Story Notes: Unity 2 [part 3] · 10:16pm April 22nd
Welp, here we go again!
Interlude
I'm what you call a discovery writer, and sometimes I discover things while I'm writing. Like how traditional stirrups wouldn't work for a hooved anthro.
Western Saddles are the ones that have a saddle horn which you can hold on to or use to tie your lasso to while you're out wrangling cows. English Saddles (IIRC) don't have a saddle horn and you can't rope cattle with them. Also you're supposed to ride a little different English style. I've done both and can't remember either, since it's been decades. I should also mention that military saddles were different, historically—I'm not a scholar on them.
A gambeson is a padded shirt worn under armor, or in some cases in lieu of actual armor. They're not always shown in movies or mentioned in books, but usually you want a layer of something between you and hard metal armor, both to cushion the blows or to keep the armor from chafing or pinching. I was very excited when I realized in Excaliber, young King Arthur is fighting in a gambeson.
Source
Not sponsored by Armstreet
Mareiott is a reference to AlwaysDressesInStyle's 16-verse
"Three-point contact" is a railroad safety rule (and probably other industries): always have three points of contact on any equipment you're mounting/dismounting.
"Bookkeeper" was the solution to one Encyclopedia Brown mystery (remember those?); it's one of the very few words in English with three letter-pairs in a row.
I'm guessing everyone who's read this remembers Kukka.
The internet told me that you shouldn't mix durian and alcohol, but then I also found a video where a mixologist made a durian cocktail, so I don't know what to think. I guess you can just post anything on the internet these days.
If you're curious about any of the foods KitKat ordered, you can bet that I was too lazy to invent new food items and just found a list online.
Skunks do eat scorpions, and lots of other things that are poisonous/venomous to humans.
Interlewd
Greaves are basically shin-guards for armor. A gorget is a neck protector, and is rarely shown in movies. A breastplate covers the torso and some of the hips. Cuisses are the part of armor that goes over the thighs.
Ramie (as in a ramie shift) is a fabric made from a nettle plant, and is in fact one of the oldest fiber crops; it's native to eastern Asia. That was something I didn't know until I came across a 'ramie shift' in Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series (which was recommended by Snowliason). I still haven't finished the series, so no spoilers please 
There was also a word she used for saddle ties (which are mentioned in this story); unfortunately, I can't remember what it was.
Does a transformation spell move scars to an appropriate new location?
"Feathering" is the fluffy shaggy bits above some horse's hooves. Draft horses, in particular, often have feathering. Heavy draft horses also have hooves the size of dinner plates.
My unnamed pre-reader (their preference) informed me that small talk was supposed to be two words, and I looked it up on my own and found out that there was a programming language called Smalltalk and given the nature of this story, I thought I ought to include the reference.
A thought before we go . . . how many ponies suffer injuries when a unicorn is the small spoon?
Source
Three point contact us also a sailing thing my Dad taught me. though he's an ex-pilot and may have gotten it from there too. n_n
Weren't high heels invented to make them work better? If so, they would indeed obviously need a proper human heel.
Depends on the spell; I know in Animorphs it's a plot point that their morphing acts as a full heal. One of the books has a character get cut in half while a starfish and both halves turned back into full humans.
With how pun-based Equestria is, at least some pegasi probably have actual feathers there.
Brings two things to mind.
Regarding the first picture,
As to the bit about the fruit,
For AD&D players, a Gambeson = Padded Armor (AC 8(?) (It's been awhile. )
Draft horses were developed in the Middle Ages. They were originally bred to be war horses. They needed to be larger because that armor is heavy..
Horses need a different yoke & collar than cattle. Their shoulders are different & an ox collar would choke them.
Oh & absent magic, cows are approximately as strong as horses for their size -and in MLP are a LOT bigger.
Oh, also,
https://m.All the trucks, prime movers, mobile plant and trailers have this 3 point rule on them... God help the driver who gets sprung in the depot breaking this rule, they love dragging them over the coals for that one!
Ladder use policy also has the rule (your harness is point 3 once you need both hands at the top).
Friesians are feathered like crazy, and movies love 'em.
Rock climbers use the 3-point rule too. I suspect anything were if you fall you die uses that rule.
5777860
I don't know if three-point contact originates from railroads or somewhere else, but that's the first place I saw it specifically mentioned.
5777864
I believe that was the origin of them, yes.
I'm not sure where I sit on that, it raises a lot of interesting questions. Like if you had piercings, would they vanish when you transformed in the Animrophs universe? It's something that I never really considered until I was writing this story.
