Okage: In the Shadow of Discord

by Final Resistance

Enter the Rainbow Hero and Her Parasol

“Why is…the Everfree…so big?” Ari huffs and pants as he climbs over another fallen tree in his path. For several hours the young stallion has moved through trees and followed trails, all leading to either a drop off or an impassable river. The high spirit of the colt has come crashing down with each path he has to retrace and now he just wants to go home. Back to his simple life where his family is carefree and his life made sense. Now he’s lost, confused, and a rain cloud of cotton candy is sprinkling chocolate milk all over his head.

“Oh come on Ari. Put a smile on!” Discord pulls Ari’s cheeks to force a smile. “See? A smile makes everything better.”

Ari turns to the Chaotic being and gives him an icy glare. Discord draws back and feigns being hurt. “How could you look at me that way?” He throws his head back in a dramatic fashion. “How can I go on when my vessel hates me so?”

Ari sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Very funny Discord. If you haven’t noticed we are lost in the middle of the Everfree.” Ari sweeps his hand to emphasize his point. Discord creates a periscope to see over the treetops.

“Don’t worry me harty. Captain Discord will find the way!” Discord turns the periscope in several sweeping motions, taking in the whole of the landscape. He points in a direction after several turns. “That way matty!”

Ari looked to where he was pointing and eyed the path with skepticism. Looking back to the grinning shadow only increased his paranoia. “You’re going to walk me into another bush filled with thorns, aren’t you?”

Discord’s smile only increased in intensity. “Now what would make you say that?”

Ari crosses his arms. “The fact that the last two times you’ve ‘helped’ me, I ended up in a world of pain.”

Discord just waves his hand in front of his face dismissively. “Now Ari, I wouldn’t do that to you a third time. In fact, I would like to get out of here and hot on the trail of those fake Chaos Kings.”

“You promise?” Ari questions the grinning chaotic shadow.

Discord nods and Ari shrugs. “All right then. Let’s get going.” Both head in the direction Discord indicated.

“YOU GODDAMN LYING SHADOW!!!” Ari screams as he exits a patch of thorn bushes.

Discord couldn’t contain the laughter as he watched his host struggle through the thorns. “It’s just so easy to mess with you, Ari!”

Ari groans at Discord’s actions but is relieved to find that they were at least out of the Everfree. There is a bridge that spans a river on the edge of the forest. It was built long ago but constant maintenance keeps the bridge sturdy. After crossing it, both would be on their way to the town of Neighdril. Ari starts to cross the bridge when he notices something on the other side. He moves closer for a better look. It turns and reveals itself to be a monster from the forest. The creature itself is not the biggest but it can still kill a pony if they are unprepared. Ari turns to run from it but another one of the creatures is standing at the other side of the bridge.

“Oh look, more pathetic creatures for me to crush. But you should really improve your skills Ari.” Discord points dramatically. “Charge forth Ari! If you truly want to help take over the world then these creatures should be nothing to you!” Discord escapes back into Ari’s shadow. Leaving the poor fool in way over his head.

Ari puts his fist up, ready to box the two monsters into submission. Both creatures creep closer to the stallion. With each step bringing his opponents closer, Ari decides to try a friendly approach to avoid certain death. Ari waves to the creature to his front. “Hi.”

The creature cocks its head like a dog. Confused by Ari, it is confused by the stallion’s actions. Soon the creature’s stomach rumbles and it starts to close in again. Ari’s head starts to run wild with memories of his life.

“WAIT A MINUTE!!!” A voice screams out. A cyan mare carrying a rainbow colored parasol dashes towards the bridge. In her right hand she wields a simple rapier. She dashes across the bridge with incredible speed, slicing the first creature to bits. As she closes in on the second, she knocks Ari down to avoid hurting him. The monster makes an attempt to protect itself but is unable to defend against the speed of his attacker. He soon falls to the mysterious mare’s rapier.

The mare flicks the rapier to remove the blood before placing it back in its sheath. Ari stares in amazement at the new arrival. She took care of those two like they were nothing. He stands and walks towards the mare.

