Don't Look Inside

The first school day for Sirius has finally started. And it started with him getting up in the morning to the alarm clock. After hitting it to make it stop, the former human groaned and tried to rub his eyes. It didn't really go well since he didn't have fingers. He swore under his breath and got up from the bed.

His sleep was undisturbed, but it didn't relieve him. He got just a few hours of sleep and the fatigue still remained. First thing in the morning, he decided to wash his face to wake up faster. But unfortunately, the bathroom was occupied by Iclyn as that moment. Sirius sighed and sat down, laying against the wall, his eyelids growing heavy. School days were as he remembered them: an early start, boredom, and a huge desire to hug his bed forever. Nothing has changed.

He didn't plan on dying from boredom. He needed to find something else aside from studying to do lest he goes even more insane than he already was. The classes haven't started yet but he already had a growing grudge against them. And he was also sure that his predicament about them being boring would be proven true as soon as the first lesson starts.

Soon, Iclyn exited the bathroom, a smile on her face.

"Good morning!" she greeted Sirius cheerfully, hoping he would be nicer towards her. She remembered the incident that happened at night, but she still wanted to be friends with him. He might be rough around the edges, but she hoped he would warm up to her.

To him, mornings were never good, so, he ignored her statement. He glanced at her and saw that she was completely alright. She didn't even look tired. Making a slight frown, he got up from his sitting position and entered the bathroom.

"Still not friendly..." Iclyn muttered and then sighed. The hope of the two becoming friends diminished with each moment they spent together.

Sirius locked the door behind him and went to the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were slightly red and there were noticeable dark bags under them. He also noticed how sunken his cheeks really were. Even after eating a lot at the Canterlot Castle, he was still skinny, right on the edge of unhealthy. If anything from his former body remained, it was his genetic problem — inability to gain much weight. He sighed, and then turned on the water. He splashed some on his face, and soon he was fully awake.

Seeing an unused toothbrush and unopened toothpaste, he decided to clean his teeth. He hated routines, but he hated dirt and yellow teeth even more. During his whole life, his teeth had a noticeable yellow tint he just couldn't scrub off. However, his new teeth were white, and he really wanted to keep them that way.

After finishing the morning routine, he exited the bathroom and saw Iclyn waiting for him on her bed.

"Classes start in twenty minutes." she said to him. "C'mon, you don't wanna be late for school."

Nodding, Sirius followed her as she stood up and exited the apartment. He was ready.

***

Some time later, the two reached the training grounds of the school where Physical Culture took place. It was about ten minutes before the lesson would start.

Those training grounds were actually huge, having a stadium comprised of a football field with a track around it, basketball and volleyball areas, and a tennis area. Overall, it was pretty good.

Sirius observed his new twenty classmates, and they warily watched him in turn. All of them were teenage ponies of different tribes, some of them looking at him with interest, others with a bit of fear and uncertainty, and a few of them looked at him with hidden hostility. The former human took notice of that, keeping it in his mind if he would ever approach those ponies. He also noticed that all ponies had their special marks already.

He had come across the description of said marks by then and found the whole concept of bound talent to be completely ridiculous and absolutely bizarre. It made no sense to him — how could a pattern of colors on a flank define talent? Maybe he lacked understanding, he didn't know, but he was certain that it would be better for him not to get such a strange mark. He had few talents, but he didn't want to be restricted to the only one.

Returning his attention to the ponies, he saw that the class was neutral to him at that moment. He wasn't looking for trouble, hoping it would stay that way.

Maybe not for long. One of the more hostile ponies approached him. It was a young pegasus stallion a bit taller than Sirius and certainly more athletic. He had a barely hidden smug look on his face.

"Hey there, colt." the young stallion greeted Sirius more or less neutrally with a hint of menace. "Where's your mark?"

Sirius frowned. He already expected the conversation to go wrong. He knew that some people like harassing others because the latter don't have something that defines social status that the former has. While Sirius wasn't subjected to such a situation before, he knew too well what could happen to the victims of such a 'conversation'.

He was a new student, a target for bullies, and he understood it perfectly. He was being tested for weaknesses, and he wasn't going to give them any.

