“Nice to meet you, Fredric, my name is Summer, I work for the mayor here in Canterlot,” she said, after the doctor had left the room. Fredric wanted to see the pegasus, but he had remained outside. The brown earth pony mare seemed nice, though not very interesting.

“Hi,” Fredric replied, not knowing what else to say. She looked younger than he imagined.

“Did the doctor inform you why I’m here?” she asked, and waited from him to nod. “Good, let me first inform you that you are currently a prisoner of war under the Equestrian crown. What this means is that you will be forced to stay here in our custody for the duration of the conflict. When the war is over you will be free to return to your home. You could be set free prematurely, like for instance if there was an exchange of prisoners.” She paused for a moment. “There are some special circumstances in your case, I will get to those later, any questions?”

“Maybe,” Fredric replied, and he turned his head to the door. “Can I see the pegasus outside? I’ve never seen a pegasus before.”

She tilted her head at that, black mane falling down and blocking her right eye. “No, please pay attention to me, this is serious,” she said, while her tone remained neutral. “Let’s move on to the questions.” She went and took the bench next to his bed, then pulled out a notebook from her saddlebag and used the bench as a podium. Fredric was surprised that she could hold a pen in her mouth and still talk normally. “What is your full name, age, and place of birth?”

Fredric was busy fidgeting with his cuffed right talon, when he finally registered the question he answered. “Fredric Bern, f-fourteen years old since last month, I was born on my family farm, a mile south of Reinhold.”

She wrote down every word. Fredric could feel his feathers tingle, because he wanted to see what she was writing about him, since it could be something mean.

“Tell me about your life before the war,” she said, when Fredric just looked at her in confusion and didn’t reply she specified. “How about your family, or where did you go to school?”

“M-my father was nice, used to carry me on his back when we were exploring the mountains together, his name was Gerald. My mother’s name is Helga, she takes care of the farm now that dad is gone. I also have a sister, her name is Frida, she’s much older than me, haven't seen her in some time.” Fredric stopped talking when he noticed her having trouble keeping up with the writing. His head slumped down at the thought of Summer being mad at him, some gryphons teased him when he rambled and talked too fast.

“Thank you for pausing,” she said, when she finished writing. “Please, continue, but talk slower.”

“Okay, sorry,” he said, glad that she didn’t seem upset. “I stopped going to school when I was ten, that was the winter when dad got sick, he never got better, so I had to stop going to school, and stay and help mother with the farm. She was sad that I couldn’t go to school anymore, but she would try and homeschool me after dark, when she wasn’t too tired. Frida lived and studied in the city at that time, and she had more years before she was done, so she couldn’t help. She lives and works in Reinhold now, as a nurse.”

When he said the last part Summer’s head jerked up from her writing and stared at him. She dropped the pen in her mouth. “I see,” she sighed “Okay, let’s continue. What were your reasons for enlisting, and how did you enlist?”

“I didn’t really want to f-fight, and I told them I was too young to join, but they wouldn’t believe me. Mother had said I looked older and stronger because I work the fields all day, and I told them so! Eating your grains and drinking goat's milk also helped, and catching some mice and fish now and th–”

“Fredric, sorry for interrupting, who are ‘they’, when and where did this happen.”

“Their names were Captain Gunnar and Lieutenant Wolf.” Fredric paused when he noticed Summer’s grimace, and she was writing down much more than just copies of his words. “They came to the farm and started talking to me, mother wasn’t home at the time. She said that the war was getting closer, so she traveled to the eastern towns instead, it’s a safer place to sell and buy goods, but it's also much further away, so she was gone all day.”

“I’m guessing they were recruiters? What did they look like?”

“They kinda smelled, and their uniforms were muddy and torn at places.” he said. They also had very bad facial feather hygiene, but he didn’t think a pony would understand that.

“I see,” she said. “What happened next?”

“I told them my mother needed me on the farm, I couldn’t possibly leave her alone. So they offered me a large bag of bits if I joined up. They said my mother would never have to work again, she could hire gryphons and even ponies to keep the farm going. So I agreed, we left the bag of money and a note the Captain wrote on the dining table.”

“Did you take a look inside the bag?” She asked.

“What? Eh, no, but I could see from the outside that it was full of coins! The Lieutenant picked one out and showed it to me,” he replied. Fredric watched as one of her ears moved back and forth, and her tail twitched to one side at times. She didn’t seem to notice.

“So, was money the only reason for you enlisting?” she asked.

“I-I, also wanted to leave the farm and see the world, they told me I would have all sorts of adventures.”

“So you followed them?”

“Yes, we traveled to Reinhold to visit the army house. Gunnar and Wolf talked with the one in charge for a while. I was given a paper to sign, then sent off to someone called a ‘Quartermaster’, who gave me a club and shield. I asked him how to use it, and he told me ‘you hit them in the head with it’. I spent the afternoon swinging my club up and down on a pony training dummy. There were a few other gryphons training, but nobody wanted to talk to me.”

“Didn’t anyone notice that you were too young?”

“I did get some funny looks, and one of the trainers was about come over and talk to me, then someone came bursting through the door. He shouted ‘the Equestrians are moving to block the northern road’ or something, and that we all needed to move quickly to stop them. We all gathered in a group and flew north until we reached a campsite. It was dark when we got there so everyone was told to go to sleep. In the morning a messenger arrived and told us that the Equestrians were getting close. I can’t really remember what happened after that. I think that before the fight I talked with the Captain, his name was Bernhard. I think he told me to stay away from the fighting.”

