“I’m only going to ask you one more time! Where is The Storm King’s army?”
“I-I don’t know!!!” Kyle replied, on the verge of tears. “I don’t know any Storm King or where any army is!!!”
No matter how many times the boy answered, the hippogriff wasn’t convinced and only kept pressing harder.
“Let me be clear with you. While you’re with me, I may be the best friend you’ve got around here. And if you want it to stay that way, you’ll be straight and honest with me. Now tell me what I want to know!”
Kyle couldn’t hold back his tears anymore as he shouted, “I KNOW NOTHING, I SWEAR!!!”
“I don’t believe you, you lying sack of-”
“WIND SOAR!”
The human and the dark blue hippogriff immediately turned to see Air Burst at the cell door, with him giving his fellow soldier a dark look.
“Didn’t the captain make himself abundantly clear that the prisoner is not to be harmed, in any way?”
“Questioning a prisoner does not constitute harm.” Wind Soar replied harshly. “Besides, I was only getting warmed up with my interrogation methods. I’ve almost nearly-”
“I think you’ve questioned him enough!!!” The green hippogriff interrupted in a stern manner. “Look at him! He’s already emotionally broken as it is! You think a kid like him is going to know anything regarding the whereabouts of The Storm King’s army?”
Kyle sniffed a few times, watching the two hippogriffs argue with each other, while secretly wishing that he had simply not accepted Silverstream’s help.
“Let me tell you something, Air Burst. The moment you let your guard down, that’s exactly when things start turning sour! Just like with Sky Beak!”
“Careful Wind Soar…you owe him more than you and Captain Flight realize.”
“The only thing I owe him is the disgust and contempt I have for what happened that day! Of course you on the other talon would defend him only because he gave you a promotion!”
“How dare you!!” Air Burst replied, feeling his anger rise. “You think that just because he advanced my rank that it’s the reason why I would go out of my way to defend him? Either you are too blinded by your own vanity or you haven’t had enough time to think rationally after Peacock’s death!”
“You leave her out of this!!!” Wind Soar nearly screamed as he was on the verge of screaming for bloodshed. Kyle covered his ears, shut his eyes tightly and wrapped himself in a cowardly fetal position, not wanting to be part of the conflict. The two hippogriffs were glaring sharp daggers at each other and were nearly ready for a fight. Just then a loud whistle, followed by a loud, “ATTENTION!!!”, caused the two soldiers to face the source of the sound and salute stoically.
Kyle lifted his head slightly to see a gray colored hippogriff soldier entering the cell and staring at the other two. The human recognized him from before as the one who was with Air Burst and Wind Soar earlier.
“Now what’s going on here?”
“I was in the middle of interrogating the prisoner befo-”
“I wasn’t speaking to you Soar!!!” The gray hippogriff harshly cut off Wind Soar before turning to the green hippogriff and said in a more still tone, “Air Burst. What is the meaning of this confrontation?”
“Ensign Sea Wave, sir, I heard yelling coming from the cell while Wind Soar was interrogating the human and I assumed he was harming him. I made it very clear that our orders from Captain Flight were that the boy wasn’t to be harmed in any way, before we started arguing with one another about Lieutenant Beak.”
“And did Wind Soar harm the prisoner when you arrived?”
“He was about to strike him when I arrived.”
“That’s not wh-“
“HOLD YOUR TONGUE SOLDIER!!!” Sea Wave yelled at Wind Soar, shutting him up. He gave the dark blue hippogriff a dark look before turning his attention back to Air Burst and returning back to the same demeanor as before.
“But did Wind Soar actually harm the prisoner when you arrived at the cell?”
“No sir.”
“Then your assumption was incorrect.” Sea Wave said before looking over at the human, who immediately hid his face after making eye contact with the hippogriff. “But in any case, we don’t want the prisoner to be mentally broken when the queen returns and your methods Wind Soar are not doing any-griff any favors. Therefore Air Burst, I want you to be the one to question the human and inform me about anything valuable. Wind Soar, you’re ordered to kitchen duties from here on out until further notice!”
“With all due respect sir, we were both ordered by Captain Flight to guard the human and to ensure no one else goes near him.” Said Air Burst, before the Ensign approached with a squinted look in his eyes. The green hippogriff began to grow nervous, but refused to let it show on the outside.
“Except you forget that Captain Flight is away and has left me in charge around here. You still have your duty to guard the prisoner, yes. But you and Soar are still expected to follow my orders. Is that understood, soldiers?”
“Yes sir!” Both hippogriffs said in unison.
“Good. Now get moving Wind Soar before I consider having you demoted…again.” The gray hippogriff said before taking his leave from the cell.
