Gilda scowled at the pony across from her, her talons clenched and un-clenched in frustration. Her eyes darted from him to the object of her ire. Three weeks ago, she'd made an order to an equestrian glass company for two large panes of glass. They would be used for the front of her store, and she'd finally have a mostly finished shop.

Pointing to the panes of glass in front of her now, while glaring at the pony, she bared her beak. "Those are not what I ordered."

The pony, a burly storm grey pegasus with an even darker beard, lifted his hooves in defense, rolling his eyes. "Hey, that's not my problem, lady. I just deliver the stuff, I don't check it over in the fabrication center. Your address was on my paper for these two sheets, take it or leave it." His gruff voice grated on her and she reared up on her hind paws and flared her wings.

"Not your problem? You delivered the wrong product!" She jabbed a claw at the glass panes, wrapped in see through plastic and held safely down to the pallet they came on. The glass was tinted darkly, smoke colored, to block out sunlight and prying eyes, but that was the exact opposite of what Gilda wanted. Her shop should be seen, not hidden.

"Being able to see my customers enjoying my wares is a must for my business, and you brought me glass that hides that away! I can't use these!" She said angrily. "On top of that I didn't purchase tinted glass!" Folding her arms in front of her she growled. "Take em back and bring me the ones I ordered."

He frowned at the glass and sighed. "Yeah, look you got a problem with what was delivered, Take it up with the fabrication crew, not me. I'll write up a report on it, and send it to their office. Thing is, that'll take a couple weeks to get through, they are very busy, and so am I, so if you'd just--"

Gilda snarled, swiping her talons in front of her chest, cutting him off and attracting a few curious stares. "Oh for the love of Discord, no! I don't think so! I'm not waiting for another three weeks to get my damn glass." She pointed a claw at the library's outside clock, "The next train leaves in four hours, you get your feathered ass back on it, with your failed order, go back to the company and get my order settled. Today. It had better be here no later than tomorrow morning, or I'll contact your boss, rescind my payment and find another company to do it."

The pony scowled back, his wings opening slightly in confrontation, and then he sighed and closed them up again. Gilda caught the subtle flick of irritation in his tail. "Fine, ma'am, I'll be back as soon as I can be. Have a wonderful day." He said the last part with a growl from his clenched teeth.

Gilda snorted and watched as he loaded the glass back up into their sky cart with his two assistants, two other pegasi who shot her dirty looks and then the three took off. Once they'd been lost to sight, she grumbled and slumped into one of the new outside chairs. Lifting her talons to her face, she rubbed circles above her temples. Things had been going so well too!

In the last two weeks, Gilda had gotten new furnishings for the outside area, and the ground had been cobbled with rubber bricks, so it was softer on the paw pads and claws of her customers. The inside had also had the cement floor padded with foam and lush red carpets that Gabby had helped her pick out and install. On top of this, Gilda had also received an update on the glass for her windows.

"Lotta good that did me, they brought me the wrong ones." She groused, her tail lashing behind her.

"Everything alright, Sis?"

Gilda turned to look behind her, a small smile gracing her beak. "That'd be a gigantic no, Gallus." She lifted off the chair, spun back towards the shop and dropped to all fours. Gallus was another good thing that had happened recently. He'd been given vacation time from his guard job in Canterlot, and had stopped by to visit Gilda and Gabby for a week or so. He'd arrived the night before, and hadn't stopped talking about all his fun adventures and the escapades he got up to in the castle.

Princess Twilight was apparently taking to the job like a fish to water, but she had panic attacks every now and then when the nobles tried to circumvent her authority. Gallus had fluffed out his chest feathers and proudly claimed he was her official 'shoulder to lean on' in those times, and Gilda caught a hint of a blush on his cheeks when he'd said it.

