A day has passed in a relative peace. Sirius was tested by Luna in mathematics, language, and geography, the three main things he needed to know before entering school. As she found out, he was very good at math once he figured out what each symbol meant, and his learning of language was going smoothly. He still had problems with words and their placement, as well as large and complex sentences, but he was good to go. In geography, he could navigate on both the map and terrain fairly easily, and it was the main criteria on being good in it. Luna didn't know him enough to guess where he obtained the knowledge, but he did learn many things while he was studying at his first school.

His magic was also tested, and it was found out he had above average magical reserves which were used a couple of times. However, Sirius told Luna he couldn't do any magic. It was obviously a lie, but the princess of the night didn't know the whole truth to disprove his statement. She was confused as to why would Sirius be hiding it.

So, it was the last day of his stay at the Canterlot Castle, and he was glad to finally leave it. He explicitly stated that neither princesses nor royal guards must accompany him to the school or the hostel. He said he would find the way by himself. Being alone and away from royalty would be good for him, he thought.

Before Sirius went off, he picked up the red leaf. It looked like always, albeit less lively. The former human couldn't quite place that difference. He rolled it up and put it into his saddlebags.

Luna gave him rather large saddlebags made in his color scheme. They contained some inkwells and quills, a couple of books he would need to read to understand the language better, and a couple of notebooks to write in. There was also a snack for him: a couple of rose sandwiches, a pair of red apples, and a bottle of fresh water. Overall, everything that was necessary for him was with him.

***

Walking through the streets of Canterlot, he kept to the right, to the more shadowy part of the street. He didn't like seeing all those ponies walking around, and he didn't want to bump into any of them accidentally. Stay out of sight, stay out of attention. If anything happened on the street, he would be able to disappear swiftly and unseen. He has learned it during his teenage years. Don't want to be noticed? Don't act like you want to.

He didn't found architecture or ponies interesting to look at. He mainly stared at the road under his hooves, simply thinking about moving his legs. He wasn't afraid of crowds but he surely would be better if less ponies were around. Although, he wouldn't like the street to be completely empty.

The sun was high in the sky. It was about midday. It was the reason why there were so many ponies around the streets chatting, walking, or simply doing their jobs. A couple of royal guards could be seen patrolling the streets. They were mostly an eye-candy than an actual civil protection patrol — there weren't any serious crimes committed in over a couple of centuries. Murder was completely forgotten, robbery and thievery eliminated, pesky disturbances almost disappeared. Nothing but a couple of foals messing around jokingly.

Overall, it was very peaceful. Sirius even started to like this state where he didn't have to look out for shady people. Though, it didn't mean he stopped doing it. It was an instinct he had developed by then. Avoid danger, look around often, it was his strategy of walking in the streets. You never know what you might encounter there. One of his scars reminded him of it quite often.

Soon, he reached the school and the hostel. Both looked like ordinary buildings on the outside, only having their names displayed on the front entrance. Canterlot Elementary School and CES Hostel. Sirius went to the latter.

As he entered the hostel, he noticed how clean it was inside. When he first arrived at the hostel near his college, it was pretty dirty and even had cockroaches running about. This one was a nice and welcoming change.

"Good day, young stallion!" a mare at the counter greeted him. "You're Sirius, am I right?"

He nodded.

"Good. I was informed you might arrive soon." she nodded. "Everything is already prepared for you. Room number fourty-five. It's on the second floor. Have a good day!"

Sirius nodded again, and then asked: "Keys?"

"Don't worry, there are better security measures than that. Nopony besides you and your roommate can enter without permission." the mare replied. "We got everything covered!"

Sirius was slightly skeptical about it, but he decided to trust her. He had already seen magic by then, and he was pretty sure it could be used for safety and security measures.

***

Finally, Sirius entered the apartment and closed the door behind him.

The room was quite spacious, having two beds with chests of drawers by them, a couple of shelves above them, a couple of walk-in closets, two tables with chairs, and some bookcases. There were windows behind the beds, showing the view on the school.

On the second bed a filly lied, reading a book. As Sirius entered, she lowered it and looked at him. He looked at her in turn.

She was a pegasus about the same age as him, had icy-cyan fur and long wavy white mane and tail with two streaks of very pale blue, and her eyes were gray with a tint of pink. She also had a cutie mark of a lightning encased in frost.

