Celestia had just finished trudging through the last of her monumental amount of paperwork, her sister having already started her night court, and was preparing to reward herself with a piece of red velvet cake in bed when she felt it, and the golden aura holding her cake-laden fork faltered. No matter the distance, the princess of the sun had always been able to feel the teleportation matrix anchored to her from that emerald-green flame, and now, for the first time since the spell had been cast all those years ago, the connection had been severed.

A barely audible whisper of his name was uttered before being followed by a louder shout of, “Spike!” as Celestia leapt from her bed and to her balcony doors, the fork having not even reached the sheets yet. Seized by a panic rare for the mare who had hardly ever been seen as anything but in control, Celestia yanked the doors open, shattering both the glass panes and the exquisitely carved frames that they had rested in as they slammed into the walls. Ignoring the damage, the sun princess stepped out into her sister’s cool night air and shut her eyes, doing her best to calm her breathing as she focused her magical senses outward.

Blocking everything else out, even the shouts from behind her room’s entrance, Celestia directed her aetherial eye in the last place she had felt the little dragon’s presence, Ford Junction, and sought for even a scrap of that unique blend of alicorn and draconic energies. With so many years of familiarity, along with her own magic being present, the task should have proven fairly simple for the ageless mare, and that it was not was quite frightening. Her heart started pounding faster than the hooves on her door as each passing second brought another steep drop in despair.

No, no, no, he can’t be gone! He has to be there somewhere! As much as she wanted to believe the sentiment, there was another voice in the back of the princess’ mind that spoke of a much darker possibility, and it was squashed down with denial-fueled determination. She threw every ounce of will into the search, the entire world, even her own body, fading away until she was just a shining soul amongst the world’s magical ley lines. It was while she strained to maintain this state of pure essence that the sun’s keeper finally received the faintest glimmer of hope in the form of a small, near-nonexistent pulse of familiar mana.

As quickly as the relief had flooded her however, it was drained by fear and worry, for the flicker of warmth she had felt was so brief that she was almost unsure if it was real. It was only the knowledge that, as she was now, her mind could not play tricks on her for the simple fact that her mind and soul were currently separate from each other that kept her searching.

With the fear came another emotion Celestia had not felt but a hoofull of times over the last century, and that was unbridled fury, for in that glimmer of Spike’s essence, she felt another, far colder one attempting to smother it, and doing a frighteningly good job. The solar princess was about to try and track the magic before it finished its dark deed, but was pulled upon by a familiar presence.

“Come back to us, sister!” This was the first thing Celestia heard as she was thrust back into the material plane and her body, unused to the physical sensation of sound upon her eardrums after what felt like an eternity without even having them. Stumbling, Celestia was grateful for the support given by the one who had retrieved her as she settled back into her flesh and blood; the sensation of being stuffed into restrictive formal-wear thankfully fading quickly.

“What were you thinking, Tia!? You know the dangers of walking the astral plane without help! You could have been lost forever if I’d not intervened when I had!” Luna shouted, causing her sister to wince and rub at her temple. The Royal Canterlot Voice was meant for speaking to the masses from up high, not directly into an individual’s ear canal.

“I’m sorry to have worried you, Luna, but something has happened that needed my immediate attention,” the solar princess said as she turned to look upon her sibling and the royal guard behind her. As much as she was panicking on the inside, Celestia covered it with a calm, though serious expression so as not to drive the armored stallions into a frenzy. They, as many of her subjects did, looked upon her as the steady foundation upon which order was built, and, as such, seeing her freak out generally tended to lead to some less than harmonious reactions. “Guards, leave us; my sister and I have much to discuss.” Not ones to argue with such an authoritative voice, the two armored stallions all but scrambled out of the room as Luna’s eye’s never left her sister.

Once they were gone and the doors behind them shut as well as they could on bent and broken hinges, something Celestia assumed Luna did breaking into her chambers, both alicorns’ stern expressions melted and the younger asked worriedly, “What is wrong, sister? I know you would not risk an eternity wandering beyond the veil without cause. What has happened?”

In the presence of her beloved sister, Celestia could no longer hold back what had been building up inside and let tears run down her cheeks. “It’s Spike… He is… He’s lost, Luna, I can no longer feel the spell that binds his fire to me,” she whispered as she stepped forward to meet her sister’s embrace.