She hadn't stopped ribbing him for his hidden crush on the Princess since then. While Gallus didn't think it actually would grow into anything more, Gabby had assaulted him with questions the moment she found out. She'd then drowned him in apparent advice he should use to approach the princess. It had been hilarious to watch him get all flustered and then even more uproarious when Gabby bluntly asked if he'd ever even mated before and if he 'knew how to do it' with a pony.

Watching Gallus wrestle Gabby to the floor in an attempt to silence her laughter and very personal inquiries on the apartment floor had been the highlight of her week.

Reminds me of the younger days...

She reached the door and walked through, flicking his beak with her tail with a mock scowl. "And what did I say about calling me 'sis', I don't like it."

He grinned and waved her tail away from his face with a hand. "Right, right, you dislike it about as much as Gabby dislikes your strawberry scones. I've seen the way you hide those smiles." He followed her behind the counter and helped her move some of the large empty cardboard boxes out the back door. They had been used to ship the new tables and chairs, but now the boxes were in the way. Gabby was already outside, warbling gently and using her talons to cut the boxes into smaller pieces.

Smaller pieces which all oddly resembled ponies or other animals. Gilda smirked. "Having fun here?" She asked as she sat down next to the hen and began cutting the material into strips. Gallus joined in a second later, the trio sitting in a triangle. Gabby smiled and nodded, her tongue sticking out of her beak as she carefully carved a unicorn out of the side of a sheet.

"You know it! If you can make it fun, it's more of a project and less of a job!" She removed her claw from the sheet and hummed, holding it up for the other two griffons to see. "Hmm, I think I made him too fat..."

Gilda smirked and covered her chuckle with a paw, while Gallus looked it over with a grin. He cut his box neatly in half and set it aside. "Nah, you nailed it. Why I can even see one of the many lords and ladies of the Canterlot elite in that shape, why Duke Frumpinshire, so good to see you, sadly all of you."

They all chuckled at that.

Gabby chirped happily and started on a another one. Gilda smiled and paused with her talon partially in the box she was holding. She looked up and watched the two work, then her eyes went up to the clear blue skies, and the nearly white puffy clouds in the distance. Her claws lowered the box she was holding.

"This is....nice." She murmured. Gallus and Gabby both paused and looked to her, Gabby slowly carved out another head, the shape not giving it away as to what she was creating. The hen stuck her tongue out for a second before smiling.

"Oh I agree! We need to do this more!"

Gallus sighed with a smile "Heh, if only I could. Working for Princess Twilight is a full time job. I don't get many days off, but if you want I could try and come visit more. Would you two like that?"

Gilda nodded and sliced her box in half, setting it down to work on another side. "Yeah that'd be cool, but if you don't have the hours, we could always come visit you." She grinned. "Maybe Gabby could give Twilight some advice on how to court a griffon, eh Gallus?"

She smirked and dodged a crumpled piece of cardboard he threw at her head. "Don't you dare." He said leveling a claw at her. "I worked very hard to get my position, and I won't lose it because my sisters wanna play nest maker again."

Gilda raised a brow and Gabby squeaked in surprise, dropping her cardboard critter and clasping her cheeks with her talons. Gilda grimaced, lowering her sheet a little.

"Again? We never played that as hatchlings, it was too embarrassing...At least I don't remember playing it." She looked to them both and found they were awkwardly chuckling and looking away from her. Gallus was rubbing the side of his neck fluff and Gabby was whistling very suspiciously. "Wait, you two played it?"

Gabby nodded and blushed. "We did, a couple times. But when we asked you if you wanted to play you just told us it was too embarrassing." She dared a glance at Gilda, "Like a second ago..." Gilda groaned and smacked her face with a paw.

"I cannot believe you two played nest makers...that's just...why?!" She looked between them in confusion. "Wait...who was who?" She said pointing a claw between them.

Gallus rolled his eyes and continued cutting his board. "Well I was the Dad, obviously. I'm the male!" He puffed out his chest. "I brought home the meat and fixed stuff!" he said before chuckling. He then paused, putting a paw to his chin, and looked perturbed. "My darn hammer always went missing too."

