"Ugh! This is absurd!" Twilight growled, feeling a sudden urge to slam her head down against the top of the desk she was seated at.

So far, despite all her efforts to try and decipher something useful from the book Spike found, it had been almost completely fruitless. The Old Ponish scribblings on each page were an absolute nightmare to read, let alone accurately translate.

Unlike most books sold nowadays, the text was hornwritten. But that wasn't what made reading it so difficult. Plenty old scrolls and spell tomes kept in the Canterlot Royal Library were also hornwritten in Old Ponish. Yet, Twilight rarely ever had any problems with them before. If anything, she usually preferred vintage copies over new typewritten prints.

However, the hornwriting in this particular case was almost impossibly messy, to the point of nearly being classified as another language entirely. If she didn't know any better, she'd have to assume some newborn filly with a quill jammed into their mouth had copied down the whole thing.

Twilight let out an irritated sigh as she found herself getting stumped over yet another sentence in the book, just a minute after giving up on the previous one.

Ever since the others had left to go searching the castle for more clues, she'd learned very little new information about the Elements Of Harmony. All she could determine was that they were evidently being hidden somewhere in the castle itself and the only way that they could actually use them was with some special kind of magical...'spark', whatever that was supposed to be. If the book actually gave a specific answer, she sure couldn't tell.

And while this tiny nugget of extra info did give Twilight some hope that the others might actually find something out there, it also wasn't impossible that she could have made some sort of translation error. While the awful hornwriting alone made things annoyingly difficult, even the actual 'dialect' of Old Ponish written onto each page appeared to be of a far older origin than anything she'd ever been taught to read. Many of the sentences were downright foreign to her in both structure and vocabulary.

"...I sure hope the others are having better luck..." Twilight groaned, resting her head in her hands.

She felt so...useless, just sitting here and getting next to nothing done. She was supposed to be the prized, hand-chosen, protege of Princess Celestia herself. But here she was now, unable to figure out anything even remotely useful that might help them towards freeing the princess and stopping Nightmare Moon from dooming the world. The key to fixing everything was probably written on the page right in front of her. Only she had no idea how to read it.

Not to mention, who knew how long they might have left before the Nightmare Moon catches up to them, that is assuming she hasn't already. By now, it wouldn't be very long before the light spells she'd provided for the others fizzled out.

'Maybe I should have just gone along with them. At least then I could have helped search with my magic.' She thought, thinking back to Spike. They had only just recently found each other again after being separated for what had felt like days to Twilight, and then just a few minutes later, he had already left her side once again.

Twilight got up from the desk, seriously considering going out to try and find one of the others. But as she was stood up, her left eye flinched, a bright metallic glint suddenly catching it. Looking towards its source, the glare was revealed to be coming from a large and fancy-looking book resting atop a waist-high marble pedestal across the room from her. The pedestal itself was standing right in front of the shorter of the two tall alicorn statues which towered over the study desks. A single small shaft of shimmering moonlight was being cast down around the pedestal through a small hole in the ceiling, making it stand out from the rest of the dimly lit library.

'Was that book always there?' Twilight wondered, finding it strange that she hadn't noticed it before now.

Even from across the library, she could tell that the cover of the book was very ornately designed. A thin silver trim that ran around its edges in odd swirling patterns and the title was written in a large and unique looking font. Strangely enough, the book also looked to be in far better shape than most of the others she'd already examined in the library. In fact, it almost looked brand new.

A strange curiosity suddenly taking hold within her, Twilight wandered over to inspect it, her previous concerns seemingly all but forgotten. On the way, she happened to glance up at the two tall statues that stood proudly on either side of the library. The one that stood right behind the pedestal appeared to have had its face completely eroded away, muzzle and all, leaving the identity of the mystery alicorn it represented unknown. The other one, however, was very clearly meant to be the princess. But the numerous differences between the two clearly meant that they were based on two entirely different ponies. But if that was indeed the case, who in Equestria was this other alicorn supposed to be?

As she inspected the statue more closely, Twilight noticed a cutie mark was carved into the statue's wide hips. Both alicorns were shown wearing robe-like garments that left their legs partially exposed. In contrast to the proud shining sun which the princess sported, this other pony featured a crescent moon for a cutie mark. There was something about it that seemed oddly familiar but Twilight couldn't put her finger on it.

'Who is this?' Twilight thought, growing more curious by the second.

To her knowledge, there was only one other known alicorn in Equestria, but the chances of it being her were pretty much slim to none. Not least of which was due to the noticeable difference in their figures. She would definitely have to ask the princess more about this mystery mare later...assuming they could actually save her.

