Discorded Relapse

Fluttershy stared down the two newcomers with a slight scowl as they stood before her, donning shocked and terrified facades. Although they rudely barged into her home and were alien- they seemed innocent; meaning of course not a creation from Discord, but they didn't seem as they belonged here either which sparked suspicion in Fluttershy's mind.

Fluttershy's teal eyes looked over the two noticing the shorter one resembled a rabbit; her long ears and petite-ness gave it off, while the older and taller one resembled much like a raccoon. Her old, resolute interest in animals of all sorts sparked liked flint inside of her mind, she suddenly had the urge to ask them all types of inquisitive questions like: are they similar to the animals they were? Were their appetites the same or different? But these questions will have to come another time.

Slowly, the brilliant lights gave Fluttershy a slight migraine as the intense light had flooded and basked everything in the house in a hard, white light, but she was sure that the shadow hounds that was most likely following the Raccoon's and Rabbit's fearful scent through the dark forest was closing in on them just before they busted down her door.

Rule One of Land Discord: show no fear, and you'll see no evil. (Besides everything and epitome of evil itself, Discord)

The shadow hounds have evil, terrifying red eyes; a simple trap for any evading pony if they were to be caught escaping in the Dark Forest from the shadow hounds. For example: the pony sees the pair of eyes following them, gets afraid, then once the doomed victim secrete those pheromones of fear, they'll hear eerie, hoarse howling from not one, but dozens of Shadow hounds chasing down their prey.

"Thank Celestia they haven't seen the eyes..." Fluttershy thought to herself, relieved.

"What are you doing here?" The pale Pegasus reiterated while taking a slightly threatening step towards them. "Who are you?" She then inquired before they could speak, her voice losing the edge it had just previously, now teeming with more of cautioned curiosity and it showed in her actions as she raised her left front hoof curiously.

"Why should we tell you who we-" Marine started boldly before Cream intervened. "My name is Cream the Rabbit" she did a polite courtesy before continuing, "And this is my good friend, Marine the Raccoon, we come from a nice world named Mobius." She pauses then looked to Marine to give her a mature "you better behave" look then back at the Pegasus before her with a kinder gaze.

"Now what's your name?" Marine asked gruffly, she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes distrusting at the unknown Pegasus.

Fluttershy continued her cautioned stare at Marine as she spoke, "My name is Fluttershy, I run this make-shift hospital," the pegasus then pointed to the rolling cots and mattresses on the floor, "I do my very best to heal the pain I see on an everyday basis from every doomed pony that staggers into here..."

Cream began to realize a few things, her eyes trail over the beds and stray mattresses, the vials of important looking substances, and tanks of blood; probably holding different blood types for those who live in this eerie world. With even more careful examination there were multiple dirtied bandages; likely blood, and whole assortment of poultices and creams conserved in glass jars on counters; one particular jar smashed to bits with a weird liquid protruding from its cracked vial. With the adrenaline calming down in both of the alien's brains they could fully evaluate the state of the room; it was filthy. Even the very musky air hung heavy with the carrion smell of death, hopelessness, and the sad truth that portended to this world.

Cream's cinnamon eyes then flickered towards the Pegasus noticing how downtrodden and emaciated she looked. Her blanched, yellow coat was dusty and lacked the healthy look she was sure it was supposed to have. Her eyes was dull; lifeless if not for the faint burning fire of faith within the teal depths, - suddenly the rabbit felt sorry for Fluttershy, feeling a wave of kindness filling her spirit and being.

Cream took a few cautious steps towards the now hesitant Pegasus, looking at her with the utmost compassion and conscientiousness. "What happened here Fluttershy?" Cream asked her voice calm and concerning. Fluttershy in turn looked at her; scared were her eyes, then for a moment then it was obvious to Cream and Marine; the latter who was starting to realize the seriousness and how important the situation was, how painful the memory of how this all happened is to the Pegasus.

Fluttershy's light cyan eyes flickered with sorrow; with pain they flashed, her pupils dilated upon seeing and reliving the vexing torment that riddled her mind since she was snatched away from her friends. Terrifying images of her companions coursed through her mind as she relived Rarity screaming as was being dragged coldly away from the group as Discord's own shadow guards that had her neck in arrest, pulling her to her permanent work station. The screams of terror; of complete and utter helplessness as Spike was torn from his loving best friend, Twilight Sparkle, who put up one hell of a good fight in attempt to get him back but ultimately was helpless to do so as Discord personally snatched him away from her and extinguishing her magic temporarily; the impossible thought of Discord gaining so much power that he could bring such torment became real.