Gabby blushed and rubbed her arm slowly. "I was the uh..the Mother...I cooked and cleaned and went shopping....and hid gallus' hammer from him."

Gallus squinted his eyes and pointed a claw at her accusingly. "I knew it!"

Gilda groaned and rubbed her face with her paws. Her two best friends and adoptive siblings had played the child equivalent of 'adulting'. It was weird to her then and it was even weirder now that she was an adult. Then, she felt the heat on her cheeks rise as a particularly worrisome thought came to mind. Any hachtlings that did play that game ended up reaching a particular part...concerning making more hactchlings. This was usually when the parents stepped in and stopped it from going further. Gabby, Gilda, and Gallus however didn't have parents...so did that mean.... She darted her eyes around to make sure there weren't any listeners and then leaned in and whispered. "You two never went...farther than that right?"

Gallus immediately grimaced, and Gabby's chest feathers diminished. The two blushed, shared a look, and then both of them shuddered. Gallus spoke. "Er...yeah...but only once..."

Gabby blushed and her fluff increased until she was fully puffed out. "We kissed..."

For a few seconds none of them spoke. Gilda looked between the two with an open beak, while they tried to focus on their cardboard. Gilda blushed hard. "You kissed...?" She whispered. Well, at least that was the limit for them. She was silent for a moment longer, and then looked to Gabby. "Was...was he any good at it?"

"Hey!" Gallus hissed. Gabby smirked and shrugged. "Eh, he could have used more tongue, less beak...he basically headbutted me."

"I did not! Y-you moaned!" he barked, Gabby flushed and hid behind a wing, Gallus pointed a finger at her. "Oh yeah, I remembered that part very well. I thought I hurt you, and then I opened an eye and found you fluttering your eye lashes at me!"

Gabby hissed back, flaring her wings. She looked insulted. "I did not flutter my eyelashes! I didn't even have eye lashes back then!"

"Yes you did! You fluttered them all slowly at me and that's when I caught you trying to touch my---WAAAUUGH!!!"

Gilda laughed and fell on her back as Gabby threw herself at Gallus, and the two rolled around, play biting and scratching at each other. Muffled growls and hisses reached her as she lay down on her side and laughed harder.

"Oh my god you two...Gabby did you try to touch him?!" She wheezed. Gabby flailed her wings, batting at Gallus as he tried to pin her on her back.

"One time! I tried one time and this feather brain squawked like a hen and leaped into a tree like a snake had nipped him!" she hissed and then screeched when Gallus suddenly gripped her right arm, flipped over her side and pinned her to the ground on her belly.

"Haaa... haaa...I win!" He growled, laying across her wing. Gabby tried to pull away but hissed when he gently tweaked her arm. She huffed underneath his side and chirped twice. Any griffons that tussled with one another knew the double chirp was a sign of submission. Gallus immediately let go and grinned, puffing out his chest floof and strut back to his pile of cardboard with his tail held high and his wings partially open. "Ha! whose top griffon now? This guy!"

Gabby hissed at him. "No fair, you got guard training!" She sat up and dusted her self off and then rolled her shoulder. "Ow..."

Gilda laughed for a few more minutes before she calmed down. All three of them were fluffed out and slightly embarrassed. Sitting back up, Gilda closed her eyes and put her talons up in submission. "Alright, alright, I won't push that button again, but wow...I kinda wish I could have been there to see that."

Gallus picked up his box and ripped it down the middle rather quickly. He smirked. "Yeah, laugh it up, I wasn't a good kisser, and Gabby wasn't subtle. but then again Gilda, you have a little secret too..."

Gilda stopped laughing and found Gallus smiling ever so calmly at his cardboard pile. He slowly organized it into a neat little stack, and glanced at her. "I've heard from the grapevine that you have a secret admirer..."