As Twilight reached down to pick up the strange book on the marble pedestal, she paused as she noticed its title. While it too was written in Old Ponish, it was in a form that she had studied extensively, to the point of it being a second language for her. It took her mere moments to translate the book's title in her head, but the moment she did, her eyes grew wide.

"T-the Drocsid C-curse" She shakily read aloud, barely even believing what shew as reading read. "I finally found it..."

During her extensive research into the origins of the 'Natural Mare Incontinence Phenomenon', as it was known, every potential lead she'd ever followed had ended up a dead end, usually leaving her with far more questions than answers. However, there was one lead that had brought her closer to a definitive answer than any other before it.

It had come from a book which Twilight just happened to find one day, lying on the floor right outside the magically locked gates of the Canterlot Royal Archive's restricted section. The book was about ancient magical curses and prophecies, and naturally being very curious, she immediately took it home to read. It was in that very book that she found the first ever mention of a potential origin point for the mysterious phenomenon. Nowadays, most ponies regarded it as just being a natural part of life and nothing more. So, whenever that book had been written, it must have been a very long time ago.

Unfortunately, the book had only briefly mentioned the subject she wanted to know about, giving her no direct or definitive answers. However, at the very end of the book, it referred back to other sources that it drew its information from. One of the listings, in particular, was from a book that would allegedly explain everything that one wanted to know about the phenomenon. It listed the title of the very book that now lay right in front of Twilight, mere inches away from her outstretched fingers. She had searched long and hard, all over Equestria for it with no success, but now it was hers.

With a rush of excitement, she burst forwards to snatch the book.

*Zap!*

"Ow!" Twilight yelped, recoiling back and clutching her right hand. The moment she'd got within an inch of the front cover, a small blue spark had shot out, going directly into the tips of her fingers.

'What in Equestria was that?!'

She looked down at her hand, flipping it over while inspecting each of her fingers closely. Despite still feeling an irritated stinging sensation in a few of them, there appeared to be nothing visibly wrong with it.

'Could that really have just been some strange pent-up static electricity or something?' Twilight wondered.

Shaking the sensation out her hand, Twilight tried to take the book again, this time using her magic to grab it instead. But then, as she looked up, she was shocked to see that the book was no longer there. Instead, a small, very dusty, and decrepit looking textbook now rest on the pedestal. And based on the partly eroded illustration on the front, it was about...rock farming?

'What happened?! Where did it go?!'

Twilight looked around frantically for any signs of it, but despite vividly seeing it there just a few moments ago, the book was nowhere to be found. She was sure she hadn't been seeing things, it was right there! Determined not to lose her chance to get some answers, Twilight was prepared to search through the entire library top-to-bottom if she had to.

But then, just as Twilight charged her horn to cast another light spell to aid in her search, an intense wave of drowsiness came over her.

"W-whoah, wha?" Twilight stammered, starting to slur her speech as the world started spinning all around her. "W-what's goin on?"

A darkness was rapidly closing in from every direction, and she was desperately struggling to keep her balance. She braced herself up against the marble pedestal, trying to keep herself stable as everything turned upside down. Then, as if being pushed by some unknown force, Twilight stumbled backward. Her shoe caught onto something on the floor, causing her to lose her balance and collapse. She hit the ground with a *thud* which echoed throughout the cavernous room. A few moments later, the silence was broken by the soft sounds of Twilight's quiet snores, now fast asleep.

A cold feminine voice lightly chuckled high above, its source slowly descended down from the ceiling. Nightmare Moon landed on the study floor with a heavy metal clunk. She wore a satisfied smirk as she looked down at the purple unicorn which now lay motionless at her feet. The spell had worked perfectly, though not exactly in a way she had been really expecting.

"Now isn't that interesting...why would a young unicorn like you desire to read such a book?" Nightmare Moon pondered aloud, glancing over at the dusty old book she had enchanted. The spell was designed to lure a pony in by appearing as something they deeply desired. The fact that it took the form of that book in particular though...

'...No matter, that troublesome dragon seemed to be quite fond of this unicorn in particular. She must be his owner. I don't know how he has kept escaping my enchantments, but it's beginning to get on my nerves. It's a shame that he seems so determined to help these fools with their pitiful attempt at a resistance. He was quite the juicy specimen and I would hate to have to destroy him for getting in my way. But no doubt, my sister must have developed some sort of counter-spell in my absence and placed it over the dragon's mind to keep him under her control, tricking his primitive brain into becoming nothing but a loyal slave...' She thought, growing angrier at the thought of her selfish sister.

