia warned.

"I'll do my best, dear." Blaze Burn unfolded his wings and flew off towards the mountain and Celestia hovered over the village to find anypony who had trouble finding shelter. Twilight and her friends ran back with the princesses sons over to Blue Blaze's house where his wife was waiting for them with a worried look on her face.

As soon as everypony was inside, they closed the door and hid in the living room. The rumbling somehow began to get worse and worse. Suddenly, there was wail of fright. It came from Crimson Ruby who had a little filly in her hooves who had the same fur color as Eternal and Blue Blaze, but her mane and tail were a striped scarlet and midnight blue color and had scarlet eyes like Crimson.

"Crimson, who's the filly?" Twilight asks.

"Her name is Flaming Sapphire. She's my daughter." Crimson replied.

"Mommy, what is the ground shaking? I'm scared!" Flaming asked, looking at her mom with tears in her eyes.

"I don't know, sweetie. But it'll be okay, I've got you." Crimson held Flaming Sapphire in her hooves closely while Blue Blaze held his wife and daughter close to him. Eternal Flames walked over to the window, even with the ground still rumbling.

"Bro, are you crazy?! Get away from there, it's dangerous!" Heat Blitz shouted out. But Eternal didn't listen and he lifted up the window to peek outside. The streets were empty, which meant that Princess Celestia had evacuated any wandering ponies in the village to safety.

Soon, Princess Celestia returned to the house the others were at, but only stopped at the window her son was looking out from and told him, "Stay inside, I'm going to check on your father." and then flew off to the mountain where his dad was. But there was a sickening feeling inside Eternal, like something bad was going to happen if he doesn't go with her.

He backed himself up a few feet before charging at the open window and leaped out, heading into the direction where his mother was going. The others were shocked by Eternal's actions.

"Is he nuts?!" Rainbow asks.

"Yep. But, then again, he was always like this for as long as I can remember. If I have anything to say about it, he's not gonna head out there all by himself!" Shadow Force says.

"D-Darling, you don't mean?" Rarity asks.

"Don't tell me you're heading out there, too!" Spike says in surprise.

"You guessed right, I'm going with him! If he heads out there alone..." he paused before backing up a bit and getting ready to jump out, "...I wouldn't forgive myself if he ends up dead! Eternal's done a lot for me and the guys and I won't let him fight this alone!" Shadow then charges at the open window and leaps out, running as fast as he could to catch up.

Sunset also felt the sickened feeling inside her. In fact, everypony did. So, one by one, the gang all leaped out of the window and followed Eternal. All that remained were Twilight and Heat Blitz. She saw the look in Heat's eyes as he backed himself into the wall, shaking.

"Heat Blitz, what's the matter?" Twilight asked.

"I'm scared. Scared for myself and my brother." Heat replied.

"Then why don't you chase after him?"

"If I do, I'll just get in his way. What use can I be if I made a vow to never fight?"

"Heat Blitz, just because you don't fight, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be there for your brother. You know he never thinks badly of you. He needs you as much as you need him."

"You really think so?"

"I do. So, you want to tag along?"

Heat Blitz paused for a moment to think it over. He could either stay and watch over his niece with his oldest brother, or he could go with Twilight and help Eternal. He took a deep breath and said, "Alright, Twilight, let's go, Eternal is waiting and I won't let him go alone!"

"That's the spirit!"

Unlike the others, Twilight and Heat Blitz ran over outside through the front door and flew off at rapid speeds to catch up with their friends.





Meanwhile, Blaze Burn was struck with shock as he witnessed what looked like a dragon claw coming out of the crack and latched onto the surface. Blaze Burn backed up a bit, ready to attack if whatever was inside the mountain wasn't friendly. Soon the crack in the mountain grew bigged until a loud, deafening roar shook the whole mountain, causing boulders to tumble down the steep slopes.

Princess Celestia heard the sound and covered her ears with her forehooves. She feared the worst for Blaze Burn and flew over to him faster. Upon arriving, Blaze Burn was up in the air, covering his ears and she thought he had heard the same sound as her.

"Honey, what happened?" Celestia asked.

"I don't know, dear. But whatever's in there," Blaze Burn said, pointing to the big hole in the ground on top of the mountain, "doesn't sound friendly at all! Have you evacuated everypony to safety?"

"Yes, everypony's safe."

