Gilda was walking around Griffonstone, looking around at the town and thinking of how much everyone had pitched in to rebuild it. Once she was home she went to her mailbox, got her mail and saw she had a letter from her friend Rainbow Dash! She ran into her house and tore it open and read it:
'Dear Gilda,
You are never going to believe what happened! You know how I've been dating Soarin for the past two years right?
Well, Christmas Eve (which is our anniversary) me and him were going to go to a party with my friends. Then a storm came and he was late, but he said he had a question to ask me. You're not going to believe it, he proposed! Can you believe it?!? Of course I said yes!
So, now I'm engaged! I am so excited! We haven't set a date yet. So, how have you been? Made any new friends yet? Maybe you found someone special? I would love to hear what's been going on with you! I hope to hear from you soon!
Your friend,
Rainbow Dash'
Gilda was so happy for her friend. She had known about Rainbow's crush on Soarin since they were in flight school together. She was very happy to see her friend engaged to him. She then thought about Rainbow's question, about her having a someone special and sighed sadly.
"I wish I could tell her I do, but I don't." she thought to herself. She really wished that she had a special someone, especially with Hearts and Hooves just around the corner. "I guess I better write her back." she went to her desk to write the letter when she got a idea. "Why don't I go to Ponyville and surprise her!" she then grabbed her bag, a map, compass, scarf and some snacks and headed out the door.
Gilda had been flying for a while, so she decided to have a quick snack and she checked her map.
"Alright!" she said happily "at the rate I'm going, I'll be there by tomorrow morning!" She started flying again a while later she noticed some storm clouds over the mountains she had to fly over. She took her map out of the bag and looked at it. "Okay, if I go that way I can avoid going over the mounti-" a sudden gust of wind cut her thoughts short as the map was pulled out of her talons and blew away! "Oh, great, what am I going to do now?" she asked herself. "I didn't get to finish figuring out a new route!" Then she knew what she had to do. "I've got to just go over the mountains, maybe that storm isn't that bad?" she said to herself. She then got her scarf out, put it around her neck and head right to the storm.
Once she hit the mountains, she was in one of the worst storms she ever had flown into in her whole life. The snow was almost blinding, the wind was chilly and threating to blow her off course, like it did with her map. She kept going "I can do this" she told herself, but suddenly a huge gust of wind made her fly lower. Then she crashed into a tall tree, hit the ground hard and all she saw was darkness.
"Hello?" an unfamiliar male voice asked, "are you alright?".
Gilda opened her eyes and saw she was in a little cabin and felt pain all over her body, "I-I'm alright" she answered "I just hurt all over" she looked around to find the source of the voice and saw a silver and dark gray griffon looking at her through black-framed glasses,
"Well, you did have quite a fall" he said to her,"you've been out for a few hours, I'm glad that I had to go get some firewood and that you were so close to the cabin".
"Thanks for saving me" she told him "I'm Gilda".
"My name is Silver Stone" he replied.
"Where are you from?" Gilda asked "I mean, I've never met a griffon with an accent like yours before".
"I'm from Trottingham" he told her "this is my family's cabin that we visit for the holidays".
"I didn't know any griffons lived there".
"Not many do" he told her "but my family has lived there for four generations, I love it there"
"Wow, that's a long time".
"It sure is" he said smiling "and I also come from a long line of air racers".
"That's awesome. I loved seeing the air races when I was little" Gilda said happily "I wanted to be one, but I'm just not fast enough".
"I've trained ever since I could fly, I am determined to keep the family tradition going".
"If you don't mind me asking, how do you race with glasses?".
"Ah, I have special lenses in my goggles that are the same as my glasses, pretty cool huh?".
"Yeah, that's cool!".
"You know you are the first one not to say that I should fly without them?" he said to her "or to give me a hard time".
"I don't make fun of anyone with glasses" Gilda told him "actually, eye problems run in my family, my parents said I was lucky that I didn't need them when I was little, cause that's when they needed them".
"My family has eye problems too, I have worn glasses for most of my life" he explained to her "so, what were you doing flying around in this weather?".
"I was trying to visit my friend who lives in Ponyville, she just got engaged and I wanted to go congratulate her. When I was flying I lost my map and couldn't figure out how to avoid the mountains, so I just went through them and got caught up in the storm".
"Why didn't you just stop for the night and carry on the next day?".
"I was too stubborn, I thought I could get through it".
"Why don't you rest here tonight and continue on tomorrow?".
"Okay, if you don't mind".
"If I minded I wouldn't have offered" Silver Stone said with a sweet smile.
"Thanks".
"You are most welcome, now would you like some dinner? I have some soup if you'd like".
"That sounds good" Gilda answered.
The two griffons enjoyed dinner and got ready for bed.