Gilda's blush increased and she instantly growled at Gabby,"Gabby I swear to the gods above if you--" but Gabby looked just as surprised by the news, when she saw Gilda's glare, she shook her head, waving her paws in front of her self frantically. "It wasn't me! I didn't tell him!"

Gallus held out a wing, blocking Gilda's view of the other hen, making her turn to him. His smile was gentle. "This isn't something I heard from Gabby, Gilda, and I'm not trying to get under your feathers. If anything I wanted to congratulate you. I was surprised to find no toms having taken you two into their nests yet." he paused and lowered his wing, looking at them. "You both are very beautiful hens, if I'm honest. I figured by now you'd have found someone, but Gabby did tell me how hard it's been for you. So congrats."

He reached over and gave her a good firm hug, his new muscles flexing against her as she stood there surprised.
"I...thanks...I guess..." Gilda gently shuffled in his embrace and then pulled out of it.

He pulled back and let go of her, tilting his head "You guess?"

She shuffled her wings and blushed more, then shrugged. "I don't know, okay? I don't know what to think! They've been really kind and seem to understand how I tick so it's nice to know some griffon out there has feelings for me, but...you know me, Gallus. I'm rough n tough and I don't like getting all mushy...like this." She said the last part with a wave of her paw between them.

He nodded and backed up. "I hear ya, love is confusing at the simplest and a master made puzzle at it's finest. Still, it was nice to meet them, thy definitely have your best interests in mind."

"YOU MET THEM!?"

It was now Gilda who tackled Gallus and pinned him to the floor. The surprised tom fell backwards with an "OOF" and found Gilda's beak pressing against the ridge of his. Her eyes were like flames bursting from her sockets. she gripped his neck ruff and shook him spastically.

"Who are they!? Where do they live!? Are they male or female?! How tall are they!? Do they buy any of my wares!? GALLUS SPEAK DAMMIT!!!"

Gallus, shaken up a little, took the onslaught of questions with a firm smile and simply waited until she stopped. She huffed hot air in his face and then he pushed her off him gently. Gilda lay down and covered her head in her paws. "Oooh this is so embarrassing! How did you meet them!?"

He lay down on her right side and Gabby came over and lay down on his left side, their wings all shuffled together. Gabby lifted a wing and gently draped it over her back and then gallus did the same. As Gilda fret and warbled nervously, Gallus reached under his right wing and pulled out a package. Gilda hadn't seen that there when he'd opened his wings before. How had it been there when he wrestled with Gabby?

"Where was that a second ago?" she murmured.

Gallus handed it to her, and smiled. "Magic, blame Princes twilight. She helped me hide it."

Gilda took the package and slowly hefted it in her paw. It was reasonably heavy. On the front of the package was her name.

It's the same claw writing as the mystery letters! Gilda started opening the box but was stopped by Gallus.

"Hold on, let me answer some questions for you kay? It's the least I can do." he let go of the box and sighed. "Okay, so there are three things I can't answer. I'll start with those."

Gilda grumbled but nodded. Gallus held up three claws, bending them in as he named them off. " I can't give their name, I can't give their gender, and I cannot give their address. Your first question I can answer was...how tall are they?"

Gilda blushed and hid her beak in her wing. "I...it was random okay! I wasn't thinking straight!"

He chuckled and nodded. "Fair, they are shorter than you by...eh maybe two inches or so."

She nodded. He spoke more. "The other question was if they bought your wares, and the answer is a resounding yes. They love your scones and the coffee. They said to tell you they particularly like your building, said it looked very sturdy.A strong nest to be proud of."

She blushed and warbled more, but it was bubbly and sounded very happy. Gilda cursed and tried to calm down. Her belly was warm and her friends wings on her back wasn't really helping that factor.

But...it is nice to know they support me...

"The last question, is how I met them, and that one is a loaded question. At first they didn't want me to tell you, but I figured if worded properly, it wouldn't give too much away. I met them while on Gaurd duty in Canterlot. They spotted me and knew you and I were connected as family and friends, and asked me to deliver this to you for your birthday."

