The next morning, Octavia didn't even wait for Trixie to come and wake them up. She shook Vinyl awake even though the white mare objected to it greatly.

"Whaaaaat?" Vinyl glared up at her friend while yawning.

"We're getting an early start today," Octavia explained, already heading for the door, "We're going to Toxic Fields. It's an unexplored area north of here and we're gonna explore it."

"Oh cool!" Vinyl exclaimed, immediately having a surge of energy that caused her to jump up, "It's completely unexplored?"

"Completely."

"Alright! Let's go!"

The two mares promptly dashed through the door and down the hall. No one else was awake this early as they dashed into the the main room.

"Where are you two going?" A voice questioned, stopping them from going up the ladder.

The Musical Mares turned, discovering a very tired-looking Lyra standing there. She had a horrible case of bed head and there were bags under her usual bright and happy eyes.

"Toxic Fields," Vinyl explained, "It's an unexplored area and we're going to explore it!"

Lyra yawned, seeming uninterested, "Ah... Cool... Well. Good luck with that."

Vinyl and Octavia immediately climbed up the ladder. Lyra didn't even have a second thought as she headed to the mess hall to grab a glass of water.

---

"I wonder why this place isn't explored." Vinyl thought outloud.

"It sounds pretty interesting," Octavia said with mild excitement, "I'm sure we're to find something of value. Maybe."

"Or if it's a field of toxic waste then maybe we'll get super powers if we jump in it!" Vinyl exclaimed.

"Vinyl, don't be silly."

"I'm not being silly! It's a proven fact that if you jump into toxic waste, you get super powers!"

"Well for the sake of our health, let's not jump into toxic waste."

"Fine."

The two walked on through the forest. As they trekked, they noticed that the trees began thinning out and there was an awful smell in the air.

"Here." Octavia gave Vinyl a clothespin.

"What's this for?" The white mare asked, staring at the clothespin with heavy curiosity.

"Apparently, the fields smell horrible; enough to cause a normal pony to pass out," Octavia explained, "We'll need these to plug our noses."

Vinyl took in the smell, "Well no wonder nopony's explored this area! It smells like week-old gym socks and rotten eggs matted up into carton of spoiled milk!"

"That's one way to describe it." Octavia chuckled.

They pinned their noses with the clothespin before they continued on. They noticed the grass around this area was an unatural black color, as well as the trees. It was as if the plants had been fried and discolored by something. They finally came to a hill overlooking something that neither of them expected.

"Whoa." Gasped Vinyl.

They could now see an entire field covered with large puddles of glowing green sludge. The grass and ground were completely black and the toxic waste had burned holes into the earth in some places.

"Looks dangerous." Said Octavia.

"But cool and full of treasures!" Vinyl added. She dashed down the hill, "Let's go 'Tavia!"

Octavia had an unsure feeling. Then again, the only danger was falling into the toxic waste which wouldn't be too hard to avoid. There couldn't possibly be anything living in such a lifeless wasteland filled with such a horrible smell and so much of the toxic sludge.

Right?

---

As the sun rose well over the horizon, the rest of the Guild was up and running. Black Thunder was knocking furiously at Lyra's door, a slightly worried look on his face. Lyra poked her head out the door, still looking rather tired.

"Oh. Good morning Thunder," She greeted with a yawn, "Is there something wrong?"

"I haven't seen the Musical Mares around this morning," The stallion stated, "Wherever might they be?"

Lyra yawned again, "They said something about going somewhere earlier this morning."

"But where?"

"How should I know? I was half asleep! I think they went to explore somewhere."

A scowl twisted its way onto Thunder's face, "Exploring?"

"Yeah," Lyra paused, "Oh! I remember now! I think they were going somewhere called the Toxic Fields."

Thunder's eyes widened in fear, "Toxic Fields?"

"Yup. Sounds like a place I wouldn't want to go to."

"Lyra! You should have stopped them from going!" Cried the stallion, grabbing Lyra by the shoulders and shaking her back and forth.

"Uh... Why?"

"Well, any other time of the month would have been fine!" Thunder explained, letting Lyra go, "Don't they know who visits every third Sunday of every month?!"

"Uh..."

Thunder growled, "I don't have time for this! I have to save them!"

"I'm still confused-"

But Thunder was already gone by the time Lyra had even managed to spit her sentence out.

