To My Lover, my Rose.

The cold temperatures of winter are not something I can say I've ever been fond of. Flying in it is even worse. But with a job like mine, you have to be quick on your wing tips, and fast with your movements. A slight misstep can lead to fatal situations. Even though I tend to lean on the side of caution, there is a certain thrill in my chest when the wind buffets me and fights back. Like prey that won't go down, or an obstacle that is hard to over come.

No matter how harsh this winter gets, my Rose, know that I will be there to help you through the storms, the wind, and the obstacles you face, whatever those may be. No one save Death itself shall tear me from you. Roses hate winter, so I'll try to keep you warm through it.

P.S: Gallus told me how you liked my gift, he also says you haven't figured out its secret just yet. Here is a hint.

Listen to the drawers when loneliness is all you feel
--My Rose

Gilda paced back and forth between two of the round tables of her bakery lounge, the room empty of customers. The door was closed, the sign said they were closed. A roaring fire crackled from the open hearth behind her, keeping the room toasty and cozy. Gilda barely felt the warmth of the flames over her own frustrations. Her brow furrowed in thought, her mind racing.

"This doesn't make sense! I must be wrong, I must have missed something crucial. That has to be it!" She paused as the boarded up window slots of her bakery shook anxiously as the wind and snow outside battered her building. Winter had arrived and it had arrived a week earlier than normal. The few Griffons who'd been stocking up on supplies had been lucky. Gilda being one of them. She groaned and kept pacing. "They should be back by now, right?"

Some families however weren't so fortunate. A week into the first storms, a pair of houses had collapsed on the edge of town, straining the neighbors and their relationships with each other. A town meeting had been brought up and annoyingly, the council members chose to use Gilda's bakery for the impromptu get together.

"It's safe in here, warm and comfortable."

"A good place to rest and restart our brains."

"FEH, back in my day a little snow and cold never bothered me! why when I was a hatchling..."

"You understand Gilda, we need to use this building for an emergency, we appreciate your kindness."

Bah! Those griffons on the council didn't care about her kindness, or her establishment. They'd scarfed her entire selection of food, three pots of coffee, two teapots, and then claimed they'd pay her back when spring came around. She didn't believe a word of it to be honest. Granted, it did seem to help them focus a lot faster during the meeting.

The proposal was bleak though. Other nests were falling down slowly as the snow piled up. Supplies were not set up to deal with this yet. They had three options and none of them were pleasant ones to the old coots or to Gilda.

Option one was to contact Canterlot city and request aid from the Princess. It immediately got shot down as weak, disrespectful to even think of, and was voted down immediately.

Even though it's the best and easiest option. Gilda had groused.

Option two was to use finances procured over the year to buy emergency supplies from Ponyville. While more credible, this one was also shot down when a missive was returned from Ponyville with the price tag needed for their request. Needless to say, it was almost triple what the griffons had procured in a year. Because debt to ponies , as the old codgers said, was just as bad an option as number one, it too was voted down.

Even though Mayor Glimmer had offered to aid them free of charge She growled.

Option three....To Gilda it was stupid, brash, and very griffon in design. It was of course, the most ridiculous, dangerous, and most likely to fail. It was also the highest voted one from the council. They would chop down a single sequoia from the base of the mountain, and use the materials to board up the towns remaining nests, and then rebuild new ones with the remainder of the materials in spring.

Right now, Gabby, and a slew of forty other griffons were down there chopping away at a beast of a tree. Nearly three hundred feet tall, over fifty feet thick, and in the middle of a storm. They all were wielding axes, against a frozen tree that was more like iron. They were doomed to fail.

Some one is going to get hurt, I just know it. She warbled quietly. her feathers drooped and she sighed.

Gilda walked to the window and peered out it through a slit in the wood. The wind was sharp and cold on her unprotected eye, but she endured. The glass shipment had never arrived, and she'd found out upon returning to their boss, the owner had simply canceled her shipment himself, and refunded her payment. She growled and peered deeper into the haze. Outside looked like a wall of white, vague shapes outlined buildings closest to her bakery, but nothing else was visible.

No sign of Gabby...dammit! Gilda cursed and spun around. She went for another sweep of her bakery but a timer in the back rang loud enough to pull her focus from the storm. She muttered a string of grumbled curses as she swept into the kitchen and donned oven mittens.

