I woke up, groggy a little but finally rested. I looked at the bandage on my leg. All the blood that soaked into it had dried to a crisp, indicating it was done bleeding a while ago. Shouldn’t chance taking it off anyway. It might get infected if it isn’t already, I told myself.
I got off the bed and back on all fours. No more limp. I went over to the wall that brought me into the room earlier and examined it closely. I found it, the mechanism for the wall. It was faint, but I found the outline of a hoof sized square. I pressed on it and the wall spun once more, bringing me back to the hall I came from. I feel like this is highly unnecessary for a medical ward. Turning away from the wall and toward the three way hall intersection. I asked myself “Which way did I come from?” In the left hall I found my blood trail I left behind indicating which way I came from.
“Now I know which way not to go.” I proceeded forward. Just as predicted. Just like Canterlot castle, the halls are just like a maze, except it wasn’t the same maze. Though the experience was somewhat enjoyable.
At one point, I found an armory. Even though everything I found in there was old and worn down, what I found was fascinating all the same. I found a variety of weapons and equipment. There were, spears, scythes, flails, daggers, short swords, long swords, twin swords, maces and staffs. I found sheaths for almost all of them too, allowing it to hang along the side of the body or across one’s back. I found old, mostly battered armor along with old tattered cloaks. But there was one strange item of special interest. A metal ring with a handle on it, but other than the handle, the rest was a ring shaped blade. What the hell is this? A weapon? I stored it in on of my saddlebags. Due to ware the blade isn’t sharp anymore, so it shouldn’t cut the bags. I’m done here. I should continue on. I left the room to continue roaming the halls.
I also came across a room with the a door labeled “Artifacts”. This should be interesting. I thought, but I was wrong. I guess other explorers found there way here too, because the room was stripped bare. I decided to take a look around anyway, despite how boring the thought seemed. To my surprise however, I found a giant square on the back wall being held in place with lots of latches, along with a series of levers off to the side. I flipped a lever and a few latches came off. I flipped another lever and some more latches came off. Bad news is that when I flipped the second lever, not only did more latches come off, but some of the latches the first lever undone latched back into place.
“A puzzle. A fucking puzzle.” I shouldn’t be surprised though. If there’s a secret door to the medical ward, then of course there’s going to be a puzzle. But I still had reason to smirk though.
“I had a feeling you would be here, in the castle, instead of out there, in the forest. First though, this God damn puzzle.” I took a few hours to experiment with the levers, memorizing what lever controlled which latches. When I got the controls memorized, I smirked. “Got you now.” I have always had a knack for puzzle. After pulling a few levers, all the lathes opened and the square fell off the wall. “Geronimo.” There was a small space in the uncovered area of the wall. Looking inside, I found the desired object. A Poison Joke made of sapphire. I took it in my magic and levitated it into a saddlebag.
“What do we have here?” I asked, taking out an old book from behind where the sapphire Poison Joke was. “How interesting.” I also put the book into a saddlebag, making sure to read it later. I guess this book is Discords reward. I tried to teleport to the throne room from there, but it didn’t work. Must be too far. Time to walk.
The walk wasn’t that bad, only boring. I stopped for what seemed like hours till I reached the throne room. I was about ready to drop dead, not taking a rest the whole time while walking aimlessly through the maze of corridors. I decided to step outside and look at the sky, only to find that it was already sundown. If I keep going, I’ll reach Ponyville by morning at the latest. Upon leaving the entryway of the castle, I had an almost immediate reminder about the bridge.
I had to think. I would take too long to walk around, so that’s not an option. I reexamined the remaining planks on the bridge. Then, I had a theory. I readied myself for a new combination of teleportation and quick thinking. What I’m going to do next is based entirely on theory alone. If I’m wrong, I’ll fall to my death.
I executed the spell, disappearing and only to reappear onto the closest group of remaining planks that are still attached to the bridge. I heard the planks start cracking immediately. I couldn’t afford to waste a second. I triggered the spell a second time, appearing onto the next group of planks and, without hesitation, casted the spell again. I had to repeat the process a few more times before I reached the other side. Fuck me, that was exhausting! I sighed. I Just learned I can do a chain of teleports though. That will be useful one day.
I started on my way back to Ponyville. Even though it was dark out, I still managed to back track. I only stopped for water on the way. It took all night to cross the forest. When I emerged from I thanked God and whatever other deity these ponies might have that I didn’t step in any poison joke again on the way. That would have been dangerous. With Ponyville in sight, I broke into a gallop.