One Fateful Winter Day...
Yona stepped outside her relatively new house in Ponyville, lifting her hooves up from the snow and smiling to herself as she stared at the evident hoofprints deep in the white floofy ground. Sure, it snowed way harder back in Yakyakistan to the point where she’d have to lift her muzzle to avoid giving herself a white beard, but this amount of snow was good enough to encourage the young adult yak to bounce a little up and down, giggling as crunchy and soft bits of snow alike went spraying in all directions.
It had been just less than a year since Yona and her friends had graduated from the School of Friendship, and longer since she had turned 18 and became an adult. With her 19th birthday only a few weeks away, Yona could still hardly believe that she was no longer a child at school, but a grown yak that was still young enough to have so much to figure out. The teachers went out of their way to always make sure her and her friends were doing well on their assignments and enjoying their experience in Ponyville. They almost did too good of a job, Yona noted, given that all of their group except for Gallus had bought the home that she had just walked out of. Sure, having four roommates could get a little hectic and they all needed the occasional break to hang out somewhere else in town, but the five of them didn’t want to return to their homelands anytime soon. Gallus regularly sent letters from the Canterlot Academy and the yak giggled as she could only imagine what his inbox looked like with five friends sending their own letters each back to him all at once. But for Yona, it was an entirely evolved kind of joy having the letters sent to them and sending them back. Because for her, it meant seeing a certain mail courier at their house.
The first time she saw her, Yona was caught off guard by the griffoness’ bright turquoise eyes and her chipper voice. Every griffon that Yona had met or heard Gallus talk about had some kind of edge to them at best, and just wanted to take for themselves at worst. And as far as Yona knew, this griffoness hadn’t even been raised in Ponyville, so it was still a mystery to her how one could be raised in Griffonstone and smile without any prompting. Yona certainly remembered her name, Gabby, and the spark of warmth and unrestrained excitement that her contagious personality brought to her. So when Yona looked up in the sky and saw a creature in the distance, getting closer as her dark gray wings and gray-blue coat became more visible to see, Yona abandoned her hopping in place as she charged through the snow with the ease of a pony charging through leaves. The snow stood no chance for her powerful body barreling through it until she stopped just as Gabby was close enough to fly circles around her, Yona feeling the bubbling warmth taking over again. Even with all the great memories she shared with her family and friends, Yona couldn’t find one of those memories having this exact same feeling.
“More mystery for Yona to solve,” Yona muttered, squinting her eyes as she looked back on various memories. “What could any of this mean?”
“What could any of what mean?” Gabby chimed in, no longer flying in circles as she landed next to Yona and allowed her talons to sink into the snow. “Do any of you guys have more letters for me to take to Gallus?”
“No, we don’t,” Yona shook her head. “We just thought we’d send more letters as it gets closer to Hearth’s Warming. We’re still buying each other presents after all, and I ended up getting Smolder this year.”
“Oh nice!” Gabby took the bait, and Yona exhaled as the cute griffoness no longer focused on the mysteries in the yak’s mind. “So did you end up getting anything for her yet?”
“No,” Yona frowned. “If it were any of the others, it’d be so much easier! But what could dragon even want?”
“Gems?” Gabby suggested.
“No, she would just end up eating those,” Yona pouted. “Yona doesn’t want to get her any kind of treasure either, because apparently that triggers Dragon Greed or something like that.”
“Oh,” Gabby faltered. “That makes it really hard then, couldn’t a dragon hoard a lot of different items?”
“That’s the problem!” Yona huffed, stomping her hoof in the snow as she shook her head. “Yona can’t seem to think of a gift that her heart would appreciate more than her Dragon Greed.”
“Shhh,” Gabby rested her talon over Yona’s head, and Yona felt an undeniable radiance of warmth despite the freezing weather. The griffoness looked into Yona’s eyes as she continued. “It’s alright, you’ll be able to figure it out. Perhaps we could go to Hot Hut and talk over drinks?”
“Hot…Hut?” Yona frowned as she looked at the buildings around her, not recalling a name of the sort.
“It’s a seasonal café,” Gabby explained. “It’s only open for the colder half of the year, but they have so many kinds of hot chocolate! You should come with me, it’ll be a lot warmer than out here!”
Yona slowly nodded, even though she couldn’t piece together what a “hot hut” had to do with her gifting dilemma. But then again, Yona thought as her heart skipped a beat, this was the first time that Gabby had asked to hang out with her. One-on-one, no less! Yona’s slow nod turned into an even faster one as she perked up and stared at Gabby wiggling from the bottom of her paws to the swishing of her tail. Regardless of how the griffoness gave off so much energy, Yona couldn’t deny how intoxicating it was. The Smolder gift issue was nearly forgotten as she watched Gabby turn around and open her wings up as she prepared to take off.