The scones looked good. proportionately glazed over, golden brown all around, and fluffy. In all form of the word, they were perfect. Gilda grimaced and set them on a nearby cooling rack without a second glance. Figures, the moment I do it right, no one is around for me to share them with. She sighed and drooped again, heading for the door. She got to the doorway before another timer went off and she growled, bonking her head into the nearby wall.

"Right. Timed these little turds to go off nearly together..." She pivoted on her heels and continued her work. Her mind still stuck on her friends. "At least If shit hits the fan, I planned for this ahead of the council's stupidity."

Against the wishes of the council, Gilda had sent word to Canterlot, via a dragon fire jar she'd bought for emergencies. The letter had been sent directly to Princess Twilight Sparkle. She told her their problem and requested aid. Aid had come, on swift quiet wings of magic and stealth. She knew the council would find out, but in the end they would be unable to deny she was right.

Looking back through the crack in the boards, she murmured a thanks to the ponies. She wanted to be helping them, she wanted to be down there hacking away at that tree. The council said she was "an asset they could not lose." and forbid her from leaving. She hated the lot of them. Her friends were down there and she was stuck indoors. At first she felt like she couldn't do anything to help, but then her mind had come up with a plan. They would be cold, and hungry. They would need comfort.

So she started a fire, stocked the wood, got the ovens ready, cleaned the front room and lounge, unlocked the bathroom door and she did the one thing she knew would help them when they returned.

She baked. As she did so, her eyes drifted to the boards blocking the wind from entering, and she put a hand on her chest. A gentle trill of worry escaped her beak as the wind picked up and more snow fell.

Where ever you guys are, stay safe.

A thunderous crack echoed out of the storm of snow, followed by cheers from around the group of forty or so griffons. Another chunk of the tree came away. It slid out of place and crashed to the ground in a low rumble. Gabby whooped in excitement even as she shivered in her winter gear on a branch across from the tree they'd picked. Mittens for her hands, booties for her hind paws, a jacket, scarf, tail sock, and a beanie all adorned her fluffy body. In her right talon she carried an axe, but it hadn't been used for an hour or so.

Not since Gallus and his crew had arrived, literally out of no where. The platoon of fifty or so guard, mostly consisting of unicorns, along with a few pegasus had mass teleported from the train station nearby, and had startled the group of griffons into a wary frenzy until Gallus had stepped forward and explained. The group were now in the process of cleaving huge gouges out of the sturdy tree using arcane slices of magic.

Beneath her, Gallus was directing some other guards in a process that turned the hulking chunks of timber into usable planks. Being a griffon meant he hand no magic, but he was explaining it like he himself was going to do it. Gabby smiled warmly as the unicorns in his platoon shouted affirmations and got to work.

Ever hour they would switch off with another group to allow for rest. It was pretty crazy watching so many unicorns work in tandem. Their magic coalesced into a large white blue crescent moon shape that ran horizontal with the tree. The unicorns would then start simultaneously rolling their head around as one, and the crescent would start spinning in the same direction. Faster and faster it would move until an audible hum in the air could be heard. When this happened the unicorns all shouted together and thrust their necks forward. The crescent slice was sent forward like a bolt from a ballista. Fast, accurate, and dangerously sharp, the unicorns would switch its angle and hack at the tree with explosive force, carving whole sections bigger than the young griffoness in mere minutes. Efficient and frighteningly powerful, but Gabby liked the thrill.

"Hey Gabby! Get down here!" Gallus called up to her. She had been caught up watching another crescent blade begin it's spin cycle, and hadn't heard Gallus call her the first time.

Leaping from the tree she deftly somersaulted through the air and flared her wings at the last second before landing confidently before her friend. He whistled. "Nice moves." She chuckled and took a moment to eye him. His guard armor made him a sight to behold. He was tall, handsome, and Gabby blushed into her scarf.

Gallus didn't seem to notice.

"Gabby, you and the other griffons can clear out and head back up to the city, It's been decided by my higher ups that we are going to teleport the materials up to the top of the mountain. We don't want to cause an issue by marching into town in full gear. On top of that, the pallets are very heavy and would require hours of slow movement up the icy mountain path to Griffonstone. It's not worth the effort if we can just get from point A to point B as fast as possible. The areas we will be teleporting the materials will be marked with magic infused red X's. I've already got two pegasi up there keeping em clear, but extra eyes always help. Please make sure those areas remain open?"

