Artex waited until the crowd quieted down,
"I will be in the Throne Room waiting for the Princesses to finish with the second part of the announcement." he turned and headed back into the Royal Palace while Celestia and Luna began explaining the new laws that were to take effect starting that day.

Razor was waiting for him as the heavy doors closed. Artex looked around but didn't spot any signs that would direct him to the Throne Room.

"That sounded pretty good. You're a natural born politician." Razor said with a big smile.

Artex shot the tan mare a deadpan stare,
"Don't insult me like that. I was trying to be inspirational. Which way is the Throne Room?"

Razor's expression dropped as she headed off down the hallway,
"I wasn't trying to insult you, how did I insult you?" she asked quickly.

Artex blew out an exasperated breath as he moved to walk beside her,
"On my world politicians are loathed and to refer to somebody as one is like saying they only care about looking good while hiding the fact that you are a total and complete scumbag."

Razor crinkled her muzzle in distaste,
"A bag of scum doesn't sound very appealing. That's a derogatory inference I assume?"

Artex nodded,
"Yeah it is." he decided that a subject change was in order, "So when and where am I supposed to meet these foreign dignitaries?"

"In the Throne Room before the interview. I thought you knew that." Razor responded.

"Nobody bothered to tell me." Artex said plainly.

Razor perked up,
"Then it's a doubly good thing I'm with you. I DO have to act as your translator after all. Not every dignitary speaks Velensovth you know. Some of them were only just appointed recently. Velensovth isn't the most commonly spoken language either. Areophene, the language of the Gryphons, is the most common language. Velensovth is the second most commonly spoken language."

Artex was puzzled,
"Why is that?" he asked as they made a left turn down another hallway.

"Because Gryphons have occupied every nation in the world at one time or another and an occupation always leaves bits and pieces of the foreign nation behind even after it's over." Razor explained.

"Apex predators always attacking their neighbors, why am I not surprised?" Artex asked.

Razor came to an instantaneous halt and turned her eyes to the Human standing next to her,
"Be very careful that you never, ever say that where any Gryphon can hear you." she resumed walking as she explained, "They were conquerors once, thousands of years ago, but they have not attacked another nation in eons. They are the self appointed regulating force of the world and every nation respects them. To put it simply, they keep out of everybody's business until one nation goes to war with another. When a military force moves into the land of their opposition, the Gryphons show up in force. They do not stop wars or battles though, they only ensure that civilians are not injured or mistreated. They co-occupy cities with aggressor nations and protect the innocent. Their only purpose is to ensure the safety of the population in the occupied city, town, or village. The soldiers who occupy a city or town had better watch what they do because if a Gryphon sees a soldier engaging in looting, burglary, rape, or murder of civilians, the soldier is executed publicly and brutally. The Gryphons don't play games and they do not condone any sort of injustice toward noncombatant civilians, no matter the circumstances. Every nation respect them for opposing oppression and every nation appreciates their dedication. The only time they ever entered a battle against another nation was when the former ruler of the Crystal Kingdom declared a war of genocide against the Zebras. There is a good reason the Crystal Kingdom vanished for a thousand years. The Gryphons descended on the armies of the Crystal Kingdom and wreaked havoc. Once they learned that most of the soldiers were being mind controlled by King Sombra their ire was so great and their wrath so terrible that every Kavim found to be willfully aiding Sombra was put to death by dismemberment. The Gryphons waded through Sombra's armies like a hungry Earth Pony wades through a cherry cobbler, and with somewhat similar residue left on the ground and mouth. Sombra realized his mistake and cursed the land into a time lock for a thousand years. He had no chance of stopping the Gryphons and legends say he was nearly as powerful as the Princesses. Does that give you a rough idea?"

Razor paused for a breath,
"The Gryphons are blunt, and irritable, but they will lay down their lives for any innocent of any country without a second thought."

Artex blinked in surprise,
"I'm surprised the Princesses didn't stop the slaughter. What was their reaction?"

Razor looked over her shoulder,
"The Gryphons acted while the Princesses were gathering an army. By the time they heard about the Gryphons attacking, it was already over. History says there were more than a few harsh words about the rout, but in the end even they could not dispel the magnitude of Sombra's magic."

