Rainbow Dash 5: A Lucky Find
Upheaval: Journeys
Rainbow Dash 5: A Lucky Find
A throbbing ache to the back of her head told Rainbow that she was awake. She winced, instinctively raising a foreleg to massage the offending spot. She was alive at least. More than she had expected after that attack. She tried to open her eyes, only to realize that they were open. Wherever she was, it was dark. The ground was damp, cold, and rough stone. She flapped her wings, breathing a sigh of relief when they moved without problem. She had that going for her, at least. A quick feel around near her revealed her undamaged crossbow. Where was she anyway? She hit her head and fell, but there was no way she would have ended up anywhere besides the forest floor unless...
A cold draft blew against Rainbow's side, revealing an opening to the outside of the cave. No light shining though. It must be night already. A quick flutter of wings brought her up short. She had her crossbow loaded and aimed at the opening already when a familiar voice whispered from the entrance.
"You're up," Longstride said as he flew in. The cave ceiling wasn't particularly high, but had enough space for a low glide. He landed near her, his golden eyes the only specks of light in the dark "Can you move well enough?"
"I'm fine," Rainbow replied. She looked around. "Where's Scarlet?" Her chest tightened. She dearly hoped that he hadn't gotten killed during that mess.
"We were separated," Longstride replied. "I shouted at him to fly back to the village while I went for you. He should be fine. Twenty Four went after us. It took a while to lose him and find this hiding spot."
That was another relief. Rainbow focused on Longstride for now. "Hey," she said. "We're not flying for our lives now. Who is this Twenty Four? What kind of name is that in the first place?"
"A good enough name," Longstride said softly. He didn't meet her stare, instead focusing on the entrance. He might be looking out for danger, but Rainbow also suspected that he was seeing other things too, things from a long time ago. "He was a candidate for the Longstride Project as I was. We were part of the last trio taken in by the project before it ended."
"What happened to him?" Rainbow asked. "And why is he shooting at us?"
"He was killed in a bar room brawl in the Great Delve, a place he had no business being in, where he did things he had no business doing," Longstride replied. "Perhaps Hassyth has managed to learn a very powerful reanimation spell. I recall that Twenty Four's remains were interred into the manor's morgue, to be preserved for study. Willow Whip might have come up with a way to preserve him indefinitely in hopes of reviving him, or at least learning more from his natural gifts."
"Great," Rainbow muttered. "So we have to fight some kind of zombie sniper now." She looked at him worriedly. "You're better than this guy, right? You're the one who made it out of the Longstride Project."
The silence after that question proved just as frightening as the roar of an ursan titan.
"Those two don't follow," Longstride replied. "It's true that I was the candidate who did succeed, but that doesn't mean I was the the best of us three."
"What?" Rainbow clamped a hoof over her mouth when the question came out too loudly. How could it not follow? That was like saying that the pony who came at first place in a race was not the best racer. "How does that make sense?"
"Twenty Four was far stronger than me," Longstride said. "My body was only good enough to withstand two arcane grafts. He was hardy enough for four. He was the superior athlete, and we merely matched at archery. If he hadn't died prematurely, he would have undoubtedly been picked to take on the name of Longstride. I was, at the end of the day, the useful substitute."
Rainbow chewed on her lower lip. Not the response she was hoping for from him, but the worry dissolved into concern while she watched him. It was hard not to look at Longstride's eyes when their golden glint was the only bit of light in the cave. Those discs were perfectly still, muted in color, and staring away at some distant memory. The melancholy around him made the shadows seem deeper, and the chill just a bit colder.
"Don't be such a downer," she groused. That her voice sounded less harsh and more comforting was annoying. She should be worried about how to deal with the situation, not whether Longstride was feeling well. "You're still the real Longstride, and he's just a dead loser. You got the magic bow, and all that time working for Black Rose. He's got nothing on you!"
Those golden discs began to spin once more. "I do not need your reassurances, Rainbow Dash," Longstride muttered. He flitted close to the entrance. Keeping only a small fraction of his head exposed, he looked around. Rainbow tilted her head.