"Good. Come on, we've got to see what's in that hole." Blaze Burn flew down with Celestia and walked over to the edge of the hole and saw some sort of figure, almost like a pony. But when it faced upwards, the figure opened its eyes, which were a yellow-ish green color. Its pupils were slitted like dragon eyes and it grinned before flying out and landing on the other side of the mountain.

Upon closer inspection, she was a pony/dragon hybrid. Her fur was a dark purple color, much darker than Twilight's and had black dragon wings. Her legs were silver colored with dragon scales and had claws. She had two dragon horn colored dark grey that were twisted. Her cutie mark was a multi-colored dragon that was spiraling into an oroborus like it was eating itself. Her mane and tail were a teal-ish lavender type of color.

"Ahh, finally. I was getting tired of sleeping in that disgusting prison." she said, adjusting her neck.

"Who are you?" Blaze Burn asked, still feeling cautious.

"I am Melodia Sortis Aeternalis! But, you can just call me Melodia." she replied. Her attention locked onto the princess and she got close to her and grinned. "Long time so see, Princess Celeatia, I wish I could see your loving little sister, I would've loved to see her weep in agony... while I take you down." Melodia's tone in her voice got a bit deep when she spouted out that last statement.

Celestia's eyes shrunk. 'No...i-it can't be!' Celestia thought. Blaze Burn saw the shock in her eyes and approached the princess with concern.

"What's the matter? Do you know her?" he asked.

"Afraid so, dearest. She was a childhood friend that me, and Luna grew up with thousands of years ago, but then mother said she tried to lead the dragons to enslave the ponies, so she sealed her inside an icy prison, but now she's free to unleash her fury." Celestia explains.

Melodia laughed at Celestia's words. "Guess you really take after your beloved mother, Queen Galaxia, letting your eyes be decieved by lies and betrayal."

"Don't you dare bad mouth my mother!" Celestia took half a step forward, lighting up her horn in a bright yellow aura with her wings spread wide open. "Tell me, Melodia. What kind of business do you have here, now that you've been freed from your prison?"

"Oh, nothing much." Melodia remains silent for  good 10 seconds until she stares directly at Celestia with her wide grin and menacing dragon eyes. "Just that I'm going to break you in so many ways your family broke me thousands of years ago... when my beloved father was taken from me!"

"So confident, and yet so arrogant. Do you honestly think we're going to let that happen? If so, then you've got another thing coming, Ms. Melodia." Blaze Burn says as he stared her down, his horn lighting up with a simple flame at the tip. Melodia simply gave him a bored expression.

"Hah! I've heard plenty of empty threats coming from a pathetic stallion. From what I can see, you must be Celestia darling and loving husband. How precious. But you can never defeat somepony as strong as me, no matter how strong you might claim to be."

"Talk is cheap, Melodia. If you claim to be as powerful as you say, you'll have to back up your claim with solid proof by knocking me down where I stand."

"Honey, no! You don't know what she's capable of!" Celestia warned. But when she looked at where Melodia was standing, she vanished.

"Well, if you want proof..." Melodia pauses. Celestia and Blaze Burn searched the mountain to find her, but could find no trace of her... until Celestia caught a glimpse of her next to her husband. "...then I'll be happy to show you first hoof by blowing out your eardrums!" she finishes.

"HONEY, WATCH OUT!" Celestia shouts. But it was too late, Melodia let out another deafening roar, catching Blaze Burn off guard and blasted him off the ground and caused him to plummet down the mountain and Celestia felt the painful ringing in her ears.

"Well, what can I say? He asked for it, so I brought it to him." Melodia shrugged

"Y-You monster!" Celestia exclaimed in frustration. Melodia laughed and approached Celestia with a grin on her face, and showed that she had the advantage.

"I've been called worse, but hey, what do you know princess? You could never even begin to comprehend what I had to go through thousands of years ago."

Celestia was clueless on what she meant by that. But then she remembered the pain she inflicted on Blaze Burn and lit up her horn in a yellow aura. Melodia was starting to like the princess becoming more tense and her horns lit up, being covered in a silver type of aura. In a flash of light, the two powerful beings locked themselves in an aerial magic combat.

Princess Celestia started off with multiple magic blasts scattered in every direction, locked on Melodia, but Melodia was able to dodges all of her attacks. She roared again, but Celestia used a spell to protect herself from her deafening roars and retaliated with a magic shock wave. Melodia dodged with no trouble and moved about at blinding speeds which Celestia could still follow.

The two powerful beings kept pressing on their assaults, never giving each other an inch.





Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends traveled down the forest at high speeds trying to get to the mountain as soon as they possibly could. Eternal was kind enough to let the others catch up to him, but he felt that sickening feelings that something happened to his parents. He wasn't going to sit around and wait for a miracle to happen, that much he knew for sure.

But then, something caught his eye up ahead and he went to find out what it was. At that very moment when he was close enough, his eyes shrunk in shock. He caught sight of his own father, lying on the ground and not even moving a muscle. Eternal ran towards him a little faster. As he got close, he turned his father over and placed his ear on Blaze Burn's chest. He could stil hear his heartbeat, which meant he was still very much alive, but he still didn't know who did this to him.

Twilight and her friends caught up to him and got the same reaction to Blaze Burn as Eternal did. "Sweet Celestia, is Blaze Burn alright?!" Twilight asked.

"He's alive, just unconcious. Whatever did this had to have been somepony strong enough to match his strength, or even surpass him without a struggle." Eternal explains.

"But the only ones I know who could surpass him are Discord and Princess Celestia. The only problem is that Discord never came with us and Celestia wouldn't do something like this." Spike says.

"If there's one thing we do know, it's that we're not going to get the answers just standing around. We've got to get to the top of the mountain. The princess might be in trouble!" Spark Burst says.

"We can't just leave Blaze Burn here!" Hurricane Breeze says.

"Then I'll stay behind and treat his wounds! You guys go on ahead!" Tidal Wave says.

"How can you treat his wounds? You don't have your medical equiptment." Shadow said.

"Here it is!" Pinkie shouts, holding out a large first aid kit. The others looked puzzled with Pinkie.

"W-Where'd you even find the time to get that?!" Tidal asks, dumbfounded.

"A true party thrower extraordinair never reveals her secrets." Pinkie replies with a squee.

"O...kay then?" Tidal says, a bit nervous of Pinkie's abilities.

"Umm, everypony, we've still got a long ways to go! The princess could be in danger!" Sunset says. The others nodded and kept running until they reached the mountain, while Tidal Wave stayed behind in order to treat Blaze Burn's wounds. But along the trail, Sunset could somehow feel Eternal's anxiety and fear for his mother and she couldn't blame him. He never had the chance to grow up with her and to have her lost after meeting her would break his heart and, to her own fear, lose his sanity.

"How tall is this mountain anyways?!" Spike asked.

"About 1,000 feet!" Eternal replied.

"Couldn't we just fly up there?" Rainbow asks.

"It's no good! The higher you try to fly up, the denser the gravity becomes! Only a disciplined alicorn can fly up there without the risk of being pushed down!" Spark Burst explains. "I couldn't even fly up there myself, and I've always been training my whole life!"

"Oh, Princess Celestia, please be okay!" Fluttershy says.





Back on top of the mountain, Princess Celestia and Melodia were staring each other down, panting lightly, having spent some of their magic. The only problem was that Celestia was struggling to keep up and Melodia was hardly even breaking a sweat during the fight. Melodia then slowly approached the princess with a condifent grin, rambling about the past events in her life. However, she was being too vague.

"Why am I not surprised? You always take after your pathetic mother, obeying her every command and letting her lies turn you away from the horrible truth that stands to this day. A truth that left many scars and bruises which can never be healed or taken back." Melodia explains.

"SILENCE! You know nothing of my mother! She was a wise and caring alicorn who cared deeply for me and my beloved sister many years ago!" Celestia replied in frustration.

"Correction, she only cared for her own kind. Not the heathenous wretch of a creature who was created by one of her kind and the enemy that she despises so much!"

"I said SILENCE!"

"They say the truth hurts, but you haven't even opened up your eyes to that yet. Perhaps I can open up your eyes and we'll see if you can handle the truth. Either way, I've got you right where I want and there's nothing you can do about it anymore, Princess Celestia"

Celestia growled and lit her horn up and prepared another attack, but then, she got caught off guard by the sound of a familiar voice behind Melodia.

"You'd be best not to question the powers of my mother, if you know what's good for you." Eternal said. Celestia tilted her head and saw her son, along with the others.

"Eternal, what are you doing here?! Get out of here, it's not safe here!" Celestia warned him.

"Hah! So not only are you married, but you also have a son? How adorable. I could just pinch that little colt's adorable little cheeks of his." Melodia says, looking at Eternal. But, this made Eternal glare at Melodia and stepped towards her with a hint of hostility in his eyes. "Aww, would you look at that, he thinks he's so tough that he can take me on so easily, how cute." she said with baby talk. Obviously, she wasn't taking him seriously and kept provoking him to come at her.