"Note to self: never badmouth a Gryphon." Atrex mumbled quietly, "Wait a second, you said earlier that some force was abducting Gryphons? I shudder to think what level of skill THAT took. Should we be expecting to hear about another Crystal Kingdom incident soon?"

Razor shuddered,
"I hope not." she said earnestly, "The world hasn't seen conflict on that kind of a scale in at least five generations. The Battle For New Humansville was the largest bloody conflict since the Gryphons attacked the Crystal Kingdom."

"Here we are." Razor said stopping in front of a pair of colossal golden doors, "The dignitaries should already be gathered and if you get hungry there are servants waiting to help."

Artex didn't want to wait any longer and tested his weight against the doors. The well oiled hinges swung open slowly and he let Razor enter the room first. The sounds of conversation drifted out from beyond the doors and all ground to a halt as Razor stepped inside. Artex closed the door behind him and turned to survey the Throne Room.

The chamber was more like a vast cavern. The ceiling had to be all of fifteen Fathoms high and flying buttresses and graceful arches textured the inside of the roof. From left to right Artex guessed the Throne Room to be close to twenty Fathoms. As far as length went, he could only imagine it was close to fifty Fathoms. Two tall thrones sat atop a pair of elevated platforms with clear water trickling down in fountains on either side. In front of the dais were dozens of large lounge couches made to accommodate a creature twice the size of Princess Celestia. Resting on these couches were an assortment of Minotaurs, Zebras, Buffalo, Crystal Kavim, and what could only be Saddle Arabian Kavim.

Artex quickly realized every one of the dignitaries was staring at him,
"Uh Razor," he asked out of the corner of his mouth, "What should I do?"

Razor Wit rolled her eyes,
"I don't know, introduce yourself perhaps?" she said voice dripping with sarcasm, "Try talking to the Zebras first. They're likely to be the friendliest."

Artex scanned the crowd and zeroed in on the Zebras. There looked to be three of them and all three appeared to be female. Each of the Zebras wore heavy, thick golden bands around their necks and legs. Artex noticed right away that each wore a different number of bands. The Zebras also seemed to represent the three stages of life in accordance to age: maiden, mother, and crone. The Zebra that Artex guessed to be the eldest wore five golden rings, the middle aged one wore three, and the youngest wore two. Artex had expected her to wear three, but he dismissed the thought.

Artex casually strode up to the three Zebras and inclined his head,
"Greetings to you. I am Artex Rias, also known as Daniel Pering. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

The females looked Artex up and down appraisingly,
"I am Anduria." the eldest spoke, "This is my daughter Evitte and my granddaughter here is Oriana." Anduria licked her lips as if some strange taste had suddenly manifested, "Forgive me, it is so strange not to speak as the wind."

Artex arched an eyebrow,
"You will forgive me my ignorance, but what do you mean when you say 'speak as the wind'?"

"We live on the beautiful, golden brown expanses of the Grasslands to the East, just South of the mountains and forests of Gryphonvale. The wind is always dancing and singing over the tall grasses of our home and it is around those ever whispering voices that we formed our language. In our native language, we speak in rhythm and rhyme. Some of our Zebras who become fluent in other languages take up rhyming when they speak as a show of respect to their heritage. Evitte and I do not speak in rhyme because it can be confusing to many when we do."

Artex gestured to the youngest of their number,
"What about Oriana?"

Anduria snickered quietly and while Oriana blushed crimson, Evitte explained,
"Forgive my mother's humor, but young Zebras only speak to family until they leave the home; that is to say, when they choose partners, take up a service, or leave the Grasslands. It is a custom of ours. By all rights Oriana should have chosen her path more than two years ago, but she is a stubborn one, it is a family trait. She is beyond the age when she has the option now, so my mother and I will choose her path for her. She does herself a service by at least adhering to the custom of silence. Do not worry, she is not being left out, she is fluent in Velensovth." Evitte smiled warmly at Artex, "But we did not come here to speak of ourselves. We are curious to hear about you and your species."