Gilda nodded slowly, gently nudging the box left and right in front of her. "So...Canterlot...the only other place the mail gets it's papers designated for griffonstone...hmm." She missed Gallus's confused expression, but then she looked up at Gabby. Gabby had a gentle smile on her beak, she was watching Gilda and shuffled hr wing closer to Gilda. "Gabby...you said they couldn't possibly be from Canterlot right?"

Gabby tilted her head to the side. "Eeeeeh not exactly, no, I said the mail couldn't be delivered to us from there, in the way it was shipped. The letters would have been sent back to their destination. So...maybe? I don't think they do though. They buy your scones and stuff on a regular basis, so to take a train here and back every day or so...that's a lot of money..."

Gallus nodded. "I work for the princess and I still have to pay around fifty bits to go from there to here. That's with a military discount of forty percent. That means the average pony or griffon in this case, is paying a hundred and twenty-five bits to make the trip daily. That's not even there and back, that's just one way. Unless this griffon is rich, and I'll be honest, they didn't look rich, that's too much money to be spending every week."

Gallus reached out a talon and pat her back. "It's highly probable that they live close by and visit daily." He smiled. "And take it from me, I can judge a griffon on their character very accurately. You'll like em."

She smiled weakly and nodded. "If...if you say so, Gallus..." She got nudged by Gabby who had been sneakily snaking a claw towards her gift and hissed at it her. Gabby retracted her paw quickly and giggled. "Go on, open it! Gallus said it was for your birthday!"

She smiled lightly and turned the box gently around so she could see her name, the fancy writing looked nice to her now. "It arrived a few days early...shouldn't I wait?"

Her answer was chuckling and giggling. Gabby and Gallus both retracted their wings and laughed. "What?" she asked in shock. "It's a legitimate question!"

Gallus stopped first and poked her chest with a paw. "Not with a griffon it isn't. Since when do griffons wait to open a gift?"

Gabby shook her head. "Never! Even I open my gifts if I get em early."

Gilda sighed and smiled when they both shuffled close to her to see it. "Fiiiine, I'll open it, but if they get upset I'm pinning the blame on you two!"

Gabby smiled and poked the box. "I don't think they will, they are a griffon too." Gilda had to agree.

Removing the packaging gently and handing it to Gallus, Gilda found herself slowly removing the most beautiful jewelry box she'd ever seen. The wood was a deep cherry finish, polished over and as smooth as silk across it's surface. The box had three drawers, each one studded with small silver handles, the very center of them was a diamond shape.

The top opened up to reveal a small five-by-five inch mirror, that reflected her embarrassment right back at her. She looked at gabby through it and found her smiling warmly, and shuffling her wings. She look to Gallus and found him tilting his head, his eyes traveling over the box in wonder.

Inside the top compartment was a folded piece of paper with her name on it. underneath her name were the words 'To the most amazing rose I have laid mine eyes apon, happy birthday.' She tenderly lifted it out and felt her cheeks heat up as she saw what lay beneath it. The velvet lining of the box, in every drawer, was also marked with a blooming rose, held in both paws of a griffon. The fabric that created the symbol was some kind of gold thread, and it shimmered splendidly in the sunlit. She felt her chest feathers rise and to Gabby and Gallus surprise, Gilda started purring.

She tried to stifle it at first, but then Gabby started up as well, and soon after Gallus did too. The gentle vibrations they shared felt like a soothing balm to her worries and fears, and she sighed. "I...I love it...It's not too fancy, not too big, no crazy ornamentation...simple, and useful. At the same time....it's beautiful..." She murmured.

"Like you..."

Gilda blinked and looked to Gabby, who suddenly shook herself and chuckled nervously, her cheeks getting redder by the second. She quickly pointed to the box and then to Gilda. "Y-You know, the letters keep saying you're this griffon's er...rose, s-so it must mean they see the beauty in you, and wanted to try and, I don't know, show it?"

