Sirius woke up with a startled scream. Another night, another nightmare. They have become much more frequent than before.

He sighed shakily, trying to calm himself. He was sweating hard, his eyes were darting around the darkened room, looking out for possible danger. There was none.

Reality came back to him. Sighing again, he rolled off from the bed. He stood up and headed to the bathroom, feeling nature's call. He was limping slightly, the injure from earlier manifesting itself.

As he entered, the lights turned on automatically. They were comfortably dim, allowing himself to keep his eyes open because it wasn't painful in the slightest.

After he relieved himself, he looked at his mirror image. His mane was in an absolute mess, his eyes were bloodshot, and the area around his old facial scar was slightly red, dried blood visible on it. Splashing his face with water, he cleaned his face. Glancing at his mane, he decided to cut it as soon as possible. A buzzcut should be just right.

He returned to the bedroom and walked to the window. Clumsily, he opened it, letting some fresh air in. He deeply inhaled the nice night air.

He hated dreaming. Not only was it a waste of time, it also brought unpleasant nightmares upon him, one he couldn't control. He also couldn't wake up until everything was in motion. It scared and irritated him. Awake, he could at least control himself. In those dreams, everything was in a fog, completely unseen and uncontrollable. He moved very slowly, he couldn't even breathe properly in those dreams.

Sirius closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the glass of the window. The tip of his horn pressed as well, making him shiver in unexpected pleasure. He looked up and saw the upper part of his horn. He wanted to experience that pleasure again as it helped him relax and overall just feel better.

He pressed against the window harder. The coolness of the surface elicited a small moan of pleasure from the former human as he stimulated his horn.

Then, he separated from the glass and returned to his bed. He flopped onto it and closed his eyes, preparing to return to sleep. He hoped it would be peaceful this time.

***

At least half an hour had passed in silence as he squirmed and rolled in bed, unable to get a comfortable position. He simply couldn't sleep.

He began to think about what had happened to him up to that point of time. He couldn't force his thoughts to be silent and let him rest.

Ever since his failed suicide attempt, everything was going even further downhill. Not only he found himself in great pain due to accidentally eating a mortally poisonous plant, he had to follow Luna, the ruler of an alien race he'd never known existed. He didn't trust her. He wanted to believe she wanted just to help him, but he found himself doubting it. He was nothing, a nobody. How did he catch her attention? It seemed impossible to him. Surely she wouldn't be interested in a simple colt. He certainly couldn't remember human rulers caring about the commoners as much. Why would that princess be any different?

Why did she take him and give him shelter? What is so important about him? Why does she seem to care so much about him? It was all nonsense. She simply couldn't be doing it out of kindness... could she?

A shiver ran through his body, going from the end of the hooves up to the point of the horn. He felt his heart sink. It was a sign of his depression showing. He tried his best to stop thinking about it. But still, thoughts invaded his mind. What was the meaning behind his rebirth? What purpose does his new life serve?

Another shiver went through his body. If only he could remain asleep forever and never bother about anything ever again. He would stop caring, stop feeling. What could be nicer than that?

But in the end, it was his choice to follow Luna. Sirius had multiple chances to attempt escape but he never did. Maybe he sought protection? He would deny that, of course.

He turned his head to the right and saw the red leaf. He jumped to his hooves and almost tripped over. He didn't bring it with him.

Warily, he approached it. He touched it. It didn't react.

What was the deal with this leaf? Sirius was puzzled and confused. Maybe he should do something to it? He didn't know. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know. As long as it wasn't dangerous, he will tolerate it near himself.

His stomach grumbled suddenly. He needed to get some food.

Sirius walked to the exit door and creaked it open. Looking outside the room, he saw a dimly-lit hall. A pair of guards were patrolling it. Unfortunately, Sirius' stomach decided that it was the perfect time for it to grumble and loud. The guards glanced his way, and he quickly disappeared inside the room. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to walk the castle at night. He wasn't sure if he could exit his room at all.

He returned to the bed and sat on it. He didn't have anything to do to distract him from hunger. The only thing he could do was waiting for the morning to come. He would be fed, right? At least he hoped so.

So, was he a prisoner or a guest? He hasn't seen anyone trying to restrain him yet. His room is too nice for it to be a prison cell. And if he was imprisoned, why? As far as he knew, he couldn't have broken any reasonable law. Then, he reminded himself of many laughable and plain illogical laws applied in his own country. Of course he had to break one of those. And he remembered that the consequences of breaking said laws were always way too high for the crime.

He didn't know what would happen next, in all honesty. He had shelter, safety, perhaps food and water. He needed to think about a goal. He knows he needs to learn the language, but what next?

He remembered. He still needed to find a way to end his life. Painlessly and permanently. He sighed, knowing it is the only direction he can walk, the only thing he can do.

Unexpectedly, the door to his room opened, and Luna looked inside. Sirius looked at her with wariness, unsure of how to act. So far, she hasn't hurt him once and kept some distance. He was more or less okay with her being around.

Her horn glowed, and a large plate full of food floated into the room. Sirius' stomach groaned, he found himself salivating. As soon as the plate was placed on the chest of drawers, he moved in to consume its contents.

There were a couple of daisy sandwiches; some delicious-looking big red apples; a few bottles of apple juice and milk; salad of mashed lettuce, cucumbers, onion, and ball pepper; a bowl of mushroom soup; and, most importantly, a small plate full of roasted tuna meat cubes.

Sirius went for the tuna, devouring it first with animalistic vigor. He wanted to eat so badly he didn't care that Luna was watching him with curiosity. As soon as he finished with the tuna, he moved to other food laid before him.