Artex scratched the back of his head as the other groups of dignitaries gathered around to listen,
"Well where to begin..." he decided to give general information about Humans, "We come from another world, we call it Earth. Humans are currently found throughout our world; in permanent settlements on all continents except Antarctica, which is a frozen wasteland, and on most habitable islands in all of the oceans. Humans are found in all terrestrial habitats worldwide. We extensively modify the places we settle as well. We create houses, farms, places of learning, and centers of government. Humans are an fairly diverse species and many aspects of our size vary substantially with environmental factors such as the availability of food. For example, a poorly fed Human child will grow up to be much smaller in stature and have a weaker body and build than one that is giver proper nutrition. One of the most significant factors which helps to identify us is that Humans are characterized by our bipedal stature and our rather distinctive lack of any significant amount of body hair. Males, or men as we are called, are generally larger than females, with more pronounced muscle development and generally more hair on the face and torso than our women, which is how we refer to our females."

Artex took a breath and thought about what to talk about next,
"Humans are one of the most behaviorally, socially, and culturally complex species you are likely to ever encounter. Ancient humans were nomadic hunter gatherers but the discovery of farming far in our past revolutionized the way that we live. Knowledge of agriculture spread and ultimately led to increases in human populations and we began to develop urban centers. This dramatically altered our cultures, economies, and relationships among the various groups. In general, we are highly social beings that are predominantly diurnal. Some tiny isolated groups of us remain nomadic but most of us live mainly in large cities. One of the most defining characteristics of Humans, is our propensity at solving problems. On Earth, there is no magic so we had to develop our brains to make up for it. We have sciences which have allowed us to not only see the stars, but to set foot on our moon. Trust me don't try it unless you are REALLY prepared. Space is a pure vacuum and being exposed to it for more than a few seconds would pull your lungs right out of your nose or mouth. Besides that, the unidirectional beat of the sun would burn you to a crisp on one side and freeze you solid on the other."

Artex silently debated the next part, but he decided to throw it all in so that everyone present could get a good idea of Humans,
"Humans are omnivores. The the foods we eat depend almost exclusively on the availability of specific types of food in a region and we are fairly flexible about it. Some human cultures restrict their diet to vegetarianism, relying solely on plants for proteins but that is somewhat rare. We use yeasts and various fungi, for creating cultured foods, such as beer, bread, and cheeses. Believe me, Humans adore cheese. Now despite all that, we Humans do have ojr own share of imperfections. We are easy to frighten and our nature tends to lead us to either distance ourselves from what we do not understand, though our curious natures lead us to endeavor to learn about everything we don't understand. Now for those who I came here with, most of us are or were students who were trying to further our education when we were... when we arrived."

Artex put the edge of his clenched fist against his lips and took a deep, slow breath,
"I apologize." he said quietly, "I left my wife behind and sometimes it's difficult to even think about."

The diplomats, sensing an end to Artex' speech on Humans was at an end, casually moved back to give the three Zebras their time.

Anduria nodded her head sadly at Artex,
"I am sorry to hear about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of your species and I will extend our condolences and hopes that your kind will be as welcoming in return should any Zebra wish to visit your town. We wish to offer to you, as a show of peace and good will, anything you ask of us."

Artex was taken aback by the apparent generosity and was about to decline when Razor bit down on his robe and tugged to get his attention,
"Psst, lean down here." she said urgently.

Artex leaned down and put his right ear next to Razor's mouth,
"Listen, she's offering you a gift, you HAVE to name something otherwise it could be taken as you saying what they have to offer is not good enough. It's also polite to offer something in return."

Artex straightened back up and quickly thought of something that could be both useful and polite,
"Your offer is most generous and appreciated. One of the greatest gifts that can be offered or received is that of wisdom. The knowledge and wisdom of your people would be most warmly welcomed and well received and appreciated for its great value. In turn, I wish to offer the wisdom and some of the knowledge of my own people in return. Let us share our individual wisdom and may each of our nations grow greater in so doing."

Anduria responded with a wide grin,
"I wish to know your age as compared to the usual age of your people when they go to rejoin the Great Herd."

Artex was puzzled by the question but shrugged off his curiosity, the implied meaning was clear enough,
"I am thirty-two years old and the average age of Humans when they die is between seventy and ninety years old."

The two older Zebras looked at each other and seemed to come to a silent decision, Evitte spoke for the both of them,
"I am most impressed with the wisdom of your answer and I wish that more of our own species had such good sense. I will leave a source of our knowledge and wisdom for you in your appointed room before we depart, which unfortunately, must be now. We are always busy with our country and there are many places which we are trying to negotiate with. We must leave now, but we send with you the good will and best wishes for the future from all Zebras all over the world. If ever your people are in need, all you have to do is ask. If it is reasonable, you will have it."

