After Sirius told the principal his side of the story, he was let go. Unfortunately, he was slightly late for the Magic class, but it didn't get him in any trouble.

Students in the class were divided into three groups: earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. Each group was taught their respective magical specialization. Sirius, of course, got into the third group. It consisted of seven ponies including him.

"Oh, you must be the new student!" the teacher said as Sirius entered the auditorium. "You're Sirius, right?"

The former human nodded, taking in the features of the teacher. It was a mare in her twenties. She had pristine white coat and swirling pink mane that was tied in a bun behind her head. Her special mark was a wooden wand with a spark on one of its ends. Her pink eyes looked at the new student with interest.

"I'm Aura Wand. Now, how about you introduce yourself to the class?" she suggested.

Everyone looked at him. Besides his name and witnessing his fight with the bullies, they didn't know anything about him.

"There nothing interesting to say." Sirius replied. "Thing that matters — me name. Also, my problems with language."

He wasn't going to talk about himself in any way or form. He didn't see any reason to introduce himself to his classmates. He wasn't interested in sharing his private information.

"Well, you have a rather strange accent." Aura said. "Maybe you could tell us where you're from?"

"Doesn't matter." Sirius replied. "I came here to learn. I... need magic. My country is... irrelevant."

The teacher frowned slightly. She's never seen such a colt before. Usually, even the shyest ones would tell at least something. However, she decided to let it slip.

Sirius started searching for a place to sit. Finally, he could inspect the auditorium. It was rather small, fit for the number of unicorns in the present group. There were ten descs placed in a circle, facing the center of the auditorium. Each desk was supposed to be used by one unicorn at a time. The room as a whole was colored in soft shades of blue and purple, accompanied by carefully placed white spots that gave the room the cosmic feel.

Sirius chose the closest desk. Other unicorns were bundled together as if they feared he would start beating them for no reason. Thus, desks to his sides were empty. Sirius didn't complain — he never liked having to sit with people. They would mess around and annoy him to no end if he allowed them to sit nearby. Besides, he didn't want to be friends with any of them.

"Alright, class, I need to fetch something real quick, I'll be right back in a moment." Aura said, and then exited the auditorium.

Sirius frowned, suspecting that she did it to make others try to talk to him.

He was right. Warily, a colt approached him. He was slightly smaller than Sirius and wore a pair of glasses as his distinct feature. His coloration was a lot like Sirius', but the colors were richer, and he had a barely noticeable streak of white in his medium-length wavy dark-blue mane. His special mark consisted of books on a wave of water.

"Um, hey, Sirius." he greeted Sirius quietly. "I'm Wave Rider." Sirius was unsure if it was his name or nickname. "Um... Do you like books?"

A conversation with him looked harmless. Perhaps, Sirius could get to know him, but still keep the distance. So, he nodded.

"Most of us here do." Wave said, and other unicorns nodded. "But we're called nerds and pushed around by earth ponies and pegasi... You know, um, the usual."

Sirius listened. He couldn't yet understand what the outcome would be.

"We're all thankful for what you did today." the unicorn continued with much confidence. "Those three really messed things up. A whole week without them is absolute heaven!"

The former human still tried to understand where the conversation was going. So far, he understood that the unicorns were grateful to him for sending the bullies away. Maybe he could get something from it.

"We all thought about that, and... can you tell us how you did it? We really need to, um, protect ourselves." Wave stated.

Sirius thought for a couple of moments. He didn't see any downsides of giving them a piece of advice. Besides, he hated bullies. Anything that would hurt them was fine by him. He wasn't a completely uncaring person as well.

"It is simple." Sirius began. "You need fight dirty and without holding back. Bullies will yell you for not fight fair, but the only reason they do it because they not want you to win. They want to beat you on their... terms.

"You need use any thing to advantage. You see a stick — use it to beat the bully. You see... soap, sand, pepper, salt, anything like that — throw it in their eyes. Don't be fear to beat them when they lie down. Make sure they can not hurt you."

"It's not very nice..." a filly from the group said.

"They are already not nice to you." Sirius replied. "You need not be nice to them. Do upon them what they do upon you. They deserve it for what they do."

Sirius had read about many 'accidents' where bullies scarred people for life or made them commit suicide. If he could save others from that fate, he would. Even if he was broken not by the bullies, he still didn't want to see people — or ponies — suffer because another group of people liked harassing the weak.

"And... tell teachers about it." the former human continued.

"But the bullies will mock us for that and call us whiners and losers." another foal commented.