Luna had moved to comfort Celestia before she had even finished speaking and was now slightly stretching to lay her head upon her sister’s withers as Celestia leaned down to do the same. “How do you mean, sister? I thought thine spell was sustained by the young drake’s mana itself and would last as long as…” Eyes going wide, Luna pressed harder against the white mare. “Tia, surely you aren’t suggesting that he is- That Spike is-”

“No!” Celestia shouted as she stepped away frantically. Taking a calming breath, the sun princess closed her eyes upon seeing the mildly stunned look on her sister’s face. “No, when I was in the astral plane, I sensed it for a brief instant… but something foul was there with him, and it was doing… something to him.” She sighed as she struggled to put this next part into words. “It was as if his fire was being smothered; locked away so I could no longer reach him or he me.”

“Are… are you sure of this?”

“… On the astral plane, we are not but will and intent bound to our magic, you know this as well as I do, and as such, what we see of others there is a vision unclouded by deceit. Even if whoever it was wanted to hide their presence, the desire to do so would be near impossible to hide.” Turning away, Celestia looked beyond her kingdom to the dark horizon, a frown marring her regal features. “No… Even you and I, with all of our experience, can barely maintain a proper consciousness on the astral plane, let alone fabricate falsehoods. Whatever the magic cast upon Spike was meant to do, the caster did so fully expecting the results to be negative… There was no accident, no regret… only malice and a determination to sever the connection between a hostage and rescue.”

Luna moved to her sister’s side to stare upon her silent night, a flash of guilt across her face conveying her feelings about the darkness of her domain being used to obscure such sinister acts. “What shall we do? Were you able to locate Spike?”

“I was close, but with the familiar presence so quickly being overshadowed by that of his captor’s, I wasn’t able to pinpoint his whereabouts beyond that of vague direction.”

The answer caused the moon princess to drop her eyes. “I’m sorry, had I not interrupted when I had, then-”

“It wasn’t your fault, Luna,” Celestia cut in as she turned her head to the smaller alicorn. Draping a large, alabaster wing across her sister’s back, she continued, “By the time I found their presence, the spell was already near completion. What little I could follow would have already been swallowed by the ambient magic before I could lock down their location, regardless of if you had retrieved me then, or a few seconds later.”

Luna looked up at her older sister and smiled half-heartedly. “Really? This enemy must be quite skilled to hide from you once you already had eyes on them; your skills in traversing the astral plane are unparalleled.”

Smiling back just as weakly, Celestia responded. “But nowhere near the same level as yours in the realm of dreams.”

Scoffing, the princess of the night rolled her eyes. “Dream walking is hardly a fair comparison; all minds are already part of the collective unconscious, after all.” Though a miasma of dread still hung thickly in the air, the small back and forth helped the two ageless sisters shirk some of it off. “So… What do we do now?”

Celestia’s smile thinned into a straight line as she retrieved her wing and again looked at the night. “I don’t know… Twilight has to be told before we progress.” Taking a deep breath, she let it out in a long sigh. “I told her not to worry.”

“I almost pity those who have taken the young drake; your student is not one to be trifled with, and Spike is very dear to her heart. This isn’t going to end well for the villains.”

“Twilight? Oh, they have far worse than her to worry about,” the solar princess stated, red-hot steel entering her voice as her mane whipped wildly, a few strands taking on the hues of sunset. “Wherever they are, whatever they’re doing, I hope they cherish the time they have, for they will have little to look forward to once I find them.”

Luna watched her sister march from the room, the doors now removed completely after being parted by the white alicorn, and felt a very mortal shiver run up her spine. Her thoughts turned to those who had dared do harm to one so beloved by both Equestria’s strongest mage and its burning princess. “Pity indeed… Enjoy thyselves, rouges, for you have summoned the wrath of the sun."

“What is going on here!?” Bellowed Dr. Zariba as he exited his tent, only to see his crack team of adventurers acting like drunken idiots.

The smile adorning Phantom’s flushed face dropped at the clear anger of his employer and he moved quickly to explain things. “Oh! Uh, sorry about the noise, boss, we were just celebrating is all,” spoke the slightly tipsy pegasus as he sidled up to the zebra’s side and threw a hoof around his striped shoulders. “I mean, it’s not every day you find out you’ll be going after a legendary treasure, right?” His smile was matched by a frown that caused Phantom to chuckle nervously as he removed his leg and stuttered out an apology.

“Celebrating… You discover our goal is Bahamut’s hoard, a myth even for most dragons, and you decide the proper response is to celebrate by getting drunk on-” the zebracorn sniffed at the air, “-I’d like to say Ms. Spritz’s hard lemonade?”

