//------------------------------//
// Chapter I: Story of the Ancients 
// Story: Living Fossil 
// by WhatamIsupposedtoputhere 
//------------------------------//

It was a beautiful day within Ponyville. The residents had no cares in the world for they were simply admiring the nice day and having fun with their friends. Applejack was working on the farm with the rest of her family, Rarity was busy making a new set of dresses for Sapphire Shores, Rainbow Dash was Training with the rest of the Wonderbolts and Fluttershy was having a tea party with Discord and Tree Hugger to try to get them to become closer friends. As for Twilight Sparkle, she was settling down to read a book within the cavernous library that she called her own. The particular book she was reading was one that she had taken from the ruined castle of Celestia and Luna. The book was about ancient history, a history that was many millennia older than the uniting of the pony tribes into what we call Equestria. In fact, the history contained within was older than the first recorded meeting of the tribes. The story that she was reading was about the Earth pony tribe.

"There once were three Pony siblings belonging to the queen of us all, lady Platinum Crown." Twilight read aloud to herself. "These three siblings did not have to work like everypony else." Twilight continued. "Yet, the youngest of the three would work with the others so that she would know the pain that everypony else was going through and so that she would be a better ruler. Alas, one day, she discovered that she would not be a ruler but rather her older sister, her hero, would be the next ruler. She, however, did not care about that as she only saw her sister as a kind pony who would never hurt anyone."

"One fateful day, lady Platinum Crown had fallen ill and so the elder sister took the throne while her father recovered. The decisions that she made were rather strange within the first week, at least to the younger sister. The elder sister made sure that everyone knew exactly who was in charge and had them build new statues of her all over the city. Then everything changed when she threw Platinum Crown into the dungeon. This was a wake up call for the younger sister. Her elder sister was not to be trusted and so she turned to her brother. She thought that he would know what to do."

"However, her brother turned out to be just as cruel and wicked as the elder sister. First, he staged a rebellion to overthrow her, then he threw her into the dungeon and finally he enacted the same exact principles as the elder sister had done in her short reign. This had devastated the youngest sister and so she tried to overthrow her brother but the one thing he was that she thought he was was intelligent. Her plan has backfired and so she was thrown into the same dungeon cell as her mother."

"Her mother was no longer sick yet all the dungeon guards acted as if she was still recovering. This had shocked the youngest sister and so she did the last thing that she thought she could do. She prayed to the gods." Suddenly, Twilight started to laugh. "This really is ancient history if these ponies believed in gods." Twilight snickered to herself. After regaining her composure, she continued "The gods heard her prayer but because they could see into the future they knew what kind of ruler she was going to be and it was the exact same as her two siblings."

"The Gods decided to curse the siblings to be forever outcast from their people. The three would be transformed into hideous monsters. First their skin grew scales instead of fur, then their hind legs fused into a snake like tail, after that their front legs would become more skiny and grow clawed fingers and finally their manes would turn into a group of snakes that would be attached to their heads. Because of their hideous appearance they were outcast and left to die within the dangerous woods."

"The gods however were not done. They would make their lives living hell. The youngest daughter was given a special power, all those that smelled in the fumes of the venom of her snakes or were bitten by them would be turned to stone. The brother was given a literal silver tongue. He would be able to manipulate anyone into doing what he wanted. The eldest sister was given the curse of insanity. This meant that the three of them could never make friends again."

"The gods, however, take a small measure of pity on the youngest of the three siblings. The venom would have a small chance of not killing the pony who smelled it in or was bitten by one of her snakes but instead would turn into a creature that was immune to the venom and could spread it with their own bite. This would mean that there was a chance that the youngest daughter would be able to make a friend."

"Along with the curses came new names for the siblings. The eldest sister was renamed Stheno, the brother was renamed Euryale and the youngest sister was named Medusa. We have now collectively called the three of them Greater Gorgons and the beings created from the venom of Medusa Lesser Gorgons." Twilight finished. She put the book onto the table, satisfied that she had read enough that day, and started to head towards her room when she heard a loud thump coming from the map room.