As the evening came, Sirius settled down in the apartment. Munching on a sandwich, he was reading a book, expanding his yet poor vocabulary. He would often mutter the words to hear how they sounded. Then, he would repeat those words a couple of times to memorize them. Overall, his mind was productively occupied.

Iclyn was sitting at the table, using her mouth to write in her notebook. While there weren't lessons that required homework the next day, she did it in advance so that she wouldn't have to do it later. From time to time, she glanced at Sirius with some interest. However, he pretended he hadn't noticed. Eventually, she stopped looking at him and fully concentrated on the homework.

Sirius was informed that four lessons took place the next day: two lessons of Physical Culture and two Magic lessons. Nothing that would require him to prepare written homework. He wasn't even worried about the lessons in the slightest — he could roll with them until they become a nuisance he would no longer stomach. As long as they taught him something useful, he wouldn't object. And if they didn't... Well, he would find another way.

Feeling nature's call, Sirius stood up and went to the bathroom. Actually, there was a door in the apartment that led to one, and he didn't notice it until Iclyn used the bathroom for herself.. As he entered it, he found it to his liking — small but useful, the bathroom could provide anything necessary for physical relief and cleaning.

As he finished with the former, he decided to take a shower and then go to sleep. He got into the bathtub and turned on the water. Adjusting it to a comfortable temperature, he washed himself thoroughly, including his mane and tail, washing away all dust and bring the feeling of fresh upon himself.

He didn't spend long in the shower. As good as it was, he wanted to sleep more. Soon, he stepped out of the bathtub, expecting a warm breeze he received at the Canterlot Castle. However, no hot air blew. He swore under his breath as he understood he had to take care of all that wet fur by himself.

Picking up the nearest clean towel, he dried himself to the best of his ability, becoming a fuzzball in the process. He was glad neither his fur, mane nor tail were too long. Besides, he was planning on cutting the latter two. During recent years, he had been keeping his hair short, and the same could be applied to his mane and tail.

He decided to look inside the drawers under the sink. Maybe he could find a pair scissors or something like that. Fortunately, he discovered what he needed — a mechanical hair trimmer. He once used one of those, and it wouldn't take him much to remember.

He began to shave his mane. The trimmer was slightly off, and Sirius found himself in light pain due to how it pulled his mane from time to time. However, in five minutes he completed all of the shaving and threw the shaved hair into the bin that was conveniently placed near the drawers. He looked in the mirror. His mane looked fine from the front. He turned his head around to see if he missed anything. Gladly, he didn't, and all his mane was by that moment only about one and a half centimeters long, including the huge part of it on the neck.

Then, he moved to his tail. It was much easier — at least he could see where he was shaving. Not that it was particularly difficult with his head, but actually seeing the process was much better.

So, he decided to leave the tail slightly longer, about three centimeters. As he finished trimming, he realized there is a lot of leftover hairs stuck in his fur. Blaming himself for the stupidity, he put the trimmer back and went back into the bathtub to wash the hairs away.

After everything was done and he dried himself off again, he exited the bathroom.

Iclyn turned to him and inspected him.

"Huh, you look quite nice with that short mane." she complimented.

Without replying, Sirius went to bed and soon was lying on it, preparing to go to sleep. He didn't care about her compliments — he had done it for himself, not her or anyone else.

Iclyn sighed and muttered under her breath: "Not the friendliest type, are you?"

Sirius decided to ignore the statement and instead focus on resting. He didn't care what that filly thought or said about him either. He wasn't there to make friends, at least not with those strange ponies. He would be better off studying instead.

***

Sirius found himself unable to sleep as insomnia took hold on him again. A couple of hours had passed by the time he realized he wouldn't get any sleep that night without doing anything to help himself.

It was about midnight, and the moonlight was peeking through the window. The former human sighed and sat up.

He remembered that the school would start in the morning. He would get to meet new ponies and study various subjects, some of which he would perhaps take an interest in. For once, he was interested in magic. But not in how it worked but rather how it could be used. He already knew one way — levitation. Could he fly? Could he teleport? Could he transform one item into another? There were endless possibilities with the new power he had.

He was anxious to start learning it. Math, geography, history — all of them didn't matter, nothing else but magic was interesting to him. Though, he would need to make sure he wouldn't be expelled from the school for failing in other subjects.

Sirius decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air. He didn't care if there were any restrictions for night walks, he desperately needed some clean air to ease his mind.