Big tears of heartache which slowly streamed from her glistening eyes was made prevalent on Fluttershy's muzzle as she re-witnessed Rainbow Dash fighting back the shadow guards, only to be punched and punished back into the hard dirt; the absolute anguish that was in her friend's magenta eyes probably hurt her the most out of that horrifying episode, the pain and sadness she must of felt as she was powerless to help her best friends despite her higher athleticism and determination. The sounds of screaming and crying impaled the air as one by one her friends were punished into the submission. They were made a mockery to the public, they were torn from their best friends; their elements; life, and worst of all Discord was behind it all. And nopony, nopony in the whole world had the power to change that.

Fluttershy eyes stopped glinting back and forth as she relived the memories as finally shook her head then took a shuddering breath as she prepared herself to explain to them what happened.

With Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash could feel the shadow guards coming, their menacing presence shrouded her heart with fear, her pelt felt cold but she could feel herself start to sweat in panic. Her heartbeat beat against her ribs like a drum as she worried for her own well-being. But then she thought about how the shadow beasts, yet alone Discord would probably treat these newcomers, she knew she had to do something. If forsaken those innocent souls would fall from the power of Lord Discord. A fire burned in her heart; SHE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! She can't just watch those people, although she doesn't know a single thing about them, to be harassed by the well-known ways of torture the Shadow Guards were infamous for.

Rainbow Dash peered through the dead looking vegetation in front of her which only allowed a partially obscured vision of the 4 figures (Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy) slowly getting up shaking their heads and looking around curiously, obviously oblivious to the dreadful opposition that was coming for them.

The feeling of apprehension rose higher as the Shadow Guards approached nearer. Rainbow dash cringed as she awaited the stinging whip to strike her pelt; only for them to walk over her, heading towards the clearing the little group of aliens was grouped at.

"Run!" Rainbow Dash hoarsely yelled out at them as loud as her scraggly body could muster, which instantly caught the attention of the blue one whose spiky head instantly snapped towards her direction.

"Looks like a nuke hit this place…" commented Knuckles to his friends as he scanned the dingy clouds which rebound a choking orangey color that lit the atmosphere and air around them.

Ignoring his friends' small talk about the world around, Sonics' eyes darted towards the small wall of dying bushes and vegetation along the tree line as he swore he heard something yell out at them. He then turned his head slightly to the right to get Tails in his peripheral vision. "Yo, did you hear that...?" Tails looked up from his phone that was scanning the surrounding area for vitality readings and potential dangers. Tails big ears then scanned the surroundings and then locked in the direction Sonic had his body facing.

Suddenly a cold, apprehensive cloud of frozen evil rolled over the heroes' bodies as they all began to sense something coming towards them all. A surge of uneasiness raptured through their minds as they quickly initiated their fighting stances, hardly prepared for what comes next. "What the hell?" Knuckles said as he balled his fists up tighter as he could clearly feel the surge of uneasiness roll around his body. Beside him, Amy wasn't doing any better as she held her hammer defensively in both hands, ready to bash and smash whatever that may come out of those trees; although her face contradicted her the rest of her body as anyone could tell that she was obviously scared to hell.

Out of the brushes came 6 intimidating, faceless beings of darkness that flowed like calm water through the shadows of the forest into the clearing. The beings were no taller than 6 feet; towering over the group, their bodies seemed as though it were comprised of the shadows itself. Their hands were like something off of a Tim Burton's movie; frail looking and skeletal, their heads were shrouded in the same darkness that also enveloped the rest of the body; almost like a large tar drenched burlap bag. Where their eyes were supposed to be were two crimson, ominous orbs that flashed with malevolent intent. Their stare was frightening enough that even knuckles cringed with slight fear.

The fear and ambiguity coursed strong through their veins, paralyzing them to stay still although the team managed to shuffle closer to themselves; back to back, trying to figure out what exactly to do, trying to figure out why their bodies were so stiff.

The beings started to move in a slight circle around the team and starting to dismally chant "Shadows Shroud and Darkness Devours Cloak the Intruders and make them silent". The beings then started to grow in size which made Sonic and his friends even more afraid as they instantly tried to run away.

Tails instantly referred back to his phone that gave readings on the world around him, of which the program was saying that everything is just fine around them. "I can't make heads or tails of this, they're not an organism nor do they give off any energy; just bad vibes!"

A choking sound was heard from Tails' right as he was speaking, after which his head snapped towards the sound of asphyxiation and his heart dropped when he saw Sonic down on his knees holding on to his throat. "SONIC-ACK" screamed Amy just before she suddenly lost all ability to breath; along with Knuckles. Just as Tails was gonna ask what was the matter with them he suddenly felt the cold tendrils of death enveloped him.

The Shadow Guards had now fully enveloped the heroes in a pitch black dome of torture; the air was chilled to a crisp as one by one Tails' friends started to black out by the dark, vile energy that swirled around each one of them.

Sonic turned his head with pain and trouble towards his little buddy, his eyes tinsel with emotion as he felt his conscious slipping out of his body. Sonic eyes closed for a couple of seconds before opening them back up and struggled to procure his trademark smirk and "everything's gonna be okay" thumbs up to his best friend; his brother.

