One week later
(Clay POV)
It’s been one week since I decided that I’m going to break out. And progress has not been made. My goal was to get some meat on my bones before I attempt the break out, but sadly I didn’t gain any weight. Those experiments left me as skinny as a twig.
“Oi. It’s dinner time!” The guard yelled to get my attention. I didn’t bother looking at him, I knew he was there before he announced himself. My senses grew a lot stronger for some reason.
He began to bang on the bars trying to get a reaction out of me. “I said dinner time.” He spoke calmly. I gave him a thumbs up and he walked away. I heard him let out a sigh once he got further down the hallway.
On the wall of my cell I made a sketch. My claws are retractable like cat claws. And they come from my fingernails. They are strong enough to cut the concrete wall like butter. They remind me of those white haired boys claws on Hunter Hunter something… my brother watched that a lot. Except my hands don’t get all veiny.
The sketch I made was what I remembered of the castle's layout. I didn’t have much to go off of, but it was enough.
“Now all I have to do is wait.” I quietly said to myself.
After an hour of waiting it was time for the guards to switch shifts. Once the guard in front of my cell walked far enough always, I cut through the metal bars letting them fall to the floor.
(3rd POV)
After watching the bars hit the ground, Clay stepped out of his cell. He rolled his shoulders and began walking briskly out of the dungeon. Once he got to the main corridor of the dungeon he peaked around the corner to see many guards along the walls. He noted that it was a wide space and a high ceiling. That’s when an idea hit him. And something else also hit him.
“WE HA-” Before the guard could alert the others Clay quickly rushed over to him and punched him in the gut, knocking him out.
‘Phew’ Clay said internally. He dragged the unconscious guard to his cell and put him in it. Now back to his plan.
Clay brought out his claws and silently hopped onto the wall. Using his claws he dug into the wall and with his inhuman strength scaled the walls and ceiling.
Doing this got him out of the dungeon in around ten minutes. ‘I wonder why the guards didn’t notice I left my cell? Anyways..’ After that thought he jumped down into a hallway. He ran through the hallways of the castle like a madman until he found the exit. The guards were immediately alerted by him running around. They tried to stop him multiple times but Clay jumped over their head and kept running. The only ones that posed a problem for Clay were the unicorns. So when he saw one he’d just knock them out. Eventually he got frustrated that he couldn’t find the exit so he stopped to ask for help.
“Excuse me.” Clay said to a maid that was cleaning a vase in one of the castle corridors. She was started by him and screamed. He put a hand on her mouth. “Can you point me to the… wait never mind.” He let go of the poor mare and jumped out of the window next to them. He had been so focused on finding the exit that he forgot he could just make one.
While he was falling out of the window he could feel heat coming from his left.
It was Starswirl and a couple of other unicorns shooting fireballs at him. Having no way to dodge he put his arms up to block. The fireballs made impact but did no real damage. With his skin being more durable from the experiments his arms barely burned.
He hit the ground hard. But unlike before at the mansion, this time he is far more durable. He quickly got up and brushed the dirt off of himself.
“You couldn’t wait another week?! Come on!” Starswirl yelled and began launching a variety of spells at Clay. Clay was avoiding them as best as he could. After a couple seconds the other unicorns began firing upon Clay as well but at a slower rate than Starswirl.
While he was focusing on Starswirl and the others he heard the flapping of wings come from behind him. Looking over his shoulder he saw Faust flying straight at him while also avoiding the magic spells. In her hand was a sword pointed directly at him.
Clay stopped moving and let the spells come straight at him. Both Faust and Starswirl noticed this and felt that something was wrong. As both the spells and Faust inched closer to Clay, he was busy gathering all the strength in his legs for one moment.
He jumped!
He jumped as high as he could, causing Faust to take the spells head on. She tried to pull back but wasn’t quick enough. She used her sword to block some of them while weaving through the spells. Of course, she took some hits but they were nothing to her.
“Hold!” Starswirl bellowed out the order. Earth ponies and Pegasus soon came rushing out only to witness Clay axe kick Faust’s blade. No damage was dealt to the sword, but Clay's leg went numb when he made contact.
Clay then kicked off of the blade to put some distance between them. Faust however immediately closed the distance by launching her sword like a spear.
Clay still midair gets run through the gut by the sword. He landed on his feet only to fall to his knees coughing up blood. He slowly got up to see Faust wielding some floating stones. He tried to run away, but Starswirl stopped him. Some magic ropes sprang up from the ground and held Clay in place.
Before he could break free a bright rainbow light enveloped him. His vision faded as all he could see was white.
Starswirl’s eyes widened. “What a strange power…” he said in wonder while witnessing what just happened. This was the first time they had used it.
Well what just happened was that Faust used the elements of harmony on Clay. Or as they were calling them, the Harmonic Stones. They were the product of a strange tree that Starswirl had discovered. He found them and brought them back to his queen. They had no idea what it would do but they knew how powerful it could be. They agreed to only use them if necessary. And apparently Faust found it necessary.
Once the elements hit Clay a bright light flashed blinding everyone. When the light died down they could all see a small tree take the place of Clay. In the middle of the tree, Faust's sword could be seen sticking out both ends.
Starswirl made his way over to Faust to discuss what happened. Faust raised her hand in the air catching all of her subjects' attention. “I have slain the enemy! You may rest now my loyal followers!” She shouted with a smile on her face. Every pony raised their fist in the air just like Faust and let out a victory scream of their own.
‘We will talk later, Starswirl.’ Faust used telepathy to say to Starswirl who nodded in response.
And just like that 1,500 years passed by… everyone had forgotten about Clay.
But as the days go by his tree withers even more. Until one day after a long time his tree began to crack until finally it revealed a person laying on the ground with a rusted sword in his stomach. His eyes fluttered open.
“I’m no longer a tree!” He yelled at the top of his lungs once he realized what happened. He tried to get up only for his legs to fail him. “I’ve been a tree for so long I forgot how to walk…” he tried to get up again. Instead of moving he did what he did to move when he was a tree, he thought about where he wanted to be. He wanted to be on his feet.
And now he’s on his feet. Except he didn’t actually move his legs… he used a quirk. He used Shao Dows quirk, Teleportation. He found out about this quirk while he was a tree. When he was a tree he had the ability to move from tree to tree by the roots. But after a while he learned to subconsciously transport himself to a tree just by thinking about it. This was the first time that he teleported his whole body instead of just his consciousness.
“Hmm ok.” Clay thought. He then spent the next few minutes learning how to walk again.
He was back at the castle and over time it had deteriorated. As did his clothes.. he was walking around naked with a rusty sword sticking out of him. He forgot that the sword was there because it’s been there for so long he stopped caring about it. He took it out anyways so it doesn’t leave any more damage than it already did. The wound started to bleed so he used his ripped up clothes to wrap around it, stopping the bleeding.
Sometime later he found a suitable pair of clothes in one of the ruins of the Blueblood mansion. He found a long sleeve old torn dark grey shirt. With it he found and wore a pair of black pants with black boots. And low and behold his scarf was hanging on the wall. He grabbed it and put it around his neck where it was supposed to be. It looked like it didn't age a day, like him.
He patted the dust off of his new clothes and nodded his head in satisfaction. A loud noise came from his stomach reminding him that he needed to eat.
“I can’t wait to eat again.” Clay said as he started making his way to the forest.