The yellow pegasus with butterflies on her flank scowled at the sheer white griffon sitting in front of her who wondered what was on her mind. He was about to question her about his duties but was interrupted just as he opened his beak, it felt like she was waiting for it.
"Listen here, hooligan!" The mare spoke loudly, eliciting a look of surprise on the griffon. "You don't scare me one bit. You may be a tough mobster on the streets but here, I set the rules!" The griffon's expression changed from surprised to annoyance.
"Yes, ma'am." He answered only in a minor tone of dissatisfaction while keeping his head still and gazing forward like a soldier.
"That's right!" The mare spoke now with a new tone of confidence in her voice. "You'll do as you're told and on the first sign of trouble I'll alert the authorities and you'll know what that means don't you?" Still with the same expression and with the same tone the griffon answered.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. I'll introduce you to all the other staff members and expect you to respect them and don't even think about doing whatever it is that you do to any of them!" The griffon's eyes widened and mare continued her sermon. "Maybe in your time here you can learn a real honest craft and be a proper member of society." The pegasus looked at the thunderstruck griffon as his expression clearly saddened as finally moved his gaze to the floor before answering in a very different tone.
"Y... Yes, ma'am.
The pegasus grim suddenly turned into one of worry, quickly dropping the façade as her posture, expression and tone drastically changed.
"Oh no! I hurt your feelings, didn't I? I'm so sorry, I was just trying to make sure you wouldn't cause any trouble but I went too far!"
"It's okay, ma'am. I'm fine and I promise I won't cause you any trouble."
"Oh, goodness, you're not a bad creature at all, I should've known. They wouldn't have sent you here otherwise, you probably suffered a lot and was forced into a life of crime and.. "
"It's not a crime... I just didn't have the paperwork to do it because I didn't know I needed one."
"Oh... Still... It must have been terrible to have to resort to... uh..." The blush on the mare's face was ever more visible as was her voice ever more soft.
"It wasn't terrible at all, ma'am. In fact I enjoyed it very much." The griffon spoke with new found pride.
"Oh... I see... I suppose... some creatures have more libido than others... I shouldn't judge." Said the mare, averting her gaze from the griffon with a clear expression of distaste as she covered her mouth with the side of one of forelegs.
"That's not why I enjoy it but I don't blame you for thinking that. That's what every creature thinks of us, victims and deviants.... ma'am." The griffon went back to his annoyed self as he made the statement but also averted his gaze from the mare by looking in the opposite direction.
The mare was surprised and looked straight at him, in awe she quickly retorted, "What?". After a brief silence she was able to muster the courage to ask, "Why did-", only to be cut short by a door being opened and a pink hippogriff who looked at the two surprised creatures in the room as she became surprised herself and took a loud breath taking her claws to the side of her face as she had just seen a ghost.
"Hello, Silver-". The yellow mare tried to speak but was cut off once again.
"ARE YOU THE PROSTITUTE THEY MENTIONED WAS COMING?!" She shouted directly at the griffon who beckoned a bit in shock.
"Silverstream!" The mare spoke, clearly displeased. Silverstream quickly covered her mouth with her claws while lowering herself to ground level before letting out a quiet nervous giggle.
"Sorry..."
"It's ok, Miss, I'm in fact a prostitute but we usually say we're "escorts". It's a better sounding word." The griffon giggled looking at the flustered hippogriff.
She set herself straight, clearly flustered, she stroked one of her forelegs with the other foreleg's claw and letting a small giggle again she apologized once more.
"Uh... Silverstream, this is Angelo. Angelo, this is Silverstream, she has been helping me run the sanctuary for a while and I consider her my right arm if not my equal, so you can trust her and be sure to... well... obey her orders... if that's okay..." The mare's voice got quieter once more as the environment seemed to go back to normal if not for the fact that Silverstream suddenly embraced her entirely in a tight hug, rubbing her cheek on the mare's.
"Thanks, Teacher! I love you and I love this place!" The griffon smiled at the scene and decided to say something after realizing he'd been staring at them in silence for a few seconds.
"Nice to meet you, miss Silverstream. I assure you despite what you might have heard, I won't cause any trouble and I'm even a little excited, I love animals after all."
"You do?!" Both females said in unison, surprised by the griffon's comment. The mood of the environment had completely changed and feeling more at ease, he giggled before answering.
"I do, actually. Kind like miss Fluttershy, my mom took care of small abandoned animals and I used to help her all the time. I even wanted to be a biologist when I was young because of it."
"Oh... can I ask why you changed your mind? Did… did something bad happen?" Fluttershy asked, still held in an embrace by Silverstream, who awaited the answer in sheer suspense.
"I..." Angelo averted his gaze and changed his expression to a more serious one. "I am..." The females held each other tighter and awaited for an answer, disregarding the world around them entirely. After a few seconds of silence, Angelo looked straight at them, with a serious expression" to give his answer.
"I'm actually a little dumb and couldn't keep up." He let out a nervous giggle while he scratched the back of his head. The females stared in awe and disbelief in silence for several seconds. "Well, there was also the issue that whenever they talked about arteries, blood vessels and stuff like that I started to feel really weak and even passed out once."
"Is that why you became a hook- escort? To pay for your school?" Silverstream asked nonchalantly. In a quiet yet loud voice Fluttershy protested.
"Silverstream!"
"That is a common reason why many start but no, that wasn't why."
"Oh, I see..." Silverstream said, holding herself to not directly ask the reason, knowing that Fluttershy wouldn't like that.
"But it was because of one of my teachers."
"WHAT?!" Both females shouted again in unison.