With her magic, Nightmare Moon took hold of Twilight's limp body, levitating her up into the air and bringing the two of them face to face. Reaching out with her right hand, the metal gauntlet around her arm fading to purple mist, she lightly caressed the unconscious mare's soft cheek with the palm of her hand.

"Well, perhaps once the dragon has realized that you are no longer there to manipulate him, he will learn to embrace his freedom." She growled, her pointed fingernails threatening to dig into the flesh of Twilight's cheek. Nightmare Moon felt tempted to just strike the mare down here and now, and In the mare's current state, it would be easy. Just one quick spell and it would be all over...

'No, that would be a waste. As I had correctly sensed earlier, this unicorn appears to possess an incredible amount of untapped magical potential. If used properly...she could become very useful to me...'

The mare was clearly a scholar of some variety. Not only did she appear capable of reading the olden tongue, this Twilight, as she was called, was the only pony who seemed to have already known of her imminent return. Clearly, there was something more to this mare than meets the eye. Nightmare Moon took a moment to briefly scan up and down the unicorn's body.

"Yes, perhaps you will be of some use to me after all..." She began, licking her hips seductively. "If nothing else, you would most certainly make a fine personal servant."

Then suddenly, in a flash of purplish-blue light, both of them vanished, leaving the library empty...

Spike wasn't sure he knew how to feel right now.

Both he and Applejack had just finished scouring through what had once been the castle's kitchen area, as well as the mostly empty food storage rooms. Unfortunately, as he had expected, they'd come up with nothing. Now they were walking down the main hall which ran between the library and the throne room, the latter being their next destination.

They'd already been exploring for about 45 minutes now, and based on Twilight's earlier estimate, they didn't have very long before the light spell that was attached to his head faded away. The eerie and creepy aura the castle seemed to emit was bad enough. He'd rather not be once again forced to blindly wander its halls in the dark.

The throne room was the last notable place in the castle that Spike knew of in this area, but he felt pretty hesitant to return to it. After all, the last time he'd been in there, Nightmare Moon tied him to the throne. For all he knew, she might be in there already, waiting for him...

But for the most part, that wasn't what had him feeling so conflicted right now. The cause of that was most certainly the fault of the Apple farmer walking just ahead of him. Even 30 minutes afterward, his mind was still racing from Applejack's honesty encouragement. It wasn't every day that an attractive farm mare casually pissed themselves for his enjoyment.

Glancing down, Spike eyed the protrusion that remained in the front of his grass loincloth with an irritated sigh. After her little display, his dick had absolutely refused to calm down again. He couldn't really blame it's determination either. He'd been blue balled so many times today already. His body had enough of it, it wanted to release.

It wasn't like he'd never seen a grown mare purposefully wetting themselves before anyway. After all, back home, he witnessed Twilight doing so at home plenty of times. But at the same time, she had never done it with the express purpose of getting his attention. It was still a nice thing to see, but she just did it as a very...unique way of relaxing.

It probably didn't help very much that Twilight didn't usually wear tight unzipped daisy dukes that looked to be a few sizes too small for her. Nor did she have the same kind of toned round ass or muscular figure as Applejack did. And while he couldn't be too certain of it, he was almost positive that the farm mare's red front-knotted shirt had been getting progressively looser and looser over the past few minutes.

Per Applejack's earlier recommendation, Spike had been hoping that the obvious bulge in his loincloth would surely have gone down by now, but so far, his little dragon seemed adamant to keep standing at attention. His shaft ached and he flinched with every involuntary thro, occasionally even hard enough to slip around his loincloth. Thankfully, Applejack didn't seem to mind very much, pretty much ignoring Spike's 'excited' state altogether. Still, that didn't keep the act of talking with an attractive mare, while also sporting a raging hard-on, from being pretty awkward for him.

Regardless, at the current rate, he was still going to be as hard as a rock by the time they met back up with the others at the library. That was something he definitely wanted to avoid. As weirdly understanding as Applejack seemed to be, he had a feeling that the others would react pretty differently, especially Twilight or Rainbow Dash.

Spike desperately needed to relieve himself of this problem and soon, but unfortunately, he wasn't too sure what the best way to go about doing that would be. Due to the fairly limited range of Twilight's light spell, he and Applejack weren't really able to drift too far from one another. He needed a plan.

Making their way around a turn in the hallway, a set of large metal double doors came into view at the end ahead of them. The doors would lead into a winding staircase, eventually ending at the entrance of the throne room itself a few stories above them. To the left and right of the large doors, there were two much smaller entrances, both partially hidden by large tattered banners. From the looks of them, they were likely a pair of servant passageways, designed for the castle staff to travel through as to not get in the way of the royalty or any guests.