A part of him that hoped he wouldn't have to see such things again died. Well, he could approach it calmly. But if things go south, he would return what he got, be it aggression, violence, or good. Do upon others what they do upon you, his motto was. He wasn't against showing that he didn't want bullies in his life. He wasn't afraid of any consequences either — he had already gotten through many much worse things than it by that moment. There was nothing: no beating nor verbal harassment could do much harm to him. Words couldn't hurt him, but he could very well hurt who said those words.

"I not have it." Sirius finally replied, looking in the eyes of the stallion, studying his appearance

"Yeah, somepony like you certainly can't have it. You don't even speak right!" the stallion mocked Sirius, getting a few chuckles out of his friends. He was pretty confident in his success and it was shown in his daring posture and expression. His chest protruded forward in pride and challenge, his eyes looking into Sirius', hooves firmly on the ground.

"I learn it." Sirius replied calmly. He knew that such an approach to the confrontation could possibly lead to peaceful resolution. He just needed to phrase his words correctly so that the bully won't find them an invitation to fight. "You can understand me — there, no problem. Soon, I will... speak better."

His adversary was surprised and slightly confused at the reply. His brows raised slightly, he lifted one of his front legs, his confidential position falling apart. It wasn't the reply the bully expected. Sirius waited for him to respond.

"Well..." the stallion searched for a new way to verbally assault Sirius. "It's so sad that you've not learnt it by now. You know, all normal ponies do."

"How many languages you do know?" Sirius asked.

"At least one, unlike you." the stallion snickered, his confidence returning.

"Are you so sure? Because I know more than one. Soon, I will learn to speak Commonlang as well." Sirius replied in his native language. A smirk almost made its way to his face, but he hid it as not to provoke the bully.

"...What?" the stallion replied. He looked puzzled, his eyes widened, his smug look disappearing. He expected such an outcome even less than the previous reply.

"What I meant is — I know another language. Commonlang... I will learn it soon or late." the former human replied. "Do you still have... doubts about my, um, ability to... communicate?"

Some ponies behind the back of the bully chuckled, bringing confidence to Sirius.

The bully snorted, frowned, and then returned to his place. Sirius has come out a victor, much to his relief.

"You shouldn't get on his bad side." Iclyn told Sirius.

"I can defend me self, thank." he replied with a hint of sarcasm. He indeed could defend himself, at least verbally, and maybe even physically. He'd see to improving his skills at physical combat, actually. He hasn't grasped all aspects of his new body yet, and he wanted to be prepared if things come down to simple fighting.

"But—" Iclyn tried to say.

"I did not need advice." Sirius cut her off. "I been to schools before. I know how... they work."

Soon, the bell rang, signaling the start of the lesson. Everyone was assembled by the teacher, a muscular ex-royal guard who continued wearing his golden guard boots.

"Good morning, students!" he greeted them in a rather deep voice. "Today's a good day! Right for the endurance training! The task for now — a full lap around the stadium, then warmup, and then five laps. I'll be watching you! Dis-smissed!"

Sirius felt uncertain towards the teacher. So far, he didn't seem too much special. Like many of the teachers of his subject, he was rather old. However, he wasn't fat — quite the opposite. He was also militaristic, it could from a slight glance and the way he talked.

Without a further ado, Sirius followed his classmates as they started to run the lap. He increased his pace to match that of others, and was soon trotting alongside other students.

But soon, he began to tire out. He didn't have much muscle anywhere on his body, energy was scarce as well, and he discovered he couldn't keep up with other ponies. He slowed down slightly, and soon found himself behind everyone. Thankfully, the lap soon ended, allowing him to breathe fully and recover.

The warmup consisted of jumping, stretching, turning, all kind of movement possible with pony body. It seemed everyone was doing their own warmup, and Sirius decided to adapt his fencing warmup to his new pony body.

First, he jumped as high as he could, folding and unfolding his legs under himself. Then, he would do ten sit-ups. His body could still stretch fairly easily, his agility from his previous body remained. Then, Sirius did a few lunges forward, trying to figure out how to do them with four legs instead of two. Soon, he found out they could be done just by moving left or right legs simultaneously, imitating his earlier moves when he was bipedal. After that, he would stretch his body to the limit. Thankfully, he wasn't wooden with his new body, allowing him to do the full split without any problem.

