Ponies, or mares if John was to be more accurate, seemed to have reached a happy medium in terms of their reception of the smol bug. They no longer seemed disgusted by him, yet they also weren't going all fan-girl by his very presence. For once, he just felt like a normal person, minding his own business as he trotted through town.
Yet... There were the occasional outliers.
"John." Spoiled Rich called out, only making the Bug trot faster.
John pretended to not hear her as he half-galloped until he could see the large tree library. Once in sight, he went full tilt and galloped towards it. It might've been his anxiety kicking in, but he felt like he was being chased for some reason. He managed to skid to a halt before he slammed face-first into the door.
He glanced at the window. There was a sign hanging in it stating Open. Thus John pushed the door open and trotted in.
Inside he saw Twilight at the dining table in the back, surrounded by various books. She seemed heavily absorbed into one of them, as it hovered in front of her face. Spike was waddling around with a feather duster. Trixie, still here because bureaucracy, was sitting at a couch reading what looked like a fashion magazine. John shrugged and closed the door behind himself as he fully trotted inside.
"Afternoon." He called out.
"Hey John." Spike waved as he started up a ladder to dust the higher shelves first.
"Hello." Trixie said, glancing over the magazine. "How's your less-noodley doe girl?"
"She's good." John said with a nodded chewing on his lip with his fangs as he looked around at the bookshelves. "She's got a bit of a busy day. She's starting a garden, thanks to her floramancy, which Alastor can help her with. She's also helping the Peacewalkers with some project at Sweet Apple Acres, which I'm pretty sure is just Granny Smith just having the girls do some chores, but either way, Lorraine is supervising."
"That's good." Trixie nodded. "And how are you?"
"Eh?" John shrugged. "I'm decent. Here to look up some myth stuffs."
"Directly to your right, it's the section under the History section." Spike called out.
"Thanks buddy." John nodded and trotted over to start perusing the shelves.
"Why myths?" Trixie asked as she ended up setting her magazine down.
"Because I've always loved Earth mythology, and Equestrian mythology is interesting. It's especially interesting because the myths might just be history that got twisted or distorted by time." John said as he lit his horn and tugged out a few books. Ancient Equus Civilizations, Before Ponykind, and Non-Pony Mythology all seemed like they could be interesting. "Plus, the books I read in the Canterlot Castle Library were somehow both specific and vague at the same time. I asked Solaire about some things but he basically said I want you to find out on your own. So here I am."
John trotted over to Trixie's couch and plopped the books down on it before her hopped up on it himself. "Plus, as much as I love the guy, I don't want to bother him too much. He is one of the entities that keep the machinery of the universe working."
"Huh? The universe isn't run by machines." Twilight spoke up.
"Heh, Hi Twilight." John chuckled. "That was a metaphor."
"Oh, duh. Sorry, kinda focusing on this." Twilight apologized.
"No worries." John shook his head and opened Ancient Equestrian Civilizations. He blinked as he looked at the Table of Contents. "Lanthis? That name sounds familiar."
"Oh yeah. Trixie knows that tale." Trixie commented. "Trixie's mom read it to her when Trixie was a filly."
"Huh?" John looked over at her.
Trixie lit her horn and a hologram of an island with large columned building sprang into existence above the coffee table. She cleared her throat. "Lanthis was a mighty island nation- Well, more of a city-state, but we'll go with mighty nation." The hologram zoomed in to a what looked like a castle on a mountain peak. There stood a beautiful unicorn mare that unsurprisingly looked like Trixie.
"The Queen of Lanthis... The story said she was a pony, but she could really be anything." She paused. "We'll go with pony just for story's sake. Ahem, anyway, the Queen of Lanthis was not only beautiful, but intelligent, and she was a mighty sorceress that was rivaled by few." The hologram mare looked quite haughty as she looked over the city below her. "She received many suitors, and she had quite the harem of stallions, but none were worthy of her." The hologram mare turned her nose up at stallion after stallion.
"But one day, a robed figure brought the mare a tale that intrigued her." A cloaked pony stepped up to the mare. "He fawned over her, telling her how beautiful and talented she was. Then he told her that his master could make her even more powerful and even more beautiful. He was mighty, yet could not reach Lanthis easily. The Master, if the tales were true, seemed like the perfect stallion for her. The Servant could prove it. He made a window to his Master's domain. The Queen was enthralled by him." Trixie paused. "The tale, depending on the version, gives a different description of the Master, we're just gonna make him a demon." A hole appeared in front of the Queen and on the other side was... Alastor.