“Well? Aren’t you going to thank me?” The mare says, without looking at Ari.

“Huh?”

The mare turns and faces Ari. “I said aren’t you going to thank me?” She asks a little annoyed with having to repeat herself.

Ari now has a chance to look over the mare. She was a Pegasus and her wings were clearly visible. She wears a white sleeveless jacket that extends past her hips. The jacket has a few additions to make the wearer stand out a little more in a crowd. She wears a large belt wrapped around her waist. The belt is only tight enough to not fall off her body. The blade is securely fastened to the belt for easy access. A pair of blue shorts poke out from underneath the jacket and clings close to her fur. Her hair is more than enough to make her stand out from others. It contains all the colors of the rainbow. Her bangs reach down and cover her right eye. Around her forehead is another belt that keeps her hair in place during combat. In her left hand is a parasol that is colored the same as her hair.

Ari continues to scan the mare. She gets annoyed with his constant staring and snaps her fingers in his face. “Hey! Eyes up here, buddy.” She points her fingers towards her magenta eyes.

Ari’s face turns a bright red. “Oh, uh, sorry. That was amazing.”

The mare puffs out her chest. “Yeah, I am pretty awesome.” She boasts. She takes this chance to look over Ari. As she moves up his body Ari’s blushes increases. No mare has ever really stared at him like this as far as he knows. “I can’t believe it. You aren’t even carrying a weapon.” She reaches behind her back and Ari hears the sound of a button snapping. She pulls out a sword that is barely over two feet long. “Here, you can have this.”

Ari takes the sword from her hands and looks over it. The black has knicks in it, obviously from use, and the blade is not very sharp. It could still do some damage and he would be better off with it than a stick. She hands Ari a sheath and he straps it to the belt on his pants. With a final look at his new blade, he slides it into the sheath with a satisfying click as the hilt reaches the top of the sheath.

The mare whistles. “Now you look ready for a fight. You’re a stallion so you shouldn’t be such a sissy with that at your side.”

Ari nods. “Thank you for the sword. I’ll put it to good use.” The mare returns the smile. She looks up to the sky and her face turns to horror.

“Oh no, I have to get to him before it’s too late!” She starts to jog in place. She points a Finger at Ari. “Pull yourself together and stay alive. See ya!” With that, she races off leaving the young stallion starstruck.

“Well, well. Looks like you found a new love interest.” Discord says. He reappears from the depths of Ari’s shadow with a nightcap on and a teddy bear tucked under his arm.

Ari groans. “Where were you back there? I could have been killed.”

“I was taking a nap. It takes a lot of beauty sleep to look this good.” Discord strikes a pose.

“Well I’m glad she showed up when she did. I would be dead if it wasn’t for her.” Ari says. He looks at the direction she raced off to and sighs.

Discord nudges him in the side. “Miss her already?”

Ari pushes him away and his face flashes red. “It’s not like that!”

Discord laughs. “Ah, young love. Such a beautiful thing.”

“Shut up!” Ari yells. This just sends Discord into a fit of laughter and he disappears once again.

Ari groans and continues on towards his first stop on what looks like a long journey.

Ari comes to another bridge over a river. As he crosses it, this time, something is standing at the other side again blocking his path. He starts to reach for his sword until he sees that the thing is another pony. He relaxes and approaches the pony. As he approaches though the stranger pays no attention to him. The pony just keeps staring off into space.

“Excuse me?” Ari says, trying to grab the stranger’s attention. The horse doesn’t flinch. “Hello?”

“Hmm? Not now, I’m running a very important experiment,” They say.

This time Ari taps the stranger’s shoulder. The pony starts to scratch their own head furiously. “Argh! My calculations say my last calculations should be right! How can the experiment fail?!” The pony whips around to stare at Ari. “Did you need something?”

“I just need to get b-“ Ari is interrupted by the pony.

