Random Idea #24: Magic-powered crossbow · 12:49am Oct 11th, 2015
Based on idle speculation that someone mentioned that guns became popular because you don't really need to train someone to be good at it. Just point, shoot, fire.
In Equestria, I'm pretty sure someone would've figured out a way to enchant some piece of a crossbow that allows it to magically accelerate the "bolt" on trigger pull. Voila, long range "gun" but not really. And you don't even need gunpowder, just a unicorn or whatever that can enchant stuff.
Somewhere along the line, somepony might decide to make smaller, harder bolts for piercing, or larger bolts for plowing through things. Enchant the bolts themselves. Overcharge the blast so the recoil could help reload the next bolt. Something that can be a counterpart to griffon made guns or something.
And yes, I'm probably going to use this in the future myself.
Oh, and 5 story tall dragons with 75mm rifles. That's a fun thought.
The only difference between a crossbow and a gun is what you use to propel the projectile.
If you're using magic to propel it, then it is neither a crossbow nor a firearm. If it was electrical propulsion, it would be a railgun. Magnetic propulsion, and it's a gauss gun. Pneumatic makes it an airgun. A crossbow (or vertical bow) is essentially an elasticgun, or a springgun.
A magic gun? Whether it shoots fin-stabilized projectiles (as some guns do), or spin-stabilized projectiles (as most guns do and some bows can), it's a gun.
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That makes me wonder when the word "gun" was first used.
3462282 A ballista (giant siege crossbow) named "Domina Gunhilda" which was basically just a woman's name. A decade or two later, "Gunhilda" had become a common term for a projectile weapon such as a crossbow or cannon, and within a century, specifically to refer to firearms.
Edit: circa 1300s
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Huh. Cool.
And really, my fixation on magic guns is mostly because it doesn't seem to be used much, despite the versatility it may have if you're creative with it. I wanted something that can be a believable "upgrade" to ranged weaponry, considering how so many things use magic there. Griffons might still end up using gunpowder-based ones, but I figured Equestria might at least try something different, like giving a pony the power of a (limited skillset, though decently powerful) war-mage.