Celestia's palace back in Canterlot had a few of them scattered seemingly at random throughout the halls, but he rarely ever saw any of them actually being used by anypony. The one or two times he'd ever been brave enough to take a peek inside one, they looked pretty narrow and isolated. Would probably make a pretty good potential hiding place for powerful magical artifacts now that he thought about it...

"Hey, uh, Applejack?" Spike said, breaking the silence as they approached the large metal doors.

"Hm?" She hummed, looking back over her shoulder at him.

"I was just thinking," He began, scratching the back of his head. "The last time I was here, so was Nightmare Moon. It might not be safe for us to just waltz right in, just in case she decides to come back or is already waiting for us."

"Well, what do you reckon we should do?" She asked. "Unless you want to head back already?"

"Well, we could try using the servant passageways to get inside the throne room instead," Spike explained, pointing them out to her. He'd only seem them due to similar ones being located around the same spot in Canterlot. "They are probably connected to more hidden doors inside the throne room. We shouldn't be taken by surprise if we go in through them."

Applejack eyed the doors cautiously, seeming a bit unsure. The wood the small doors were made from appeared aged and rotted.

"I'll take the door on the left and you can take one on the right. If these are anything like the ones we have back in Canterlot, there will probably be a set of hidden doors right behind the throne where we can meet up." He said, hastily turning and heading towards the left door. His hand twitched as he realized he was finally going to get some much needed alone time.

"Now hold on a minute ya Stud. How am I gonna be able to see anythin in there all on my own? That strange light magic ball thingy on yer head seems pretty well stuck to your dome."

"Uhh, well..." He trailed off, surprised that he had forgotten about that little detail. Surprised enough that he only just barely noticed that she had called him 'stud', causing his face to redden.

Spike looked around for something that they might be able to use. He eventually noticed that the pair of torch holders hanging on the walls by the throne room doors that were different from the others he had seen around the castle. Most had been empty, but these ones weren't. Walking over to one of them, he was able to wrench two old torches from their places on the wall. The wood they were made from was visibly rotted and a bit wet but remained mostly solid.

Then, breathing in deeply, he blew a small jet of green flames right over the tip of the sticks. The torches almost instantly caught fire and it spread over the head of the stick, making the stone walls and floor glow a light green color from his dragon fire.

"Huh, that's pretty handy." Applejack said, sounding genuinely impressed.

Holding out the flickering torch towards her, she hesitantly took it, being careful as to not accidentally set her stetson ablaze.

"That should hopefully last us long enough for us to meet back up again, though I actually think we should try searching around inside the passageways for a few extra minutes. You know, just in case we find something hidden in there."

"Alright, I'll give it a good look through." Applejack replied, heading for the other door. But before she opened it, she paused and looked back at Spike. "Just make sure ya be careful. Twilight was mighty upset after we lost you before and I don't think any of us would appreciate seeing anything happen to ya again."

With that, she entered the small dark passageway, the old wooden door slowly creaking closed behind her. Once she was gone, Spike let out a held breath. This was his chance. He cringed as his dick throbbed painfully again, seeming to realize that its chance for release was coming.

Opening the left passageway door, he peered inside. As he had been partly able to see through Applejack's door, it was a fairly small corridor with a low rounded ceiling that was only a little bit taller than he was. He could tell that the walls were also made from stone, albeit with less high-quality brickwork. The edge of his light shined on a sharp turn upwards in the tunnel ahead, likely leading up to the passages around and behind the throne room. With a cautious first few steps, he went fully inside.

At first eager, a sense of ominous unease suddenly took root. Looking back over his shoulder, Spike was just in time to see the door close behind him with an echoing clunk. A cold shiver ran down his spine at the sound. He'd been hoping that some alone time would enable him to get some much-needed release...but in a place like this...

"Ah!" Spike gasped, jumping as he felt an icy drop of water land on his exposed back. Looking up he saw that the ceiling was glistening in the light of Twilight's spell and his torchlight, the humidity from the forest air evidently condensing right above him.

'Mabye I should have just stuck with Applejack anyway...'

Pinkie Pie bounded along happily, skipping down a different large hall while humming a cheerful tune. The wall that ran by on her left was largely made from tall colorful windows, each in different states of disrepair. Occasionally she would glance over at one of them as she passed, sometimes breaking out into giggles at the silly shapes she saw in the multi-colored glass.

