A Changeling Named Sin: Acid’s Rage
The Town of Sand
The tropical jungle that Sin and Wilderness wandered through was no longer that of the Everfree Forest. They weren’t even in Equestria anymore. The boundaries had been crossed a few hours ago, and where they were at could best be described as the outskirts of civilization. However, even in wastelands, there can still be reasonable ponies living somewhere.
The road they walked on, and everything else around them was bright yellow thanks to the morning that had finally arrived after their travel-filled journey through the night. The trees standing high nearly glowed with the sun’s care, and their route, though graveled, was straight and lit.
Sin trotted close to Wilderness, her head bobbing from the lack of sleep she needed. Soon, she bumped into her friend, but instead of returning to her own side, she stayed close by, leaning up against his soft, ivy mane, and asking, “What did we do in that cabin?” She rubbed her cheek against him. “It feels like we were only there for an hour…”
Wilderness didn’t really like Sin playing the sisterly act and leaning on him. Though, he wasn’t going to push her away, either. No matter how different they seemed, the two were still siblings. “We slept,” he said. “That’s what I remember. Sleeping, and sometimes, trying to make you stop getting in bed with me.”
Sin smiled. “I was lonely, and cold. You can’t blame me, now can you?”
He rolled his eyes while moving the branches out of the way with his powers. “I’ve just… lost so much over these few weeks. It sometimes feels like if I don’t make a family bond with somepony, I’ll never grieve when they die.” He sighed, knowing how absurd that really sounded. “But, that would ultimately make me a cold hearted individual, huh?”
Sin looked up to him, her eyes looking into his, and then, she kissed him. Not on the lips, but on his cheek, and whispered into his ear, “I won’t let you think like that.”
She resumed walking with him, her mane and his soon becoming intertwined with each other’s much like how Wildlife used to when she was alive. “Thanks,” Wilderness mumbled, a smile fighting its way passed the frown he had.
Though he’d never be able to see Sin the same way he saw his other two sisters, he leaned in, too. No other changelings were around to see them, and besides that, he needed a moment of happiness, especially after everything he’d have to deal with. Even though he knew now that if Sin died, she’d be trapped within his heart forever, he didn’t mind. To reject her would make Wilderness feel just as evil as Acid.
Beyond the shroud of ferns blocking the end of the road laid their next destination. Once they were moved out of the way, Wilderness bounded back while Sin kept walking out, into the seemingly uninhabited clearing of the vast desert. “Sin, I can’t go out there,” Wilderness said, his face blushing. “There’s no grass, or trees, or anything!”
Sin smirked his way, and asked, “You can store some energy! Come out here, the warm air is great!”
He shuffled his hooves, took a step forward, returned his hoof to the grass and said, “There! Now, can we please find another way around?”
Sin magically formed a wall made of her golden aura behind him and pushed Wilderness into the desert by his flank. Once crossed over, she patted him on his shivering head. “There, now is this that bad?”
The look on his face was pure terror. If anything, rather than looking toasty from the heated breeze like Sin did, he looked as though snow was surrounding him, chilling his whole body to the very bone. “I d-don’t like the s-sand, Sin.”
His friend was unfortunately distracted at the moment. She was preoccupied by what looked like a town in the distance. By then, Wilderness had seen it too, and stopped shivering so much. “That’s a town,” Sin said. “Can you see it?”
“Yeah, but I’m more concerned with those… lines?”
“They look like sand spitting up into the air…”
Then, the mysterious presence disappeared. Both Sin and Wilderness gasped, looked at one another, and then felt a rumble underneath their hooves. Two shots of sand jumped out from under them and tossed each one into the air. Upon catching herself, Sin was whacked back down to the ground by a whip made of even more sand.
She was knocked so hard that she landed before Wilderness. The mare stood, trembling. Once seeing Wilderness lying in the duns, Sin also saw those duns take shape and form. Two sand Evolvers, a boy and a girl, stood over him, looking at Sin. They were young, lean, and sandy. Their manes were sand, tongues, pointy ears, and some even poured loosely from their hooves.
“What you make of them?” The stallion asked.
“Element siblings,” his sister offered. “Or, maybe just friends?”
“No, this one has grass for a tail. He’s the one.”
“Told you we’d find them in under a week.”
Sin looked them both up and down, some sweat trailing down the side of her face. “What do you two want?”
The brother responded by melting into the sands and wrapping the unconscious plant changeling up. Next thing Sin knew, he was gone. She took a step back, her eyes glowing, and split the air with her horn, slinging spells at the sister. Her hoof rose along with a dense wall of condensed sand and mud amazingly making Sin’s attack pointless.
A huge hole in the wall nearly broke all the way through. If Sin put forth just a bit more power, she could’ve caused some serious damage. Immediately, the enemy was right behind Sin, staring at her smoking horn. A simple strike on the neck would be just enough to knock her out. She fell quickly, her eyes still open and wide, but the second she hit the floor, everything went dark.
Hours would pass before Sin woke up in the afternoon, her body swaying with the mare that carried the prisoner on her back. Sin rose her head while everything spun around in circles for a little. Across from her was Wilderness, bound and tied, and still asleep. Just like her, Wilderness was on the other sand changeling’s back.
From what she could see, they were in a broken town. Huge vases aligned the doors, shack stores were filled with trivial quality inventory, and a few changelings walked about. Sin blinked, trying to understand what was going on. Everypony inside the seemingly small town was not only a changeling, but sand changelings, too.
There were older looking ones, and a few that were around her age, but every last of them had sand for manes and tails, and each looked their way once Sin and Wilderness was shown off by the more healthy and presumable protectors of the village. They were the only two who seemed in shape, well fed, and much more powerful.
Then, a wall, followed by darkness. Sin had entered some sort of tunnel, and was being brought into what sounded like an arena. She was able to deduce this by the few cheering voices coming from the end. From what Sin had seen of the living conditions, the civilization she and her friend had discovered was questionably civilized at best, so there was no telling what waited for them on the other side.