Gabby nodded and saluted. Correctly too, Gallus noticed with a smile. "You got it sir! ALRIGHT GRIFFONS LETS HEAD BACK!"

Gallus chuckled and watched as she wrangled them all together and then she looked back and smiled at him. He grinned and saluted her as well. "Fly safe, Gabby." He murmured.

She didn't hear him, but she saw it and seemed to nod with determination in her eyes. Gallus admired that. He turned back to his group as the city griffons took flight. "Alright lets bring this bastard down! Squads A and C, change the angle and pitch, Squad B you're to double the rotation speed of that blade got it? I wanna be home fore some hot cocoa in the next hour, lets move!"

He spared one more glance back up the mountain and a tingle ran down his spine as a snow flake landed on his beak. He glanced to his second in command.

"Artimus! A question if you will."

The unicorn in question didn't look up from his task but spoke ."Sir?"

Gallus looked back up the mountain. "Where did your pegasus scouts place the X's?"

Artimus grit his teeth as the crescent blade was sent careening into the tree trunk, now a groaning teetering mess. A few more strikes and it would all come crashing down. He panted and then smiled.

"We set them up in spots where the snow was easy to clear away and open. They are easy to see too, we doubled their size and thickness so any of the citizens who see them will know what they are or should. On top of that my pegasus scouts are flying close by, making sure they stay clear."

Gallus nodded. "Alright, carry on."

"I cannot believe we were thinking of chopping that tree down with these! HA! It would have taken months!" A younger tom crowed and hefted his axe as the group flew. "I hit that thing with all my strength and I think i chipped the blade!" Next to him, a couple toms laughed. Gabby frowned and kept her eyes forward. The winds up here could change any second and they needed to be ready.

"Keep your eyes forward and your wings loose, we might have rogue winds out here in this weather!" She shouted. The tom and a few others nodded lazily, and the tom flew up beside her. His grin calm and lax as he reclipped his axe to his belt and touched her wing tips with his. She jerked away and growled at him. He frowned.

"Yes ma'am, we heard you the first time, jeez, lighten up!" he growled. "The boys and I were just having some fun, what's wrong with that?"

Gabby growled back and pointed at him while keeping her eyes front. "Because I bet you don't fly in this weather all the time almost every day do you?"

He frowned, "No, what crazy bird would?"

She growled loudly. "The same bird your talking to, the same bird who delivers your mail to you ever morning, Gertius!"

He seemed to frown more as she called him by name. She didn't care. Their safety was what was important. "Listen, I'm not trying to boss you around, but I AM looking out for this group's safety, these winds can change in a heartbeat, you have to keep your eyes peeled and your body relaxed, if a rogue wind hits you, tensing up is the worst thing you can do!"

Gertius grumbled under his breath and nodded, but she could tell he didn't like it. They flew in silence for a while longer before the city came into view. No rogue winds, no sudden downpours of snow, and the air seemed to warm the closer they got to town. Gabby smiled, imagining she could see Gilda's bakery chimney from here. She couldn't but it was a nice thought.

When they got closer, Something else became apparent. Gertius looked around in confusion. Gabby and her group gazed around at the picture perfect city, quite and calm...the snow was mostly undisturbed.

"Hey, where are all the X's Gallus said would be here? All I see is snow." He and the others stayed air born for a few seconds before Gabby felt her blood run cold. A new layer had fallen after the X's had been placed.

"Oh no....The snow covered it back up!" As she was saying this two pegasus scouts flew in on her right. they looked tired and worried. Saluting, one of them flapped close enough to speak over the wind.

"Ma'am, The snow picked up in intensity, we weren't able to control it on our own! It over took us too quickly. We need to warn the town of the potential danger. But there is only two of us! We need your assistance."

Gabby felt all their eyes turn on her, and for a moment, she froze. Unsure of what to to. Then, like a wave of fire, confidence swelled in her chest. People needed her, and dammit she wouldn't let this winter freeze her with fear.

The X's needed to be uncovered. The citizens needed to be warned, and Gallus need to be notified. She growled.

