Sirius remembered he knew something about that game. At least he understood what it meant and the translation to his own language made sense as well.

"What are the rules?" he asked. He needed to be careful before accepting or denying. He was an enigma to others, and he had to weigh all options with much thought.

"Well, we have this." Wind Rider levitated an empty apple juice bottle. "We all sit in the circle and spin the bottle. Whomever it chooses, will pick either truth or dare. The bottle is then spun again, and the next pony thinks about the questions to ask or a challenge to give. If the bottle stops at the same pony twice, he or she gets to choose anypony else and pick whatever he or she wants. Also, one, um, first pony can't be picked twice in a row."

Sirius thought. The rules seemed to be fair enough, and he would get to have some fun and maybe even find something more about the ponies in his class.

"Um, guys, girls, I think we shouldn't, like, ask too personal questions." Iclyn spoke up. "Really, nopony likes those anyway."

Most ponies agreed with her. Sirius suspected Iclyn did it on purpose — for him. He looked at her and saw her eyes moving away from his direction, confirming his thoughts. She did it for him indeed. He silently thanked her, and his trust in her grew. She indeed cared for him and understood him to a certain extent. He felt warmth in his heart — he didn't expect such care and protection. She made it all subtle, without making him the center of attention, and he liked it. Would she express her desire to protect him vocally, he would get very angry. He was thankful he didn't have to.

"Alright, I will play." Sirius nodded. He could always lie if he needed to. Besides, there would be no personal questions, which was good for him. The only downside to the game was effectively removed.

After Sirius took his place, the bottle was spun for the first time. It pointed at a pony Sirius didn't know, and thus didn't care about much. The bottle was spun again, and it once again pointed at a pony the former human had no interest in. A silly dare was made, and the first pony had to stand on two hooves for ten seconds.

The game went on like this for a couple of minutes until Iclyn was chosen as the first pony.

"I pick... Truth." she said reluctantly.

The bottle was spun again, and it pointed at yet another pony Sirius didn't know.

"Alright..." that pony said, and they were a filly roughly Iclyn's age, maybe slightly younger. "Have you kissed Sirius?"

Sirius looked at the filly. He couldn't believe such a blatant question was asked. However, his expression remained neutral, including the color of his face. He was slightly angry at that filly but he knew he couldn't show it. After all, it was just a silly question in a silly game. He had to remind himself that he shouldn't get angry at something like this.

"I said no personal questions!" Iclyn blushed. Sirius analyzed her. She was quite flustered and glanced at him, yet trying to avoid his eyes. However, it was just frustration and the nature of the question that brought the blush to her cheeks, nothing else and nothing more. Sirius was sure no feelings were involved. And if they were, he would make sure they wouldn't develop beyond simple friendship.

"But have you?" the filly asked again.

"No, and stop asking questions like that!" Iclyn said with a slight hint of anger in her voice.

"Okay, sorry..."

After the bottle was spun again, Sirius was chosen.

"I pick dare." he said. He decided to be careful and see if any more personal questions came up.

After another spin, the bottle pointed at a very familiar filly. It was Coral, Sirius remembered her from the treehouse party he had been at a couple of days ago.

"Um, show us your sword." she said.

"That's what she said." someone whispered aloud, and the ponies erupted in laughter. Even Sirius cracked a smile.

"I don't mean that!" Coral said, flustered. "I mean the weapon!"

"If it's big enough, it can be used as one." someone said, and laughter exploded once again.

"It can shoot, too!" someone added, much to everyone's amusement.

"Come on, guys, it's not funny!" the poor filly blushed hard, looking anywhere but not at Sirius. He couldn't help but chuckle at the suggestive nature of the jokes. He didn't like the subject, but it wasn't about his personal taste or issues with it, so he was fine.

After everyone calmed down, Sirius unsheathed the bladed weapon for everyone to see.

"I kinda expected some, like, Old Language writings." Coral said in disappointment, looking at the side of the blade. "This just looks... boring."

Sirius just shrugged and put the weapon back inside the sheath. So far, everything went smoothly.

The bottle was spun a few more times until it was Sirius' turn once again. However, this time he chose truth.

"Would you spend seven minutes in heaven with somepony?" he was asked.

"Seven minutes where?" Sirius asked in turn since he didn't know the word.

"Nah, it's all one thing — seven minutes in heaven." a pony explained. "You choose someone, and then you spend seven minutes in a dark place all by yourself. You could do all sorts of stuff."

"Yeah, kissing, having sex, or talking if you don't want the first two." another pony added. "Or just do nothing, but it's really boring."

"..." Sirius needed to consider the answer he was going to give properly. If he said yes, then he would probably get dared to do it. If he said no, it would be strange. Overall, it was a trap without escape. He decided to answer more or less neutrally. "Maybe."

Sirius didn't understand the sudden attraction he got from fillies. He never talked to anyone outside a couple of ponies, he never took part in popular games like hoofball or volleyball, he didn't consider himself good-looking, and he certainly wasn't looking for a girlfriend, or fillyfriend in that particular case. Nothing made sense to him.