"If you'd like you can have the bed" Silver Stone offered.
"No, that's okay I'm your guest, you sleep there".
"I insist" he said to her "besides, I'm not the one who crashed into a tree earlier. I just thought you'd want a softer place to sleep than the couch".
"Thank you, you're one of the nicest griffons I've ever met".
Silver Stone smiled, got some blankets for Gilda to use and took some for him to the couch and the both went to sleep.
The next morning the two griffons were awake and after a light breakfast Gilda was ready to go.
"Alright, I'm going to be ready to head out" Gilda said to Silver Stone "Thanks for helping me out".
"May I come with you?" he asked "I mean I have never visited Ponyville before so I just want to see what it's like".
"Sure, if you really want to".
"Fantastic!" Silver Stone exclaimed happily and the two griffons got ready to fly off.
"Alright, you just follow me" Gilda told him "just don't get lost".
"I won't".
Then the two griffons flew off and headed towards Ponyville, Silver Stone told her stories about the different cities he has been to for races, Gilda just listen amazed about how he's a champion racer and has won many awards for it and Gilda told him about her pony friends and how they helped her teach her town about friendship.
"Wow, I never was really great at making friends".
"Why is that?".
"Because of being from a line of famous racers, it was hard to know if someone actually wanted to be my friend or just wanted to say if they knew me" Silver Stone explained.
"That's really sad" Gilda said to him.
"Yeah, but that's just how it is".
They took a short break before continuing on to Ponyville, and once they got there, Silver Stone was amazed.
"I have never been in this small of a town before".
"Yeah, it's a cool little town" she told him then looked over and saw her friend "look, that's my friend Rainbow Dash, one of the coolest ponies you'll ever meet" she then shouted "hey Dash!" and waved her talon at her, Rainbow looked around, saw her and galloped over to her.
"Hi G!" Rainbow said happily hugging her friend "what brings you here?".
"I wanted to congratulate you on getting engaged!" Gilda told her "where is the lucky stallion by the way?".
"He's in Canterlot doing a Wonderbolts show" Rainbow answered "he'll be back tomorrow night which is great cause that means we get to spend all of the next day together which is of course, Hearts and Hooves Day!" she looked over and saw Silver Stone and gasped "You didn't tell me you had a coltfriend!" she exclaimed which made Silver Stone blush and adjust his glasses nervously.
"I-I'm not her boyfriend" he explained still bright red and looking away shyly.
"Oh sorry" Rainbow Dash said to him sheepishly.
"This is Silver Stone, when I was flying here I got caught in a storm and crashed into a tree and fell right near his cabin" Gilda told her friend "he saved my life".
"That is so cool!" Rainbow Dash said to him "not the 'Gilda crashing and falling' but the you rescuing her part!".
"Hehe thanks" Silver said blushing a bit more "do you know where I can get some tea, I'm in the mood for some".
"Yeah, there's a little tea shop down that way" Rainbow said to him point a hoof towards the south end of town.
"Thanks, I hope to see you later guys!" he said as he headed towards the tea shop.
"Sooo" Rainbow said looking at Gilda, smiling deviously "you're buddy Silver Stone is actaully kinda cute for a griffion".
"Yeah he is" Gilda said to herself and Rainbow just smiled "I said that out loud didn't I?" she asked turning a dark shade of red, Rainbow just nodded her head.
"So you like him?".
"N-no, I-I just met him" Gilda said to her "you can't like someone you just met!".
"Haven't you heard of love at first sight?".
"Huh?".
"You know love at first sight" Rainbow explained "it's when you first meet somepony and start to fall in love right away".
"When did you get so mushy, Dash?".
"My friend Scootaloo absolutely adores romance novels and she's kinda gotten me into them too" Rainbow told her "and that's the plotline of a number of them and one of my favorite styles of romance, right behind the school-crush-turns-into-a-relationship-later-on stories, which is my favorite for obvious reasons".
"Oh, that makes sense".
"But seriously, do you like him?".
"I kinda do".
"Then why don't you tell him?".
"That's not exactly an easy thing to do!" Gilda exclaimed "I can't just say 'Hey there Silver Stone, we just met yesterday but I think I like you!'"
"That's what Hearts and Hooves Day is for!" Rainbow told her "you can say something then".
"But we just met, he'll just think I'm a weirdo or something".
"How about you spend tomorrow with him, ask him some questions about what he likes and see what happens. If you still like him or like him even more, which is what's going to happen, ask him to be your special somepony".
"Do you think it will work?".
"There's no harm in trying, is there?".
"No, I guess not".
"Then do it, listen to what your heart says!" Rainbow said to her "Oh dear Celestia, now I sound just like the best friend in those novels!" she then chuckled a little and said "if you don't do it, you'll regret it and live the rest of your life thinking of what might of been".