Gilda watched Gabby for a few seconds, noting her darting eyes, her reddened cheeks, and her increased heart rate. "Jeez Gabby, calm down. I'll take it as a compliment even if that is what you meant." Gilda smirked and smoothed her head feathers. "You don't have to defend yourself so adamantly."

Gabby rubbed her arm nervously and nodded with closed eyes. "S-sorry, I just thought that might have come out wrong, ya know?"

Gilda opened the other drawers, slowly admiring each one and it's well crafted interior. She didn't have nearly enough jewelry to put in this for it to be useful, but it was a very nice piece of work. "How so?" She asked quietly. Setting the box down on it's original packaging, she tilted her head and gazed at it as the sun glanced off it's sides.

Gabby was slow to reply, so Gallus cut in, nudging her wing with his. "What I think she means is how griffons in Griffonstone are mostly traditionalists. They tend to shy away from same sex pairings, not ban it or anything, but frown at it. Gabby's comment might have sounded wrong to another griffon, yeah?" He looked over Gilda to Gabby and found her clasping her claws together, flexing the talons slowly and blushing madly. When Gilda also looked to her she quickly tried to look calm and collected, but it failed.

"I...yeah...that..."

What's up with her and that topic? She gets so flustered! Gilda hummed and slanted her eyes to the box, and then she remembered the hen from before and her daughter, Gail and Glory, Gabby had been white as a sheet when the topic had been broached apparently...but why? Gilda had never found out from Gabby herself...

Sitting up, and scooping the box into her arms, she stood on her back paws, smirking when Gallus politely looked away from her exposed underbelly, and turned to the house, sneakily moving so her belly came almost a few inches from Gabby's beak. She caught Gabby's reaction too. Gabby didn't turn away at first, she blushed harder, locked eyes with one of Gilda's teats for a second, and THEN turned away quickly. A very uncomfortable expression wormed its way onto her beak. It was here Gilda realized something...

Oh my gosh, is Gabby a traditionalist?! Does she not like the idea of same sex pairings? That's so unlike her, I don't think I've ever seen her be closed mined to stuff like that...wait...Gilda stopped and thought about it more. That can't be right, I've seen Gabby advocate for two male toms in the past, she was all for it...maybe I'm wrong...Maybe...Gilda Looked to the ground in realization. Maybe it's the other way around!

Gilda fully turned away like nothing had happened, and then dared to take a step further. She had to know now. "Eh it's all good to me, I suppose if the writer of the letters was a hen I'd giver her a chance. She's bold in her letters, speaks her mind, and while very very shy, she really seems to respect my interests, and she buys my wares. That is a definite plus in my book."

She glanced back and saw the strangest thing. At first, Gabby's expression was frozen in a state of shock, staring wide eyed at the ground. Her beak barely twitched, and then she covered her mouth with her paws, trying to block a heavy warble that even made Gallus blink in surprise. Gilda barely caught the ghost of a smile grace its way onto Gabby's beak before the hen masked it with a smile and looked to Gilda. Her wings fluffed up and her chest feathers ruffled, the hen was proud.

Gabby's not a traditionalist at all...

Gilda only managed to hide her shock, by acting like she was fumbling with one of the drawers. Gabby spoke up. Her voice was calm, but Gilda noted the happy under tone that was present. "Well think whoever it is will be very pleased to know that! You should write them another letter, Gilda!"

Gilda nodded mutely, walking back towards the house with a guarded expression, as Gallus and Gabby followed behind her, unaware to the swirling thoughts in her mind. Questions ran through her head a million miles a minute...but one statement caught up and jarred it all to a halt.

I think Gabby likes Hens...

Author's Note

In a side note.....I can't seem to post this story to any groups....HOW DO I DO THAT? I wanna add it to the griffon group, but I can't seem to find a button on how to do it! and messaging the group didn't get me any answers....no one replied...but some is still adding stuff to it..