Some students were actually impressed by the last display and tried to repeat it after him. None succeeded in fully replicating his move. They also found his warmup routine strange as they've not seen such a pattern before.

As everyone finished with the warmup, they started doing laps around the stadium.

Sirius wasn't sure he would survive five of them, so he went pretty slowly, keeping his breath steady. He was behind everyone, but he wasn't going to compete for the first place or anything. Besides, it wasn't a competition at all.

Even with the warmup, he began to tire out quickly. On the second half of the second lap, he began breathing hard, almost wheezing, trying to get as much air as he could. His legs also began to tire out and weaken. He wasn't sure if he could finish even the third lap without problems.

As he almost passed the first half of the third lap, his vision darkened. He slowed down significantly, and almost fell. As his eyes returned to normal, he stopped trotting and started to walk. His new body was weaker in terms of endurance than his previous one.

"Slacking, aren't you?" the teacher said, approaching Sirius.

"No... sir." the former human replied in between breaths. "I don't have... enough endurance."

"I see..." the teacher frowned, looking at the colt. "You really need to eat more, son. Well, you may finish for now. Get some rest, and then the whole class will play volleyball." the teacher smiled slightly. "And I like your manecut."

"Thank you, sir." Sirius nodded, and then sighed in relief. He was glad he wasn't forced to continue running — he would most likely collapse if he attempted to do it.

Instead, he went to the nearby bench and lied on it, resting his legs and body. His mind was let to wander around different subjects.

He was so tired. Some ponies needed something from him, two princesses wanted to help him while not knowing anything and making fools of themselves in the process, a bully was probably after him, and to top it all — he was weak. There was no way he could become strong physically — he needed magic, he desperately needed means to protect himself.

"Hey, tough speaker!" that bully called Sirius. "We should call you... no-legs! You can't even take these pathetic five laps!"

Sirius groaned, not replying. He was too tired to retort. He didn't want to retort. But if things escalated further, he would use force to show that he wasn't someone to push around.

***

Finally, the class started dividing into two teams. Two captains were chosen by the teacher: the pegasus who previously harassed Sirius and a friend of his, both athletic ponies. They took turns to choose ponies into their teams. Sirius was left for last. Finally, he was chosen by the bully's friend, and the game began.

"Unicorns, remember not to hit the ball with your head!" the teacher reminded everyone.

The game went rather smoothly. Sirius was able to hit a ball or two and send them back to the opposing team. The teams were more or less even, rarely making the score differ by one or two points. Overall, the former human enjoyed the activity, finding it to his liking. While he wasn't that good at it, it made him think about winning the game and not about losing his life. This was the main reason why he liked sports — they made him feel much better. They helped him cope with his feelings and put them away at least for some time.

Suddenly, he was hit in the back of the head by the ball. Sparks flew out of his eyes as he almost bit on his own tongue.

"Oi, watch the freaking ball, will you?" the bully's friend taunted Sirius.

"Hey! Be careful there, colts!" the teacher yelled. "We don't need injuries happening!"

It was clear to Sirius that the hit wasn't an accident but a provocation done by the bully and his friend. Two of them would easily beat him physically. However, if he gives them no reason to do it during the lessons, they will most likely attack him after them. He will be ready for it.

***

After the lessons of Physical Culture ended, the ponies went to the shower room in the school to get themselves ready for the next lesson. The shower room was unisex — there was no shame for them to be together since they were casually nude most of the time. Sirius wasn't against it — he simply didn't care about it. He found nothing sexual about the equines nor was he ashamed of showing his new body.

As Sirius scrubbed himself, he was approached by the bully and his friend. They had displeased looks on their faces.

"Hey!" one of them called. "How are ya, big brains?"

"Tired after lesson." Sirius replied, continuing cleaning himself.

"Yeah, tired after only two laps." the bully rolled his eyes.

"Three." Sirius corrected him. "What you want from me?"