Behind her, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, And Fluttershy followed closely. Rarity was in the middle, the magic light ball on her horn acting as their only light source beyond the eerie moonlight that shone in through the windows. A cool breeze whipped through the high arched ceiling above them, creating a low howl that appeared to be preventing Rainbow from hovering any higher than above the other's heads. Pinkie Pie, of course, was all but oblivious to any of this as she bounced along without a care in the world.

Since they had split up with Applejack and Spike, a strangely lopsided decision that Rarity had argued against to no avail, they had been wandering the halls of the abandoned castle. They had yet to find anything particularly interesting so far, beyond a strange room that they could only assume was meant to be a bathroom of some sort. As to why Rainbow got particularly grumpy after they discovered it, Rarity wasn't sure.

But what made the bathroom so strange was its layout. Perhaps it was just part of how things were built thousands of years ago, but it seemed counter-intuitive to have a series of large toilet stalls...without any actual toilets or even a hole inside them. Other than that, there were a few broken sinks, the ornate frame of a shattered mirror, and for some reason, two overly large foal changing stations. Why they were so big, again, Rarity didn't know. Seemingly the more they saw of this castle, the less she understood about it.

The only good things that had come from their search so far were the numerous old tapestries and banners that hung down from the walls and ceilings. Each was intricately designed and apparently woven together well enough to mostly stand the test of time. Rarity spent most of her time admiring them or dramatically gasping out in horror, much to the displeasure of the others, whenever she saw one in a particularly bad state. All in all, it was a good distraction from the cold wind that brushed against her almost completely nude body.

Truth be told, Rarity had been more than a little distraught at the destruction of her dress and the severing of her tail. But in the end, she had done her best to salvage the situation. She'd managed to cobble together a small but functional bikini from what she was able to scavenge from her old dress and a few bits of plant matter. It was far from the best she could have done, but with the time they had, it was either that or just go nude. Her tail was less of a problem as luckily shorter tails were indeed in this season, but it was far from her usual style. Combine with her lack of coverage, it provided no protection for her supple behind.

And as much as she didn't mind showing off some skin, even among close friends, she had her limits. It had already been hard enough to not act flustered when they reconvened with Spike. Especially after taking his measurements in order to create that loincloth for him. While he hadn't been 'showing' at the time, while taking the measurements, Rarity was certain she'd noticed a long bulge hiding underneath his scales...

'That had to have been...'

"Ooo!" Pinkie suddenly cheered, shattering the tension that had been building up and making the rest of them jump. "Lookie!" She said, pointing ahead of them. Just ahead, on the right wall, there was a small steel door. Two empty torch holders flanked it on either side, but besides that, there was nothing else to signify where the door even lead. It had already been a while since they'd seen another room, and this one seemed out of place all on its own.

Feeling a pressure around her right leg, Rarity looked down to see Fluttershy with her arms wrapped around it, evidently more startled by Pinkie's outburst than the rest of them. Rarity felt bad for the poor dear. Ever since entering the castle, the girl had become fearful of every dark corner and shadow she saw, even her own. Looking back up, she saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie inspecting the handle-less door, apparently trying to find a way to get it open.

Bending down a moment to comfort the terrified pegasus attached to her leg, Rarity sighed. She badly wished Fluttershy had been able to stay behind with Twilight. The only reason she seemed to want to go with them was that Spike was going too. Rarity still couldn't figure out how Applejack had managed to get the drake all to herself back there.

"Come on Fluttershy, don't worry darling, we won't let anything happen to you." Rarity assured, causing Fluttershy to finally stand back up, cheeks tinted red.

"S-sorry" She whispered sheepishly.

"Hey guys, come on, I think we found something!" Rainbow called, waving them over.

Using what appeared to be a crowbar, Pinkie appeared to be trying to force the door open. Where she got such a tool from, nopony knew. But then, as Rarity stepped forwards, Fluttershy clutching tightly to her arm, she felt her right foot sink a little bit into the floor.

*Click!* *FWOOSH!*

In the span of just a few seconds, the floor opened up underneath them, causing them both to fall down into a dark abyss under the floor. And then a moment later, the floor had closed back again, leaving a stunned Rainbow and Pinkie staring at the spot their friends had just been standing.

"Uhhh..."

Author's Notes:

Fun Fact Of The Chapter: In medieval castles, the residence would often store their clothing inside the very same holes that they also used as toilets. Apparently, the smell left on them helped to ward off bugs...

Not gonna jinx myself again with the whole 'I will hopefully be available to write more now' thing like last time...damn 9-5 job...

But anyway, hope you enjoy this far overdue chapter. Sorry, there's nothing particularly juicy in this one, more of that stuff is coming later.