---

"This place is disgusting," Vinyl stated, trying to avoid the puddles of toxic waste, "Who even dumped all this junk here?"

"I think it's always been here," Octavia replied, "Maybe it was stupid to come. I doubt we're going to find anything interesting."

"We can't go back now!" Cried Vinyl, "If we do turn back, and there is treasure somewhere out here, then we'll be missing out!"

"True, but what could possibly be out here?"

Vinyl hesitated, "No clue. But there has to be something out here."

The two continued on, avoiding puddles of toxic waste as they went. Vinyl started to gag about five minutes into the walk.

"Something wrong?" Questioned Octavia.

"The smell!" Cried the white mare, "It's getting through this clothespin! Not to mention, my eyes are starting to water!"

"Maybe we should turn back."

"Oh jeez, ya think?"

"Hey! You were the one who suggested we should keep going!"

"I didn't know the smell was going to be this bad!"

Octavia bit her lower lip to keep from punching Vinyl, "Fine. Let's head back."

But upon saying this, the ground below Octavia's hooves suddenly gave out, causing her to slide down the side of a hill. She caught herself before going over the edge of a small cliff. Looking down, she discovered about a thirty foot, vertigo-inducing drop into the toxic waste below.

"Vinyl!" She screamed as she started losing her grip on the edge.

"Hang on! I'm coming!" Vinyl yelled back. She carefully slid down the hill and to the edge which Octavia was hanging.

"I'm slipping!" The brown mare cried.

"Grab on!" Vinyl commanded, thrusting her hoof out to Octavia. She grabbed on, surprising Vinyl with how heavy she was. With all her might, the unicorn pulled her friend up onto stable ground.

Octavia breathed a sigh of relief, "That was close. Thank you."

"No problem," Vinyl dismissed before jokingly punching the mare in the shoulder, "It's not my fault you're a clumsy oaf."

"Ha-ha."

"I guess that's our cue to get the heck out of here," Suggested Vinyl, rubbing the back of her neck, "Let's just hope that's the only danger we run into."

Octavia's eyes suddenly widened at the sight of something behind her buddy, "Uh... Vinyl...?"

"Yeah?"

"Behind you..."

Vinyl froze. She slowly turned around, gasping as she did.

"Oh Celestia..."

---

"Thunder!" Lyra called after the stallion who was sprinting into the deeper parts of the woods, "Why are they in trouble?!"

Black Thunder didn't slow down, which forced Lyra to speed up in order to talk to him.

"Who visits the fields?! Tell me!"

Thunder panted something inaudible.

"What?!"

Thunder said it again a little louder, but through his heavy breathing, it was impossible to make it out.

"Speak Equestrian for Celestia's sake!"

"The changelings!" Thunder screamed, "And their queen!"

---

Vinyl and Octavia stared with mouths agape at the creatures who stood before them. It wasn't hard to figure out what they were, for their hole-filled bodies and fly wings gave it away. About a two dozen changelings stood before them, hissing and snapping their sharp fangs.

In front of the small army was a changeling that was easily distinguished from the others. This changeling was much taller and had an actual mane of greenish-blue, also filled with holes. Its horn was severely deformed and its eyes were bright green and slit. Large fly wings poked out from under the light green armor that the changelings wore, and a small tiara sat on the back of its head.

"And you are?" The large changeling spoke in a strange, echoey voice, apparently female.

Vinyl gently nudged Octavia foward, signaling for her to explain. The brown mare gulped before speaking.

"I'm Octavia. This is my friend, Vinyl Scratch. We... We were only exploring this land, not imposing or anything! So if we could just..."

The two started to slip away, but the group of changelings shifted to block their way.

"None of you ponies are allowed in changeling territory," The large changeling hissed, "Those idiotic Guardians promised us our own land where we can live without ridicule of ponies!"

"But we just-" Octavia started to object.

"Do not defy me, pony! I am the feared Queen Chrysalis, ruler and leader of the changelings! And as queen, I give my children the full permission to kill you for trespassing!"

"But if you just listen-!"

"Silence! You're in my land now, and I give the orders!" Chrysalis hissed, baring her sharp fangs, "Since you ponies refuse to keep your side of the deal, we'll use your dead carcasses as a warning to the others to never trespass in changeling territory again!"

"Is that a threat?" Vinyl challenged as she stopped hiding behind her friend. This surprised Octavia, for Vinyl was usually always his behind her when they faced a new enemy; especially one as intimadating as the changelings and their queen.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, "Why yes it is. But why should you care? You're going to die anyway."