Meanwhile, the lunar princess carefully observed him, taking mental notes. She was right about one thing — he could eat meat, and he seemed to like it the most. His appetite was gigantic as were his needs. She was right about him — he needed a lot of energy and nutrients for his body and magic. Though, he hasn't shown any sign of the latter yet.

Only about seven minutes had passed before Sirius finished with everything, including emptying the whole bottles of juice and milk in one go. He wasn't full, but he was surely satisfied. He was also sure he would need more food later. For now, he was fine.

He glanced at Luna, and then back at the plate. He didn't know what to do with it.

Luna helped him by taking the plate, moving it out of the room, and then teleporting it to the kitchen. After that, she went inside the bedroom.

Sirius looked at her cautiously, following her with his eyes. Giving him food wouldn't earn his trust. However, he was silently thankful for it. At least he won't starve.

Luna sat in front of his bed, a book levitating by her side. She closed her eyes and slowly conjured an image. Sirius looked at the magical display with interest and curiosity, as well as wariness. The image depicted him and Luna reading a book. The princess was saying words, and he was repeating them.

It was clear to him that Luna suggested starting learning the language. He nodded slowly. Luna smiled encouragingly at him, and then climbed onto the bed with him. He slowly moved to her, yet keeping some distance. As soon as he was by her side, she opened the book.

They began with learning the alphabet and simple words that began with those letters. Sirius was quick to grasp the bases, learning the words and their pronunciation rather quickly. His voice was quiet and rather deep for his age, and he stuttered quite often due to still getting used to his regrown tongue. Though, he made great progress with learning, soon able to cite the letters from first to last without forgetting a single one.

He found learning relaxing. It eased his mind, making him direct the attention to education. He didn't have to think about himself or the new world, and his anxiousness subsided for a time-being.

The language he was learning was on par with English on simplicity and difficulty of learning. Though, he found it slightly easier due to a couple factors. The word structure didn't force him to try to form strange sounds, and the language itself seemed flowing seamlessly from one word into another, making sentence structure fairly easy and somewhat natural.

In a couple of hours, Sirius and Luna moved to simple sentences. They were accompanied by pictures in the book, making them easily understandable. It didn't take long for the former human to understand how sentences formed. More or less, it was the same as in English: subject first, then predicate, and then everything else.

Many hours were spent on learning the new language. By the afternoon, Sirius could already form simple sentences. He learned a lot of common words and phrases. However, the grammar was a little wonky and he still needed to learn a lot more words before he would be able to speak more or less adequately.

Luna yawned, and then decided to end the session of learning. She gave the book to Sirius, and then levitated another book to him — a dictionary, where words were organized from the simplest to the most complicated. Those two books will greatly help him learn.

"If you need to eat, call the guards — they will show you the way to the dining hall." Luna said, standing up. Sirius nodded, and then resumed reading. Having nothing else to do, he decided to use his time wisely. "Have a good day, Sirius!"

He nodded again. At least now he's able to understand something. And he will spend most of his time on that day reading the dictionary and memorizing words.

***

Before going to bed, Luna decided to visit her sister. Celestia was in her private office during that time, sorting some paperwork.

"How is Sirius?" Celestia asked after she and Luna exchanged greetings.

"As far as I can see, he's more or less alright." Luna replied. "He's actually very intelligent. I'm not very good at teaching, and yet he has already learned to form simple sentences and understand them. Maybe the language he knows is similar to Commonlang. Though, I've not heard him speaking his native one even once."

"And how is his magic?"

"Well..." Luna frowned. "He's not shown any sign of it. He didn't flip the pages with it, he never levitated a single thing. He might be a magicless unicorn, I'm afraid." she sighed. "If he has never used magic, it means he has no magical reserves at all. It is worrying... How will he live among ponies? I doubt that he's ever seen his own kind before, too.

"Maybe it is why he seems so... empty. Perhaps he knows about his state and feels shame because of it. But I need to know more about him. And I have yet to gain his trust — he is still cautious around me."

"Everything will come in time, dear sister." Celestia said. "For now, let him settle, be easy on him."

"I definitely will." Luna sighed. "If I ever hope to help him, I must find out more about him. And he is far more than he seems... Perhaps even in the bad sense of more."

Author's Notes:

You might have already guessed that both Sirius and Luna are good at reading body language through expressions, movement, and eyes. They are now playing a game of sorts, a psychological game. Sirius doesn't want Luna to know who he is, and she wants to know him because she feels the need to help him.

Also, some might ask me: "Snorting Gentleman, where is that dark, where is tragedy, gore? It feels like more or less regular HiE fic."

I have actually read a lot about depression and similar mental issues. No, not from tumblr where everyone suffers from PTSD because of an insulting youtube comment.

People with depression don't show it until it's too late. From a quick glance, they seem like normal people. You won't see any difference. Those people that openly show depression usualy have only sadness or want to gain attention. People who are truly depressed hide it because it's nothing to be proud of or show.

This is why it will take a lot of time for the story to become darker than a black hole. Besides, I don't want to throw in some gore just for the shock moment. It's unrealistic and dumb. It's no Rainbow Factory or Cupcakes or Smile HD.

Psychology is actually very complicated, and that is why this story won't instantaneously turn into gore-fest with the portagonist experiencing horrible things out of the blue.

Also, I edited my earlier character artwork, giving it more realism and refinement. While it's not perfect, I suppose it is alright. I draw better in vector, but drawing this particular character in a show-accurate way didn't feel right to me. So, here we are.

I must also mention that I finally picked a cover art. I hope it is a fine choice.

EDIT: The cover art was changed.