Light shone into Sirius' eyes as he blinked, slowly coming to realize himself and his surroundings. His head was aching, his whole body felt tired and worn out. A rhythmic beeping of something to his side was pounding on his head, making him hiss in pain as waves of uncomfortable pressure went over his brain. He focused his vision and saw a white ceiling with a soft-glowing lamp attached to it. He inhaled slowly and turned his head. Pain shot through his neck, making him suppress a grunt. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply for a few long moments.

The former human opened his eyes once more, his vision focusing on the surroundings. His eyes shot completely open as he realized where he was.

"I-Iclyn?" he called, his throat dry. He felt a tube inside him. He coughed, his body began to shake as he bit on the tube, trying to chew it off.

Successfully doing it with his sharp teeth, he spat out the tube. Rolling to the right, he vomited, extracting the rest of the tune. He inhaled sharply and coughed a few times, spitting out the bile.

"I... Icl... Iclyn?" he called again, his eyes tearing up. He forced himself to return to his lying position. He swallowed thickly. "Anyone?"

He took a few deep breaths and paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He must right his wrongs somehow. Iclyn didn't deserve to go through all of this. But where was she? Sirius needed to tell her the truth. She might understand, might not. But she deserved better, someone better than him. Once she understood how bad he was, she would leave him for good. For her own good.

He rolled on the bed and stood up on his legs. He almost yelled as the sharp pain shot through his brain, making him shut his eyes close.

He forced his eyes open again. He turned to the only door in the room and headed towards it, counting his every step. However, the door opened before he could reach it.

Sirius' eyes widened as he saw who was entering.

"No... No, no..." he muttered, his voice going from quiet and weak into sobbing blabbering. No, no, no, no-o..." he fell on the ground, tears rolling down his cheeks. "N-no..."

"Did you think you were finally awake?" the gravely voice of the Figure said as it closed the door. "No... It is not so simple. It never is, you must know it very well." the Figure walked closer to the former human. "You know how life works. For every good thing, there are ten bad things. Darkness prevails over the light, making the latter insignificant, dim." the creature paused. Sirius was looking at it silently, tears in his eyes.

For a few seconds, the two stared at each other. The dark eyes of the creature into the dim eyes of the former human. The room became darker, the lamp flickered slightly.

"I... I don't want to hurt Iclyn." Sirius finally spoke, exhaling longly.

"You already have." the Figure replied. "You raped her. To hide the trauma, to make it seem like everything's alright, she decided to follow you into the deepest depths. She has already seen your first murder. She is now..." the creature paused, a toothy grin appearing on its pale face. "Meeting her."

"N-no..." Sirius whispered, shaking his head in denial.

"Iclyn will see all those fantasies you had about Anastasia. Every. Single. One." the Figure empathized the last three words by taking steps towards the former human. "You can prevent her."

"I can't h-hurt her." Sirius shook his head. "I won't hurt her m-more than I a-already d-did."

"She will never recover from seeing what you have inside." the nightmarish being continued. "She is just a fragile little pony. A beautiful, cute girl, a loving girl. Caring, supportive. Understanding. The best one you could've ever dreamed of." the grin appeared again. "And you will break her. She will come out a shell of her former self. She will die. If not by your hands then by her own hooves."

The Figure turned around and started walking towards the door.

"You were so foolish thinking that you deserve something better, something more. A friend. A girlfriend. Loving emotions. Positivity." the creature paused. "You are a terrible person who deserves to rot in hell. Shame it's not a real place. But you get what you deserve. In your own mind."

The bell at the school rang, and Anastasia stood up from her desk. She collected everything she used for the lesson and put it into her saddlebag.

The day stretched on forever. From the moment she woke up in an empty bed, through the bland and tasteless breakfast, through the excruciatingly boring walk to the school, through all the lessons, and then to the moment where she was preparing to leave the school.

With a tired sigh, she put the saddlebag on and went towards the exit. Her ears swiveled to the back as she heard a familiar gait coming towards her from behind. She turned her head slightly, catching a figure in the corner of the eye. Her posture straightened slightly, her eyes opening a bit wider and her ears perked up.

"Hey, uh, Nastya." Wind Rider said, catching up to the girl and soon walking alongside her. "I... I've thought about what you told me about Sirius, and... Why did you tell me all of this? I, um, don't really know him well and neither do I know you."

"I just needed to talk." Anastasia explained, her ears twitching and then drooping slightly as she recalled the talk. "I know it all sound imbelievable but it's true."

"Yeah... I have a hard time believing all of this but, well, it kinda makes sense." the colt replied, not looking at Anastasia. "It's just... weird. You look just like us." he looked at her, his gaze rolling over her whole body, pausing at the blank flank briefly.

"Not in entirety." the girl shook her head. She opened her mouth slightly, her tongue going over a pair of canines.

"Oh, I see... Yours are smaller than Sirius', though." Wave Rider noticed, a pink tint appearing on his cheeks because of the display. He shook it off before speaking again. "And still... You're a pony."

"I wasn't until I was in here." Anastasia explained. "I can show you picture of me and him."

"If you want to, sure." the colt nodded, and then the two proceeded to exit the school together. "And... I, uh... want to see Sirius. As in, see how he is now."

"...Alright." the girl nodded after some consideration. "But... first, go to mansion. I need to put my things."

