Twilight Sparkle stood in a dusty orchard of trees, equipped with her pointing stick and a chalkboard on wheels. Mesas were visible in the hot noonday sun. Her smile had faded a bit, but this was still going to be a lecture. She wasn't about to let the first few entries get her down.
“Hello, everybody! We’re here today at the Appleoosa ranch and orchard to help explain the difference between stock ponies and draft ponies. This time, I have two helpers! To my right here is Applejack’s cousin Braeburn!”
The farm pony trotted into view, waving a hoof. “Howdy y’all! Welcome to Aaaaaaaaaapleoosa!”
Twilight rubbed her ear. “Right. Thank you, Braeburn, for letting us do this here.”
He blushed a bit. “Aw, shucks miss. ‘Taint nothing. A friend of Applejack’s is a friend of mine!”
Twilight gave him a polite nod and signaled off to her left. “And over here is my brother, Shining Armor. Come on out, Shining. I can assure you, it’s painless.”
Shining’s head tilted into view, looking around thoroughly before stepping next to his sister. “I don’t get it. How come I can see them now but not other times? And how come I don’t remember these afterwards?”
Twilight grinned. “Much like Pinkie Pie, it’s best not to try to explain it. So, everyone, here we can see an example of a stock pony, Braeburn.”
“Howdy again!” He waved.
She pointed over to her brother. “And a draft pony, Shining Armor.”
“Um, hi.” He waved too, although far less enthusiastically.
Twilight continued, “Now, we all know that there are, principally, three tribes of ponies: earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. However, each individual pony is also either a stock pony or a draft pony. These last two types are not tribes, however, and have absolutely no bearing on the type or intensity of magic they possess. There are, however, obviously some differences. Braeburn, if you would?”
“Happy ta oblige!” He reared up on his hind legs, whinnying, then took off around the orchard. His legs pounded on the ground, pushing him faster and faster as he weaved through the trees without even slowing down.
Shining chuckled. “Yeah, no way I could do that.”
“As we can see,” Twilight pointed with her stick, “Braeburn, a stock pony, possesses considerable agility and acceleration. As an earth pony, he can also use his magic to become quite fast on the ground. Not as fast as a pegasus in the air, of course, but still.”
“Yeeeeee-hah!” Braeburn turned around and ran back towards the other two, but angled for a nearby tree. Just before running straight into it, he stopped, spun around, and slamed both of his rear hooves into the tree, knocking down most of the apples into some surrounding baskets.
Twilight poked her brother in the side with the stick. “Shining, meanwhile, is a draft pony, which is easily the more rare of the two types. They comprise less than five percent of the population, and most of them, by far, are male. There are, of course, female draft ponies, but they aren’t nearly as common. Now then, Shining?”
“Are you sure about this, Twilight?” he asked, rubbing his head. “I’m not an earth pony.”
She nodded. “Yes. Apple bucking itself doesn’t really use any earth pony magic beyond normal strength enhancement. You’ll be fine.”
He sighed. “Alright, here goes nothing.” Shining lifted his hind legs up into the air, and slammed them into the tree. Several of the apples from above fell down into the baskets. While not as many fell as Braeburn’s, there were still a good number of them.
“See, brother?”
Shining lifted up a basket and looked into it. “Huh. Well. Guess it worked.”
Twilight cleared her throat. “What Shining lacks in earth pony magic and practice apple bucking, he makes up for with his draft pony physiology and strength training from the military. Draft ponies are larger, sturdier, and have both greater strength and stamina than stock ponies. Obviously there are outliers for everything and this is just a general trend, but it often holds true. While draft ponies aren’t as nimble or fast, they hit like nothing else and are almost impossible to knock over via physical impact without completely lifting them off their hooves.
“As I said earlier, any tribe and gender can be either type of pony. Other examples of draft stallions are Fancy Pants, Big Macintosh, and both Grand General Blueblood and Prince Blueblood. Examples of stock ponies include all of the Elements of Harmony, Soarin of the Wonderbolts, Caramel, Thunderlane, and my parents. Shiny gets the draft pony gene from our grandfather.”