However, it might have been his appearance as a foreign mystery, and he remembered some girls liked mysterious guys. It was probably the case with him, but he didn't seek attention or any sort of close relationship, and especially intimacy, romantic or not. He didn't want anything like that, and he had reasons for that as well. Reasons he would rather keep hidden forever.

He noticed that some fillies looked at him with interest after he answered the question. Maybe it wasn't right for him to be so elusive, but it couldn't be changed now. He fell right into a trap.

Sirius didn't get it. He never strived for attention, especially in his teens, but he was somehow getting it more and more. What was the reason?

Suddenly, the bottle chose the same pony in both spins. It was a filly, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she looked at Sirius and then at Iclyn. The former felt something bad was going to happen.

"I dare... Sirius." she began. The former human didn't like it at all. "To spend seven minutes in heaven... with Iclyn."

"C'mon, it's just so... ugh!" Iclyn stomped angrily. "Why are you all so obsessed with it? Really, we all agreed on nothing personal, ponies! Like, I get it that you think there's something between us, but we're just roommates! Like, seriously, stop!"

Sirius couldn't agree with Iclyn more. It was getting out of hand.

"So, you're a chicken?" the filly taunted.

"It's not that! Ugh..." Iclyn covered her blushing face with one of her wings. "I can't believe... Alright, I'll do it." she stood up, grumbling. Sirius knew nothing intimate would happen and thus followed her without a word. He wasn't going to utter a single word — any of them could be potentially used against him. Besides, Iclyn spoke his own thoughts, there was no need for more words.

Soon, they were all alone in a small room. They were locked from the outside and left without a light.

"Ugh, this is so stupid..." Iclyn muttered under her breath. Sirius nodded, even when he was sure she couldn't see it. "The heat week is over, why are they all still acting like that?"

"Heat week?" Sirius asked with interest and confusion.

"You must be from really far away to not know what it is." Iclyn sighed. "Probably there's a word in your language... Look, at the beginning and the end of the summer, there is a heat week, which is when mares go out and search for, well, just a quick fuck. We're all very horny, aroused, and we just so want to have our backside stuffed we can barely control it sometimes."

To Sirius, it almost sounded like it was a rape week. He didn't like it at all.

"Stallions don't really mind, but if somepony doesn't want it then it's alright — there are plenty of other stallions around." Iclyn sighed once again, feeling the literal heat on her cheeks. "This heat was my first, and I really didn't know what to do. I didn't have a coltfriend to do it with but I didn't want to just... give myself to a random stallion. It's just... not right. I get why most like it, but..."

"I didn't need to know that." Sirius injected a couple of words. And he really didn't need the details of Iclyn's personal life, especially the intimate part of it.

"I'm sorry, it's just... I'm so frustrated! I guess the lack of a colt and these dumb classmates made me slightly lose my mind right here." the filly replied. "So... um... Well, if you want to, I guess we could, you know, do it. Maybe it'll help with the stress?"

"No." Sirius replied a little bit too firmly it almost scared Iclyn.

"Yeah, just a thought... More of a joke, really." Iclyn let out a long drawn-out sigh. "We just have to wait here for... I don't know, some time. Can't wait to get out of here and do something else..."

Sirius nodded. Frankly, he would be fine if both himself and her were silent for the rest of their stay there. He didn't want to talk at all, the most he wanted to do was to go to sleep and rest. Taking part in Truth or Dare proved to be a wrong decision he regretted. He would need to remind himself later that this game wasn't his type at all, especially with someone as annoying as his classmates. He was right about not wanting to socialize — he would be perfectly fine if he just stayed only with Iclyn. After all, she had yet to make him doubt his trust in her, and the trust only increased with each day the two spent together.

Iclyn helped him with both his homework and his classwork, explaining to him how certain tasks were needed to be done. She also helped him on a personal level, reducing the nightmares, letting him have a healthy and undisturbed sleep, something he hadn't had for a long while. She was genuinely interested in helping him, and she did everything out of kindness, not expecting anything in return. It was something Sirius hadn't seen for a long time.

He learned one thing from the game — if he wanted to stay with someone, it would be only Iclyn. She was the only one he could trust. She was the most mature one among the ponies that surrounded him, she was the only one Sirius could relate to.

"Iclyn..." he called, remembering something he needed to tell her. "Did you... um... said that there shouldn't be personal questions because, um... you, uh..." he found it particularly difficult to express his thoughts at that moment. "Did you do it for me?"

"Uh, yes. I see how really uncomfortable you are about personal stuff." the filly replied, nervously shifting in place. She couldn't understand if Sirius was angry or fine about it. "I get why some ponies wouldn't like to talk about it. I mean, you told me you can't trust me much because you don't know me well enough. That's fair." she shrugged. "But, you know, if you ever need me to help — just ask. I won't tell anypony. Especially the classmates — they're just stupid." she huffed, sitting on her haunches.

"Thank you." Sirius said with genuine respect and friendliness. Iclyn was indeed mature if she said those things honestly. "I... will remember that."