By his tone, it was easy to tell that Zariba didn’t agree with the logic, and that made Phantom gulp. In truth, he didn’t quite believe in what it was they were searching for, the idea of any one of those monsters being able to build such a hoard, disappear, and not have it ravaged by the others as soon as the coast was clear seemed highly unlikely to him, but he wouldn’t say as much out loud. What the scarred pegasus was celebrating however, was the utter humiliation and domination of Amethyst Thistle he was able to bear witness to. That was priceless.

“Well…” Phantom began as he looked down to kick an empty, glass lemonade bottle. An orange and green reflection in its shiny surface gave the pegasus an idea. “It was all her idea!”

Maybe it wasn’t the most mature way to handle the situation, acting like a colt caught misbehaving by the teacher, but pointing a hoof at Citrus Spritz as she tried to sneak away got him out the fire and back into the frying pan at least. While he rubbed at the scar tissue that had begun to ache upon thinking of that particular analogy, Citrus stiffened noticeably before turning and flashing their mutual boss a too-large smile.

“H-hey there, Dr. Zariba, how are you doing?” she asked awkwardly as her eyes darted around in obvious search for an exit strategy.

Still frowning, the zebra answered, “As well as one can be when finding their subordinates getting sloshed on the first night of a new expedition… Care to explain?”

“W-well, you didn’t tell us what we were going to be looking for until now, and it’s a pretty big deal; if this works out, we’ll all be rich, right? And we also have, like, the biggest obstacle in our way tied up and working for us, so there’s that. Not to mention, and I mean no disrespect, but we were on kind of a forced march there trying to get as far away from the city as possible. So, everything considered, I figured everyone was parched and we had cause to celebrate, so… why not hard lemonade?... It's a thirst quencher!”

With the rambling being punctuated with a nervous laugh, Phantom noticed for the first time the silence that had fallen over the camp as they all waited with bated breath for their boss’s response. After what felt like an eternity, Zariba finally broke off his glare and sighed. “Spirits save me from employees with no sense. Do what you want, but if I discover any problems have arisen as a result of your festivities, that ‘forced march’ from earlier will seem like a leisurely stroll.” Shooting another glare at the lime-colored mare, he added. “And you will not only have earned cart-pulling duty, but also will be granted no assistance in cleaning up after mealtimes for the rest of the trip. Do I make myself clear?”

Shooting a not-so-sharp salute, Citrus half yelled, half squeaked, “Yes sir!”

“Good.” Turning to the unprepared Phantom, he added. “As for you, if you think her potential punishment sounds harsh, you don’t even want to imagine what yours will be, so I suggest you sober up now and keep things in line, Phantom, or the rest of the expedition will become very unpleasant for you.”

Simply gulping in response, the scarred pegasus was petrified by those crimson orbs as they seemed to burrow into his soul. Without waiting for a proper answer, Dr. Zariba nodded and brushed past him, yelling over his shoulder. “I do hope you boys will try and keep at least somewhat quiet; I have some very important reading to do and would rather not be interrupted a second time… Don’t make me come out here again.”

There were more than a few vigorous nods, some of which actually sent a few pops through the air, but the boss didn’t even look as he mumbled to himself. Once the zebracorn was out of sight, everyone present let out a relieved sigh. Phantom almost collapsed; amazed that he had avoided punishment for his lapse in sanity, letting the joy of Amy’s humiliation persuade him to join the drinking instead of putting an end to it.

It seemed the booze was on its way back to the crates, the jovial mood thoroughly ruined, but the voice of one diamond dog changed that with a yell of, “Well, you heard the zebra, let’s party!... Quietly!”

Phantom was about to reprimand the moron for his loudness, but an open glass bottle was thrust in his face before he could get a word out. “Hey, relax a little; Dr. Zariba said it was okay, so try and enjoy yourself.”

Tracing the green limb up to its owner, Phantom scowled at the weakly smiling face of Citrus Spritz. “If it’s all the same to you, I think I won’t be taking the advice of the pony that almost had me on the receiving end of a freaky deaky zebracorn spell, thank you very much,” the stallion stated.

With a roll of the eyes, the mare returned, “Oh, come on, nothing bad happened, and, if anything, that’s even more reason to celebrate. I mean, how often does the doctor let us do things like this?”

“Usually when he’s in a good mood after we’ve succeeded in one of his jobs,” was the flat response. “And I don’t think he’s that happy yet.”

“You said it yourself, we all have a reason to celebrate; we’re going to become rich if this works out, after all. Maybe he’s as optimistic as the rest of us.” Phantom was about to remark on how Zariba was not an optimist, but the bottle was shoved into his mouth before he could, nearly chipping a tooth. “Enough talking, just shut up and drink.”