Shining cut in. “A lot of draft ponies find their way into the military. Our size and strength means the training is easier for us. Not to say stock ponies can’t be great soldiers. Basic training just usually winds up being a bit easier is all. Finding horseshoes that fit, though…”
Twilight chuckled a little. “You and those ultra-wide hooves. Anyway, that’s all for the topic at hoof. Thanks, you two!”
“Anytime, ya’ll!” Braeburn yelled, tossing his hat into the air and taking off into a gallop, the stetson somehow floating back down in his direction so he could catch it again.
“Anything you need, Twily.” Shining gave his sister a quick hug, then walked off camera.
Twilight picked up a piece of chalk. “Okay, normally, this would be where we part ways for the next episode. But, I’ve decided to liven things up a bit! Starting next episode, you readers are going to have something of a say in what topics we cover! We aren’t opening all the topics, as there are still plenty of things in the story left to spoil. Instead, we’re going to be supplying a list of possible topics and letting everyone vote for them in the comments!
“The first thing you’ll all notice is that these are arranged in groups. Within each group, the uppermost topic has to be discussed before we can discuss anything below it. In other words, with a group like this…” The chalk lifted into the air and started writing on the board.
==Magic Items==
Enchanted Objects
Cored Artifacts
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????? [LOCKED UNTIL: UNKNOWN]
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“… Well, if this topic, ‘Magic Items’, is chosen, we’ll do ‘Enchanted Objects’ first. Then, we’ll hold another vote. If this group of topics is chosen again, we’ll do ‘Cored Artifacts.’ Once that’s done, the third topic will be revealed. Now, you’ll note that topics five and six in this group are ‘locked until: unknown.’ This means that we can’t reveal or talk about this until sometime in the future, when certain things are revealed in the main story. Or just until the author is confident enough in the answer.
“Some others will say ‘Locked Until: Block X’. What this means is that there is something in that block that has to be posted in the main story before we can talk about it. To help prevent spoilers, only the relevant block of chapters is listed, not the specific chapter. It could, potentially, unlock at any point in the block. You won’t know in advance until a chapter posts and, suddenly, there’s a new unlocked topic. Naturally, locked topics cannot be voted for, as this story would never go anywhere if that happened. And, as the story progresses, new topic groups will be added. It should go without saying that things are subject to change at any time, but I’m mentioning it now anyway.
“Oh! And, you can find out what block a given chapter is in using CvBrony’s user page. There’s a thing under the bio box where you can see the word counts, and he updates them whenever there’s new writing. All the recent and upcoming chapters are listed there.
“So, without further ado, here’s the current list!”
==Pony Genetics==
Stock Ponies and Draft Ponies [POSTED]
Tribe Hybrids
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?????==Magic Items==
Enchanted Objects
Cored Artifacts
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????? [LOCKED UNTIL: UNKNOWN]==Royal Guard Overview==
Senechals [LOCKED UNTIL: SOMETIME IN BLOCK 4]
Royal Guard [LOCKED UNTIL: SOMETIME IN BLOCK 4]
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????? [LOCKED UNTIL: SOMETIME IN BLOCK 4]==Equestrian Politics==
The Inner Council [LOCKED UNTIL: SOMETIME IN BLOCK 3]
Celestia and the Inner Council [LOCKED UNTIL: SOMETIME IN BLOCK 3]
????? [LOCKED UNTIL: SOMETIME IN BLOCK 3]
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????? [LOCKED UNTIL: SOMETIME IN BLOCK 3]==Wings==
Wing types overview
Flight characteristics
?????==Culture==
Languages
Technology Level
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???? [LOCKED UNTIL: UNKNOWN]==Higher Power==
Pony spirituality
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Twilight smiled. “We’re looking forward to your votes and comments everyone!”