I suppose that they might. I would think down rather than full feathers, but who knows? Built-in hoof warmers might be nice.
5777872
I think that there is some cultural aspects to food, or what you grew up with. I've had one food that my dad loved that nearly made me vomit.
5777874
That sounds about right. Haven't played in years.
I've been on the field when two draft horses (percherons, I think) with fully-armored knights were riding them. With just two, the ground shook. I can only imagine how it would have felt to be on the receiving end of a cavalry charge.
This is true. You can use an ox collar on them for light loads. When I was researching the history of harnesses, some of the early styles were basically ox collars. It didn't take people too long to figure out that if you made a more purpose-built collar, the horse could pull more for longer.
That's a good point. I've seen pictures IRL of a farmer towing a plow with a horse and a cow hooked together. From what I know, dairy cows don't tend to be very good for riding or plowing, but some of that surely has to do with training; I've never seen a cow in harness that was properly trained for it but if you can train an ox, surely you could train a cow.
Given how much bigger the cows are than ponies, and that the ponies can talk to them in canon AFAIK, I wonder why some of the ponies haven't thought of putting a harness on their cows and using the cows to plow fields, haul wagons, etc.? Like, I'm just now thinking of that.
5777878
It seems like really good advice for any kind of thing you're climbing on or working on where falling off would be bad. I certainly violate that rule all the time in the shop, and probably shouldn't.
5777915
Frisians are gorgeous, I love them.
5777926
Yeah, I think that's the case. The only time I've come across that rule being stated was railroad-related, but its a good common-sense rule that applies in a lot of different fields and enterprises.
I don't know whether they addressed that, but I do know that the exact details can change a lot based on user skill.
5778202
Draft cattle are usually steers. They are called Bullocks (Asia) or Oxen (Europe). Horses are way faster but Oxen are much better on muddy ground.
I have no idea why cows in EQ couldn't get work as draft animals. It's canon that they sell dairy but don't seem to take part in Winter Wrap Up or go to Ponyville school.
Could be a question of intelligence, (real or perceived) stupidity.
5778200
Oh same, I just think it's neat to hear it's in other places n_n
Three Points of Contact! is also seen frequently in military training situations that include vehicles and/or machines large enough to climb on. Trainers and supervisors will hammer Three Points of Contact! into the heads of any personnel in the vicinity of themselves and the aforementioned machines.
Any
enlisted memberspersonnel found to have been injured (in any way) while violating the Three Points of Contact! rule can expect to have to stand in front of their commander, explaining why. Followed by lecturing the rest of the unit on this particular safety rule.5778210
I suppose that makes sense. It's a weird thing to think about . . . sometimes you see that in anthro art of ponies--where does their cutie mark go as humans? The defaults seems to be on the hip; I believe Derpi has an 'alternate cutie mark placement' tag for if it's somewhere else. I don't recall that EqG really answered that question for us.
5778211
Also I learned in colonial America there was a taboo around eating horses but not oxen, so on some frontier expeditions you'd have oxen towing the supply wagon and when they supplies were used up you had steak for dinner.
I suppose they could, I have no idea why that hasn't come up yet. I'm certainly thinking about it right now. Could be our old friend speciesism at play yet again. Or maybe there are laws against it. . . .
Also I didn't know it was actually canon that cows sold dairy. I mean, it makes sense, I've put that in stories, but I didn't know that they actually made it canon.
Yeah, possibly heavily influenced by speciesism.
5778470
Anything to drive it home, I suppose.
I assume that the exclamation point is part of the Three Points of Contact! training
It's really good advice for any kind of job/occupation/hobby where you could be injured if you fall, and it was something I was thinking about just today as I was only two points of contacting my way out of a truck, onto a hoist arm, and then onto the ground. Yes, I have slipped off a hoist before, and yes I know somebody who got injured when he slipped off a hoist and didn't have enough points of contact.
My stage combat/stunts instructor mentioned in passing that most injuries in high-fall stunts take place on the ladder, since people are focused on the obviously dangerous task of falling on a crash pad and not so much on the very mundane task of climbing a ladder . . . which doesn't have a crash pad under it.
Anyway, it's good advice in all pursuits.
5778706
Cows selling milk isn't specified but they do have cheese (shown in sandwiches) plus it's used in baking. In Boast Busters Twilight fills a water tower with some milk from a cow barn.
I'd also point to the Apples owning a herd dog which certainly raises questions.