John snorted a laugh. Spike hung off the ladder, staring at the visual story-telling.
"So, The Master couldn't come to her on his own. So, the Servant gave her an idea. Have her strongest mages and herself make a Great Portal. Make the Portal strong enough, and he can come through with no issue. Then they could be married." Trixie continued. "Thus, the Queen and her Magi set to work on the Portal. Their test portals allowed The Master to send more of his servants through. However, word of what the Queen was doing, worried the people in the city below. Talk of the Queen consorting with demons and other evils."
The hologram shifted out of the castle and down the mountain to the city below. Ponies started to gossip among themselves.
"Word got out of the castle. It was true!" Trixie said with a dramatic gasp, causing the hologram ponies to gasp too. "And thus, a resistance started to form. It did not matter if the Queen was a hostage, or if she consorted willingly, the ponies of the city would storm the castle and find out the truth."
The ponies turned angry eyes to the castle.
"The day came when the Portal was finished. It simply required immense amounts of concentration to cast and maintain." The hologram shifted back to a large room. dozens of Unicorns were casting magic in tandem. "However, this was the day where the city ponies revolted. They would find out the truth. So, the castle was stormed." Ponies assaulted the castle gates and tore them down.
"At a pivotal moment of the casting, ponies burst in. The spell was disrupted. This wasn't a normal spell, disrupting a portal spell has consequences." There was a flash. "The tale goes that, the spell exploded, fracturing the island and sinking it to the bottom of the sea." Trixie finished.
"What happened to the Queen?" Spike asked.
"Probably died." Trixie shrugged. "Trust Trixie, you do not want to fuck up a portal spell."
"She's not wrong." Twilight added.
"You know, that sounds a lot like the story of Atlantis." John said with a hum. "We don't have anything solid, there's tales from all over about it. But basically it was a seaborne civilization that for whatever reason sank below the waves."
"I guess there are some tales that are the same no matter where you go." Trixie chuckled.
"Do you have any myth stories John?" Spike asked as he returned to his dusting.
"A lot." John said leaning back into the couch. "Really depends on the culture. There's Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Nordic, Japanese, Celtic, seriously I could go on. There are stories of Gods and mortals and monsters." John chuckled. "I'm a bit of a myth nerd when I'm not being a anime or gaming nerd."
"Tell Trixie a tale." Trixie said with a grin. "Trixie told one, so now you have to tell one."
"I suppose." John rolled his eyes. "Let me tell you about Thor- and this is about the mythological Thor not the comic book Thor."
John's throat hurt. They'd talked and told stories for awhile. Trixie had finally retreated to the basement. Spike moved on to reading comics after his chores were done. Twilight kept on with her research-slash-reading. John really wasn't surprised to read that quite a few myths and civilizations were similar to ones he'd read about on Earth. Beyond Atlantis, there were stories of Shangri-La, and tales telling that the Dream might be connected to something akin the the Fae Courts. It was all very interesting, at least to the bug.
"Twilight." John said with a bit of a croak. "Does the name Azrael mean anything to you?"
"Huh?" Twilight replied. "No."
"How about Raphael?" John asked.
"That's the name of the thing you turned into on Nightmare Night, right?" Twilight asked back. "Also. No. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." John yawned. "Know anything about Giants of Flame?"
"Baring the myths about giants helping shape the world, no." Twilight set her book down and looked at him.
"That's about as much as I know. Again, I'm just curious and would love to know more, but Solaire's tight-lipped for the most part." John stretched with a quiet groan.
"Maybe you're not meant to know yet?" Twilight replied. "Sorry I can't help."
"Eh, it's fine." John shrugged. "I'll probably just read for a bit more then head home." He nodded, returning to a tale about Shadar. From what he was reading, this guy was the big stick. "How goes the studying, and what are you studying by the way?"
"I'm helping Princess Celestia and Princess Luna by cataloging old herding laws." Twilight yawned.
"Oh, I am so sorry. That sounds terrible." John winced.
"Eh, some of it is really interesting." Twilight shook her head.
John chuckled. "I'll take your word for it book horse."