The Zebras nodded their heads to Artex, he returned the gesture and they departed.

Artex took a moment to gather his thoughts before addressing Razor,
"That was brief, but they seemed very pleasant from what I could gather." be shifted bis shoulders, "Who should I go for next?"

Razor looked around and hummed in thought before answering,
"Go talk to the Saddle Arabians next. They should be a good contrast to the Zebras." she said pointing to a pair of tall, lean Kavim wearing what looked like bits, bridles, and saddles lined with gold filigree.

Artex followed her hoof and decided to just jump right in. Seeing as there were only two of them, he figured that they likely spoke Velensovth.

He established eye contact with the slightly smaller of the two and walked up,
"Greetings," he said inclining his head again, "I am Artex Rias and I do believe I heard you were the dignitaries from Saddle Arabia?"

The taller of the two spoke in a smooth tenor voice,
"You may speak to my spouse if you wish, but I am the assigned Diplomat."

The female leaned her head back and looked Artex in the eye,
"Greetings Emissary, I am Jemtir. We heard you speak of your species to the Zebras so you can save yourself the time of repeating all of that. We are curious though, are you happy with the Kavim of Equestria?"

Artex shrugged at the odd question,
"Happy enough I suppose. I don't particularly dislike them, if that's what you're asking. They have been fairly welcoming though there have been some rough patches, but overall I have no complaints."

The male spoke up next,
"I am Ifticar, a Diplomat like you. I am curious, how many of you are there, here in Equestria?"

Artex pursed his lips before answering,
"I'd say around six hundred and fifty or thereabouts."

Ifticar seemed to mull the answer over in his head before speaking,
"Given those numbers, are you going to have enough numbers to continue on here as a species?"

Artex frowned,
"I don't know, only time will tell."

Ifticar shook his head sadly,
"I apologize if this seems rude, but I do not see the reasoning for this meeting if your species is going to die out. We have more important things to do than converse with a species that is doomed to extinction in only a few generations. You will pardon us Emissary, I do not mean offense, but while listening to you and conversing with you has been interesting, there are other things we can be doing which will have a longer lasting effect on the world. We wish you and your species the best and should you find yourself in Saddle Arabia feel free to ask about us. We would be happy to host you if there are no more pressing matters to attend to. Long life to you and your species, may you live happily to the end of your days, which is hopefully far off as yet. Farewell."

Artex numbly inclined his head as the two Saddle Arabian Kavim walked out,
"Was I just insulted and dismissed?" he asked the open air quietly.

Razor clicked her tongue pensively,
"They are usually that direct, but something seems off. They tend to ask a lot of questions and they're almost always curious about everything, especially something that is new to them. We'll have to ask the Princesses about it later." she looked around and settled on the Buffalo, "Let's save the Crystal Kavim for last and the Minotauri are patient, but I don't know much about the Buffalo. Let's go talk to them."

Artex turned his head, following Razor's eyes to two creatures which actually DID look almost exactly like 'normal' Buffalo from Earth.

The Human Emissary approached the two Buffalo and couldn't help but notice the colossal differences between the two. One was huge and had to weigh all of a ton. It stood with its head high enough to look Artex in the eye without moving its neck. It was covered in thick, shaggy brown fur which thickened significantly around its chest. The two pointed horns atop its head looked to be placed perfectly to be used as natural weapons. One other thing which really struck Artex as odd was the Native American style feathered headdress it wore. The other Buffalo was maybe a quarter the size of the first and Artex had to imagine it was an adolescent. The smaller Buffalo was a much lighter color than the first and lacked the thick, shaggy coat and mane - like darker fur on the chest. The smaller one did have horns but they were tiny and looked as if they hadn't grown in yet. The lighter colored one has a single feather tied to what looked like like a very thin mane, in a style that resembled what an 'Indian Brave' would wear.

The two Buffalo watched Artex and Razor approach with two very different expressions. The big one looked as if he, Artex assumed it was a 'he', was both curious and unfriendly at the same time. The smaller one looked openly curious and had bright eyes that seemed to be excited just by watching Artex walk.

Artex stopped in front of the massive Buffalo and bowed his head,
"Greetings friends," he began, "I can only assume you two are the Buffalo dignitaries? I am called Artex Rias."