He stood up from his bed and went to exit the apartment.

"Where are you going?" he heard the voice of Iclyn. She was lying on her bed and looking at the colt.

"What it to you?" Sirius snorted, and then exited the apartment. The filly annoyed him more and more with each moment he was near her. He hoped she would tone down her apparent interest in him.

After the door closed behind Sirius, Iclyn stood up from her bed and followed him. She was very interested in where he was going at that time of night.

***

Sirius found comfortable solitude on the streets of the sleeping city. No one stopped him from walking around, and only once a guard approached him and asked if everything was alright. The former human explained that he couldn't sleep and needed some fresh air, after which the guard left him alone.

However, he could still feel eyes on him. It was a creeping feeling of being followed. He didn't like it one bit and decided to see if he can catch the sudden stalker.

He turned to the nearest alley and hid behind a dumpster. Soon, he heard someone walking towards his position. He prepared himself to tackle them as soon as they appear. The steps of his stalker were rather silent, and yet he was able to pick up on them without his own steps sounding over them.

He breathed as quietly as possible. Who was his stalker? Who was following him? He was about to find out. He needed to stay hidden to catch them off-guard.

A figure walked through the alley. It was slightly smaller than him. He could pin it down without much problem.

Silently, he pounced. At the last moment, the figure managed to turn around and face him, but it was already too late. He tackled the stalker and pinned them underneath him.

Getting a better look, he saw it was Iclyn.

"What the hell?" he asked in his native language. Remembering she couldn't understand him, he said in Commonlang: "What you do here? What do you need from me?"

"Why are you walking out here so late?" Iclyn asked, looking at him with some fear and uncertainty. Her forelegs were pinned by the colt firmly.

"Not your business." Sirius frowned, pushing down on her. He was in a dominating position, she couldn't escape from under him. He found such a position disgusting and too suggestive to use in that situation. He hoped no one would find them lest he would be accused of a rape attempt. He almost shuddered thinking about it. "I don't need you following me around. You... you had... should have stayed."

"Hey, it's not alright to just leave in the—"

"Why do you care?" he pressed her against the ground harder, his voice becoming harsh and aggressive as he moved his face closer to hers. He bared his teeth and said menacingly: "Do not follow me again. Ever. Or I... I will hurt you. Bad." he finally let her go. "Now, return. Leave me spend my time alone."

"Jeez..." Iclyn dusted herself off, trying to hide her fear. What she witnessed wasn't just a colt but more a hunter. Subconsciously, she understood just how strong and dominant he was. "You're... weird, dude." she shook herself, and then went back to the apartment. Sirius watched her until she disappeared around the corner.

He sighed in relief and sat down. He shivered and shook from the aftershock. In truth, he feared it could be someone else. He was glad it wasn't.

First, the princesses, and now just a random filly, all of them showed some interest in him in one way or another. Why couldn't all of them just leave him alone? Did they care about him that much? He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't.

Also, he would have to spend some time in the school with not only Iclyn but other foals as well. He only wanted to study, nothing else. He was just a regular guy in his first school, and he wasn't going to change it in his new one. He thought he'd better stay alone in class and not get involved in any activities, social or otherwise. He cared only for obtaining knowledge about magic.

And still, he wanted to end his life. Maybe magic would help him in his endeavor? Maybe there was a way to put him under a spell that would last forever and would put him in a peaceful slumber? It would be a fine alternative to dying, especially if he figured out how to trigger his death upon the spell's end. He wouldn't want anyone wake him up. He wouldn't want to wake up at all.

Since he didn't want to socialize, it was the only way for him. Until he figures it out, he will stay away from ponies, at least relationship-wise. He couldn't afford getting close to any of them. Besides, he deemed it impossible — even in the new body, he was still a human. How would he love a pony? How would he befriend one? He thought they and him were much too different. They were cheerful and happy while he was depressed and suicidal. Truly, how might such a relationship work? He thought it would never work at all, and he was certain he was right about it.

He wasn't going to change just for a chance to continue his existence. He didn't see any purpose or meaning in it.

Sighing deeply, he stood up. Enough of fresh air, he needed to return and sleep. It was the most peaceful state of mind he would hope to get at that time.

Hanging his head low, he headed back to the apartment. Nothing but routine waited ahead for him. Routine with just a couple of interesting moments, he was sure of it.

However, deep inside himself, he hoped it would be different.