"They already do it." Sirius replied. "They want to win on their terms. They would do any thing to win: mocking you is one of them. So, tell teachers. Tell them you are bullied. If bullies are... expelled, it is good."

"What were you talking about?" Aura asked as she returned to the auditorium.

"Sirius told us how to fight bullies." Wave said proudly.

"Fight? As in physically?" the teacher frowned. "You must report them, not fight."

"They need to get the message." Sirius explained. "Such... ponies don't, um, back off until they hurt. Until they are hurt. They not understand words."

"It doesn't give you the right to beat them."

"Yes, it does." Sirius retorted, looking in the eyes of the teacher. "They hurt us. We retaliate. It is called... self-defense." he frowned slightly. "Or... can we not defend us?"

"Well, you can, but..."

"What is problem, then?" Sirius pushed. "From what I hear from classmates, the bullies are harming ponies for a... long time. Bullies need be expelled. If you can't do it, we do it. We show them they must go."

"Are you implying us teachers can't do our job?"

"Deal with bullies — no, don't seem so." the former human shook his head. "But all I say is that... you should deal with bullies better."

"Alright..." the teacher let out a long sigh. Aura could see where the problem lied. "I will see what I can do to fix the situation. But try not to get into any trouble, okay?"

Sirius never searched for trouble, and yet it found him quite often. Sometimes, he felt like he was a trouble magnet.

The bell rang, signaling the start of the lesson. Since the first bell rang for everyone to assemble in their auditoriums, the second one was needed to start the actual lesson. It was frowned upon being late to the first one but wasn't punishable, fortunately. Everyone took their places and waited for the teacher to start.

"Alright, students, today we're going to talk about teleportation." Aura said. "It is one of the hardest basic spells that allows instant travel between distant locations. It is widely used by many unicorns across Equestria to lessen the time of travel. Though, such a spell isn't suitable for mass teleportation. It was discovered that a maximum of six ponies can be teleported by an accomplished unicorn. However, the average number varies between two and three.

"All of you will try to learn teleportation. However, don't feel bad if you don't learn it — it is very difficult for the majority of unicorns. It certainly won't hurt to try." she teleported a pile of pebbles to the middle of the room, and then gave each student a couple of them.

Sirius lifted the pebble and inspected it. It was just a regular pebble commonly found pretty much anywhere.

"Now, let's begin our practice." Aura said. "For more concentration, close your eyes and feel the pebble in your magical grasp."

Sirius did as asked, closing his eyes. He could feel the pebble as if he was using hands to hold it.

"Now, channel your energy into the horn while imagining the pebble and the place you want it to be. For example, under your desk."

The former human didn't lack imagination to do as asked, and soon two images were in his mind.

"Now, release your magic onto the pebble."

He let it flow.

He didn't feel anything.

He opened his eyes and saw that the pebble hadn't moved a millimeter. He was fine with it — he didn't expect teleportation to work as soon as he learned about it.

He looked around. So far, no one had done it.

"Keep trying, students." Aura said. "However, if you feel your strength runs out, finish it and rest. No need to overexert yourselves."

***

Iclyn was in the pegasi group, training her flight and weather control. She was flying laps around the stadium, building up her endurance.

Her mind kept returning to her newest classmate and a roommate, Sirius. He was a mystery to her. To all her attempts at befriending him, he responded with aggression. Though, she came to understand that she shouldn't have followed him out of the apartment during the night. It was clear to her that he wanted to be left alone, at least during his nighttime walk.

He was also a fighter as she had witnessed earlier that day. She saw him throwing the piece of soap with precision and then saw how easily he took on two rather strong pegasi with just a broom.

He could fight and he wasn't too much friendly. Iclyn had been thinking about it for a long time and guessed that Sirius clearly didn't want anyone to hurt him, let alone be near him. He distanced himself from friends and enemies alike. Even to her it was apparent he was hurt in the past.

"Don't slack, li'l feathers!" she heard her teacher yelling. She had to increase her pace.

Iclyn sighed. Princess Luna had written to her that Sirius was a very strange individual, but she didn't expect him to be like this. Iclyn was already surprised by the message from the nightly princess herself, and the appearance of such a mysterious figure following the letter was even more surprising and confusing. All Luna had written to her were two simple sentences: "Sirius is dangerous to enemies and wary with others. Take it easy with him, it might be hard to be his roommate."

She didn't get any task from Luna to befriend Sirius, no — Luna merely advised the filly to be easy on the colt, that is. But Iclyn suspected that there was much more to Sirius than he showed.

Iclyn was going to see what she could do.

