//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 (edited) // Story: The Rainbooms Meet Lamia // by Lord Shadow Eclipse //------------------------------// In the Modern City of Athens, Greece Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna had brought the students on a trip to Greece to meet with Professor Fossil to see a new set of ruins that were recently dug up in the hills. After staying the night in a hotel in Athens, the principals and students left to meet Professor Fossil at the dig site. They were currently riding on a bus to get to the trail that leads to the dig site. Once there, they would learn more about the dig and stay near the site in a campsite set up nearby. Sunset and her friends were sitting in close proximity to each other and chatting about what they might find at the dig. "I wonder if there will be any amazing artwork left at the dig," Rarity wondered. "Maybe, and I'm expecting to see at least a temple to one of the gods," Sunset said. "I hope they have a fighting arena at the dig site!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I'm simply excited to see whatever they find at the dig site! It's amazing that this apparent settlement has been left here in pretty close proximity to Athens and only been discovered a month ago," Twilight said. "I wonder why no one had even noticed these ruin were there until recently," Fluttershy wondered. "I'm not sure. Maybe Professor Fossil will tell us when we arrive at the dig site," Sunset replied. Soon enough, the bus rolled to a stop and Celestia stood up to face her students. "Alright everyone! We've made it to the trail. I need all of you to stay where we can see you," Celestia instructed. Everyone got off of the bus and began to make their trek through the Greek wilderness to get to the dig. The trail took them through the beautiful wild parts of Greece, through hilly forests and a flat plain. They walked with anticipation to the dig to see what the professor had discovered. ***** At the Dig Site The group had finally seen the special ruins that Professor Fossil and her team were working on. The ruins themselves were really quite remarkable. Of course they were not in the best of condition due to the passage of time. As expected from a Greek town, there were the remains of buildings, an arena, and a temple. Walking and working amongst the ruined buildings were a dutiful team of archeologists. Some of them were digging in ditches and dusting the dirt off of any artifacts they have found. One among their number was a middle-aged woman with messy hair and a pair of spectacles. She smiled upon seeing the CHS group. "Hello, everyone! I'm so glad to see you all here!" Professor Fossil greeted. "It's great to be here. Thank you for inviting us, Professor. What have you and your team found so far?" Celestia asked. Professor Fossil smiled a Pinkie-level smile. "We have found so many amazing things here at this site!" The ecstatic professor led the group to a large tarp laid out on the ground with several artifacts laying on it. There were the remains of pottery, children's toys, tools, weapons, armor, and other different apparent household or holy items. These artifacts were in varying states of decay. What really drew the eyes of everyone gathered was the remains of a pot that held images of farmers fighting off a monster of some sort. The monster depicted in this image was a combination of a beautiful woman and a large writhing snake. The creature in the pot's image was towering over the gathered men while they held spears towards the creature. "What's that on the pot?" Rainbow asked. Professor Fossil looked at the pot and smiled. "That is an image depicting what can interpreted as the men of this village facing off against Lamia". "'Lamia'? Who or what is that?" Pinkie asked. "Do you all like stories?" Professor Fossil asked in reply. The entire group confirmed that they do. They awaited eagerly for the professor to begin with the tale. "The story of Lamia is a tragic one. Long ago, there was a beautiful queen of a prosperous kingdom. Her name was Lamia, and her immense beauty drew the attention of the god Zeus. He ascended to the human world and seduced the lovely Lamia into sleeping with him and birthing children with him. But Zeus's wife Hera, whose jealousy and ruthlessness for revenge was legendary, found out about the affair and decided to punish Lamia for it. Hera used her powers to make Lamia kill all of her own children. In her despair, Lamia fled her kingdom. But Hera then changed her into the form of a serpentine monster. With her new form and the loss of her children, Lamia sought revenge against Hera. She started to stalk the wild lands around Greece at night and devour children. Zeus, in a bizarre form of kindness, gave Lamia the ability to switch between her human form and her monster form. This allowed her to start seducing and eating men as well as children. Lamia became something like a boogeyman in Greece, a story told to scare children into behaving. However, unlike other Greek monsters, she was never slain by any hero," Professor Fossil told. After finishing her tale, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were crying. "That's so sad!!" Pinkie wailed. "To be forced to kill your own children and be turned into a monster?! That's horrible!" Fluttershy blubbered. "I know. It's a truly tragic tale. And the fact that this village has a pot depicting a battle with Lamia may provide us some more insight into the story of Lamia," Professor Fossil said excitedly. "Maybe the artifacts found here could say how Lamia's story ends?" Twilight asked. "I have a good feeling about that. Especially with what we found in the temple," the professor replied. "What's in the temple?" Applejack asked. Professor Fossil simply beckoned the group to follow her to the temple. She asked them to mind themselves while they were in the temple so as not to disturb the team digging or accidentally destroy any artifacts that were found within. The temple itself was pretty standard for an ancient Greek temple. There were columns that held up a high ceiling and lined a second floor overlooking the inner sanctum. In the back of the inner sanctum was a large idol in the shape of a figure that the group had just recently become familiar with. It was a statue of Lamia in all of her terrifying and oddly seductive glory. The statue depicted Lamia as having an upper half like a beautiful woman and the lower half was that of a large coiled snake ready to strike. She was in a position that seemed like she was expecting to be worshipped. "The people here actually worshipped Lamia?" Rarity asked. "I believe that the people of this town may have been a cult that prayed to Lamia to leave their people alone or maybe even protect them," Professor Fossil theorized. "I guess better to have a monster fight other monsters," Pinkie said. Seeing that the sun was going down, Vice-Principal Luna whistled to get the students' attention. "Alright, students! It's time we get to the campsite for the night!" Luna called. ***** That Night In the hills near the ruined town, hidden behind large bushes, there was a deep dark cave. Within this cave, something stirred in the dark. After the sun had descended over the hills, the entity within moved beyond the bushes and inhaled the night air, puffing her ample chest through her ragged dress. The entity in question was female and she was startlingly beautiful. Well, from the waist-up anyway. From below the waist, a long scaly snake tail slithered on the ground. Her tail undulated and vibrated with the thick crushing muscles underneath her smooth scales. She flexed the claws on her hands and flicked her forked tongue in the air. This was Lamia, the terrifying creature of the Ancient World. Her reptilian eyes adapted to the night and she could get a good view of her environment. She stretched her arms and tail before giving a fanged sigh. "Looks like another boring night. Guess I had better start patrolling my territory," Lamia said. Night after night for three thousand years, she had watched over the hills she now called home. Ever since she was cursed to become a monster, she had been forced to live in the wild parts of Greece. It had quickly become very lonely to exist in her state as no one would approach her. At least no one was trying to kill her. Lamia slithered off to do her routine patrol of her territory. Once she got to the western border of her territory, she saw something she did not expect to find. She saw lights coming from what appeared to be a campsite near the town she became familiar with. "Humans are here? I'd better conceal my presence," Lamia whispered. Lamia slithered quietly to observe the humans who had intruded on her territory. This night had suddenly become much more interesting for her.