"See him?" Rainbow asked.
"No," Longstride replied. "He has the vantage point as well. If he is an animated body, he will have no need for rest or sustenance. He'll be out there hunting us."
Rainbow looked behind her, deeper into the cave. Flying out may be out of the question. "Do those eyes of yours see in the dark as well?" she asked.
"To a degree," Longstride replied. "I can see better in low illumination than normal sight. In the dark, my sight is limited."
The cave floor proved free of clutter. Unfortunate. Rainbow hoped for some wood to burn at least. "What's our next move?" she asked. "Don't tell me we're going to sit here until Scarlet shows up with help."
"Twenty Four will have alerted Hassyth," Longstride replied. "He's probably included descriptions. Hassyth knows we are hunting him."
"Guards everywhere at this point," Rainbow groused. It would be a lot easier for this Twenty Four to spot them than the other way around, and she wasn't interested in taking another arrow to the flank to be dragged before a coatl overlord. Some reconnaissance this turned out to be. Then again, it would have worked if it wasn't for that zombie sniper. Who could have planned for that?
Longstride looked past her and deeper into the cave. "This might be a fortuitous find," he said. "I know that there is a network of caves that extend to Willow Manor. The place was built on top of an old dragon's lair after all."
"Yeah, I heard about that," Rainbow replied. She let herself smile a bit. She didn't expect chatting up some villagers to prove useful. "An envy dragon, right?"
"Sir Yargh's final charge against Vilfadora," Longstride said. It was too dark too see, but Rainbow just felt that he smiled a little. "You fit his tale well; a reckless hero driven by ego, blundering forward until even an envy dragon was slain."
"I don't blunder!" Rainbow snapped. "And I fought the abyss, way cooler than a dragon."
"Let's see where this might lead for now," Longstride replied. "If our luck holds, we might reach that lair and find our way into the manor from there."
"We're still going to sneak in?" Rainbow asked. She had push down the elation.
"The mission is still on," Longstride said. He pulled out a small orb, the size of a walnut, from one of the pouches strapped to his leathers. Rainbow recognized an illumination orb. Back in Canterlot, she actually got some from a Legion quartermaster. With a swift strike against the cave's wall, he caused it to glow with red light, bathing their surroundings in scarlet.
The two of them proceeded deeper into the cave. With minimal light around, Rainbow found herself edging closer to Longstride. His magic eyes clearly had no problem navigating the dim glow. The going proved slow. They moved at a low hover so the rough, uneven cave floor wasn't an issue. The damp, musty air was a different issue though. Rainbow could feel her feathers soaking very slowly. It might take several baths to get that old, stale air smell out of her wings. They moved tentatively, however, in case they might be disturbing something deeper in.
The cave was a monotony of rough, natural stone. The only sounds were the soft, steady beats of their wings and the ocassional drip of water on stone. The general silence proved deafening, combined with the dark, Rainbow struggled against the stifling sensation. "Hey," she whispered.
"What is it?" Longstride asked.
"You said 'the three of you' earlier," Rainbow said. "The zombie sniper is Twenty Four, so who's the other one? Is he another zombie sniper out there too?"
"No," Longstride replied. "Ca--" he fell silent for a while. Rainbow raised an eyebrow. Something's going to be off with whatever he'll be saying next. Even she could tell he was picking his words. "Twenty Five was not valuable enough for Willow Whip to preserve. Twenty Four was wasted potential. The project probably preserved him in hopes of making use of his corpse. Twenty Five was weaker than even me. She only had one graft, and she had badly injured herself." His voice quivered just a mite. "Garbage as far as the project was concerned, and Willow Whip would not have wasted resources on garbage."
So Twenty Five was a mare. And one who fared poorly at the project. That was an odd tinge of sympathy in Longstride's voice. From the way he was so judgmental, it was hard to imagine him feeling sorry for, and trying to help a straggler. Maybe they were...Rainbow scoffed at the idea. Longstride barely understood what being friends was about. There was no way he was...wait. If she was Twenty Five... "Twenty Six," Rainbow whispered.
Longstride stopped completely upon that utterance.
