The hoes call me the B-1 Lancer because I offer unimpressive low-level penetration but possess a world-class rear-aspect sight picture.
Rarity goes out for a spot of frou-frou nonsense. Typical elegant stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A one-shot character study about the particular pleasure of traditional marksmanship.
(NOTE: NOT FUNNY. However, gunhaver Rarity is part of a comedy - check here for that.)
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A fascinating piece. You write a very good Rarity.
Rather reminds me of something Baron Engel drew a while back.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/10/16/1562866.jpeg
10684783
Thanks! I always find whitehorse very fun to write.
The "mare on haybale" is very close to what I had imagined.
Have my upvote and fave.
Lovely meditative piece. A very Rarity approach to firearms, precision, delicacy, and a touch of cahtarsis coming together to form an exquisite whole that just happens to punch holes in an unfortunate tree. Thank you for this.
oooh, wheellock
10684933
Aren't they great? They're like angry bic lighters.
10685292
I personally prefer combination locks like this one
lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/95gXUY21Kfn5DJ1uL5iDlAWLnHzPZJXQpHX57ciaqYb6yZxT0gNWChDeD41LZUg0DmckeZiba_n4KUBSgVK5XrSN6pN-zIv9SpL5WQMygsCfcVtMP7Ebbhh1xzPvLg
10685358
I just get an error when I try to open that.
10686466
I don't this is strange
10686924
here take this.
Nice piece. Simple but very detailed with beautiful description and sophisticated vocabulary.
I actually prefer this type of story that goes deep into the personality and manner of the character than the comedies.
My only criticism here is that the moment of the shot, the very climax the readers have been waiting and anticipating this whole story, isn't given enough emphasis. It just floats by so blandly and unremarkably that one does not even notice it already happened. You should add a segment to give it more details, preferably with short, 1-2 sentence paragraphs to highlight the significant of the moment.
I liked this! As a shooter, the process of making the shot and all the stuff fun!
An entire story to wonder about, and what do I wonder? I wonder if Rarity's decision to use cloth wads instead of paper patches is a pragmatic one (lots of scrap cloth around) or if there is some other reason for it.
10687713
Funnily enough, I cut a line that said exactly that; she's using waste fabric. I quite liked that detail - I wish I hadn't forgotten to add it back.
10687736
Welp, no time like the present.
I like the thought of using telekinesis to cyclically fire several muskets, one at a time, to deal damage while running around and dodging stuff. It'd be a cool gimmick for a protagonist in some kind of magic, steampunk-ey cartoon, where most of the world is wild and full of monsters.
I’m surprised that Rarity didn’t have any eye protection on.
10687825
Or a Doom WAD. You’d just have to explain how a pony can circlestrafe.
A few technical observations (not complaints). . .
Historically, I think a 36 caliber black powder rifle would be considered a small game rifle, or "squirrel gun", not a combat weapon. Of course it would also work just fine as a target rifle, something like a Schuetzen rifle.
Rifled muzzle-loaders are quite slow and difficult to load, which I think this story conveys well. This is why they were not widely used in combat, except by specially trained sharpshooters—what we today would think of as snipers. The rank-and-file soldiers got smooth-bore guns, which were quicker to load. They were also wildly inaccurate, but if you had enough guys firing off a volley it hardly mattered.
Shooting lead bullets into a tree will, in fact, poison the tree and could eventually kill it. Naughty!
I wonder if anyone has invented air rifles in Equestria's world? I think Rarity might possibly appreciate bypassing all the soot and stink and the required cleanuup.
This story seems very plausible to me, because I've gone down a similar path and had this custom built:
zobeid.zapto.org/firearms/17M4_RIFLE.jpg
And although I usually prefer plinking at targets a bit more reactive than paper (chunks of ice are great), I use it pretty much exactly the same way. It's very relaxing and satisfying.
10687736
That honestly did seem the most Rarity answer.
Of course, now I'm wondering why she uses two wads when one would be sufficient to hold both ball and powder, but marksmanship is a martial art, so I suppose she can be allowed her flourishes.
Firing Flintlocks is a real process. But many of the era were truly elegant works of art. I've held and fired one that was crafted in the mid 1770's as a showpiece never to be fired. All elegant brasswork and fillegre. Now while it wasnt meant to be fired it was of course, including seeing use in the American Revolution. The time I had to fire it was a exercise in patience and no small skill. And it was a beautiful shot.
Still prefer my Henry Lever Action though.
And then Alondro comes screaming along with a minigun and mows half the forest down.
Rarity just stares.
Alondro waves, "Stressful day in the lab!"
Hmm! A wheellock rifle, carefully and expensively made, goes rather well with Rarity -- or should we say Gunnity?
10684783
So THAT is how you hold a gun with hooves.
There's nothing elegant about guns. Beautiful sure but we're describing a weapon that literally uses a small explosion to fling a piece of lead at high speeds. The only thing that's maybe somewhat elegant about that is the overall design and not what happens when you pull the trigger. Swords are a whole lot more elegant than that
10777630
You haven’t done any shooting, have you? For that matter, I’m not sure you’ve read the story, since the whole point of it is to describe precisely how and why shooting can be an elegant, meditative pursuit.
(I have not shot black powder, but I enjoy target shooting and plinking in exactly the way Rarity does in the story.)
A long while back somebody did a comic of about Rarity practicing archery that was like this.
I have no idea how to find it however
For "wiki-like cross-indexing" here is a story with similar word-count spent on describing the step-by-step details of a process. I will be adding a reciprocal link soon.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/58874/twilight-sparkle-makes-a-cup-of-tea
That one is more melancholy though.
11018640
I'll see if I can find that since I was already considering linking it as well.
EDIT:
Here we go: https://www.deviantart.com/explosivegent/art/Time-Off-Threading-the-Arrow-255927653