“Did the Captain give you any reasons why you should stay out of the fight?”

“No, at least I don’t think he did,” Fredric said. “Can you please tell me what happened? I only remember a few images of that day.”

She thought about it; as she moved the pen in her mouth up and down. She spat out the pen and went back to her saddlebags, and picked out a block of notes, she skimmed the pages with her nose, until she found the one she was looking for.

“Here we go,” she said. “It was called ‘the ambush at Canter Hill’, in the abridged version, a company of equestrians was ambushed, a short fight ensued and ended with the gryphons retreating. The casualties amounted to twenty-nine injured ponies, and fifteen injured and captured gryphons. Among these nine ponies and four gryphons had to be hospitalized for an extended time. The battle delayed the encirclement of Reinho–” She suddenly stopped. “Nevermind, but in short that was what happened,” she finished.

He opened his beak to ask for more details, however she swiftly changed the subject. “I sent a picture of you to the prison camp outside Manehatten, and asked the captured gryphons from the battle if they recognized you. Since none knew your name I guess it all fits with your story, also there was no gryphon named Bernhard among the prisoners.” She wrote a few last words in her notes, then packed everything back in her saddlebags.

Fredric could only watch as she completely forgot about him, and instead started pacing back and forth in room, while muttering to herself. He was about to ask what she was doing, but he was too baffled when she walked by the window and took a bite out of one of the potted plants.

“Miss, are you okay?” he said finally, and wondered if all the ponies were like this, or if it was just the mares.

She immediately snapped out of it, while still chewing on the flower that he hoped wasn’t poisonous. “Yes, sorry about that. I had a lot to think about.” She said, then swallowed. “I think we can wrap up this interview. Like I said at the start, there are some special circumstances for you, since you're underage your recruitment into the military was illegal.”

She waited to see if he had any questions, when he was silent she continued. “This however, doesn’t change the fact that you are a prisoner, but you will be given more freedom so long as you behave. I will see to it that the cuff around your wrist will be removed. I will assign a social worker to help you during your stay in Canterlot, when you are fit to leave the hospital you’ll be sent to a more open establishment, probably one for rehabilitating youth.”

“Oh, o-okay,” he said, uncertain about what many of the mentioned things actually meant.

“I may check in tomorrow evening with follow-up questions, until then Fredric, this is goodbye.”

She waves her hoof and he barely had time to reply with, “Goodbye.” Before she was out the door.

Summer closed the door and gave out a long sigh. The interview had given her some vital clues on how to solve this mess, and she just needed some peace and quiet to write it all down. The mayor probably trotted circles in his office at this point, so it was best to be quick about returning to the office.

“Skyclo– I mean Sky,” she told the pegasus, at least he hadn’t run off after a nurse while she was in there. “I need you to stay here at least a day more, you got that?”

“Sure,” he replied, still sitting down and reading the newspaper. “This beats working behind a desk in Town Hall.” She turned to walk away when he added. “The secretaries in Town Hall could take some hints from the nurses here, when it comes to flirting,” he quipped. Summer stopped and turned back to look at him, when their eyes met she couldn’t control her impulses, so she closed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him. She galloped away before she could see his reaction.

Back in her office she immediately sat down and read her notes, while writing her report she reflected on what she knew. The boy was probably a victim of circumstance, whoever those two ‘recruiters’ had been, they obviously weren’t legitimate, even their names sounded made up. The money they had left Fredric was probably fake, or they had someone go back and steal it before anyone noticed. It’s highly unlikely that Gryphonstone would have two high-ranking officers running around the countryside recruiting gullible farmers.

The entire notion that they’d willingly recruit underaged gryphons had been far-fetched from the start, when the gain was so miniscule, since it wouldn’t affect the outcome of the war in any meaningful way. The risk of discovery, however, could have dire consequences. She finished her conclusions and continued with recommendations.

Firstly, would be to inform the Gryphonstone embassy about the illegal recruitment going on within their borders, and possibly age test any newly recruited troops to prevent more tragedies. Secondly, to have private Fredric in a prisoner of war exchange as soon as possible, so he would be free to return home.

She knocked twice then opened the door to the mayor's office, because she knew he was expecting her she didn’t bother to wait for a replay. Sharp Mind was behind his desk, and in the middle of writing with a quill that she guessed was from his own wings judging by the color. “Report is done, Mayor,” she greeted him.

“Ah, excellent, good work as always, Summer. Leave it on my desk and I’ll read it tonight, we’ll review it together, tomorrow,” he said, looking more overworked than usual, and the stack of paperwork on his desk told her that he would be stuck here for the rest of the day.

“Thank you, Sharp,” she said. “I’ll go continue work on the refugee issue, I will see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, see you then, Summer.”

Summer woke up the next day in a good mood, it was Friday and she had solved almost all the problems at work. There were still some unanswered questions around Fredric, but the important bits were done. She decided she would come home from work early today, and go into the town for a ‘stallion-hunt’ as she liked to call it. She had a good feeling that today would be the day she found the perfect coltfriend.

She showered, made breakfast with coffee, and went and fetched the newspaper. In it was always a segment of contact ads from ponies seeking partners, and her feelings told her there would be a dreamy stallion in there somewhere. Sitting down next at the kitchen table, she grabbed the newspaper with both hooves, and ended up staring blankly at the front page.

Gryphonstone breaks Celestia convention. Child Soldiers being treated in Canterlot hospital.

“Oh, ponyfeathers,” she swore.

Author's Notes:

Again thanks to Bussstop and Eckaji. The latter especially for spending time helping me learn how English grammar works.