The two continued to walk in silence. Anastasia was lost in thought, her eyes unfocused and her legs working automatically, without thinking. Wind Rider glanced at her nervously, not very sure about the visit to Sirius or his mansion. The colt started doubting himself — did he really need to see Sirius or how he looked like?

He shook his head, his mind focusing. He didn't have to or need to, he just could do it. He wanted to do it because he cared about Sirius. After all, the former human helped Wind Rider greatly, and he deserved some help in return. The former human was in a lot of pain, and some friendly comfort would help him a lot.

The colt couldn't say whether Sirius was his friend or not but he believed the two could become friends someday.

After all, everyone deserves to have friends.

Later that day, Wind Rider and Anastasia got to the mansion. The girl sighed tiredly as she took off the saddlebags and placed them near the sofa. She raised one of the pillows and pulled out a picture.

"So..." Anastasia cleared her throat. "I... Uh... here." she moved the picture to the colt. He grabbed it with his magic and looked at it.

"Oh..." he said and blinked. "Well, um... I guess that the one without leaves on their head is Sirius?"

"His name was Stanislav." Anastasia nodded. "And other person is me."

"So, he changed his name? Why?" Wind Rider asked with interest.

"Don't know. Maybe, um..." the girl tapped her chin in thought. "Maybe he wants to get away from his life back on Earth."

"Earth? That is how your world's called?" the colt paused. "Pronouncing this word seems like chewing something... like dirt. For some reason, I don't know."

Anastasia chuckled, putting the photo back where it was.

"Now I believe you're aliens." Wind Rider nodded. "Well... Your colors there and here are pretty similar. And I know that look... Definitely Sirius. There's also that scar on his face. But why does he look so different in colors?"

"I don't know." the girl replied with a slight shrug. "So... Let's go visit him."

In the hospital room where Sirius and Iclyn were present, everything was quiet. Heart monitors were beeping steadily, the chests they were connected to rising and falling calmly as they breathed. The light was dim, barely illuminating the room from the window.

The door to the room opened, and a figure slipped in. It was a pony-like creature with glossy green-tinted black carapace and sky-blue eyes, as well as hole-ridden limbs. The door closed softly behind the creature, and then it went to Sirius' hospital bed.

With a slight chuckle, the creature looked at the former human.

"Our queen wants you punished." it spoke quietly. "So weak and defenseless... Her Majesty will enjoy it. Let's see what you have..."

The horn of the changeling started glowing, its green aura wrapping around Sirius' head, encompassing it completely.

Suddenly, Sirius opened his eyes and screamed, his body began to shake violently. The changeling jumped back and fired off a spell, successfully paralyzing the former human. His eyes were wide open, darting from side to side completely randomly as he hyperventilated, unable to move. He could understand nothing, his mind half-asleep, half-awake.

However, he did feel something. Something he feared a lot more than the one that came for him or even the one who wanted him.

The chains were pulling him back.

Iclyn felt immense pain. She yelled and collapsed, closing her eyes as tears started streaming from them. She felt like her head was going to explode, burst from the inside.

She couldn't understand anything, she couldn't focus. All she felt was pain, all she saw was pain. Tightly wrapping her in a cocoon, squeezing her, trying to squash her like a bug. The scenery around her twisted, broke apart, tore in pieces, warped, making her the only thing to stay the way she was — whole. A swirl of red appeared around her, cold and harsh wind chilling her body to the bone, making her shudder. The howling filled her ears, making the storm seem alive like a trapped, helpless, and immensely angry animal. Locked in a small cage, it bashed against the bars, desperately trying to get out and wreak havoc upon those that captured it.

It all seemed to have taken an eternity, but in reality, it was just a few seconds. The wind settled down, everything became completely silent, only Iclyn's shaky breath was heard. She cleared her vision, blinking away the blur of tears. Blowing a streak of mane out of her face, she looked up. Around her, a mist of purple-tinted gray was swirling slowly.

With uncertainty and fear, she got up. Her ears were swiveling around, her wings twitching in anticipation of what she didn't yet know. Having no weapons, no means to defend herself, she prepared for the worst. Whatever happened, it was for a reason, and she needed to find it to help Sirius survive and then live. Something big happened, something very important that she must figure out.

She felt chills coming up her spine as she felt a presence. A familiar but twisted. Broken and reassembled the wrong way. Something that she had seen before somewhere, something dangerous and menacing. A lingering presence she felt everywhere since she witnessed the first murder of Stanislav. It was watching her, stalking her, waiting for its chance to find her and trap here.

Iclyn slowly turned around. Her eyes widened in fear and surprise as she saw what was before her. A nightmare, a being comprised of the worst Sirius had to offer. Something like a rabid animal: infinitely angry, immensely hateful.

In its eyes, great sadness, something the pegasus didn't expect. The creature was pale, tall, deathly thin, its face emotionless, its deep-sunken eyes glowing purple, and its hands holding a sword.

"It is time for you to leave." the Figure said.

https://youtu.be/Mc1jkqsxNws

Author's Notes:

What do you say about this new music? It's the theme of the Figure, and also a theme of Sirius' depression.

I also drew a portrait of Stanislav when he was 12. Take a look and tell me what you think. I'm not too good at drawing humans, though.

Besides, I want to hear all your interesting guesses and theories. It's been two weeks of no updates, surely you have something bottled up deep inside.