Dash and Einuli returned to the Avenged, he collapsed into the first chair he found and she was taken aback as he started sobbing.

“Hey… hey…” Dash quickly approached him, pulling him into her arms and wings.

“What’s wrong with me?” He sobbed. “W-why am… am I being…”

“Shh… shhh…” Dash caressed him, snuggling him close. “There’s nothi-”

“DON’T SAY THAT!” He screeched, causing her to pull back to look at him. His eyes were watering and he was quivering. “I wa-”

Dash slapped him hard across the face.

“What the f-”

She repeated the action. “Stop it.” She ordered. “Otherwise next it’s going to be a fist to your stomach.”

Einuli looked at her for several long seconds.

“Now…” Dash began, she put her hand down and he noticed that she stumbled a little. “Oooh… okay.” She chuckled quietly.

“Dash…” Einuli quickly stood up, guiding her to sit down.

“What? Horny all of a sudden?” She joked, seeing him give her a look she didn’t quite recognize from him. At least until she looked a little longer.

He rushed away and was back at her side in a moment. “Blow into this.” He held a device up to her mouth. “First take a deep breath though. And I mean deep.” He ordered.

“I’m not drunk.” She stated firmly.

“I know.” Einuli stated. “Just do it. Help ease my worry.”

“What worry?”

Einuli held up the wrist device and motioned to one word on it. ‘Methane’.

“Methane?” Dash raised an eyebrow.

“JUST BLOW ONTO THE DEVICE!” Einuli growled, scaring her a little. She did just that.

“Alright… now it’ll just be a…” Einuli trailed off as the reading on his wrist device changed. He went completely silent and rigid.

Meanwhile:

The rest of the crew was down in the new mine.

Maud had led them to the first massive ore vein and they were extracting it. Though, Twilight, Starlight, Applejack, and after a few minutes Maud were all hanging off to the side. They had all begun to feel a bit funny.

Dandy didn’t really breathe so he didn’t notice it… well besides the color of his body taking on a slight blue green coloration.

Suzy, Spike, Femanti, and Ayaka all had helmets on so it didn’t effect them.

“Oooh… I have a headache…” Starlight muttered.

“Dizziness… Headache…” Twilight was mumbling. She flicked her fingers over her own wrist device. “Ugh… Temperature higher then it should be…”

Immedietly all of their comms devices went off. They didn’t have time to respond as Einuli forcefully broadcasted his voice. “All of you back to the ship now! There’s a major problem!” He growled out. “If you have a helmet on keep it that way! Otherwise, get back here NOW you could suffocate if I don’t get you on oxygen right away! Twilight and Dash are at the highest risk…” He began to rattle off.

“Whatcha mean?”

“Blue green flame…” Twilight muttered, the thought slowly dawning on her.

“There’s a reason we foundno life on the surface! There’s nanites in the air! Something trying to terraform the planet into a-”

“Methane!” Twilight nearly shouted. “We’re suffering from methane poisoning!”

“GET UP HERE NOW!” Einuli ordered again.

Every one glanced around before nodding and rushing to the entrance. It wasn’t long before Twilight collapsed. Immediately Spike hauled her up.

“C’mon Twi…” Spike began.

“The nanites are converting oxygen into methane. I don’t know why it wasn’t affecting us on the surface…”

“What about you?” Dandy began.

“I can breathe methane! I have nanites doing the reverse in my body!” Einuli stated. “It’s a slow enough process that an oxygen tank can counter it… but we’ll need to get them back to the Dome for proper treatmen-” Einuli trailed off for a moment. “Shit… shit shit shit…” He repeated over and over again before the line went dead.

“Fuck! We need to hurry! Suzy, Femati, Ayaka, grab one of the-” He stopped and raised the matter manipulator. “Please work…” He muttered, trying to dig a hole to the surface so they could beam out.

Meanwhile:

Dash had just passed out. “Fuck! No don’t do this to me!” Einuli growled, grabbing her and hauling her to a bed. “No… fuck we don’t have the oxygen for this!” He laid her down and inserted a breathing tube into her, pumping fresh oxygen right into her lungs.

The rest of the crew teleported up to the ship. “Dash and Twilight have higher concentrations! Get Twilight onto a bed!” Einuli ordered. “Starlight, Maud, Applejack, get an oxygen mask on and stay put!”

“What the hell, how did our scanners miss this?” Dandy questioned.

“They weren’t looking for nanites you fucking idiot!” Einuli growled shifting to Twilight’s bed before guiding a breathing tube down her throat. “Get us back to the Dome! We have better equipment back there and it’ll give us more time!”

Dandy nodded as he rushed to the helm.

As the two were bathed in the nearby star’s light, their eyes began to flutter open as they regained consciousness.

He looked out to the star and saw the strange coloration of it. It wasn’t like any he’d ever seen before, shifting between different shades and hues. Then it dawned on him. It was the light making them stop working. That had to be the key!

“DANDY WE CAN-” He cut himself off as they jumped into hyperspace. “NO! NO FUCK!” Einuli growled angrily.

Both Dash and Twilight lost consciousness again.

“No… no, no, no…” Einuli shook his head. “No… no please… no…” He muttered, “There has to be a way to… to reverse this…” He thought back to his own nanites. “Yes! I… I’ll just…” He trailed off before he collapsed into a chair. “It has to work…”

“The other are out cold too!” Spike said as he rushed in.

“Avoid bodily fluid… Get them into a bed, I’ll get a breathing tube in them!” Einuli slowly stood up. “I can’t do much now, but we can keep them alive.”

Spike nodded and the two rushed out to tend to the others.

Author's Note

I'm back with this story too! Sorry for the long wait. I'll update everything with a blog post sometime soon.