The big one nodded his massive head slowly,
"I am Chief Thunderhooves of Buffalo Run and this is Little Strongheart, one of our most outspoken cows. Though she is young still, she has good sense and I count on her for wisdom at times when my temper gets the better of me." Thunderhooves extended his hoof to shake.

The end of the hoof looked to be bigger than a dinner plate and in comparison to the rest of his body his legs were tiny and thin. Artex firmly grasped the offered hoof to shake. Thunderhooves' legs suddenly shook as Artex touched his hoof.

Artex quickly pulled his hand away,
"I'm so sorry!" he said quickly, "I forgot, when I touch anything I drain part of its magic."

Thunderhooves shook his head as Little Strongheart braced herself against his side and held him up, seemingly without effort,
"That has to be some magic to make the Chief weak in the knees. Don't worry, he's a good sort. He won't hold a grudge over an honest mistake unless you're unreasonably stubborn about it."

Artex smiled a pained smile,
"All the same, I never meant to do that. It's not something I can turn 'on' and 'off' at will."

Thunderhooves seemed to have his strength back by that point,
"It was an accident, do not worry yourself over it. I don't plan to let the day be ruined by one accident."

"Not after Apploosa anyway." Little Strongheart said quietly.

Thunderhooves looked suddenly abashed and Artex decided not to pry,
"I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss right now. Do we exchange gifts or something?"

Thunderhooves shook his massive head,
"We do not... own things in the way other species do. We only just recently became aware of the idea of 'ownership' when we encountered the Ponies for the first time. To us, a tent is exactly that, a tent. We do not care who 'owns' it, it is a place to sleep when night comes and there are enough for all. We see 'ownership' as just a new way to argue. We are small in number and we were overlooked as a Prime Race until about five years ago. Ponies came in and claimed the land we had been Stampeding on for generations. Naturally we weren't opposed to sharing the land, but the Ponies wouldn't bend so we asked them to leave. They refused so we decided to try to force them away. Fortunately, the incident ended with no loss of life and we came to an arrangement. The Ponies could use the land for crops provided they only used a small portion of it and they made rows for us to Stampede through."

Little Strongheart scuffed her hoof on the marble floor,
"Well, that's mostly right. Though we do understand the concept of ownership in a way. Belonging to a family is a type of ownership if you look at it with a different perspective."

Artex scratched his chin, idly thinking about how much he needed to shave,
"So, a gift to one of you would be a gift to all of you then?" he asked.

Thunderhooves nodded,
"It would be a gift to every Buffalo and shared by all."

Artex crossed his arms,
"And how many of you are there?"

Thunderhooves and Little Strongheart looked at each other in bewilderment before Thunderhooves looked back to Artex,
"The Ponies say there are about fifteen thousand of us. Why do you ask?"

Artex smiled warmly,
"Just curious, because it sounds to me like the Ponies aren't giving you anything in return for using your... THE land."

"They are," Little Strongheart spoke up, "They give each of us a fresh pie every time we Stampede through and considering we do so at least once a day, we are happy with that."

Artex held up his hands,
"Just as long as you are happy with the arrangement."

"Can we see the town?" Little Strongheart asked suddenly, "The town your species built with the Ponies?"

Artex smiled,
"Not just yet, but we're hosting a celebration as soon as New Humansville is ready and you're welcome to come. As a matter of fact, I'll remind Celestia personally. I know some of my friends would love to meet both of you. You actually remind me of a certain type of Humans from back on Earth. I'm very relieved to see that you all resolved your differences without anything like what happened with them."

Thunderhooves looked concerned,
"What happened?"

Artex pursed his lips and looked away as he spoke,
"Well, let's just say I'm glad you didn't have to go through the same thing."

Thunderhooves looked at Artex and shook his head,
"I'm glad to have avoided tragedies like those you allude to. It sounds like nobody really won."

Artex agreed,
"Yeah. I agree."

Little Strongheart's eyes were wide as she turned to Chief Thunderhooves,
"I'm glad we never ended up doing anything too extreme, I wouldn't have been able to be with Brayburn."

Artex arched an eyebrow,
"That sounds like an Apple Family name."

Little Strongheart nodded, her cheeks showing a faint blush,
"He is a member of the Apple Family and I hope to be one too one day, in fact his cousin from Equestria was there when everything happened. Her name was... Apple..."