“The names Twilight, kid. I am an expert on monsters, places, stars, and just about anything you can think of! My hobby is reading and learning as much as possible!” Twilight says. Her mane was a mess of tangles and hair going any and whichever way. It was mostly purple, except for a single strand of pink. Her horn is barely visible in the mess of hair. She wore a white lab coat with pocket filled with writing utensils. She had a low cut shirt on that showed a little of her cleavage. The shirt was a dark purple that was a little darker than her hair. She wore two ties, one purple and the other pink. She wore a pair of striped leggings and shorts. Her tail was just as messy as her mane.

Before Ari can speak, Discord appears. “Pretty bold of you to say your name in my presence. I am Chaos King Discord. My hobbies are world conquest, chaos making, and harassment of fake Chaos Kings.”

“Oooh what an interesting shadow you have there. Is it some sort of trick or perhaps your shadow is alive? Maybe some experiments will tell me what I want to know. Now I need my papers on monsters, my research notes on ghosts, my books on experimental theories, my checklist on starting an in depth experiment...” Twilight went on and on. Ari’s head was spinning with the long list of material and ingredients to run the tests. He was reminded of his conversations with his father and how they left him with a headache.

Discord rubs his temples, trying to sooth the increasing headache now forming. “My dear sweet scientist why must you be such a bore? Here have a cotton candy cloud.” he shadow wave a claw and a cotton candy cloud appears with chocolate rain pouring from underneath.

Twilight stops to stare at the cotton candy cloud. She pulls out a magnifying glass and starts to examine the cloud thoroughly.

Discord starts to slowly pull away from the crazy looking mare. At a snail's pace he pulls his claw away but twilight keeps up with him and continues her examination. She pulls out a notepad starts to write down her thoughts. “Interesting...your shadow has the ability to alter the natural world. This shouldn’t be possible for a creature. This requires further investigation! Don’t move, Dr. Twilight will be back with the tools she needs to figure out your role in this world. Should only hurt a little...or alot. Just remember it’s all in the name of science.” Twilight races of grinning like a maniac at her chance to discover something new.

Ari and Discord look at eachother, then to the retreating mare. Both silently agree to get out of there before the crazy scientist returns.

The gates to the town of Neighdril are unique. Two giant gears that turn to reveal an opening to any traveler. As Ari steps through the opening, he gets a good look at the town. The city is more advanced than Ponyville. Just about every house has a giant gear built into it. The town is powered by steam, so it has the most advanced tools and some of the best scientists in the world.

“So this is Neighdril? What an interesting little town they have here. I can feel a strange mood in this town. Ari, let’s go get some information,” Discord shouts.

Ari nods and makes his way towards a group. There are two ponies in the group and one griffon. As he approaches, the three whisper to each other about recent events in the town.

“Did you hear that it happened in the town nearby?” The mare of the group says.

“Yeah, I came from there the other day,” the griffon replies.

“Wonder what’s going to happen to us,” says the stallion of the group.

“Um, excuse me?” Ari says interrupting their conversation.

“Hmm? What do you need, kid?” The griffon asks.

“Oh I was just wondering what has happened to this town recently.”

The stallion places a hand on Ari’s shoulder. “Nothing for you to worry about. Go play with your friends and leave this to the adults.” The stallion turns his attention back to the others and Ari walks off.

“Ooh harsh. They just shot you down, Ari. Perhaps a little chaos thrown their way will teach them a lesson about judging others by appearance,” Discord says as a shadowy hand rises from the shadow.

Ari quickly grabs the wrist of the hand. “No, leave them alone. They don’t know we are here to help.”

“Newsflash kid, we plan to take over the world after we defeat the Chaos Kings. Don’t think they would enjoy that news either.” Discord retracts his shadow hand. “Let’s just find this fake and move on. Hey what’s that?”

Ari looks to see a flyer stuck to the side of the elevator. Curious about what it says, he approaches the piece of paper.

“So this Chaos King is still looking for soldiers huh? We must strike quickly before more join his cause.” Ari says.

“Blah blah blah, let’s just go down there and beat this faker to a pulp.” Discord slams a fist into his hand.

Ari reaches for the button to call the elevator until he sees another piece of paper covering it.

Out of service until Chaos King Situation is resolved.