“Hmmhm!?” The sudden introduction of bitter, sour, and a touch of sweetness to his taste buds came as quite the shock to the stallion and had him violently spitting up the alcohol soon after. “What-" he hacked. "-What is wrong with you!?” Still coughing, he tried to work the burning liquid up out of his lungs. “You’re acting crazy!”

“What? I’m just trying to get everypony in a good mood is all!”

“And since when did that involve inebriation? Last I recalled, you agreed with the boss about not breaking out your liquor until after we found whatever we were looking for.”

At first, he thought her actions odd, but after seeing her eyes dart about and the nervous smile, alarm bells went off in his head. “H-hey, can’t I just want to see some smiles around here once in a while?” she asked before covering her nerves with anger. “You know what? I’m tired of looking at your ugly mug anyway, especially with that frown making it worse, I’m going to go find somepony who knows how to live a little.”

He tried to grab hold of her orange tail with his teeth, but his coordination was off for obvious reasons and he instead gnashed his almost-pearly whites painfully on air before nearly tipping over. Glaring up at the retreating form, Phantom contemplated chasing after her as he rubbed his sore jaw, but decided not to waste the effort. Why even bother trying to understand mares? They’re all nuts, anyway. Looking down at the bottle he hadn’t even realized he was still holding, he tried to decide what to do next.

Recent events had sobered him up some and he had been far from blitzed even before Zariba scared the buzz out of him, so the scarred pegasus was able to think more clearly now. The joy of what he had seen had worn off a bit, and with it, his cause to celebrate, but on the other hoof, Phantom very much enjoyed drinking, the warm feeling it filled his body with ironically working to soothe the ache of his old burns and more often than not allowing him to sleep without nightmares.

Eventually, he chose to try and enjoy the rest of his night by grabbing another bottle to go with his open one and finding a cloud to drink on in solitude. Soaring up and settling on the cool, fluffy surface of the first nimbus he saw, Phantom took a large swig of his hard lemonade and looked at the moon. The stallion did this often when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts, staring at the silver sphere and letting the cold night air drive away bad memories, but something seemed off this time.

As he looked up at the moon, he wasn’t filled with a sense of calm and serenity, but instead a feeling of anxiety. It was as if the lunar orb itself was looking down on him with both pity and disdain, and the pegasus had no idea why. With a shake of his head, Phantom mumbled to himself, “Citrus is right, I really do need to relax. Here I am being spooked by a rock in the sky.” Taking a long drink from the bottle, he wiped at his lips with a foreleg. “I’m starting to act like an old mare; superstitious and worrying over every little thing.”

Even after reassuring himself it was nothing, Phantom still couldn’t bring himself to look up at the sky again, just like he couldn’t shake the feeling he was being looked down upon.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Courage Fire and Bemmo for editing.

Character Bios:

Citrus Spritz, Age 24: A native Equestrian, Citrus was born to the third largest clan in Equestria, the Lime family, and had a relatively happy foalhood. Even though the family was expansive, the Limes were not as well known as the Apples or Oranges that practically ruled Equestria's agricultural market and many of its members rarely left the orchards they tended to their whole lives. For Citrus, such a fate was unacceptable.
Though she loved her family dearly, the idea of being yet another Lime who would pass quietly while leaving only a tombstone behind terrified the filly, and her goal in life soon became to ensure that didn't happen. Learning how to cook from her mother and grandmother at a young age, Citrus Spritz soon discovered her special talent in the culinary arts and worked her mind furiously to figure out how she could use this to leave her mark on the world. The answer she came to was deceptively simple, open a restaurant.
At first, the idea seemed so easy, but as she grew and convinced her parents to let her travel the kingdom, she discovered two things. The first was that, as great as her food was, she had a decidedly small book of recipes stored away in her noggin when compared to the various dishes out there and she had a lot more to learn about cooking if she wanted to make a name for herself. The second was how expensive opening a business truly was.
Simply working for the family by keeping the citrus-bearing trees well watered and the skies sunny would never net her enough bits to start her dream, and, for all she was learning in Equestria, she could still see how limited her kingdom's cuisine was whenever she stumbled upon a small ethnic restaurant buried in the backstreets of big cities. Simply put, she needed a way to both make a lot of money, and to travel beyond Equestria's borders safely.
It was fortuitous then, that when she encountered the strangest and creepiest zebra she had ever met in her life, he offered her a job after tasting one of her dishes at a small diner she had been working at. She was skeptical at first, but the tales of ancient treasure and distant lands were far too alluring for the mare who wanted to be known as the greatest chef in the world. Agreeing, Citrus Spritz became the cook for the hodgepodge group of "archeologists" in service of Dr. Zariba.
Shortly after that, the pegasus began to regret her decision upon raiding her first burial tomb and she learned that the good doctor was not as kind as he first seemed and perhaps she should have listened to her gut when it told her the skull-faced zebracorn was not to be trusted. The pay she received for the artifacts they'd pilfered however, was the biggest step she had made towards accomplishing her dream, and being allowed to try her first, true gryphon dish shortly after helped steady her resolve.
No matter how much she'd have to sully her hooves, Citrus Spritz was going to be the greatest chef to ever live and creatures of all walks of life would line up for miles just to get a taste of her food. She had gone too far to turn back now.