Artex picked right up on it,
"Applejack?"

Little Strongheart's face lit up with recognition,
"That's it! Do you know her?"

Artex crossed his arms and chuckled warmly,
"She and the rest of the Apple Family who live in Ponyville more or less adopted me. Applejack is my sister, sort of."

Little Strongheart smiled hugely,
"When you see her again, tell her I said 'hi'. Oh, and don't mention what I said about Brayburn. We aren't sure yet, but I'm hoping and we want to tell the family ourselves."

Artex' grin was huge,
"No problem." he felt it was time to move on, "Well it was good to meet you both. I hope our next meeting will be equally pleasant, but without me mentioning any of Humanity's dirty laundry."

"Dirty laundry?" Thunderhooves asked.

Artex merely shook his head,
"It's a Human expression. It means without me talking about negative things. Who knows, it might just be for a wedding."

Little Strongheart blushed a bit brighter but she and Thunderhooves both waved as they departed,
"So long Artex!"

Artex waved until the double doors closed behind them,
"That was a nice bit of luck."

Razor rolled her eyes,
"There are too many coincidences for them to be coincidences. Come on, by now I'm sure even the Minotauri are tired of waiting."

Artex followed Razor as she led him toward two tall, broad chested beings that could only be Minotaurs.

They looked exactly like ancient depictions of Minotaurs and not the original Greek depictions. Both stood well more than two Fathoms tall and their shoulders had to have been nearly a Fathom wide. Both Minotauri wore long brown hooded robes, fortunately the hoods were down, hanging off their necks.

Razor was sporting an exuberant grin as she trotted up,
"Hello again!" she greeted.

The two Minotaurs' bovine features cracked into wide grins,
"Razor Wit!" one said, he was male by his voice, "So good to see you again, little Pony!" he knelt down and pulled Razor into a firm and friendly hug.

The other Minotaur gazed at Artex appraisingly,
"I assume that you are the Emissary of the Humans then?" her voice was smooth and matronly.

Artex bowed at his waist,
"You assume correctly madam."

"Asterion, Ariadne, this is Artex Rias. I've spent the last half a year learning his language and he learned Velensovth from me." Razor said gesturing to the tall Human.

Asterion, the Minotaur bull, straightened up and held out his very Human looking hand to shake,
"Greetings Emissary, as you no doubt heard, I am Asterion, Minotaur High Council Member and this is my sister..."

"I can introduce myself Asterion." the cow said primly, "I'm Ariadne, also a Member of the High Council of the Minotauri." she said with a warm smile.

Artex shook both their hands, they both had a vice like grip,
"It's a pleasure to meet you both."

Asterion crossed his arms playfully,
"Is it really?" his tone indicated that he expected his response to fluster the Human.

Artex nodded vigorously,
"It is actually. You see our ancient mythology actually depicts Minotaurs, well a Minotaur. Not only that, he also had your name and he had a sister who was named Ariadne."

The two Minotaur Council Members looked at one another in confusion before looking back to Artex,
"Our names are both generational, passed down from parent to offspring. My full name and title are Ariadne the 23rd, Keeper of Riddles. And my brother's full name and title are Asterion the 24th, Guardian of Labyrinths."

Artex' head was all but swimming,
"How is that possible? Those were the things that Asterion and his sister were known for, or close enough not to be coincidences."

Asterion scratched his left horn,
"Is it possible that our two cultures might have somehow interacted in the past?"

"I don't see how. There's no determined way to go between worlds as far as I know." Artex admitted, "Then again, we did all end up here from Earth, so it's obviously possible, I just don't know how." Artex cupped his chin between his thumb and the knuckle of his index finger as he thought for a brief moment before he snapped his fingers, "What about your records? Surely you have written records or myths of your own. Maybe they could give us a hint."

That two Minotaur siblings exchanged a sad look,
"We are very sorry Artex, but all the Minotauri records were destroyed over a thousand years ago when King Sombra was in power. He leveled the entire city of, what was once called Eloodian. Our whole Grand Library, filled with knowledge beyond imagination, lost and buried under a mountain. Our tales say the atrocity was so great that many Minotaurs knelt and wept, never leaving the place where they fell. They wept until they starved to death." Asterion explained, "Our culture has never fully recovered. The only chance we might have is that somewhere, one of our families might have passed down some tidbit of lore knowledge about how our species could have interacted." he sighed in resignation, "We will keep our ears open in case we hear anything, but the only families liable to pass down that kind of lore would be one of the isolated clans high in the farthest reaches of the mountains. They rarely have any interaction with the rest of our society unless they need medicines or tools and even then they only make contact with the very edges of our farthest wilderness settlements. It is a slim chance, but we will see what we can do."