“Argh! Curse these pathetic ponies! Always impeding my path to regaining my lost power. Quickly, Ari, to the town hall.” Discord disappears back into the shadow and Ari races off to the town hall. Hoping to find an easy way to get to the sewers.

“I’m sorry, kid. Until the Chaos King is dealt with, you need to stay up here,” a stallion behind the counter tells the distraught Ari.

“I want to resolve the Chaos King problem. If you just let me down there I can take care of it no problem,” Ari pleads.

The stallion just shakes his head. “No-can-do, kid. Now go home and let the hero’s guild deal with this pest.” The stallion shoos Ari away. Ari hangs his head and walks away in defeat.

“Great, now what do we do?” Ari says to himself.

“What do you mean, I got here too late?! Do you have any idea how far I had to travel to get here? You better let me in!” A familiar voice perks Ari’s interest. He turns and sees a familiar mare arguing with a guard.

“Look, I’m sorry miss but the hero’s guild isn’t accepting anymore applicants.” The guard says with his hands readied on his spear in case the mare gets out of control.

“Just let me in!” She yells and gives the guard a menacing glare. The glare weakens the guards resolve to guard the door with each passing second. Sweat pours from his face as his will begins to break and her glare only increases in intensity.

The guard’s knees are shaking from the intimidating mare. He swallows a gulp of air before speaking. “Of course, ma’am. But I need you to hand over your parasol-“ The mare didn’t wait for him to finish. She bolts through the doorway and into the hero’s guild. “Damn, she’s fast.” The guard brushes himself off and takes up position in front of the door again.

Ari moves toward the door but the guard puts up a hand to stop him. “Halt. This is the Hero’s Guild. I would normally let you in but it’s crazy in there right now. With so many heroes trying to be the best in the world no one is really sure which one to turn to in times of need.”

Discord pops up from the shadow. “What do you mean so many heroes? There can only be one hero and that’s the way it is. You can’t have a world full of them!”

The guard stares at Discord before returning his attention to Ari. “Kid you’re not gonna make me move that easily and certainly not with such a lame shadow trick like that.” Ari holds his ground as Discord gives the guard a glare of his own. Just like before the guard starts to fall apart under the pressure and gaze of another. The guard’s eyes shift back and forth between the two before sighing in defeat. “All right, go on in but it’s crazy so be careful.” The guard steps aside holding an arm out to signal Ari to enter.

Ari steps through and is greeted with the sight of the Rainbow hero arguing with a stallion. Their conversation looks heated and before Ari can listen in a unicorn stallion stops him. “Look at that hero there. The one with the parasol. She’s the laughing stock of the town,” He says between giggle and suppressed laughter.

“What do you mean?” Ari asks. The unicorn continues to laugh into his hand and shakes his head.

Ari turns his attention back to the arguing pair and listens in. “Like I said, I will make an exception and give you a number but you must wait till your turn like everypony else.” The stallion says.

“How many times do I have to explain it to you before it gets through your thick skull? Let me pass through the Management Office NOW!” She yells at the stallion.

The stallion wipes away some spit that hit his face from her yelling. “You should be grateful I’m giving you a number at all. You shouldn’t even have your umbrella opened in here.”

“Well that’s b-because…” She stammers.

A smirk appears on the stallion’s face. “Of course, I understand why it bothers you so much.” He suppresses his laughter. “Everypony knows your shadow is p…” He didn’t get a chance to finish before the mare punches him square in the jaw. He spins in several circles before collapsing to the ground unconscious. The mare fumes and stomps out of the guild.

Several heroes and Ari gather around the stallion and he slowly comes to. “What happened?”

“You got punched by a mare, dude.” A hero says.

“Ow…that really hurts,” the stallion says.

Ari looks out the door and doesn’t see the mare. “Hey, did you know who that mare was?”

“I believe her name is Rainbow Dash. It’s said that she’s a really good hero but when she closes her parasol…heh heh heh.” All the heroes in the room burst out laughing, leaving Ari feeling out of place. Ari decides to leave the crazy ponies to their laughing fits.