"Alright listen up! Gertius," She pointed to him and he nodded. "Take five griffons from our group and take one pegasus with you, locate the X's and start uncovering them, tell anyone you see to go inside and stay there until the all clear is given. If they don't listen, MAKE EM."

He dove away with four others and one of the pegasus followed. She pointed to the remaining pegasus. "You, I need you and three griffons to fly back down the mountain and tell Gallus to halt the teleportation right now! Send a unicorn or three up here too, they can magically locate the X's. Griffons could get crushed under the pallets they are sending up. Go now!"

He saluted and took off with a few more. The remainder looked to her with determination. She stole a breath from the air and sucked it in, calming her nerves a moment. "The rest of you, find any griffons outside and get them in doors. I don't care if you have to drag them inside kicking and screaming, do it!"

Her group disbanded and spread out over the town. Almost subconsciously, Gabby started to fly to the bakery, her worry for Gilda very high, but she forced herself to veer off and did a sweep over the outer parts of the city first. She found three griffons and had to spend a few minutes explaining the situation to each one. Once the griffons understood the threat they faced, they quickly agreed to her request and went back inside.

She then leaned her wings toward home.

Gallus saluted to the unicorn group that had the pallets ready. "Alright, prepare for teleport!" He called out, the group took their stances and braced, the magical energy wrapping around the masses of wood. "On my mark! Three! Two!--"

"WAAAIT!!!" Gallus whipped around and saw one of Artimus's scouts flying down toward them with two griffons hot on his heels. The scout looked frantic. "STOP THE TELEPORT!" He shouted. Gallus paled. His feathers wilted and he looked to the pallets. The scout landed heavily and panted, but with a smile as he looked over the pallets. "Oh thank Celestia, I thought we missed you."

"But...we already sent the first batch...." Gallus murmured. The scout's face fell into horror.

"S-sir, the X's got covered in snow! No one knows where they are!"

Next to him Artimus started shouting commands. All he heard was the roar of the wind, his mind frozen in worry for what might have just happened above them.

It was a few more minutes before Gabby was able to relax, the bakery was coming into to view. She found the area clear, and landed. Immediately she started to scuff the snow away to check for X's. A few had been found, but there were still several more to find.

Gilda spotted her through the gap in the wood and tore the door open with excitement. Gabby was back, she was safe! She bolted out into the snow even as Gabby uncovered a large red patch of snow beneath her paws, and her eyes met Gilda's. She was gonna drag that hen over to the fire and help her warm up, hot strawberry scones were waiting to be devoured by the both of them.

Gilda slowly watched as Gabby's face contorted into one of horror, as something appeared loudly above her in a thunderous crackle of magic, and blocked the meager light of day from her vision. Time seemed to slow down for Gilda and Gabby, as if the clock was paying them no more attention than the snow falling around them. Snowflakes stopped in mid fall, water from a nearby fountain slowed to a crawl.

Gabby was crouching. Gilda felt the world go silent, her heartbeat the only thing her ears could hear. It pounded like thunder in her ear drums. Rhythmic beats that compressed her chest...her chest....it felt tight as she breathed, a slow intake of air that felt like it lasted hours. Her eyes tilted up in slow motion, to see the massive pallet of wood planks slowly dropping out of the teleportation spell.

Gabby was lunging. Her muscles uncoiling and launching the griffoness forward in a beautiful arc of power and movement. tears like crystals danced on the edges of Gabby's eyes, flying off into the wind. Clawed talons reaching out for the hen she knew so well, Gilda saw it, but she saw something else. She saw her death, she saw pain, and she was opening her mouth in a scream of fear.

"GILDA NO!!!"

Something slammed into her chest like a train and sent her tumbling. A loud crash and a scream of pain that tore through the snow and the skies and the nearby houses.

The world went dark...

and the snow...

the snow kept falling....

White...Gilda saw so much white...

Splotches of red, splotches of blue and green, then grey and purple, the colors changed rapidly as voices dully met her ears. She tried to sit up. She failed. Her body was sluggish, moving through molasses. She tried to speak...she couldn't string together sentences...

Slumping into what she thought might be someone's arms, she blurrily looked past them, to a large pile of wood that was everywhere...why was there so much red underneath it?

so much red....so much white...Roses? Roses were red and white...right?

She drifted off, even as someone called her name.

"She's coming to, clear out! I need to take a look at her."