"You're not tough enough to be here, no-legs." the reply came as the two moved closer. "We're here to give you a lesson."

Without a warning, the bigger bully pounced. Sirius had his eyes on him and managed to dodge thanks to his trained reflexes. He gripped the brush tight.

The brush was made of wood and had a rather long handle. Sirius figured out it could be used as an improvised club or even a mace. He swung at the bully and hit him in the side of the head, stunning him.

The second moved in, only to receive a face punch from the former human. Sirius pushed the stunned stallion away and headed to the exit.

"Argh, you little!.."

Sirius noticed a piece of soap. He grabbed it and threw in the head of the first bully who had by then recovered from the brush hit. The soap got in his eyes and made him fall as pain clouded his vision quite literally.

"AURRRGH!"

Fillies screamed as Sirius dashed past them to the exit. He couldn't take on the bullies alone. He understood clearly that he would need the teacher to know what's happening.

As he exited the showers, he saw that the exit was blocked by another bully — an earth pony stallion.

"No escape, huh?" he taunted, his posture relaxed.

Sirius noticed a broom in the corner of the room. It could be used as an improvised staff. He dashed to the side and grabbed the broom with his magic.

"What are y—" the third bully began but was swiftly cut off as Sirius hit hard. Another hit soon followed, this time on the leg, making the bully fall to the ground. Making sure he won't stand up, Sirius swung the broom at the head, and managed to stun the bully.

"Here's this little shit!" Sirius heard the voice of the first bully behind himself. He spun around, still holding the broom. He managed to place it between him and the bully as the latter collided with the end of the broom by the chest. Air knocked out of his lungs, the bully fell to the ground, gasping for air. A follow-up hit soon followed, making sure he won't stand up. "Argh, my leg!"

The last one kept his distance, looking at Sirius.

"You think you're tough, huh?" he taunted. "You, blank-flank, are nothing!"

Sirius didn't reply, focusing his attention on the movements of the bullies. Two of them were lying on the ground, moaning and groaning in pain, nursing their legs and heads. Sirius needed to keep them in his field of vision.

He failed to hear the door opening behind him.

"What in the name of Celestia is happening here?!" the teacher's thunder-like voice sounded. Then, he surveyed the scene. Two ponies were lying on the floor, one was standing at the entrance to the showers, and another was still holding a broom. There were also colts and fillies looking at the scene from the showers. "Ah, I see... You three—" he gestured at the bullies. "—are a disgrace to the school! Picking on students again? Not to mention that he has beaten you! You didn't expect someone to be smarter than you, huh, feather-brains? You are dishonorably discharged for a week! All of you — wait for me at the principal's office. Dis-smissed!"

The bullies gathered, grumbling. Sirius relaxed and placed the broom where it previously had been. The battle was over and he was the victor.

"As for you," the teacher turned to Sirius. "You were good, son, real good; maybe even the best." the corners of his mouth went up. "I congratulate you on defeating these three dishonorable pieces of... ahem. Anyway, they were quite a cactus in the rear. So, are you into fencing?"

Sirius nodded.

"It's no surprise, considering you've just beaten three most athletic colts in class. Two of them pegasi, no less. I tell you what — there is a fencing section in the school, I advise you join it. You have a great potential, son. Perhaps you will be able to join the Royal Guard once you're older."

Sirius almost smiled. If there was fencing in the school, he would take it up immediately.

"And... what is your name, colt?" the teacher asked.

"Sirius."

"It's an honor to see such a warrior like you, Sirius." the teacher extended his hoof. "Colonel Pride Fight."

The two bumped hooves.

So far, it wasn't so bad for Sirius. Even if he did encounter bullies, it was beneficial for him — not only did those three get detention for a whole week, Sirius earned respect from a teacher and found out he could take up his favorite activity again. It would certainly greatly help him in his future endeavors.

"Though, we still have to go to the principal. She would like to hear your side of the story as well." Pride said. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble."

Sirius didn't worry. If all teachers were as good as Pride, he wouldn't have to fear injustice from them. He was glad the teacher actually cared about who started the fight.

Overall, not bad. Not bad at all.