Chapter 57 will be the last single chapter update! Yes, I will be dumping multiple chapters each week!! · 3:04pm Aug 13th, 2021
oh look, guns....
But before I go into detail on those baby's, I will officially announce I will be rushing to the end of Desperados, putting out three chapters a week, giving you a full dose of each MC's part of the story, and what fun parts they are. after the depressing NCRCF chapters, I know you will be wanting something less about suffering, and more about getting things done. But before that, can you guess this, "were did he go?" you should read the current chapter to find out who I'm talking about, and why. For the answer to that, check in next week to find out.
Hint, it has a pony you would love to kill with a golf club in it.
Now for the guns. If you follow my Deviant art, you will already know about these babies. And personally, I think this is close to their final form as I can get with them. All I need to do with them is have a scaled image of a pony using them, and hopefully not have it look silly and boxy. As guns go when it comes to ponies, I have given it way too much though, and stuck to hoof fired guns strongly. The big reason is that most ponies are not unicorns, and have no way for fine manipulation other thein their tounge, which sucks, but ponies show considerable dexterity with hooves alone. Zebras too. Because of this, I imagine most guns to evolve to have lager hoof guards, and likely, very strong triggers to prevent misfiring. Muzzle fire guns, using the tounghe to fire, would be rarer for to the strain it puts on a pony, relegating them to side arms only. Little Macantosh being the most powerful muzzle fire sidearm. Such rifles would exist, but likely for mainly sniper rifles where your required to go prone to use the rifle. Battle Saddles would be seen as a good, if not restrictive alternative to hoof fired guns, alowing a pony to run and gun, but need to aim with their body. The advantage would be that a pony could easily use a heavy weapon, two if their big enough, giving them a huge force multiplyer. or give a pony two SMG's, and let them loose, which is likely what would be done for pegusus fighters.
Power armor would change this up, not just for the armor itself, but that they could support a more advanced battle saddle that could aim independently from the user, giving them a, though still restrictive, but wider range to target. In some of my art I then took that idea and expanded onto it, having written a proto version in "Dance of the Orthrus" with Sweet Sax Solo's smart gun. simply a battle saddle with an arm, giving a pony fill rage of targeting without having to actually hold the gun.
but back on track, why these two guns, and what is Thaumaturge weapons. mainly it's the idea that Orthrus is not willing to let go of their tech, but needs to adapt it further. Using a spell to fire slugs, it turns out little power is needed to have a spell powerful enough to ack like gunpowder, you just need a way to amplify the power, like in a bullet. So the Spell Cell Talesmen (The boxy thing with the gem in it) acts like a bullet shell, and the gun itself, like any gun, is the delivery system. With the Tempest, it practically has a werlwind compressed inside it, which is not much on it's own, but in such a confind place, and directed one way. Bange, you got a gun.
If I ever get to these guns appearing in a story, the idea would be that they both used as propaganda, and a way to make money. it also helps that only ponies from the Marewaii Islands know how to make them, so they are at least safe from it being coppied, for a time. as for if they could keep making more after the War in the Weast, I say yes, but the materials used would change, likely resulting a dip in quality.
Since the show already has ponys doing things with there hoofs that would not work in the real world it makes sense to develop hoof fired weapons. The downside is that with all 4 legged animals it's hard to run and gun on less then 4 legs. That's why I think it was a earth pony that most likely came up with the battle saddle. That being said you see dogs and cats missing a leg and they can keep up with there fellows that still have all 4.
This is remarkably well thought out, and I noticed that in your stories, too. You give backstory to your areas and situation but only if your MC's encounter a means to discover that history. Well done.
The fact you are an artist who draws these images adds even more flair.
5568481
ya, the general idea is that ponies will make do with what they got, and can learn to do it well given time. And I agree that battle saddles would be an earth pony idea, which would make it easier for them to shoot when prone or on the move, letting the pony move more like a pony in battle. I also try to make a distention between pony guns and non-pony guns, such as Longslides "Little Devil" as it has a more normal handle and trigger which most ponies can't use, but at the same time, a pony gun is difficult for a griffin to use but not impossible. Still, even the most obtuse setup can be used if anyone has the time to get use to it.
5568656
Well it is in first person view, so it makes sense that the reader only sees as much at the MC, including the unreliable parts. as for the world around them, I believe it's important to remember that the world is bigger then them and there is something always going on. So if there is a thing, there is a reason for it to be there, though the MC may never know it's full story, only what is left to be seen of it. Sadly that means a lot is left unsaid and some characters are never seen again, but you know there is other story's out there in the wasteland, such as the several references to the story "Long Haul" Star makes.