"There were three of you," Rainbow went on. "Twenty Four, Twenty Five, and you, Twenty Six."
"Brilliant deduction," Longstride muttered as he resumed moving.
The single tunnel was descending at a slight slope, narrowing as it did. Soon, Rainbow flew close not only to maintain her brearings, but also because there wasn't a lot of space move in. The tunnel stretched on regardless. Rainbow wasn't sure, but she had a pretty good feeling that they were moving towards the manor. Hours must have passed. It proved impossible to tell. A few smaller tunnels branched out, but Longstride merely looked down them, and shook his head. Eventually, they found themselves a small chamber, where Longstride stopped to sit.
"Rest," Longstride said. He took out some dried fruit, and chewed on them.
With a shrug, Rainbow did the same. "Tired already?" she asked. Truth be told, she was feeling a bit exhausted herself. It wasn't out of exertion. She was maintaining a slow flight. It was the tension of this place that weighed on her. She preferred the open sky. Even the threat of a zombie sniper didn't seem too bad at the moment. The tunnel was dark and claustrophobic and it weighed her down immensely.
"Let's keep our strength up," Longstride said. "We may as well consider the chance that their are guards directly underground of the manor."
They ate silently for a while, washing down the dry meal with water from their canteens.
"Get some sleep, I'll keep watch," Longstride said.
"Don't be ridiculous, " Rainbow replied. "I got knocked out for a while already. You're the one who's been up all day. I'll keep watch."
"You can barely see in this dark," Longstride said. "How good of a watch can you keep when you're half-blind in this darkness?"
"And if you don't get some sleep, we'll both be half-blind, idiot!" Rainbow shot back. "I'll wake you if I hear or see even the smallest thing, okay?" She planted herself close to the illumination orb, which should be good for several hours more, and crossed her forelegs. Longstride stared at her, his eyes spinning lazily.
"Do as you please," he groused. "At this rate, we'll both just lose our strength." He laid down, and turned away, his head resting on his packs while his bow lay close by. Rainbow stared at him for a while, then at the orb, occasionally examining her surroundings. After a while of nothing, she focused on Longstride again.
"You're awake, aren't you?" Rainbow asked.
"...yes," came after a moment of silence.
"Foal of a nag, Longstride!" Rainbow snatched a pebble, and hurled it at his back.
"Your watch doesn't offer enough sense of safety," Longstride replied. "Sleeping is impossible."
Again, silence. Longstride abandoned lying down, and simply reclined against the stone wall to stare at the light.
"Some break," Rainbow muttered. Longstride simply picked up his bow, then started wiping it clean with a small rag.
"Resting must suffice," Longstride said.
"So," Rainbow said. "What was Willow Manor like?"
"Is this small talk necessary?" Longstride asked. "The Manor during my time is no more. I don't know what has become of it after the centuries."
"Come on," Rainbow groused. "It's too quiet and dark. It feels like I'm alone like this. I hate being alone."
"Stupid mare, if you cannot stand your own company, who can?"
Rainbow simply stared at Longstride, biting back a retort for that annoying moniker he often slipped to.
"The Manor was...difficult," Longstride finally said with a sigh. "Everypony lived a strictly regimented life, especially the candidates." He paused for a moment. "It was comforting in a way. We knew what was expected of us. We knew what we were meant to do in the next hour, or day, or week."
"Sounds boring," Rainbow remarked. She remembered her time in Flight Academy. It was boring too. The daily schedules and monotonous lessons...she could only take so long before dropping out.
"That's what Twenty Four thought too." Longstride shot her a brief glare. "And it got him killed."
"Hey, if you like that structured stuff, go ahead," Rainbow said. "It's just...not for me."
"Clearly," Longstride muttered.
"Why does Twenty Four piss you off so much anyway?" Rainbow asked. "Besides him turning into a zombie that's trying to kill us."
"Because he was so gifted," Longstride replied. "Yet, he threw it all away. if he had been disciplined, so many things would have been better."
"Wouldn't have the project thrown you away?" Rainbow asked. "Is that what you want?"
