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Happy Griffon Day!!! Gilda (haha) plz (My little pony) Gabriella is excited GALLUS

Once again, Equestria Daily brought us another non-pony creature themed holiday, and this time it's all about those part eagle, part lion critters — GRIFFONS!!! They dwell in their kingdom of Griffonstone, high up on one of the peaks of the Hyperborean Mountains, just east of Equestria. According to "Bygone Griffons of Greatness", griffons were once as greedy as dragons (a reference to the avarice of griffins in real-world mythology), selfishly hoarding their treasures. They were eventually united by King Grover through a treasure called the Idol of Boreas. With the griffons' newfound pride, Griffonstone had grown into a great and majestic kingdom. However, sometime during the reign of the fourteenth king Guto, the one-eyed goat monster Arimaspi besieged Griffonstone and stole the idol. The idol was eventually lost when Arimaspi fell into the Abysmal Abyss, causing Griffonstone to fall into a state of misery. As a result of Griffonstone's decline, many buildings and areas in the city lie in ruin and disrepair. These include the castle, which has a vacant throne following the disgrace of King Guto; the library, which has books scattered everywhere and a crumbling statue of King Grover. Griffonstone is particularly notable in that it lacks most basic businesses and establishments, and singing is apparently outlawed. Most griffons living in Griffonstone are impolite, shoving their way past others, and they returned to their ancient avarice, refusing services without getting paid. (Just like Klugetown.) As with dragons, Griffon culture is one of "every Griffon for themselves" that places value upon personal honor and wealth. Griffons have taught to bolster themselves against this hostile environments, and any display of feelings is interpreted as weakness deserving of ridicule or exploitation. Nonetheless, they have been close allies of the ponies of Equestria, thanks to a young Celestia and Luna; a griffon delegate would attend the "Grand Equestria Pony Summit," and a team of griffon atheletes representing Griffonstone would participate in the Equestria Games.

Of all the griffons, there are at least four who play a huge role in My Little Pony. First, there was Gilda, an insecure griffon who was once Rainbow Dash's friend; Gabby, another she-griffon who expressed a desire to help others and to have a cutie mark; Grandpa Gruff; the proud elder of Griffonstone and self-appointed caretaker of young griffons, and Gallus, a young, orphaned blue griffon who would not only make friends of his own, as well as a family, but would become a hero to all creatures. These are their stories.

The first griffon to be brought in MLPFIM is Rainbow Dash's old friend from the Junior Speedster flight camp — Gilda. After making new friends with the Mane Six, she and Rainbow reunited. A long time ago, they first met when Gilda was a shy fledgling being bullied by Hoops, Dumb-bell, and Score for not flying, until Rainbow stood up for her. Through their mutual love of flying, Rainbow and Gilda became the best of friends. While it seems their friendship remained strong all these years, Rainbow didn't know that Gilda had developed a mean streak. When Pinkie Pie tried to join in on the duo's time together, Gilda kept brushing her off in rude and menacing ways, going as far as threatening her. Then later on, while Rainbow left Gilda on her own to take care of some weather jobs around Ponyville, the griffon began causing trouble around town: She pranked Granny Smith by using her tail to fake a rattlesnake and stole an apple from a fruit stand. And much to Pinkie's shock, Gilda roared furiously at Fluttershy, who was only trying to guide a family of ducks through town, to the point of tears. Gilda then left the scene, greatly annoyed by the presence of the ponies whom she deemed lame. Having spied Gilda's mean behavior nearby, Pinkie resorted to "extreme measures" by throwing a party in Gilda's honor, hoping to improve her attitude. Gilda attended the party, but, one by one, she fell for the pranks set up at the party, making her irritation more evident. She suspected that Pinkie was the one setting up the party pranks to demean her. After a mishap with "pin the tail on the pony", Gilda finally snaped, insulting the party attendees and singling out Pinkie as "queen lame-o" with her party pranks, declaring that she and Rainbow Dash have "ten times as much cool" as the other ponies. But as she prepared to bail out with Rainbow at her side, Rainbow Dash revealed that she was the one responsible for all the pranks at the party and that they were not all meant for Gilda specifically. Gilda couldn't believe this revelation and claimed that the party was all Pinkie Pie's idea of revenge to make a fool of her. However, Pinkie defended her idea by saying she threw the party for Gilda to change the griffon's attitude. Having seen Gilda's true colors, Rainbow Dash disowned Gilda as a friend, telling her that if being cool was all she cared about, she should go find some new cool friends someplace else. Deeply hurt at losing her friend, Gilda tried to brush it off by calling Dash "a flip-flop: cool one minute, lame the next," and she stormed off in rage. She returned to Griffonstone, and made a living selling griffon scones so she could save up enough bits to leave the decrepit kingdom for good.

