That same night, in Ponyville.

Artex nodded as he and Razor finished up their cultural exchange for the night,
"Alright, let me make sure I have this right, since I completely missed it the other night somehow." he sighed and ran his right hand through his hair, "Ponies don't actually name their foals. The Natural Magic of the world sort of . . . speaks to them and gives them the appropriate name for the filly or colt and the names just happen to match up to the natural talent of the youngster. Right?"

Razor Wit wrinkled her nose,
"That would be a drastically over simplified explanation of what occurs, but it is close enough. The mare, in the traumatic throes of birth passes into a near trance like state and her spirit communes with the Natural Magic. The Magic comforts her, eases her pain, and moves through her, imparting its own kind of wisdom. In turn the mare speaks the name of the foal. The process is not quite perfect though. Occasionally there is an interruption in the Natural Magic and . . . The best way to describe it is that spell effects mutate. The result is a foal with an odd name. Occasionally a foal is born who has a natural talent which is completely different from their name." Razor smiled and cleared her throat before continuing, "My own mother is such an example. Her name is Visceral Slaughter, but she's an accountant."

Artex lifted his right hand to his mouth to stifle a chuckle,
"I suppose no system is ever completely perfect. Actually hearing you talk about your mother makes me wonder. I've seen lots of groups of Ponies walking around, but there seems to be a pattern. I've noticed that the female to male ratio is extremely uneven. With Humans the ratio is roughly fifty-fifty. What's the ratio for Ponies?"

Razor blinked as just realizing something,
"The ratio with Humans is balanced?" she put her left hoof to her chin in contemplation, "Why didn't I notice that when we were in New Humansville?" she lowered her hoof and shrugged, "To answer your question, the ratio is roughly five-to-one, five mares to one stallion. I have to ask though, how does Human pair bonding work?"

It was Artex' turn to blink,
"A marriage is a man and a woman, and however many children they decide to have."

Razor tilted her head to the side,
"What do you mean? Do Human females, uh, women, have more than two children?"

Artex nodded hesitantly,
"Yes, some couples have four or five children, occasionally more than that. Why is that odd?"

Razor nearly chocked,
"Five!? Five times giving birth?" she shook her head, "Wow, I feel sorry for them." she looked back up at Artex and decided to clarify, "Mares generally only have one foal, two if they are particularly dedicated to their stallion. Twins happen once in a while, but they are rare and considered extremely good fortune. Mares tend to only have one foal because if we had more than one each, our population would explode and we would run out of land. Now, there are absolutely no laws or statutes limiting the number of foals any family can have, but the average is one. With a single foal per mare, that makes five foals per herd. If mares were to have two foals each, that would be ten foals per herd and I doubt any family herd could properly care for so many without chancing neglecting at least a couple of them. There have been very few instances of foal neglect within my lifetime, I can think of only two, and any that do occur are big news and damaging to the reputation and standing of family herd. Now, some few Ponies have recently begun the practice of monogamy." Razor grimaced fiercely, "Personally I generally think it's extremely selfish. A single mare gets a stallion all to herself and leaves roughly four more mares without a stallion of their own. I'm not saying that all monogamous couples are selfish, though. Mr. and Mrs. Cake are wonderful Ponies and they are happy with just each other, but consider that there are four more mares who will likely go their entire lives without a stallion or the support of their sister-wives. I think it's sad."

Razor stopped for a breather before continuing,
"Now, there is an opposing side of this proverbial coin. Around the time I was born, a Unicorn scientist discovered a way to implant a stallion's semen Into a mare and actually allow her to have a foal. It isn't a common practice, but in essence, the doctor uses semen from a stallion who ejaculated into a receptacle while wanting a foal. The doctor casts a time stopping spell on the receptacle and it stays active, until it's implanted into a mare who also wants a foal. I do not like the practice since the foal is almost guaranteed to lack a father figure in their development and it places excess financial strain on the mare, but some chose to do it."

