All I could do was just keep running. The tunnel had two turns, a right and a left, but since I remembered them and the right turn slowly lead into the left turn, I knew I could just sprint the whole way without hitting a wall, even while blinded. In the worst case scenario I would scrape along the walls, but that wouldn't be that bad as long as I didn't stop.
What was bothering me, was that 10 seconds in, my skin was starting to itch and my lungs were starting to burn, from the lack of air. But I couldn't stop, I had to run for another 25 seconds and there was no way I would stop before that.
After 25 seconds I felt lightheaded and my mind was starting to scream at me, to take a breath.
'I can't take a breath right now, I mustn't! But why can't I? I just have to breath in through my nose and then breath out, it should be easy, right? No! If I start taking in air now, I'm going to die! But won't I die if I don't get some air into my lungs soon? Just another 10 seconds and then I can breath as long as I want. But wouldn't it be easier to do it now? Plus there is no guarantee I can actually reach the exit in 10 seconds. NO, SHUT UP!' Even while my mind was getting more and more jumbled, I just kept sprinting towards what I hoped was the exit.
25 seconds passed, and I was still running. My mind was almost completely blank, the only thing in it was the thought of getting air.
28 seconds passed, and I couldn't do it anymore. Without opening my eyes, I stopped, took a deep breath and waited. And waited. And waited.
30 seconds passed and I finally had the courage to open my eyes. When I did, I almost started jumping from joy, the only thing stopping me, was the fact I would most likely puke all over the floor if I did. What I saw around me, were thick stone walls, surrounding an old well. The entrance to the tunnel was at the other end of the courtyard about 15 meters (32.8 feet) away from me, and like on the other end, thick smoke was rising towards the open sky.
I decided to just sit down and take some time to stabilize my breathing and think about what had happened.
'There are a lot of things I don't know. For example, what was that voice, that was keeping the explosion at bay? Why was this castle abandoned? Why are humans here treated like animals on earth? Why can't I see magic, even though the ponies said I could? There are just too many questions. If I can find the library, then maybe I can learn something, that is, if any the books are still in the shape to be read and if I can even read them.' Having gone over the most important things at the moment I stood up on my wobbly legs, still tired from the run, but excited to finally find out more about this world.
Turns out I didn't have to worry about the language barrier, since everything was written in English, albeit old English, but still. I also didn't have to worry about the books falling apart, they were probably enchanted or something, so that they were immune to the passage of time. That is why 2 hours after starting my search, I was sitting in a still solid and comfortable rocking chair with a thick book in my hands.
The title of the book was: Short history of Equestria. It wasn't really all that interesting, the only major events were the unification of the three pony tribes and the end of the Discordian era. There was also a mention of the Crystal war and the imprisonment of Tirek, whoever that was, but it didn't really catch my attention. I did learn the names of the two seemingly immortal rulers. There was the ruler of the day, princess Celestia, who could apparently move the sun and there was the ruler of the night, princess Luna, who could, according to the book, move the moon. I tried to find any explanation as to why they were called princesses instead of queens, but couldn't find anything. And then, when I was going to the nearby shelf to put away the book, I noticed it.
It was an ordinary book, except for the tittle: Everything you need to know about humans. It was like it was there just for me, like I was meant to read it, so I did.
To summarize, the book first talked about humans as a species. Nobody knows where they came from, it is a well known fact that they evolved out of monkeys and most importantly, humans don't and can not posses magic. The book than went on to the fact that all living beings with sentience have at least a little magic and since humans have no magic, they aren't even animals. They are actually in a class below animal, created just for species like them, called magicless. That class of beings has been since olden times used as slaves, combat or otherwise, as toys or even as sacrifices in the darker eras of pony kind. To conclude, I was at the absolute bottom of the food chain, with even slugs above me.
I was crushed. Forget about a normal life, I couldn't even show myself in a town without a collar and a name tag! Then, I saw something interesting. At the complete bottom of the page, is said: There was one time in history, when a human possessed the ability to see magic, but still couldn't use it. You can find more on the topic in the book: Magic in humans? by Starswirl.
I immediately searched for the book and when I finally found it at the top of the third shelf, completely dedicated to this Starswirl. I grabbed it and went back to the rocking chair, where I sat down and full of hope opened the book. It read:
Subject: deceased
'Well shit.'
Age: 14
'So young!'
Reason: Magic overload. After a detailed autopsy it has been found out why the subject could see, hear and at the end of it's life even feel magic. It appears that it had been, instead of generating magic itself, pulling magic from outside into itself. As the magic entered it's body through the easiest means, the eyes, it could at first only see magic, afterwards, as more magic flowed into the subject, its smallest magic pores opened, allowing magic to flow through the ears. At the end of it's life the subject's magic pool grew too large for the magic to be contained causing it to burst open the magic pores all over the subject's body. That in turn allowed magic to pour directly through the subjects magic pores, effectively pumping the subject full of magic without any means of getting it out.
'So that will happen to me too?! I will start to hear magic, then feel magic and then I'm going to die?! But if I find a way to get magic out of me, I could survive right? That just means I need to use magic, right? I have to figure out how to cast spells!'
As I searched for a book on spells, something moved away from the wall it was leaning against and approached me through my blind spot.