"What I wanted was irrelevant," Longstride replied. "Equestria is better served if the best soldiers emerged from training." He stood up. "We've had our rest. We should keep going."
Rainbow shrugged, and stood up as well. "Fine, sheesh, lead the way."
The farther they went into the tunnel, the more the trip became a slog. There was something...foul about this constant dark. Rainbow was in the abyss again, plumbing the depths, utterly lost, but still persisting in moving forward. The hours passed by. They must have. Longstride had to light another illumination orb. Then, she offered one of hers. It was all the same as far as she was concerned. More rock, more dampness, and a seemingly endless path forward. They took the trip in silence. Not an awkward one this time. Rainbow just didn't want to seem annoying.
Suddenly, just as Rainbow was about to wonder aloud if this was a bad idea, Longstride suddenly shook the illumination orb vigorously, putting it out.
"Light ahead," Longstride whispered.
"Finally," Rainbow whispered back. "Are we under the manor now?"
"Close." Longstride strung his bow, and slowly flew forward. Behind him, Rainbow armed herself as well. It took a while until she also noticed a speck of light much farther ahead.
They edged closer, expecting guards hired by Hassyth to protect the area. Rainbow squinted as her eyes adjusted to the brightness.
They stood at the edge of one entrance to this place, the floor dropping off to a sheer drop of a good twenty feet or so to the chamber's floor. The light came not from any sort of torch or fire, but from dozens of large, glowing orbs that illuminated the massive chamber. The tunnel that they emerged from was but one of several that connected to this place.
Longstride quickly turned off his light, flew down, and ducked behind a nearby rock. Before he could gesture for Rainbow to follow, she had done the same.
"This is it, right?" Rainbow whispered. The lights were a bad indictation. She had hoped above all things that Hassyth hadn't occupied this place. With the lights on, clearly he was up to something here as well. The brief look she had of the chamber's entirety revealed, long, tall structures rising out of the ground. She couldn't be sure, it looked quite a bit like a gigantic skeleton.
"You'd think the Legion would have made use of all that dragonbone," Rainbow whispered.
"Envy dragon bones are mildly toxic, worsening as the dragon ages," Longstride replied. "Prolonged contact with it causes large lesions. Even being near it eventually causes swelling around the eyes and nose."
Rainbow instinctively covered her snout. Great, it was probably a bad idea to stay too long in this place.
Longstride peered out cautiously, his bow nocked and ready. "Pony workers around the place, a dozen visible. They're searching the place."
Rainbow grit her teeth. She didn't want to hurt any ponies, even if they were indoctrinated slaves. "What are they looking for?" she asked. "The dragon's treasure?"
"Vilfadora's hoard was picked clean by other dragons before this manor was built," Longstride whispered. "The Legion only demanded the spear of Yargh, but the dragons claimed they never found such a thing."
'They're looking for a spear, huh?' Rainbow thought. The spear would have deteriorated to nothing after the centuries. If others still searched for it for so long, it must have some magical power. She imagined a great glowing spear with a golden haft and a silver head so sharp that it pierced dragon scale. To acquire that would make this trip more than just securing her safety from Hassyth. "Maybe we could find it here?" she suggested.
"The Project sent many teams down here to look for the famed spear of Yargh," Longstride replied. "They never found it."
The loud beats of powerful wings at a distance silenced both of them. Rainbow trembled slightly, as if a great, oppresive weight had been placed on her. She strained her neck to look out of her cover, already aware of what just happened.
At a distance hovered a great serpent, its red-streaked, bright green scales glittering in the magical light. Its wings were massive and magnificent; feathers shimmering with all the colors of a rainbow as they gracefully flapped. Silver and gold chains, studded with sparkling gemstones, wrapped around its long body. Rainbow nearly forgot to breathe at the beautiful sight. When she checked herself, the awe merely turned to fury at the sight of her would be enslaver. It wasn't right that such an evil creature could look so good.
"Stay still," Longstride whispered. "This is not a favorable position to attack."