After the classes ended, Sirius went to cafeteria to eat. He was very hungry and couldn't wait to stuff his stomach with as much food as he could get.

Iclyn met him halfway through the hallway that led to the cafeteria. As soon as she was close enough, he turned to her.

"Hi." she greeted him casually. "So, how was your first day at our school?"

"...Could be worse." Sirius replied after a moment of thinking.

Iclyn didn't want to know what could be worse than encountering three bullies that wanted to beat you up.

"Alright... What did you like the most?" she continued.

"Magic." the former human replied. "I almost teleported a pebble." a flash of anxiousness appeared on his face for a brief moment. "Can't wait to learn it."

"Hey, it's pretty good." Iclyn smiled at him. "You know, you could get your special talent in magic, who knows?"

He highly doubted it. He didn't have any special talent. He didn't believe in the special marks either. He was certain his opinion on them would never change.

As the two entered the cafeteria, Iclyn stopped Sirius.

"Lemme show you who sits where." she told him. "It's important if you don't want to get into trouble by accidentally sitting on somepony's else place."

"Do places belong to ponies?" the colt asked.

"Well, no, but..."

"Then it matter not." Sirius stated firmly, cutting the filly off. As much as he didn't want to get into trouble, he was against all that nonsense school hierarchy.

"But some ponies would—" Iclyn protested, only to be cut off by Sirius again.

"You think I can't protect me self?" he asked her.

"...Not really, no." she said after a moment of thinking. He could take on three athletic stallions, he could possibly take on a couple more.

"Then we can sit wherever we like." Sirius concluded. "Let me show you how it's done."

First, he grabbed all the food he needed to eat, and then went to search for a place to sit. Soon, he chose a seat to relax on. Placing the various plates and bowls of food on the table near him, he started eating.

However, soon an earth pony stallion showed around, frowning at Sirius.

"Hey colt, that's my place." he said, approaching the colt. "Get outta here."

"Do you... own it?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah."

"Prove it."

The stallion was taken aback by Sirius' words. He has never heard anyone challenging him so openly before.

He placed his forelegs on the table and slightly lifted himself, attempting to scare Sirius. However, the former human didn't move, but he was ready to retaliate if a need arose.

Then, the earth pony spat into the mashed potatoes that Sirius brought.

"How's that for a—" he began to say until he felt those mashed potatoes being forced into his mouth. His eyes widened, he inhaled sharply out of surprise, getting some food where it shouldn't have been. Sirius didn't stop, continuing his assault, forcing every last bit of those potatoes into the stallion's mouth and throat, suffocating him.

Everyone in the cafeteria looked at the scene with shock.

"Drop it!" a harsh voice came from the entrance. Sirius turned his head and saw a security guard trotting his way. "I said drop it!"

"He spat in my food." Sirius said, letting go of the earth pony. The stallion coughed and wheezed, getting pieces of potato out of his breathing system.

"I don't care! I won't tolerate violence here!" the guard retorted. "You are going to the principal, young colt!"

"And how about you start do your job?!" Sirius shouted at the guard. "You suppose prevent it! You... useless leech!" he yelled the insult in his native language. Calming down slightly, he continued, anger in his voice: "How about you go to principal and explain why this... thing happen?!"

He looked at the guard with challenge. However, the latter was too stunned and shocked to reply.

"It's what I thought." Sirius snorted. Grabbing the food, he exited the cafeteria. He didn't want to stay there any longer.

Author's Notes:

I want to say a couple of things.

First of all, I'm not trying to portray Sirius as some sort of badass who kicks butt left and right. He is simply very aggressive towards those he dislikes. And since equines are herbivores, basically prey that would choose running away over fighting, they don't expect such aggression from their own kind. Thus, Sirius has a major advantage over ponies: not only aggression, but his past shaped him into a hunter that would strike before he is hurt.

Besides, most men use their negative emotions to fuel aggression. It's a psychological fact as far as I'm aware. While depressed women would most likely cry, men would become aggressive. So, men use violence as stress relief. It is why Sirius fights dirty and aggressively and is into fencing. It is but a mean for him to focus his mind on something else or let out his bottled up emotions on others. Feelings can't be hidden forever.

Also, I will explain later why Luna chose this school as the friendliest even after we saw it's not that friendly. Everything has a reasonable and logical explanations.

You might've also noticed how I don't use the term "cutie-mark" in this story. I consider it silly to use in serious stories. "Special mark" sounds more logical to me.

I would like you all to leave more comments with feedback. I'm like a junky here, updating the page every now and then to see if there's a new comment. I like reading them, be they positive or otherwise.