A little while later, Silver Stone returned and asked if there was a hotel in town. Rainbow took him to it, then she and Gilda went back to her house where Rainbow told Gilda all about her and Soarin's wedding ideas until they fell asleep.
The next day, Gilda went out to spend the day with Silver Stone, like Rainbow Dash had suggested. They were sitting down to enjoy lunch and Gilda started to ask some questions she thought of last night.
"So, um, what do you like to do besides, racing and hanging out in your family's cabin?".
"Oh, a few things" he answered "I like to go to the movies, read books and take early morning and late night flights, what an exciting life I live outside of racing, eh?".
"Do you have any hobbies?" Gilda asked "I like to bake:.
"I tried painting, wasn't very good, you'll just have to trust me on that".
"Okaaaay" she chuckled "What kind of movies do you like?".
"I like comedies and action-adventure" he told her "I like most all types, but those are my favorite".
"Those are my favorites too" she replied.
"That's cool".
"Yeah, it is" Gilda then asked "what kind of books do you like?".
"Mystery and adventure".
"Cool, I like action-adventure books".
"Those are good too".
"So you like to go flying around at night?".
"Yeah, but it gets lonely sometimes".
"It does for me too" Gilda said to herself quietly.
They over the rest of lunch, then Silver Stone said he had to go do something and would be back later. So Gilda went off to find Rainbow to talk about the discussion that she had with Silver Stone. She found Rainbow hanging out by the fountain in the town center.
"DASH!" Gilda called out.
"What?" Rainbow asked as she saw Gilda running up to her.
"I was talking with Silver Stone and I was asking him some questions, like you suggested".
"And?".
"I think I like him more..".
"That's great Gilda!" Rainbow replied with a huge smile "So, are you going to ask him to be your special somepony tomorrow?".
"I don't know" Gilda answered "I don't think he likes me".
"Just take the chance" Rainbow told her "remember the story I told you about when me and Soarin got together?".
"Yeah, you almost didn't go, but your friends said you should".
"Yes, and now look, I'm engaged to him" Rainbow said smiling brightly holding her engagement ring in her hoof "I wouldn't have believed that if you'd have told me I would be engaged to him two years later " she looked back at Gilda "Maybe that will be you in two years".
"But what if he doesn't like me?".
"He will" Rainbow assured her then looked at the clock tower "Oh my gosh, Soarin's gonna be here in a few hours I gotta get to ready!".
A few hours later Gilda was walking around Ponyville lost in thought. She was thinking about how to ask Silver Stone to be her special somepony and if she really should. She was strolling by the fountain and saw Rainbow and Soarin hugging and kissing and Rainbow had the widest grin on her face. Gilda loved seeing her friend so happy.
"I wish I had someone" she thought to herself "I really hope Dash is right and he likes me like I like him" she headed back to Rainbow's house for the night.
The next day, Hearts and Hooves Day, Gilda's mind was running like crazy with how she should ask Silver Stone if he likes her.
"I really hope he likes me" she thought and then started thinking that she didn't see him again yesterday "I wonder where he went, he said he'd be back later but he never came. I wonder if he get caught up with something or did he...go back home?" she pushed that thought out of her head "I don't think he'd just leave, but then what reason would there be that he wouldn't?". Those thoughts kept spinning in her mind, so she sat down on a bench for a little while. She sat there waiting to see if he'd come by, but he didn't. So she went to check the hotel he was staying at. She started walking to the hotel, when all of a sudden she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"H-Hello Gilda" Siver Stone said nervously.
"Hey Silver Stone" Gilda said back.
"I have a question to ask you".
"W-What?".
"Do you like me?".
Gilda blushed and answered "Y-Yeah, why?".
"I like you too".
"Really?" Gilda felt her heart soar.
"Yeah, I was afraid of telling you because I thought you'd think I was weird or something. I mean, we've only just met and all",
"I was going to ask you if you liked me, but I was afraid you'd say no".
"Are you kidding?" Silver Stone exclaimed "You're the first griffon to ever be nice to me just because of me and not because I was famous. Not to mention, the first girl to ever be shy about saying you like me" he smiled "You like me for me, not for any other reason?".
"Well, you are also kinda cute" she replied, which made him turn a deep shade of red.
"So then, as they say around here, will you be my special somepony?" he asked her.
"Of course I will!" she said smiling wide then she hugged him tightly. She then saw Rainbow Dash and Soarin walking by and Rainbow must of seen what had just happened, because Gilda saw her say 'Told you so' then she smiled and walked away. Gilda looked at Silver Stone in his deep blue eyes and smiled.
"I'm so glad I crashed right by your cabin" Gilda told him.
Silver Stone chuckled and said "I'm glad you did too".
And the two spent the rest of the day together.