Rainbow merely clenched her jaw tighter and nodded. Oh, she wished so hard that this was a favorable position to attack, but even though she had never fought a coatl before, every instinct in her warned of a direct charge. Hassyth looked as frail as he was pretty, with a head even smaller than Hashymissa's despite being much longer. He was also more slender. He had no arms, and those wings didn't look like they were meant for buffeting ponies to death. It was his magic though. She heard enough of coatl magical might from listening to chatting legionnaires. If only she could...
A wave of...something, suddenly washed over Rainbow. It nearly bowled her over with the sheer shock of it, but she righted herself. What was that? In a panic, she looked to Longstride to see how he reacted, but he was still observing Hassyth. The wave was still hitting her, like a hot gush of water that wasn't there. She was still dry, but her heart was racing and her breath was quickening. She began to understand better after a while. Nothing physical was hitting her, it was more like a...a feeling. A wave of alien rage was coming from somewhere, seemingly resonating with her own indignation at Hassyth's sight.
"What's wrong?" Longstride asked. He was focused on her now, eyes still with concern.
Rainbow looked to the source. To her side, in a dusty, cluttered corner of this chamber, was a dark spot. Nothing remarkable at all. Probably some forgotten spot in the dragon's massive lair with nothing worth mentioning.
Except this unbearable feeling.
Rainbow ducked low, staying so close to the ground that her belly nearly scraped rock. With a surprised hiss from Longstride, she scooted over to that spot on instinct. Fortunately, there were no workers even remotely near this spot. She scrabbled a bit throught the pieces of rock until she found the thing.
The thing seemed to throb with the rage that was hitting Rainbow. Other than that, it had to be the most mundane thing to catch her attention like this. It looked like a large, long piece of bone tied to a piece of wood. On closer, inspection, it was two pieces of bone, crudely lashed together with some very ancient sinew. One bone had been broken to produce a sharp, pointed tip, while the bigger bone was tied to the wood.
Breathlessly, Rainbow picked up what looked nothing more than a piece of old junk. The moment her hoof touched the thing, a jolt of hot pain, like being struck by a small bolt of lightning back in her weather managing days, ran up her foreleg. She gasped, but held herself steady. A cry of pain now would kill her and Longstride.
For a moment, she wasn't in the cave. She was standing in the middle of a vast plain, her front hooves bloody and shaking. The pieces of bone she held looked fresh, still covered in blood and entrails. A large, shaggy body lay in front of her, its insides mutilated with some leg bones missing. Ahead stood an alicorn, as tall as Princess Celestia with a flowing golden mane and red eyes that stared haughtily at her. Then, the image was gone, and she was in a cave again.
The piece of bone was throbbing quickly, like an enraged heart. Rainbow held her breath and winced. This was no piece of junk. With this, she could stab Hassyth dead, then stab all those more powerful than her. She whirled towards Hassyth's direction, unable to keep herself from grinning.
What a lucky find! This was the perfect weapon! She could take on a hundred coatls, then all the alicorns. She flapped her wings for the final charge Hassyth was ever going to see in his life.
Longstride grabbed her by the shoulders and shook. "Stupid mare," he hissed. "What are you doing?"
The urge to stab this powerful sniper welled up. Rainbow had recovered enough from the sudden tide of feelings, though. She gripped the thing tightly, briefly battling it for control. 'This isn't the plan!' she berated herself. When the thing resisted, she fought harder. She wan't here to stab everyone more powerful than her. She had a concrete goal: to grow stronger and contribute to defeating Oceanus.
As she pictured the vast emptiness of the abyss, her only representation for the enemy, the piece of bone settle down.
"I'm okay," Rainbow whispered. She made a step towards the cover, and stumbled. Longstride easily caught her, and carried her to the spot.
"What is that thing?" Longstride asked, looking pointedly at the bone.
"I don't know," Rainbow replied. "I just...felt it was there."
"It looks like offal," Longstride said. "Maybe the ancient remains of the dragon's meals."
"No, it's not," Rainbow said. "I'm going to hold on to it."