“Try and follow me then!” Gabby told the yak as she looked over her shoulder for a few seconds before turning back around and flying off, but not high enough for Yona to lose sight of her. Yona spent a second admiring the griffoness’ wide wingspan and powerful limbs until she realized just what Gabby had said. Shaking her head, Yona barreled through the snow again as she kept her eyes on Gabby and the town at the same time. Last time she had followed one of her flying friends in the sky without watching where she was going, the yak had caused nearly several casualties in her wake. Since no one actually got hurt, Yona found herself able to giggle about it from time to time.
The two of them continued until Yona saw Gabby flying straight towards a building that was literally shaped like a gigantic brown coffee cup with a layer of fake marshmallows making up the roof of the building and a long red and white straw making up the chimney. Yona’s jaw dropped as she finally stopped right in front of the door of the Hot Hut building, with Gabby landing beside her.
“How did…how does…” Yona stammered before breaking away her stare from the building to look at Gabby. “Yona knows this building was not here before!”
“A lot of the staff that work here are unicorns,” Gabby explained as she walked towards the door and used her talon to open the door for Yona. “And while this coffee shop is usually closed off and sitting somewhere in the mountains, the unicorns used a group teleportation spell to bring it here for half the year! Isn’t that amazing?”
“Yona’s impressed,” Yona nodded, thanking Gabby before trotting inside and staring at the orange walls and carpet as well as the lights over each table and booth in the small café. Staring at the small line of three customers and the nearly full establishment. Yona’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she took her place in line, Gabby closing the door behind her and flying back to Yona’s side.
“If you look at the menu up there,” Gabby pointed at the menu above them both with her talon. “You’ll see that most of the menu is made up of different toppings that you can put on your hot chocolate! After trying a bit of everything though, I just get…well, everything!”
“Hmm, Yona probably start with something simple,” Yona decided as it was their turn to order. The creature at the cash register wasn’t a unicorn at all, or a creature that Yona even recognized. The creature was a skinny light brown and white female with horns that branched off into multiple ends instead of evenly like Yona’s horns did, and had a small fluffy tail that wiggled from side to side as the two approached her.
“Hey Rudy,” Gabby greeted the cashier. “I’ll have the usual please!”
“Er, Yona will get a…peppermint hot chocolate,” Yona decided after having her forehoof pressed against her lips in thought for several seconds. “And that’s it, Yona guesses.”
“6 bits!” Rudy told them with a smile from ear to ear, and Yona’s ears perked up as she saw Gabby fish out six bits from her bag. As they took a seat in a dimly lit booth in the corner, Yona took one more glance at Rudy before looking at Gabby.
“She’s not yak, is she?” Yona tilted her head.
“Oh no, she’s actually a reindeer!” Gabby told the yak. “She lives in the mountains with the Hot Hut whenever it’s not here in Ponyville.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Yona nodded. “Somecreature has to live there to keep an eye out on the building.”
Yona jolted as Gabby slapped her talons on the booth, shaking the yak well awake from the small talk they’d been having up until now. Her predatory gaze narrowing on Yona as she smiled at her, Yona’s pupils shrunk underneath the griffoness’ stare.
“Okay, we’re sitting down now,” Gabby began. “All we’ve talked about is how you can’t figure out Smolder’s gift and what reindeer are, and I’m here to get down to the important stuff now.”
“Which is?”
“You, silly!” Gabby squawked, loosening her grip on the table. “After all, usually you don’t get to a conversation of mostly trivial stuff until after at least a few dates.”
“Wait, date?” Yona sputtered, thankful that she didn’t have a hot chocolate to accidentally spit in Gabby’s face.
“Yeah! I asked you out here for hot chocolates, not anyone else,” Gabby blinked with a small smile. “You…were okay with this being a date, right?”
“Y-Yeah, Yona great at dates!” Yona mentally face-hoofed her own forehead.
“Really? What kind of dates have you-”
“Okay, Yona hasn’t been on any dates!” Yona threw her forehooves in the air. “Everyone back at house has gone on dates except for Yona! And Yona doesn’t get it. Is it her looks? Is it all the fur? Is it because Yona smashes everything, and Yona means everything?! What could you possibly like from Yona?”
“Well, I like that everytime I fly by the house, you were always there even if nobody else was,” Gabby smiled. “Asking about my day, staring at me with those big green eyes of yours. I’m guilty to admit that I don’t have much basis to go off, but isn’t that kind of the point of a first date?”