Artex whistled,
"Wow, that's a lot to take in. Humans developed that kind of technology only recently and it doesn't always work. Now, as far as Humans are concerned, we are far from perfect, but Human nature being what it is would make the very vast majority of polygamist marriages all but unmanageable. Humans are greedy and what we have, we tend to hold on to jealously. A husband or wife who discovered their spouse was romantically involved with any other Human might very well face their legal spouse attempting to murder them, if not the 'other romantic interest' for the act. It is not uncommon for songs to talk about such things in detail. A Human marrying more than one spouse in most countries is completely illegal. It's the kind of thing you could go to prison for." Artex scratched his bumpy face and pondered out loud, "I wonder what the divorce rate is?" he chuckled darkly, "I bet alimony is a real monster."

Razor shook her head vigorously,
"That is a foul, foul word Artex." she hissed, "Ponies almost never divorce. Once we chose a spouse, we chose for life, barring extremely extenuating circumstances. Any divorce cases must be presented to a member of royalty for judgement. There has been only a single divorce I can remember. It was nationwide news too. A stallion beat one of his wives. Once he got out of the hospital all his wives divorced him. I can guarantee he will never receive any attention from any mare ever again. His face was knows across the entire nation and he joined the E.P.U. Guard because he was fired from his job and no place would hire him. Who would want an abusive stallion?"

Artex cringed,
"Eesh, seems awfully harsh to me."

Razor glared death at him,
"Any, and I mean ANY instances of a stallion striking a mare is an extremely serious matter. It would have been even worse if one of his wives had beat him." Razor shuddered, "She might as well jump off a cliff if that happened."

Artex was puzzled,
"Why is that?"

"Because stallions are so important!" she said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Artex was a bit lost,
"Um, forgive me for sounding like an idiot, but why is that? I understand that stallions are less common than mares, but what makes them so special?"

Razor's eyes bulged,
"Because nopony wants another Day Of Sorrow!" the tan mare looked nearly sick just saying the words, "Every time I think about it, it makes me feel ill." she lowered her head and turned to her left shuddering.

Artex chewed his lower lip, but he had to know,
"Uh Razor, I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but could you explain what the Day Of Sorrow is?"

Razor's head snapped back to the Human with a pained expression,
"I . . . I . . . I can't. It's considered the most horrific tragedy in Equestrian History. It's even one of the top eight worst tragedies in the history of the whole world." her stomach muscles tightened and she rose to her hooves, "If you really want to know, ask Twilight to show you a history book. I doubt she'll want to talk about it either." Razor shuddered once more and turned toward the stairs leading up to the second floor where she, Twilight, and Spike slept, "I . . . I'm going to go to sleep." she almost sounded guilty, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Artex sat dumbfounded as he watched Razor slowly ascend the stairs,
"What the heck did I say?" he listened as Razor closed the door to the second floor.

Twilight and Spike were already asleep and Razor was soon to join them, but Artex didn't feel sleepy. His mind was spinning, buzzing incessantly around one question, 'What was the Day Of Sorrow?' Seeing as he was in a library, Artex decided to search for history books to provide clarification.

He rose to his feet and began perusing the sections of books,
"Let's see here . . . Unabridged Encyclopedia Equestria nope," he passed up the thirty-nine book set and continued on, "Exhaustive Concordance Of Equestrian Law nope," he passed up the entirety the the shelf and moved on to the next one, "Fantasy Folklore Myths And Legends nope, Orbital Cycles Of Stellar And Interstellar Planetary Bodies nope," his eyebrows rose as he read the title of the next book, "Unabridged Chronicle Of Candy?" he shook his head and continued on for several minutes, "Aha! Complete Recorded History Of Species. This should at least have something about the Day Of Sorrow."