Longstide returned to watching Hassyth, who appeared to be instructing his workers. Rainbow strained to listen to what Hassyth was saying, but all she caught was some barely audible hissing. Even if she heard it clearly, Hassyth was probably talking in Ophidite or something. After a while, he flew off. Rainbow quickly noted the tunnel he had flown through. "What now?" she asked.
"We've confirmed a route to the manor," Longstride said. "It's time to withdraw, and aid the Western Legion."
Rainbow nodded, then looked back to the cave they crawled out of.
"You think Twenty Four's stopped hunting us?" she whispered.
"Perhaps," Longstride replied. "The alert would cease after a couple of days. They will assume we made it back to the village. Hassyth will not want his prize sniper roaming the woods with the Western Legion so close."
Rainbow braced herself for another long trek past that awful cave. She glanced at the piece of bone as well. Still, things didn't turn out too bad.
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8233813
It's great way to make magic gear rare without it being impossible or using the bullshit "lost knowledge" excuse.
You know, I now find myself curious over that alicorn Rainbow Das witnessed in that brief vision she had after touching that bone fragment.
This is...stretching. Hard. Like, I get that they're in a dragon's cave and those can have all kinds of magic crap in them. But it's been picked over for generations by multiple dragons, the Legion, and the entire Longstride Project who had all manner of magically enhanced senses, all looking for an artifact that was first mentioned two pages ago, and most of whom probably had a fair idea what to look for. And then Rainbow Dash just randomly digs it up from an arbitrary spot on the ground in five seconds, where it wasn't even fully concealed, throwing distance from the boss, in near-blind darkness?
Shit, man, I love this story to pieces, but Final Fantasy III started with the main character randomly falling into a Cave Of Ultimate Destiny, and that felt less contrived.
Hell, I'm surprised what Longstride said about Envy bones didn't make the Legion more likely to cannibalize them and stumble across it even sooner, especially if they were willing to do stuff like the project that resulted in Longstride. Flying a pegasus inside a cloud a couple miles over the coatl palace and dropping a sack of Envy bonemeal sounds like exactly the sort of thing Terrato would be ruthless enough to do.
That said, it sounds like Yargh was possessed by some kind of AliKhorne. That's a thing now I guess.
8297773
It's a piece of bone tied to another piece of bone. To anyone else, that's all it is. It radiates no magic on its own until it resonated. If you're looking for a grandiose magical spear belonging to an ancient hero that no one's actually seen, but it's actually two pieces of ram bone that looks like a dog's chew toy, you're not going to find it. It is not an uncommon trope for magical artifacts to pick who finds them.
Sir Yargh was not possessed by an alicorn.
8297639 Seems more realistic for magic gear to be common.
I'm guessing the answer here is that you need to sacrifice living ponies or something?
So Rainbow finds a corrupted Artifact. Most likely very powerful, but also incredibly difficult to master. She's going to have trouble dealing with that if it continually pushes her aggression. Wonder what sort of powers it actually has though. Was it made from the bones of an Alicorn or something? Grogar possibly? You did say Ram...
8298035
I guess the part that's hardest to buy is that nobody ever saw the spear. I mean yes, now -- but he was a pony apparently well known for all-consuming blood rages, and that's the sort of thing that grabs attention. One would think someone along the line would have mentioned "and the ratty-ass bone spear". Ancient heroic epics tend to go 100% shonen when it comes to nerding the hell out over the hero's weapons.
8298244
You're assuming it looks like a bone spear when wielded to its full extent.
His friend is his weapon; that's seriously messed up. I REALLY hope she's not conscious.
That spear might not be too good in the fight against Hassyth – after all, it reduces you magical defenses by 70 points each.
Scarlet Rabbit was much closer to RD when she got knocked out, faster, better able to carry someone; yet he was willing to run away?
Meanwhile Longstride needed to get through the wards that he'd said he couldn't get through earlier?
Apart from that, I'm still very much liking the shipping going on between Longstride and RD. Waiting for a logical good as to why she was drawn to what I assume is the broken spear. I'd doubt you'd say Yargh is a distant ancestor to RD when you just used that story with AJ.
