Need help! Questions about FoE during translating

[Aray_dash]

Hello everyone, I'm working on the Chinese edition of FoE, and there are quite a lot things that is hard for me to figure out, even after three times of reading and noting.
So I really need your help.
Thank you, from myself, from all of those who are looking forward to reading FoE.

And here is the first question:

In ch7.
Entry Five:
Got a new herd of foals ready for breaking.   Raked in the caps with the last batch.  Another benefit of dealing in foals: you only have to kill one of them in front of the others to take the fight out of them.  

What does this "breaking" really mean? According to the context, this foals actually are the ones LittlePip has saved.
Thank you.

[icekatze]

hi hi

There are two somewhat related things that the phrase seems like may be referring to.

1: Historically, breaking a horse/pony means subduing it and taming it for riding or work, getting them accustomed to wearing a saddle, bit and bridle, and possibly teaching them to follow commands.

2: It may also mean breaking their spirit, so that they don't try to act out or escape anymore. (Which point number 1 may have derived its meaning from.)

[SilverlightPony]

Given it's in the context of slavery of sentient/sapient beings, it's referring to Icekatze's second definition above.

[icekatze]

hi hi

Given that horse puns are commonplace in Fallout Equestria and Friendship is Magic, I wouldn't discount a double entendre without some word from Kkat.

[Aray_dash]

Thanks to icekatze and SilverlightPony!

And there is a new question:
in ch7

“Oh, oh dear!”  Her eyes traveled from my face to my Stable Two utility barding (still quite recognizable even with Ditzy Doo’s improvements) to the PipBuck on my foreleg.  Velvet Remedy looked shocked and… sad?
“What are you doing here?” she asked with a breath.
I stood tall.  “I followed you out of the Stable.  Came across the Equestrian Wastlelands to find you.  I’m here to rescue you!”  I gave her my best winning smile.  Then, worrying at how I might have sounded, I added meekly, “I’m not stalking you.”

I have looked it up, but can't find anything. I guess it means say something when breathing or after a breath?
Thank you for your answers!

[TyrannisUmbra]

I'd say that probably means more 'gasp' than 'breath', but I'm not 100% sure.

Either way, that seems more like an odd word choice than an actual idiom to me.

[Aray_dash]

Thanks, I do have the same feeling.
And in ch7:

My atheistic friend on the roof had moment of pause.  With a yee and a haw, Calamity dived towards the enemy trio, firing twice.  Four bullets struck home and the pony to the left of the not-a-goddess fell with a splash, blood washing over the strange mare’s hooves and down the river that was Mane Street.
The strange mare responded with a whinnying laugh that had no gentleness of soul.  “Such impudence!”  I gasped as the mare’s horn glowed a sickly green and a blast of lightning ripped from its tip, slamming into Calamity’s chest, throwing him back through the sky.

That really confused me...

[icekatze]

hi hi

There's a lot to that last sentence, and I'm not quite sure what is confusing you. A whinnying laugh is quite likely some mixture of a horse's whinny, (If you don't know what a whinny is, it is this sound) and a laugh. Lacking a gentleness of soul might mean that it is an unfriendly, possibly villainous, laugh of some sort.

[Aray_dash]

Thank you, I just couldn't understand the meaning of "sth of soul".
Maybe it's saying her soul isn't kind, or she is cruel because she doesn't have a soul (which is normally gentle?)
...but, yeah, just as you said. That usage felt a little strange to me.
dunno if it's common.

[TyrannisUmbra]

Thank you, I just couldn't understand the meaning of "sth of soul".
Maybe it's saying her soul isn't kind, or she is cruel because she doesn't have a soul (which is normally gentle?)
...but, yeah, just as you said. That usage felt a little strange to me.
dunno if it's common.

It's flowery prose. Fancy for the sake of being fancy. It means that the laugh was hollow and cruel. That part of the sentence is referring to the laugh specifically, not the pony, as well.