“Unacceptable! I won’t have it. He’s just some phony called the ‘Sewer Chaos King’ or something like that. Why are all the heroes going after him and not the true Chaos King me?! This is the biggest insult to my pride.” Discord rages outside the city hall. He snaps his fingers creating a glass of chocolate milk he chugs down.

“You actually want heroes to come after you?” Ari asks trying to calm the Chaos King.

“Of course I do! I will give them all a taste of my backhand and they will see who is truly superior! Anyway it is I who will defeat this fake king! I will show everyone who the true Chaos King is! Ari, let’s begin our search!” Discord disappears. Ari sighs and begins his search for the mare called Rainbow Dash when he sees a colt eyeing him suspiciously. The colt waves him over.

“Hey, you wanna know where that hero went?” He asks in a hushed tone. Ari nods and the colt smiles. “It’s gonna cost ya. I think fifty bits is fair, don’t you?”

“Nah, I’ll find her myself, kid.” Ari starts to walk off.

“You’ll never find her. She went down a passage over by the city hall and-“ The colt slams his hands over his mouth and his eyes are as wide as dinner plates.

Ari smiles and makes his way back to city hall. From behind, he can hear the colt shout about how stupid he is about spilling such information. To the right of the building, Ari sees some pipe work that leads to the other side of town where they were letting the heroes travel in to defeat the Sewer Chaos King. Ari tiptoes across the pipes, watching each step so he doesn’t fall to his death.

Reaching the other side, he looks to see a line of heroes standing at the entrance to the sewer. Each one had a type of armor and weapon ready to face the Chaos King. In the back of the line he sees the mare he was looking for. She was drumming her fingers on her sword impatiently waiting for her turn.

“Hi,” Ari says with a smile.

She turns to Ari with a look of anger. “What are you staring at? Go away!” She gripped her rapier and was ready to draw the blade from its sheath.

“I-I just wanted to thank you f-for saving me.” Ari stammers and backs away from the obviously pissed off mare.

Rainbow relaxes at his words and releases her grip on the sword. “Did we meet before? I save a lot of ponies, kid, so I don’t remember all of them. Sorry, I don’t remember you.” She turns back and faces the line.

Ari just continues to stare at the beautiful mare in front of him. His eyes travel up and down her body. When he reaches her wings he can see they are starting to extend. You can tell how a Pegasus feels based on what their wings are doing and extending wings are a sign of embarrassment.

“Stop looking at me!” She shouts and her face has a slight blush.

Ari decides to cover his tracks. “I uh just wanted to know where you got your parasol from. It’s very colorful and matches your hair.”

“Where did I get my umbrella? Do you think I’m stupid or something?!” Her fury rises to the surface.

“AH! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” Ari raises his hands to defend his head.

Rainbow Dash calms down realizing her mistake. “Oh no no no I’m sorry. I usually don’t get this mad. I have always been a bit on-edge ever since my days as an elite hero at the Hero’s University.” She gazes off into the sky, remembering all the good days at the university. All her friends and comrades she grew so close to in her short time there. Suddenly, she punches the wall next to her and starts to shake with rage. “Yeah, my life was going great until the horrible incident! Ever since then I’ve been looking for the guy who ruined my life. It has been a long journey and you can’t blame me for losing my cool every now and then.”

“Can’t really blame you for losing your cool if your life was turned upside-down by this guy,” Ari says to calm the mare.

A wicked smile spreads across Rainbow’s face. “Yeah, so now I finally found him. This sewer Chaos king must be the Chaos king that ruined my life! I can’t just sit here and wait for my turn, I need to get in there and deal with him now! There has to be a back route into the sewer somewhere in this town! Yes, there has to be! You must find it Rainbow! What am I waiting for? Let’s go!!” Rainbow races off into town.

Ari just stares after her. After several seconds he sighs.

“She’s full of pep. I like her!” Discord’s voice startles Ari. He looks back to see the Chaos king with a megaphone. “Go get her, Ari! You can do it! You can get the mare! Give me an A! Give me an R! Give me an I! What’s that spell? ARI YAY!” Throwing confetti into the air, Discord disappears once again leaving an embarrassed pony behind.