8299435
Scarlet is also a great deal faster and will be farther away by the time he sees Rainbow fall. Longstride could not cross them because their discharge would alert Hassyth. It's different if he doesn't have to worry about the alarm. Besides, it was a mad scramble.
Don't insult me.
From the sound of this you make it seem like there was some kind of "don't look here" enchantment on the spot, to explain why no one else had found it.
8298521
More likely named for.
So much for the cliffhanger ending last chapter. I was convinced that Rainbow was captured or at least seriously hurt. I... guess not. We are just going to resolve it off screen, much to the disappointment of the readers.
Yargh's spear oh I wonder what that could be?
I can't believe the Legion can find a to make Envy bones into some sort of weapon.
8299986
Why? I mean not all weapons are like guns or swords, toxic bones could be weaponized somehow.
God I just binged Breaking point, Reckoning, and Journeys all the way to here, and I am so sad I'm already caught up. I literally just wanted it to go on forever
!!!!!
8299469
Longstride is resistant to lightning now.
8303576
Or he could dodge.
Curiouser and curiouser...
that piece of bone is definitely some kind of device -
*CRASH*
8300798
(Sorry this was so late)
They can't because they lose their chance as Longstride explain the other the bones gets the worse the poison is. And just by going near can cause all those synonyms just by going near it then one can imagine what will if they actually break those bones to get the poison out.
8332298
Then you use the bones like the same way plague stricken corpses where weaponized in real life, stick em in a catapult and throw them into the enemy camp/fort
8333271
You are devious.
8336388
War brings out devious ideas, like I said this was actually done during sieges diseased live stock or plague ridden corpses got launched into the city it sewed terror and sick/during foes are easier to defeat or wait out.
Because of course the ancient hero who hasn't been mentioned before this story has a magic spear which, despite said hero's story being told in an earlier chapter, wasn't even mentioned as a significant part of the legend. And of course he got it from Solis Coruscaria because Oceanus' servants are Bloodborne/Lovecraft Great Ones now and have to respond to mortal ponies with gifts. And to top off this blatant plot contrivance, the spear calls out to Rainbow allowing her to find it instantly even though the thing has remained hidden for centuries.
It doesn't matter what explanation you use to try and hand wave all of the above, the fact remains that this powerful artifact hasn't so much as been mentioned before now. No foreshadowing whatsoever, it's coming completely out of nowhere to give Rainbow a power boost when you could have just given her a combat version of the weather magic she has in canon and that would have made way more sense. Even Applejack's chain randomly turning out to only be one half of the chain (something that also came almost completely out of nowhere) was less contrived than this.
8781361
It always makes me chuckle when people complain about contrivance in fantasy stories about ponies.
So Rainbow found a magic spear that no one else has ever found by feeling around for it in the dark. So what? Why is this so much harder for you to believe than Princess Celestia maintaining a barrier around an entire country and lying to her subjects for a thousand years? So AJ finds another magic chain. So fucking what? And so what if the fallen alicorns respond to mortals in times of need? We know now that the Abyss is more in control of the fallen than they are of themselves, including Oceanus, so why is it so unbelievable for an alicorn like Spatiator, who was apparently a great hero before he served Oceanus, to fight the Abyss for control and pursue his own motives?
This isn't contrived. It's a fantasy story. The hero-in-training stumbles into an ancient dragon's lair and discovers a magic bone spear. It doesn't matter if we haven't heard about the spear before, or the pony who wielded it. Visiden hasn't even given enough information about Yargh at this point for us to give a shit whether he's important to Rainbow Dash or not. Chances are, he isn't that important. The story is about Rainbow. Personally, I find it refreshing to read a story about Rainbow finding some ancient magic weapon without it being about her "destiny" or some other stupid shit. She finds some cool shit, finds out that it might be connected to an alicorn, says "IDGAF" and uses it later to kill Oceanus. That shit is fuckin awesome.
Remember that, back when Visiden was still writing, this story was meant to be a stepping stone between Reckoning and the final installment. "Tying up loose ends" was the exact phrasing, I believe. What happens in this story is important, but nearly crucial enough for you to complain about "contrivance."