Albert, Age 19: Growing up in the land of the minotaurs made Albert Nile's life difficult for two reasons. One reason was the stereotype attached to the diamond dog race, often believed to be mongrel beasts of little intelligence. Combined with the fact that minotaurs had their own, somewhat true stereotype of being bull headed meant that many of the ones who believed dogs to be morons refused to accept any evidence to the contrary when dealing with young Albert.
The other reason life was hard for the diminutive diamond dog was that physical strength and size played an integral part in many aspects of minotaur culture. Bulking biceps and rippling muscles were the standards by which bulls earned respect from each other. Even the cows were no slackers; female body building being a well-respected sport in Labyrinth city, Albert's hometown.
Physical stature was at the center of fashion, status, and even many of the extracurricular activities provided by schools. For as much as the country of Asterion prided itself on its industry, strength of body was still very important within its borders, and this put the physically weak at quite the disadvantage.
For Albert, this meant he had to fight hard for every scrap of recognition as his parents slaved away at their demeaning jobs to afford their pup a proper education. By the time he finished primary school, the small dog had become a wiz at performing the combination to his locker from the inside with a cloth hanger. Unfortunate, such a skill wasn't seen as being nearly as impressive as it should have been and, while his grades were top of his year, his lack of any extracurricular activities didn't make him the most desirable candidate for scholarships. Nevermind that he suffered dozens of swirlies in pursuit of starting a historical society.
Even with all they had saved over the years, his parents just didn't have enough to send him to college, and his father began contemplating borrowing money from a crime family. Luckily for the old dog's kneecaps, another option presented itself in the form of a guest speaker at the unveiling of a new artifact at the local museum. Being the history buff that he was, of course Albert went to see, and there he met the charismatic, albeit spooky, Dr. Zariba. The diamond dog asked dozens of questions throughout the doctor's Q&A, which, while they annoyed many of the other patrons and journalists in the crowd, never seemed to bother the well-dressed zebracorn.
It was while still staring at the ancient treasure a few hours later that Albert was startled by Zariba's presence behind him. Though nervous without the anonymity of the audience around him, the doctor soon managed to coax the dog out of his shell and the two had long conversations on the various exhibits of the museum, one of them jubilant while the other was calm with a small smile on his muzzle.
With one thing leading to another, Albert's scholastic plight was made known to Dr. Zariba, and Zariba in turn offered to take the dog on as an intern of sorts, telling his parents that he would pull some strings to not only get their son enrolled in one of Asterion's most prestigious colleges, but also have the internship substitute for many of the classes Albert would be required to take for his major. For his parents, it was a godsend, and for Albert, it was a dream come true.
Traveling the world, exploring ruins, discovering ancient treasures. Though he would claim when asked about the study of archeology that work in the lab was just as important as that done in the field and that books had romanticized the profession, Albert was actually a huge fan of the Daring Do series and often wished he could be like the grey-maned pegasus. He had been resigned to spending his life identifying and cataloging the artifacts brought to him by real adventurers due to his less than stellar athletic ability, but now he was being offered to be the adventurer. He had been so excited at the time that he had actually hugged his soon-to-be boss and had to practically be pried off by his parents as he showered Zariba with words of gratitude.
To this day, Albert still turns a blind eye to the less than scrupulous actions of his employer and has yet to realize that his acceptance into college was a result of Zariba blackmailing the dean. To the diminutive diamond dog, Dr. Zariba was always justified in his actions, even if he couldn't always see how.

Phew, In case you're wondering why these were longer than the previous once, it's because the brothers' bios kind of supplement each other.
Anyway, the country of the minotaurs is named after the minotaur from the actual Greek myth. In my world, Asterion is the god the minotaur race worship as their creator as well as the name of the first leader who united the minotaurs under one banner through his strength and fighting skill. The case with mortal Asterion's name would be kind of like someone naming their kid Jesus here.