“Huh, Yona supposes you have a point,” Yona blushed as she thought of what she said. “Yona didn’t really sell you on her, did she?”
“I personally really like your looks,” Gabby shrugged, perking up as she heard Rudy call her name. The griffoness flew out of her side of the booth, coming back with a peppermint hot chocolate and a hot chocolate stacked with every topping that the two could think of. “Who wouldn’t? You’re built strong, sturdy, and most of all…beautiful~”
Yona was taken aback a little, but found herself smiling more naturally and still blushing as she had heard the word that only her parents called her before. To hear such a cute griffoness such as Gabby call her that and take her on the date out of everyone? It made Yona feel lighter than a butterfly.
“Well, Yona was born in Yakyakistan,” Yona told Gabby as she brought her peppermint hot chocolate closer to her. “Very simple upbringing, Yona smashed everything but other yaks of course. That was reserved for fighting rings and Yona was hardly prepared for that. Then after pony visit Yakyakistan, Prince Rutherford chose Yona for School of Friendship!”
“And then what?” Gabby smiled, taking the time to drink her hot chocolate in big gulps.
“Then Yona went on many adventures with friends, graduated, and…hasn’t really known what to do next,” Yona frowned, staring at her hot chocolate. “Gallus knew at the drop of a hat, the rest of the girls are becoming teachers for the school, and Sandbar started working for Rarity!”
“Sandbar is working for her?” Gabby asked. “I would’ve guessed Silverstream or Ocellus, why him?”
“He has all these great design ideas for outfits based on marine life, like dresses with starfish as the designs,” Yona explained. “And ever since he asked Yona to that dance, we’ve been best friends! Yona wanted to follow what he’s doing…”
“But?” Gabby tilted her head.
“But it seems like anytime Yona tries to figure something out, it’s the six or five of us,” Yona admitted. “Yona never tries to figure stuff out for Yona except for today, when she said yes to going on a date.”
“There you go!” Yona felt Gabby’s tail brush against her hindleg as the griffoness praised her and beamed at her with her sunny disposition. “And how has your first big solo decision gone so far?”
“So far? Really good, Yona’s enjoying the date,” Yona pressed her hooves against the cup as gently as possible, just like Sandbar taught her, and pressed her lips to the cup and took a big sip. “And the hot chocolate is amazing!”
“Can’t go wrong with Hot Hut,” Gabby agreed, having already finished her cup. “I might even get a second cup soon.”
“Well,” Yona set her cup down. “What about you? Don’t you have a lot of stories since cute griffon manage everyone’s letters?”
“I certainly have quite a few stories if you’re interested in hearing,” Gabby narrowed her eyes at Yona and smirked. “Well, there was this one time that I accidentally intercepted some spicy letters between the Dragon Lord and the King of the Changelings…”
Yona rushed back to her house with Gabby flying behind her, the two both smiling and laughing as they had finished their conversation of various letters and interesting photos that Gabby has had her fair share of taking care of.
“Yeah, you’d be surprised on how many senders give me dick pics to send,” Gabby rolled her eyes as she landed beside Yona in the snow near her house. “I’m glad I’ve started to properly warn the recipients, because some of them don’t even recognize the sender!”
“Ew!” Yona’s muzzle scrunched up as she closed her eyes and shook her head. “But then you have to see those pictures!”
“Such is the cost of helping others,” Gabby sighed, leaning closer till Yona opened her eyes and gasped at just how close Gabby’s beak was to her face. “Hey, thanks for coming with me today. I don’t get a lot of downtime, but hopefully we can go out again soon?”
“Y-Yes! Yona would very much like that,” Yona grinned. “So, um, do we hug or-”
“I’ve got something a little more in mind~” Gabby gave Yona that same smirking look again, slowly zooming in, and even an inexperienced yak such as Yona could figure out what was going to happen. Feeling Gabby’s warm but not overwhelming breath on her face, Yona closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Gabby’s beak, surprised at the warm feeling the foreign beak had as she pressed further into the kiss. Yona still held a lot of restraint, not wanting to hurt the griffoness by barreling into her, before they stopped kissing.
“See you around,” Gabby rushed past Yona, briefly smacking the yak’s butt with her tail before taking off into the sky to look for more mail to send. Yona stared at her flying figure as it grew smaller and smaller until it was barely a moving dot in the sky. Watching the snow gently fall around Gabby’s disappearing figure and the town around her was certainly relaxing, and she could only imagine a lovely item to encapsulate the snowy scenery around her…
“I got it!”Yona jumped in the air, rushing away from her house as she ran to the middle of Ponyville. “I know exactly what to get Smolder!”