"She's almost stable doctor, but she just woke up mid surgery! The other one is still in critical condition, however...we may lose her."

"We won't, not on my watch! hold her down, that fragment needs to be readjusted. Get me some anesthesia! I don't need her thrashing about as I do this."

"Hold still Gilda...you're gonna be okay...you're gonna...be..."

The voices drifted off again. Gilda dreamed of Roses. Roses floating on a sea of white that stretched for miles in every direction. She was standing up to her belly in the water, it was warm and comfortable. A rose drifted past her, it's red petals breaking apart and sifting through the current.

She looked around, and found someone in the distance. The Roses were flowing toward that person...who were they?

Gilda walked toward the figure, and a voice became apparent. "Gilda..." It spoke. "Gilda go back...go back to them, you're not done yet..."

Odd...that voice sounded so familiar...

"M-Mom?" Gilda asked.

She got no reply.

Gilda slowly opened her eyes. The lights were thankfully off. She blinked more and found her thoughts muddled. The room around her looked like a hospital room. Had she been injured? What was she doing here? She clutched her head with a clawed hand and groaned. Her head felt like she'd headbutted a minotaur. Her talons met bandages, and she blinked. So she had been injured.

"But...from what? What was I doing before?" She mumbled. The room told her nothing. She lay there for several hours, drifting in and out of consciousness before something new happened. The light outside her room came on and a Nurse stepped in. When Gilda turned to look her direction, the nurse gasped and ran out of the room before Gilda could so much as smile.

"Well...darn...I was gonna ask for some water..." she rasped quietly as the door shut with a gentle click. A few moments later the door reopened and two mares, a nurse and a doctor holding a clipboard in her magic stepped through. Both unicorns, they approached and greeted her. The doctor was a grey coated mare, with a shockingly white mane. her blue eyes sparkled nicely. The nurse was a deep brown color, like chocolate and her mane was light yellow.

"Hello miss Gilda, I'm Doctor Greymane, and this is Nurse Lilypulse, are you feeling okay?" She asked quietly. For some reason it kind of sounded like she was shouting though.

"You don't have to shout...I feel like shit...What hit my head?" She grumbled. "Can I have some water?"

LilyPulse ducked out of the room as Greymane frowned and quickly wrote something down on her clip board. She then whispered "We can get you that water, yes. To simplify things, you were hit in the skull by a brick wall. it cracked your skull and we had to do some surgery to put the bone back in it's proper place."

Gilda blinked slowly. "O-ow...that must've hurt..." She murmured. Greymane kept her frown.

"Yeees, it did. Listen, I need to do some checks on you okay? I'm going to touch and feel certain areas of your body, alright? You tell me a number between one and ten. Ten is the worst pain, and one is the least, alright?"

Gilda merely grunted and watched as Greymane poked her legs, then her paw pads, and slowly worked from there up. Occasionally asking things like "Do you feel this?" and "Can you feel any pain here?" Most of the areas were ones and occasionally a two. When Greymane started going up Gilda's chest, the pain began to increase to fours and sixes. Bruising on her chest and side were evident but how she got them she had no clue.

Greymane paused to write this stuff down and the nurse returned with cool refreshing water that Gilda drank greedily. When five of the stupidly tiny cups had been downed, Gilda spoke. "Thanks nurse, hey Doc...what the hell happened?"

Greymane shook her head. "I'll tell you that after I finish my examination, ma'am." She reached up and started prodding Gilda's neck, cheeks and beak, all were five or lower. When greymane started on her crown however, the pain spiked to an eight almost immediately. Gilda gently put her head back into the pillow and hissed.

"Okay...Doc you want a ten, the back of my head feels like a ten." she scrunched her eyes shut and growled for a few minutes, fighting the pain. After a moment, she cracked an eye open and leveled a curious stare at the Doctor. "now, talk. What happened to me and why am I in here?"

Greymane sat down in a chair next to the bed and held up her clip board. "First, Please tell me what you remember. Gilda. before all this. Can you do that for me?"

Gilda groaned and thought back. She was in the bakery...cooking, yes cooking scones for...for something...no, someone. She was baking, and...and what? what else was there?

"I was...making scones...."

Greymane nodded and waited but when Gilda didn't say anymore she frowned deeper. "Thats it? that's all you remember?"