Tails could have cried; he would if he could but instead he dropped to the ground from his propped up position and crawled towards his brother with excruciating results. When the Twin Tailed fox fell onto his face and chest, a round canister looking object rolled out of his bag from his back.

The golden kitsune paused in his crawl to his brother and stared at the canister and although his brain will most likely shut down in a few seconds due to lack of oxygen hundreds of solutions and ideas sprang to action as he looked at the canister.

Tails blue eyes opened wide with an epiphany as he arduously lunged for the grey canister and pulled the pin on it within a split-second. And with the ultimate congregation of the minuscule power left in his small body he tossed it up as high as he could.

Sonic, although slipping on the edge of consciousness understood what Tails just tossed in the air and dunked his head down and covered his ears as well as he could, with Tails following suit by holding his ears down on his head and curling up into a ball.

A mighty explosion accompanied by an unearthly brilliance consumed the air blasting the Shadow Guards away thus returning the precious oxygen Sonic and Tails had fought for so long. The air even returned back it its dry, warmness.

Sonic gasped in great alleviation as the quenching oxygen relieved his thirsty lungs; same for his brother beside him who started to cough uncontrollably. The blue hedgehog got up from his sprawled out position to on his hands and knees as he gasped for breath. His green eyes stared down at the hard, dry ground and started to contemplate about his and his friend's mission in this alien world.

They almost died; they would have perished if it weren't for Tails' quick thinking for using the flash grenade which he probably had forgotten that he'd packed. In other words this world is more than likely festering with more evils like this at a drop of a hat and they'll need to be careful or they may not make it out of here alive- Marine and Cream… Sonic's troubled thoughts strayed to the 'what ifs' of his mind, he shook his head to try to alleviate himself from those dangerous thoughts.

"LOOK OUT!" screeched an unknown voice from behind them and at that second they saw a single, lankier Shadow Guard standing tall over them, this time sporting long blade like fingers instead of skeletal like the ones that attacked them from before.

Instantly the two braced each other and closed their eyes. Just after Sonic or Tails could react a force accompanied with a loud boom similar to that of Sonic's sonic booms slammed into the back of the Shadow Guard obliterating it from existence.

The pair, still holding each other from bracing for the impact of danger opened their eyes and looked down at their vigilante. Before them, sprawled out on the ground and unconscious was a very pale, cerulean, malnourished and scrawny pony.

With Shadow

The cold night air ruffled the white fur on Shadow's chest as the dark hedgehog sat on a grassy cliff that overlooked a random calm town. From where he sat cross-legged had the utmost perfect view of the large full moon that glazed everything beneath its celestial body with a silver blanket.

Shadow's calculating eyes raked over the town below while he thought about Sonic and the offer he made for him to help the blue faker and Tails to help retrieve the young Miss Marine and Cream that happened to stumble into Tails' laboratory and turn on a highly unpredictable and potent machine that projected them into another world.

"They should be back by now…" Shadow thought to himself but of course he knew they weren't for he would have sensed Sonic's presence due to his chaos energy connection with the Master Emerald. Speaking of which, if Sonic had taken any emeralds at all there wouldn't be such an abundance of chaotic energy in this world. Shadow furrowed his brow as he thought about it some more. Well Blaze is in this world for sure, since Marine is here, her emeralds must be creating such an abundance in chaotic energy; just as soon as that notion surfaced in Shadow's calculating mind an intelligent voice pushed itself right over the notion; "Not possible, the Sol Emeralds are more docile than their otherworldly counterparts."

With that thought making more sense to the Ebony hedgehog he stood up from his watch over the town and teleported from the grassy cliff with a ping and green flash.

Shadow teleported to several havens and safe destinations alike including his own place and various chaos emerald hiding places Sonic and himself had procured to hide the emeralds when not need; spread apart over some distances to prevent Eggman to be able to gather them all as quickly; the antagonist mentioned was being almost completely quiet uncharacteristically.

After retrieving the cyan emerald that was hiding in an underground keep-safe, directly under Amy Rose's house, the Shadow made his way to his last destination, the bowels of Tails' basement-laboratory; the place where the last emerald, the blue one, was kept for power demands and personal defense if needed. The emerald that SHOULD had gone with Sonic. "I swear that bastard is gonna get himself killed." Shadow angrily clenched the last emerald before it disappeared in his intangible store.

Shadow activated Tails' quantum mess; the WSRP-IPU, and awaited for blast of heat to fill the room as he stood in front of the portal wrapping his long, ragged, black scarf around his nose and mouth and letting it flow adventurously behind him just as the wave of heat hit him; waving the scarfs' ragged edges behind him epically.

He furrowed his eyes as he stepped through; the last thing we see of the heroic hedgehog is the end of his scarf tail, and the black, metallic gun that sat in his waist holster. With all 7 chaos emeralds in him he began the quantum journey to mysterious world parallel.