Artex pulled out the heavy book and carried it over to the couch where he slept every night and sat down with the book on his lap,
"Alrighty then, let's see what has Razor's tail in such a twist." he opened the book to the Appendix and began reading down the entries, "Gryphon History, Minotaur History, Diamond Dog History, here it is, Equestrian History." his finger traced down the various entries until he his pay dirt, "The Day Of Sorrow, page 689." he began turning pages until he reached the proper page, "The Day Of Sorrow. This event, as recorded numerous times and from various sources both Equestrian and Gryphonic, details what is considered one of the most horrible tragedies of all time. This event was world shaking and was the predominant cause of the Gender Wars Era. The effects of the Day Of Sorrow pushed Ponies to the brink of extinction and is only rarely spoken of. The Day Of Sorrow occurred during the First Recorded Age of Pony history before Princesses Celestia and Luna came to power. It is even speculated that the Day Of Sorrow was the catalytic event which spurred Ponies to begin recording their history. Without a doubt, all historians agree that it was the singular event which forced Ponies, as a whole, to begin the development of the self regulation for which they are so well known."

Artex furrowed his eyebrows and read on,
"To understand the Day Of Sorrow, one must understand the social environment mentioned which brought it into existence. During the earliest recordings of Pony history, the social structure was vastly different from that of modern day Equestria. During this period mares constituted the artisans and ruling class while stallions made up the entirety of the warrior caste for each separate tribe. Stallions had absolutely no rights and were treated as communal property. Stallions had no names, almost never received a cutie mark, even the beds they slept in at night were determined by which mare wished to be serviced by them. Equestrian stallions were subservient to all mares, no matter her age or social status. If a stallion disobeyed any direct order from any mare, even those which were contradictory, he would be beaten unmercifully."

Artex paused and scratched his chin,
"Wow beaten into submission? Damn." he read on, "The treatment of stallions was considered to be a topic of amusement among the nobility. Noble mares and often noble fillies were recorded intentionally giving a single stallion conflicting orders just to see him beaten. All colts were nursed regretfully and when weaned, would then be passed off to the adult stallions who taught the colts to fight and serve their mistresses. The first recorded year of Equestrian history is referred to as A.C. 1 and it was in A.C. 3 that the Day Of Sorrow occurred. During the summer of that year, a terrible drought struck the lands held by the three tribes of Ponies. The mares hungered and the stallions starved. The histories record that out of 231 colts born that year, only four survived. Tensions between the different tribes escalated and the mares of the three tribes met in a neutral building, which bordered on the territories of the three tribes, to discuss details of agreements, leaving their uneducated stallions to wait outside. The stallions, uneducated and ignorant of the tribal tensions talked freely among themselves and quickly discovered they had one thing in common, even between the tribes: their poor treatment. They found a common ground and made a secret pact while the mares argued fiercely inside the communal building. Once the long high-tension meeting adjourned, the mares wished to be serviced by their stallions. To their collective surprise, the stallions refused to service the mares. The noble mares, already frustrated by the unproductive meeting, gathered each tribe's stallions in one place and set to beating them fiercely for their disrespect, while the common mares watched powerless."

Artex began feeling distinctly uncomfortable, a sinking feeling had begun descending on him,
"The mares regretted their decision soon after, as the stallions were weakened by their mistreatment and needed time to rest and recover. The nobles declined the stallions their rest and forced them to work despite the protests of other mares who were not nobility. The lingering drought forced the three tribes to meet again in that same year, giving the still recovering stallions a chance to meet as well. The stallions, weakened by their atrocious treatment, and seeing the utter lack of sympathy from the mares, decided to act out the only form of rebellion they could think of."

The sinking feeling in Artex chest just kept growing as he read on,
"As the mares left the meeting, they discovered their stallions had departed. One of the Pegasus mares spotted the stallions at the top of a nearby cliff. The mares approached the stallions from behind and ordered them to return. To their surprise, the stallions declined with a warning of unspecified consequences if they were not treated properly. The mares refused to take the stallions seriously and began trying to force them away from the cliff. To their horror, the stallions, of which there were recorded to be more than five thousand, leaped off the cliff en masse."

Artex pulled his head back from the book, his face white,
"Dear god." he leaned back over and continued reading, "Of the five thousand stallions who jumped, only 421 survived. This event was named the Day Of Sorrow and marked the beginning of the Gender Wars Era." Artex sat back in shock and the book fell from his grasp, "Jesus! Maybe these Ponies aren't as nice as they seem." he silently warned himself to be much much more cautious around the alien equinoids in the near future.

Dark chapter is dark. For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.