In the Eyes of Death

by HydeYmir

Chapter Two: Old Monster and the Rat

‘Where the hell am I?’ Clay thought to himself as he wondered around the woods for what felt like a day now. So far no signs of sentient life have been spotted. He has only seen animals and ate a few wild fruits when he got hungry. “Can I just find a town or something already..” He complained. And if someone was listening to him, past a few more trees there was a clearing with what appeared to be a cabin, in the middle of it.

Having walked for so long at this point he didn’t care about being spotted, so he walked up to the door of the cabin and knocked on it. The cabin itself looked very old, it was made of wood that seemed to be rotting. On the side a cobblestone chimney protruded out. It had two windows on the front of it, and the roof was a type of black wood.

Walking up to the cabin Clay knocked on the door. As he knocked the door slowly creaked open, catching him off guard. Raising a brow Clay slowly walked in. Taking in his surroundings he found that nobody was present in the room. The cabin consisted of two rooms. The first and biggest room was the living room/kitchen. There was one couch, a recliner, and a nice fur carpet. The animal which the carpet belongs to is unknown to him. The kitchen was just your normal kitchen. It had all the standard things. Expect there was a rock to the side.

The second room was a bedroom. It had a king bed and that’s it.

After taking in all of the house Clay walked up to the couch to get some rest. ‘Let’s hope the owner doesn’t come back anytime soon…’ he thought to himself as he drifted asleep.

(5 hours later)

“What the hell?! Why is my door open?” A cranky voice called out from in front of the cabin, startling Clay awake. Immediately he stood up and got into a defensive stance, waiting for the person to enter. ‘The steps sounded heavy, and judging from the voice it’s a man. An older one at that.’ Clay thought as a hand grabbed into the door, pushing it out of the way to reveal an old skinny man. Walking next to him was a fat rat that had on a hat. The man was using a cane to hold himself up

Looking over the man spotted Clay. “What the hell are ya doin’ in my house, boy!” The old man yelled as he flailed his cane around. Hitting the rat in the process. “Ah Cheddar Cheese!” The man yelled out in fright and quickly rushed over to C.C.

“What is going on..” Clay mumbled under his breath before. “Listen I apologize for coming into your house while it was unattended. I need a place to rest, I’ll take my leave now.” He said as he tried to slip out the door. Within an instant Clay was on his back. With the old man staring down at him.

Now that he has a closer look at him, Clay could make out more details about the old man. He had long spiky white hair that was connected to a long white beard. The old man had on a red yukata that had black birds decorating it. The most striking feature of his was his eyes. They were the same kind as Starswirls, except his weren’t shattered. They were a light yellow color that popped against his sun kissed skin.

“What just happ—” Was all clay could get out of his mouth before a cane covered it. Grabbing the cane Clay pushed the old man back and stood up. “-end.” He finished his sentence and he looked the old man in the eyes.

“I just put your ass on the ground that what.” The old man said as he brushed his close off. He scooped C.C. Up and let him sit on his shoulder. “Now boy tell what you were doing in my house.”

“I just needed a place to rest. I thought I said that already.” Clay said as he shrugged his shoulders. “And my name isn’t boy, it’s Clay.” He said as he went to turn around and leave, but once again found himself on the ground looking up at the ceiling.

“That’s all fine an’ dandy. Although I don’t remember asking for ya name, boy?.” The old man said as he walked over to the kitchen and started making tea.

Clay was baffled. Not once, but twice this old man managed to put him on the ground. “You clearly don’t want me to leave, so while you're making your tea would you care to explain how you knocked me over?” Clay asked as he went to take a seat at the table.

“Let me make my tea first, boy.” The old man said. After a few minutes he came to the table, tea pot in hand and made himself a glass. “Now as to how I did it, I just used my cane to trip you.” He said as he took a sip of his tea.

“There is no way you did that without me noticing. Twice at that. What kind of old monster are you?” Clay questioned.

The old man closed his eyes and took a sip of tea. “The kind that can tell you’re not a pony.” Clay was already on guard against this old man, but now his guard tightened. “You see, my eyes can see the magic network or as some like to say, magic circuits, in a living being. Except you don’t have any magic, you have this peculiar green energy oozing off your body and swirling around your chest.” The old man let out a refreshed sigh and placed his cup on the table.

That’s when it clicked for Clay. That’s how Starswirl’s knew he was human. And that’s why Starswirl’s could see where the ponies were. The crazy pony may be blind but he can still see.