"Will you shut it i'm still thinking." Gilda growled. Greymane merely nodded. Minutes ticked by on the clock, Gilda shifted and repositioned one of her wings.

"Roses..." She mumbled. Greymane tilted her head. "I remember...Roses...no...that was a dream...Mother was there...Mother is....dead...yeah, dreamed that. I was baking...we needed supplies."

Gilda slowly felt her brain work through the fog. "The council wanted supplies for housing...they...didn't make a good decision. I...fixed it...I think. Called for help...got help. Help came." She slowly widened her eyes as pieces began to fall into place.

"I was waiting...for someone to come home...a friend was home. yeah! I was waiting for Gabby!" her world slowed down. the Picture memory of Gabby's face contorting into horror as she looked at Gilda as a pallet of--

Gilda gasped. Gabby had lunged at her, paws had slammed into Gilda's chest sending her flying backwards and then...darkness. She tried to sit up, she tried so hard, but magic snapped out and held her firm to the mattress. "G-GABBY! GABBY WHERE IS SHE!!!"

Greymane grit her teeth and spoke through them. "Calm down Gilda! I need you to calm down!"

Gilda shrieked, opening her beak and crying out in terror. She had to find Gabby! Gabby was hurt, that pallet would have ...it would have...

Gilda felt the strength go out of her slowly. "Gabby...I...Doc...Is Gabby okay?" She asked, a whisper of her voice was all that came out.

Greymane frowned. "She is alive, we were able to--"

"I asked if she was okay...Doc."

Greymane slowly sighed and sat back down. her magic didn't remove itself from the griffoness however. "Listen to me Gilda. Gabby saved your life. You were going to be crushed by a two hundred pound pallet that was dropping eight feet out of the air...she shoved you out of the way. You rolled and received a broken skull from a brick wall, a concussion, and large bruising on your chest from her talons."

Gilda felt tears on her eyes. she blinked several times. The room was quiet.

"I don't fucking care about me, Doc...Gabby...she...is she okay?" Gilda whispered. "Doc, I need to know if my best friend is....is okay!" She cried, gentle sobs as the nurse and Doc looked to one another. She couldn't look at the Doc, she kept her eyes on the ceiling. If she looked at the person who was going to tell her the worst news, she might just very well kill them in sorrow and anger.

Greymane stood and sighed, walking to the window. She was silent for a time, before speaking.

"Gabby took the brunt of the damage to the right side of her back and wing, it crushed her right wing's Ulna, radius, coracoid, and humorous. They were all shattered into near disrepair. her neck suffered two fractures, her right front arm broke in three places, and she broke two ribs during retrieval from the site. "

Gilda choked out a sob. "..why...why the fuck would she...why did you do that Gabby....?"

Greymane came back over and picked up the clip board. "She is stable right now...but it's been rickety. You've been out for the past three days. We've managed to get physical responses and some verbal from you while you were out...but..." greymane looked to the nurse and frowned. "Gabby has been completely unresponsive." She gently tried to reach out a hoof but Gilda hissed and wrapped her wings around her self.

"Gilda..." Greymane whispered. "This wasn't your doing, you need to know that you are not at fault here."

"Like hell I'm not." Gilda whispered. The nurse and doctor shared a glance. "What do you mean Gilda?" Greymane asked.

Gilda sniffled and buried her head in her arms. "I ran out that door, I was impatient...Always have been...I closed the distance between Gabby and I...I made that call...So you're wrong Doc. If I hadn't done that the damn crate would have landed just fine AND SHE WOULD BE FINE TOO!!"

Greymane and Lilypulse, unsure of what to do, stood and nodded. Greymane backed off. "We'll give you some space, but you should remain in bed, don't try to walk, don't try to overexer--"

"Get...out..." Gilda growled. She leveled a glowing golden eye at the ponies and they both shivered. A predator was glaring at them. They left her be and closed the door.

Gilda silently sobbed into her arms.

"Gabby...I-I...I'm so sorry!!" She whispered.

Author's Note

It is not the bones of the body or the muscles that ride them, nor the nerves, and their endings and where they lead, that makes up the being of a person. It is the heart. We follow our hearts because they lead us where we truly desire to go..

So go there. Don't leave that place...but always leave the door open for those who need a place to call home. my heart is my home.