Artex decided to fill them in on the whole story,
"There must be something. I never really made anything of it before, but Humans have myths about Unicorns and Pegasi as well. Those myths are from the same ancient civilization too. There HAS to be a connection we haven't made yet, I'm just missing it..."

Ariadne placed a ham sized hand on Artex' shoulder,
"Be at peace Emissary," she said in soothing tones, "We said we would be listening, and we will, but today is for us to get to know each other better." she crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto her left side, "Come, tell us of Human traditions. We all heard you tell the Zebras about your people from a mostly physical perspective, but what about your culture? Is it not one's culture that defines a people and not how they look?"

Asterion nodded his head in agreement,
"Indeed, my sister is correct. Tell us of some of the cultural mores that you find odd about your own people. We find that learning about extremes of other cultures help us to understand them better."

Artex twiddled his fingers nervously,
"Well, we do have a number of different religions back home. Religion is one of the things that every culture on Earth has."

The siblings nodded in unison before Ariadne spoke up,
"And what is 'religion'?"

Artex tapped his chin in thought,
"Religion is a system of beliefs that the thoughts and actions we have or perform are watched and judged by a powerful being beyond our full understanding. Religion, or 'spirituality' as I prefer to call it, is a set of guidelines to help an individual live according to a specific code of conduct, the rewards for living in such a manner are given after one dies and moves on to a new plane of existence. I am a follower of Christ, we are called Christians, or Catholics depending on what aspects you believe in. We believe that God created the universe, Earth, all animals, and man in seven days. He placed the animals and man in a garden called Eden and told man to be a steward of the animals. The man was called Adam. God and Adam communed frequently and God had one simple rule for Adam. Adam could eat from any tree or plant in the garden, except one, The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil, because if he were to do so, Adam would surely die. God also saw that Adam, unlike the animals of the garden, had no mate. God had Adam fall asleep and he took a rib from man's body and made woman, Eve. Adam and Eve lived in the garden for a time. They lived alongside the animals and watched over them, they ate from the trees, except for the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil."

Artex paused and took a breath then continued,
"One day Eve was walking along in the garden and a serpent came to her and tempted her to eat from the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil. The serpent told Eve that if she ate from the tree that she would not drop dead on the spot. Eventually the serpent convinced Eve and she ate a piece of fruit. The serpent seemed to speak true, for Eve did not instantly die. Eve went to Adam and explained that she ate from the tree and she still lived. Adam, now curious and wondering why God would lie to him, also ate the fruit. In that moment, their eyes were opened. They suddenly understood things like death and deceit. They also realized they were naked. They went and hid themselves, trying to hide from God, because their nakedness was shameful to them. In the evening, God called for Adam. Adam said he and Eve had hidden because they were naked and ashamed. God then asked how they knew they were naked. Adam blamed Eve for bringing the fruit to him and Eve blamed the serpent for tempting her."

Artex noticed the perceiving looks on the faces of the Minotauri and continued,
"God told Adam and Eve that because they ate of the fruit, they had fallen from grace and become imperfect. Because they ate the fruit they understood what good and evil were and the price they paid for the knowledge was that eventually they would grow old and die. God spoke the truth, but Adam and Eve disobeyed. God also told them that because Eve disobeyed she would have great pain during child birth. God told Adam that because he disobeyed he would have to till the soil and work the fields in order to grow food. Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. Before they left they cried out to God that their shame was too great. They were kicked out of their home and put to suffer until they died. God gave them a measure of mercy and took the skin from some animals and gave it to Adam and Eve to wear to keep them warm and to cover their shame."