Clay buried his head in his scarf. “Why are you telling me this.” He said as he poured himself a cup of tea. However ol’ Cheddar Cheese jumped down and smacked his hand away. Clay retracted his hand back under the table and glared at the rat.

“Ohohoho, looks like C.C. doesn't like you very much.” The old man continued to laugh, joined by his rat.

Clay raised from his seat and made his way towards the door.

“Where are you going? Who said you could leave? Do you know where the nearest town is?” The old man yelled out while hitting his cane on the floor.

“So many questions. I don’t think you deserve an answer if you won’t answer mine first.” Clay said as he shot a glare at the old man and the rat. With no response he made his way out of the cabin.

“Hey, boy!” The old man yelled from the doorway, causing clay to turn around to see what he had to say. “I told you all that because I like you! If you ever struggle to make use of your powers come back here! And the nearest town is to the east.” With that Clay walked off, without even learning the old man's name.

---

Finding the nearest town was an easy task, given he had direction to follow now. The town he entered was a large city, withton of people out on the streets. And the people that lived there seemed really nice. Making his way to a tavern he took a seat at the bar.

“You must be new around here.” The bartender said as he approached Clay. He just nodded in response. “Not much of a talker huh? Well you tend to meet all sorts of folk when you live in one of the biggest cities in Equestria.” The bartender looked on as he began to clean some glassware before walking off.

After hearing what he need to hear Clay left the barroom and made his way deeper into the city. What he wanted to know was how big the city was and that’s exactly what he found out. The bigger the city, the more nobles, the more jobs, the more hits. Once he made his way into the deeper parts of the city he saw a stall selling masks. All of them were made out of bone, and considering what parts of town he was in, Clay didn’t want to question what kind of bone that is. Walking to the stall Clay picked up a mask he liked.

“How much?” He asked the shopkeep as he put the mask on.

“100 bits!” The shopkeep said greedily before getting kicked in the face. “Ahh! You broke my nose!” He said as he went to grab something out of his back pocket, well he tried to grab it. Clay once again kicked the guy in the face, stunning him, then walked away.

“This is a nice mask. You can’t even see my eyes through the holes.” Clay compliment the mask as he looked at his reflection in a puddle on the ground.

“Well then, I think it’s time I make a name for myself.” Clay said as he put his hand in his pockets and walked in front of another bar. This one was a lot more darker than the previous. This time Clay could sense the evil coming from this place. “Thank you guys for leading me to this place.” Clay said as he looked around. “I might as well take over this town while I’m at it.” He said as he bursted through the barroom door.

All eyes were on him. Some had their weapons drawn, while others horns were lightened up. “Who the hell are you?!” A huge guy from the crowd called out.

“I’ve gone by many names...” Clay started out calmly. Then he activated his quirk making his hair rise and started to release bloodlust as he spoke. “The stranger, the devil, heartless bastard, senseless murderer, the jury, etc. you get the point.” Clay said as he stopped with all the theatrics and grabbed a seat at the bar.

“You may call me the ghost…”

Author's Note:

This isn’t really how I wanted this chap to turn out so I understand if anyone is disappointed with it, but oh well. I really need to build up the background history of Clay so I cant just skip straight to the good stuff. But yeah this chap is a little choppy...

I wonder who Clay was talking to?

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

The greedy bartender deserved that kick to the face.

[ponyreaper1]

Nice lad

[Pete100]

The old man closed his eyes and took a sip of tea. “The kind that can tell you’re not a pony.” Clay was already on guard against this old man, but now his guard tightened. “You see, my eyes can see the magic network or as some like to say, magic circuits, in a living being. Except you don’t have any magic, you have this peculiar green energy oozing off your body and swirling around your chest.” The old man let out a refreshed sigh and placed his cup on the table.

I’m sorry, what?

That’s when it clicked for Clay. That’s how Starswirl’s knew he was human. And that’s why Starswirl’s could see where the ponies were. The crazy pony may be blind but he can still see .

Starswirl can do it too?

“Hey, boy!” The old man yelled from the doorway, causing clay to turn around to see what he had to say. “I told you all that because I like you! If you ever struggle to make use of your powers come back here! And the nearest town is to the east.” With that Clay walked off, without even learning the old man's name.

Isn’t his powers useless?

[SonZohanda]

10813308
One yeah, you rigth; but the other is transformation