A smirk wound its way onto Vinyl's face as she suddenly expanded her bass cannon. Octavia followed, drawing her cello bow and stepping foward.

"Then come and get us." Taunted Vinyl.

Hissing something in another language, Chrysalis ordered the changelings to charge at the two mares. Vinyl made no haste to blast about half a dozen with her bass cannon while Octavia took out a few with her cello bow and a few well-placed kicks. More changeling quickly replaced them, forcing Octavia and Vinyl to fight faster.

While her bass cannon was charging up again, Vinyl hit changelings with beams of magic. But it seemed to take hours before her bass cannon could be used to blast away the changelings. Octavia was doing her best to knock out changelings with her powerful kicks and cello bow, but the ones who were knocked out were quickly replaced by more.

"There's too many!" Cried Vinyl, blasting away more changelings, "We gotta get out of here before they run us over!"

Octavia didn't argue. She and Vinyl retreated, luckily able to escape from the changelings. Unfortunately, Chrysalis suddenly appeared in their path, trapping the two mares between herself and the other changelings. Octavia however, made a split second decision, grabbing Vinyl and rolling between the queen's spindly legs.

"Good thinking!" Vinyl commented, high-fiving the brown mare. Unfortunately, their luck ran out when they were suddenly enveloped in a green light that pulled them back to the changelings.

"You think you can escape that easily?" Asked Chrysalis, her horn glowing a bright green, "Certainly not without your lives!" She turned to her followers, "Now my children! Kill them!"

However, something interfered with Chrysalis' magic, forcing her to drop the two mares. She growled in protest as a gray blur jumped in front of Vinyl and Octavia, guarding them.

The queen snarled, "Black Thunder. So we meet again."

Thunder sniffed, "Unfortunately."

"Why do you dare enter the changeling territory again?"

"To protect these perfectly innocent mares from you. You don't realize the damage you could cause by killing them."

"You are the one causing damage!" Hissed Chrysalis, her horn glowing again, "Your attack on our original home left my children starving!"

"It was worth it." Thunder rebutted with a smirk.

This pushed Chrysalis to the edge. She screamed an order to her changelings, causing them all to zero in on Thunder and charge at him, fangs bared. The stallion didn't even flinch as his horn started glowing green.

When he did this, Octavia suddenly felt the temperature drop about ten degrees. This puzzled her, forcing her to watch the stallion closely. Black Thunder fired a seemingly weak green beam of magic through the small army of changelings. What they did next shocked both the mares; though they were in perfect condition, the changelings whimpered and ran, completely deserting their queen.

Chrysalis now looked tiny and pathetic without her followers behind her. She stood there, staring with mouth agape, for she couldn't believe that her own children had deserted her. She turned and hissed at Black Thunder, but the stallion's horn glowed again, somehow causing the queen to cringe.

"Take your moronic mares," Chrysalis growled, "You're all worthless to me anyway!"

With that, the queen took wing, leaving just Black Thunder, Octavia, and Vinyl. The stallion turned to the two mares with a worried look on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked with heavy concern.

"Totally!" Vinyl cheered, "You just saved our lives in an epic way!"

Octavia didn't say anything, for she was too busy wondering how Thunder had scared off all those changelings and their queen with on puny blast of magic.

"What in the world urged you to come here though?" The stallion questioned, his concerned frown changing into a scowl.

"Octavia." Vinyl quickly blamed, pointing to her friend.

"I swear, I didn't know they were out here!" Octavia answered, "Someone told me this place wasn't explored, and I wanted to explore it!"

Thunder raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

Octavia hesitated, "Sunset Shimmer. She's the leader of another rescue team."

Thunder bit his lip with dissatisfaction, "I see... Well, the important thing is that you're okay. We need to get back to the Guikd before the changelings change their mind and attack again."

The stallion began to make his way out of the fields, Vinyl and Octavia flanking him. Octavia however, had that strange feeling again. Her suspicions of the "greatest solo rescuer in Equestria" were rising again. This time, it wasn't just a feeling though, because she saw something strange with her own eyes.

She swore up and down that while the stallion was using magic, his eyes were glowing a complete green.

---

Once again, I apologize for this seeming rushed. I certainly didn't mean for it to feel so. *insert facepalm here*