"Hi." she said cheerfully, setting the book aside and standing up from the bed. "I'm Iclyn." she walked to Sirius and extended her hoof for a bump. "You're Sirius, right?"

He carefully studied her. Iclyn was looking at him without wariness but with interest. She was pretty confident in herself, too. She was pretty cheerful, wanting to talk to Sirius about different things. It was apparent she was tired of loneliness of the apartment.

He nodded to her question, ignoring the hoof. He also had no idea how to respond to the gesture. Awkwardly, Iclyn placed her hoof on the ground, pretending this moment didn't happen.

"The school's over for today, but I can show you around." she said, walking to the door. "You know, help you get acquaint with the place. You mind?"

Shaking his head, Sirius detached the saddlebags from himself and placed them near the exit, and then followed Iclyn out of the room.

"I was told you're from far away and arrived just recently. So, what do you feel about Equestria?" she asked as the two walked down the hallway to the stairs.

"I not know it much to say for certain." he replied in his yet rather crude Commonlang.

"I've not heard such an accent you have before." the filly commented. "It's exotic... Well, you'll surely find Equestria to your liking! I s'pose you'll just have to discover more. And learn the language, too."

Sirius nodded again.

"So, where are you from?" Iclyn asked with interest.

He didn't answer.

"Uh... I guess you don't wanna talk about it?" she asked, confusion on her face.

He nodded.

"Alright, sorry..." her ears dropped slightly. "Um... What did you do before coming here?"

"Nothing too interesting." he replied. He was, of course, lying. He just didn't want to talk about it but neither did he want to make her suspicious of him. For all he knew, the princesses could very well be watching him right at that moment.

"That must've been pretty boring." Iclyn replied. "However! We will surely have a lot of fun stuff to do! After the lessons, that is. It's settled, then — I will show you around the whole city!"

"No." Sirius shook his head. "After lessons, I will be studying. I not want go around the city looking at... things." he also wasn't looking forward to spending much of his time with the filly. She was too vocal and talkative for his taste.

"Aw, c'mon, you don't want to just sit and do boring stuff!" Iclyn said in disappointment. "Really, there is so much for you! You've not been here before — it's time to look around and see Equestria!"

"I know just enough." Sirius countered. "Drop it."

A pause ensued in their more or less one-sided dialogue.

"Jeez, you don't have to be like that." the filly frowned slightly. "Okay... If you don't want to explore Canterlot, good for you. However, you need to know what our school is."

He nodded.

***

"...and here's the cafeteria. Food's free, pick whatever you like when we finish studying for the day." Iclyn finished her tour, and the two went back to the apartment.

Sirius liked the school so far. It had free food, working toilets, even working showers. Everything was in pristine condition, too. Not even a random writing on any walls. The colors were soft and comfortable for his liking: various light shades of green. Speaking about the green, there were many pots with different plants placed around the school. It looked pretty lively and warm.

But he reminded himself that students didn't always correspond with how the school looked. For all he knew, they could be total uncaring assholes. While Iclyn wasn't one of those, at least not yet, Sirius suspected that other students could very well be.

In conclusion, he stopped caring about the school's looks as soon as he exited it. All he cared about was getting some knowledge and education. He needed to learn about magic, for once. It seemed pretty useful, and he wasn't going to miss such a chance of learning it.

Then, his mind returned to Iclyn.

Overall, Sirius felt slightly irritated and annoyed at the filly, as well as tired. He wanted nothing more than to lie on his bed, busying himself with a book or two. Books were the only source of entertainment and knowledge he could get. He didn't care about Iclyn or what she did — she was a roommate, nothing more. As long as she stays out of his way, everything will be fine.

Iclyn was uncertain about Sirius. She knew him too little to say anything about him. However, it was clear to her that he was a rare kind of pony. Unlike any other teenage colts she's met before, Sirius was much different. Even disturbingly so. She couldn't quite place it yet, she couldn't define the difference, but it was apparent something was amiss with him.

If she only knew...

Author's Notes:

Everything goes more or less smoothly so far.

Will it continue like this? Certainly not.

Now, a picture of Iclyn! It was made by the amazing skunkdinner!