"You're gonna get what's coming to you if you don't shut up." Eternal snarled.

"Whoa there, don't go losing your temper. That's just what she wants! You gotta keep your cool when you approach or you'll mess up your rhythm." Shadow warned. Eternal looked at Shadow for a few seconds and nodded before turning back to face Melodia.

"Just who is that creature?" Fluttershy asked, scared.

"It's definitly more than just a pony, it's also part dragon. I guess she's the very first species of pony/dragon hybrid the entire world of Equestria." Twilight says. "But what's wierd is that this hybrid seems to know a lot about Princess Celestia, it's like she knows her."

"I think you might be right, Twilight. I've never seen Celestia look like that!" Spike says.

"But who is she?" Rarity asked.

"Well, since you're so curious, I'll tell you all. I am Melodia Sortis Aeternalis! But, you can call me Melodia for short, now where was I? Oh yes! Now I remember." Melodia says. She turns back to Eternal Flames, who charged at her at a fast pace. He attacked with a spin kick, but it was blocked by her scaly legs, forcing him to pull back, only to feel a sudden jolt of pain.

"Grr, what the?" he grunted, kneeling down.

"Eternal, what's wrong?" Sunset asks, running to him.

"She only blocked my attack, but those scales are tough! It's like I kicked a support beam, only worse!"

"But that could only mean one thing! She must be a descendant of the previous dragon lord. The one whom ruled the dragon kingdom before Torch did!" Twilight says.

Melodia laughed. "Your friends seem to have done their homework! Care to try again?"

"Sorry, but I'm not making the same mistake again! Instead, TAKE THIS!" Eternal lit up his horn and blasted Melodia, but she blocked it with ease, breathing out a fire wall to protect her. "Hmph, typical dragon instincts, no offense to you, Spike."

"None taken." Spike says. Eternal was soon caught by surprise by Melodia, who kicked Eternal into the air and followed up with a thrashing of her own. She left claw marks, bite marks, and bruises with each blow she layed on the stallion, making Celestia shout.

"STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" Celestia shouts. Melodia just laughed it out and held Eternal by his forehooves, showing off how powerful Melodia was.

"Aww, so sorry. I just couldn't help myself. Here, you can have him back." Melodia replied. She threw Eternal back at Celestia and she caught him in her magical yellow aura. She held her injured son in her hooves with tears in her eyes while he barely moved himself.

"S-S-Sorry mother..... I failed." he said.

"Don't talk, just keep breathing and I'll try to heal you." Celestia said, looking into Eternal's eyes.

"You monster! What makes you think harming innocent ponies is alright?" Twilight snapped.

"Yeah, you think you're so tough, just because you're a different breed? You're not so tough!" Rainbow called out to Melodia and started pushing her buttons.

"You should be ashamed of yourself! What would your mother and father say about this?" Fluttershy says, making Melodia flash her fangs.

"I've met a lot of bad dragons when I was just a little dragon, but YOU... you're far worse than them! You're nothing but a heartless, terrorizing monster!"

"SHUT UP, YOU FOOLS!!!!!" Melodia shouted before roaring out loud, almost deafening the team, making them cover up their ears. Once she stopped, she spoke. "Who do you mortals think you are?! For disrespecting me and my pride, I will BREAK YOU ALL!!!!!"

"Guys! What's going on?!" Tidal Wave shouted, coming up the mountain. But just as he reached the top, he caught sight of the creature in the air. "Oh sweet makers, who is that?!"

"Well, aren't you a cute little posh stallion." Melodia sayed with a grin.

"Umm... thanks, I guess?" Tidal says, blushing.

"Hey, don't let her get to you! Look what she did to Eternal!" Ground Breaker pointed to Eternal, who was still in Celestia's hooves, being healed.

"WHAT?!" Tidal asked in disbelief.

"It's true! She gave 'im a thrashin' and almost killed him!" Applejack says. Tidal became more upset when he was given this info and turned his attention to Melodia.

"I don't know what kind of motive it is you have for wanting to cause this trouble, but I can never forgive you for what you've done to my dear friend, Eternal!"

Melodia grinned and admired Tidal Wave's determination, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to just play around and mess with his head. With everypony finally gathered together, Melodia was about to show a glimpse of the torture she claimed to have experienced long ago.

To Be Continued