Kyle looked up to see the dark blue hippogriff about to leave as well but not before receiving a glare from him that said, “You and I aren’t finished yet!” After Wind Soar was gone, Air Burst let out a sigh through his nostrils and looked over at the boy. He could see plainly that the human was still shaken up and felt regrettable leaving him alone with Wind Soar. The green hippogriff went over and sat next to the boy, but Kyle only hugged himself and hid his head back into a fetal position.
“I’m…sorry.”
The curled up human said nothing.
“I know how terrified you must feel. And I apologize for my companion’s behavior. The truth is, Wind Soar hasn’t been the same as he used to be. He…*sigh*...something happened to him and it’s affected him hard.”
The boy remained silent and didn’t make any moves. Air Burst couldn’t help but pity him. The hippogriff decided to give the boy some time alone to recover as he stood up and walked over to the cell door.
“I’ll bring you something to eat in a little while.”
Air Burst closed and locked the cell and headed for the door leading out of the cells. As he opened the door, he took one more look over his shoulder to where Kyle’s cell was. After letting out one more sigh through his nostrils, the door closed tightly behind him.
“Oooohhh…” Silverstream sighed in frustration. “How can we just leave Kyle in jail? There has to be a way to help him!”
The young hippogriff was all alone in her room, contemplating ways to help her human friend.
“Maybe I can sneak in and visit! No, that would never work. Or maybe I can send him a gift to help lift his spirits! Then again, Dad did say that prisoners aren’t allowed gifts. Perhaps I could…naw that would take too long.”
Silverstream sat on her bed, feeling more discouraged by the second.
“Come on! There’s gotta be something!!”
As she thought about trying to help Kyle, she started thinking about her friends from the School of Friendship.
“I do hope they’re having a fun summer. Maybe when this whole issue is put behind and school starts again, I can introduce Kyle to every-creature, the teachers an-”
Suddenly, an idea sparked in Silverstream’s head as she gasped.
“Of course! But the big question is how to do it?”
The hippogriff thought for a few minutes until she had a plan thought out. She then flew out of her room down to the living room where her father was sitting.
“Dad?”
“Yes, Silverstream?” Sky Beak asked, turning his attention away from the fireplace.
“Could I have some money to travel to Ponyville?”
“Ponyville?” Silverstream’s father asked with a raised eyebrow. “But you only just got back from being there. Why would you want to go back so soon?”
“Because, I want to spend some time away to get my mind off Kyle. I mean, I still worry about him, but I want to distract myself with something else until Aunt Novo returns. So, is it okay?”
“Well, truthfully I had hoped we could spend some time with each other. I mean you were gone for several months and only wrote a few times out of the school year.”
Silverstream felt guilty at the moment and thought about her dad’s words, but still wanted to stick to her plan.
“Yeah…but couldn’t we hang out after I return from Ponyville? I wouldn’t be gone too long.”
“I know! What if I went with you? I’ve been curious about what it’s like and you can show me all there is to see. What do you say?”
‘NO, NO, NO! THAT’LL RUIN EVERYTHING!!!’ Silverstream internally screamed but externally began to grow nervous while trying to think of an excuse.
“Well…as I said, I wasn’t planning on being there for very long. I’d just be there mostly to visit the professors and ask them if I can be of any help to them for the next few days. And also to ask them if it’s possible to be in the same classes as my friends for the next school year.”
Sky Beak’s eyes lit up at his daughter’s plan and said, “That actually sounds like the perfect opportunity to meet them and ask how well you’ve done in their classes! When did you plan on leaving?”
“I was going to take the next available train over there, but you don’t have to come Dad.”
“Oh nonsense! This could be the perfect opportunity to not only spend time with you, but to also learn more about what the ponies are like!” The older hippogriff said as he got off his seat and headed to the front door. “I’ll head to the train station and get us some tickets. Be back shortly!”
After the father hippogriff shut the door behind him, Silverstream quickly flew up to her room and let out a scream.
“How am I going to make this work with him constantly following me?!? This makes the entire trip pointless!!”
After several minutes of venting out her frustration, the young hippogriff sat back on her bed and began to rethink her plan.
“Okay, maybe it won’t be all that bad. And this could still work. I’d just need to find a way to get him to leave for a few minutes when the time is right. But the question is, how?”
Going through various scenarios in her head, Silverstream had a potential idea and hoped that the stars would align properly to make it work. Just then, the sound of the front door opening reached the hippogriff’s ears as her father announced his return. She flew down to where he was and with her trademark expression asked, “Did you get the tickets?”
“Indeed I did!” Sky Beak replied, showing his daughter said tickets. “And the train leaves for Ponyville first thing tomorrow morning!”
“Yes! Thank you Dad!” Silverstream said energetically as she hugged the older hippogriff, before she realized he was drenched from the rain outside. She tried to shake the water off of her fur which garnered a chuckle from her father.
“You’re very welcome. Now come on, let’s get dried off and then we’ll get dinner started.”