Artex sighed,
"And so man, Hu-man, was cast out from the things God had made for him, specifically for him, and forced to wander the Earth. Well, Humans doing what Humans do, Adam and Eve had children, they had a lot of children before they died. Generations passed as Humans multiplied and became evil. We are born fallen creatures, we are imperfect and when we die our souls to to judgement before God. We go to be judged for what we did in life. If God found somebody acceptable, they went to Heaven, a paradise where your soul never died. If God found somebody unacceptable, they went to Hell, a lake of fire and eternal torment what you would suffer for all of eternity in a tortured state of agony. The problem was that man, as an imperfect being, had no way to go through their whole life without doing anything wrong and God demanded that in order to get to Heaven, a Human had to be perfect."

Artex sighed and huffed,
"I could stand here for days and days on end explaining everything, and I probably got a lot of things wrong, but the reason for Christianity, is to live life as carefully as possible. To be kind and generous with others, to help those in need and live justly. Christians know we make mistakes all the time, but we still try to do our best. The reason for that is because God sent his son, Jesus also called Christ, to take up the body of a man, to be born Human and flawed, yet live a flawless life because of his divine nature. Jesus lived for 33 years before evil men had him convicted of a crime he did not commit. He was sentenced to die by crucifixion. Crucifixion is a shameful and terrible way to die. Jesus was beaten with a whip until his skin was peeling, he had a crown of thorns beaten down on his head, he was forced to carry a heavy wooden cross shaped like this," Artex held up his hands to demonstrate what it looked like, "And finally he had big, thick nails hammered into his wrists and feet. The nails were driven into the cross and the cross was stood up as they stripped his clothes off him and waited for him to die. He had done nothing wrong, but Humans killed him. He was so full of love for us that he stood and still stands before God letting certain souls into Heaven. He chose to come down and die. He knew he was going to die and he chose to do so while bearing the weight of every evil deed Humans ever had or ever will commit. He died so that God could let us into Heaven if we followed Christ's example and at least earnestly tried to live the way he did when he was alive. As a Christian I do my best to live the same way Jesus did and I find that I am a better person for it. Now, I missed a whole lot of information, but that is the basis for it."

The two Minotaurs looked extremely thoughtful as Artex continued,
"There are many beliefs on Earth, Christianity is only one. Unfortunately I know very little about must of the others, but there are some universal truths to be found in almost all of them. Things like: do not kill, do not steal, honor your parents, ect. Buddhists believe in living in absolute peace and that any act of violence or evil hurts the doer as much as the one having it done to them, Wiccans believe in the importance of balance in all things, modern day Druids believe in the spirit of the Earth, the Church Of The Jedi believe that The Force will show you the way to live and how to live and use The Force... there are honestly dozens and dozens of spiritualities, heck one guy started a religion called Pastafarianism which worships a Flying Spaghetti Monster. There is also a religion called Islam and the followers of that religion are called Muslims. Muslims believe many of the same things as Christians, but they follow the teachings of Mohammed instead of Jesus. Unfortunately many Muslims have a bad reputation back on Earth right now because a bunch of evil men are using the Islam faith as an excuse to murder people even though the Muslim faith is very peaceful and rather family oriented. Anyway, the Humans of New Humansville are building a series of buildings in honor of their varying spiritualities. You should come by and visit some time..."

The big golden doors of the Throne Room opened and Celestia and Luna walked in with a gaggle of reporters following them. Artex turned back to the Minotauri and shot them an apologetic look. The brother and sister nodded silently and departed quickly.

Artex quickly trotted over to the two Crystal Kavim who had been waiting patiently,
"I'm so sorry we didn't get a chance to talk. Will you be around after the interviews?"

The pink mare and silver stallion said they would be and that they would stay around for the interview then talk to him later.

Artex thanked them for being understanding then turned toward the loud crowd of reporters. This was not going to be fun.

There are probably a ton of typos as I typed this while sleep deprived. Help your friendly neighborhood author by posting about the errors. Also note, there are mentions of various religions. I AM NOT HATING ON ANYBODY OR THEIR BELIEFS. I feel the way I do about different spiritualities and if you disagree, feel free to write it in your own story. No debates about religions will be tolerated as it is too much of a hot topic, and any comments bad-mouthing one religion or another will be deleted as soon as I see them. I support freedom for ALL beliefs, I may not agree with them, but spiritual freedom is assured to all American citizens and I will not tolerate anybody saying otherwise. (Extremist groups which promote hate are fair game though so long as a definable difference is clearly stated which differentiates between the religion and the extremist group.)

That said, feel free to discuss any other aspects of this chapter.