A year later, after Twilight Sparkle became the Princess of Friendship, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were sent to Griffonstone by the Cutie Map to solve a friendship problem, and were greeted by the rude Gilda. What was once a mutual love for flying between her and Dash was now a mutual resentment towards each other. Rainbow Dash believed that she and Pinkie Pie were sent to find a long lost Idol of Boreas, but Gilda didn't believe that the idol exists inspite of Grandpa Gruff believing it did as well. While Rainbow went in search for the idol, Pinkie discovered the Gilda wasn't the meanest kind of mean meanie-pants there was she made herself back in Ponyville; the griffon harbored a kind, caring attitude she would behind a rude facade—most likely a result of her upbringing in the equally egotistically, empathetically repressed griffon kingdom—and actually regreted losing her friendship with Rainbow. When Rainbow's search for the idol puts her in danger, Pinkie Pie convinced Gilda to remember the times when she and Rainbow were friends and help to rescue her. She was later given a choice between saving Pinkie and Rainbow and recovering the lost idol, and she chose to save the ponies' lives. Learning to embrace friendship, Gilda reconciled with the ponies and chose to stay in Griffonstone to makes new friends, offering a new treasure for the griffon kingdom. Also, with help from Pinkie, Gilda's scones tasted better than before and are now selling like hotcakes.

We met other griffons in Ponyville, like the Canterlot chef Gustave Le Grand and the athletes representing Griffonstone in the Equestria Games. But the next major griffon was the kingdom's elder, Grandpa Gruff. He looks more like a heliodromos (a half vulture griffon) due to his molting head. Despite being referred to as a grandfather, he has no familial ties to any griffon; it seems it's only a title. This ornery old griffon harbors more pride for Griffonstone than the average griffon, but he is just as greedy. A year or two later, after Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie came to the griffon kingdom, Twilight opened up her School of Friendship and invited both ponies and non-pony creatures to attend. Grandpa Gruff came to act as Gallus' representative and guardian. Although Gallus seems to be an uncaring old grouch, he does show care for the younger generation, and after Twilight dealt with Chancellor Neighsay, he allowed Gallus to attend.

The third major griffon to appear in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the cheerful and ever helpful Gabby. Gabriella—or Gabby for short—is a mail courier in Griffonstone. However, unlike the rest of her antisocial kind, she always enjoyed helping others. This made her feel out of place. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash visited the griffon kingdom to solve a friendship problem there, Gabby observed them teaching Gilda about friendship and was convinced that their cutie marks were related to their desire to help others. So when Gilda needed a letter delivered to Rainbow Dash in Ponyville, Gabby jumped at the opportunity. She met with several ponies around town helped by the Cutie Mark Crusaders and sought the fillies out so they could help her find her true purpose in life and get her own cutie mark. Not knowing if it is possible for griffons to have cutie marks (and even after consulting Twilight Sparkle for advice ended with quandary from her), the Crusaders tried anyway by taking Gabby through a list of helpful activities to see if she got one. Although Gabby excelled at everything she attempted, no cutie mark appeared, and the Crusaders despaired that their task was impossible. Feeling sorry for the Crusaders, Gabby surprised them by revealing a fake cutie mark she had "earned", but the three soon discovered the truth while she was helping Dr. Hooves. The fillies determined that, despite her lack of a mark, Gabby still had a purpose in life by helping others, and they named her an honorary member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, as its first Griffon member. They even hoofmade custom mail clips with the Crusader mark for her, and threw a cute-ceañera for her! Immensely grateful to the Crusaders for their help, Gabby promised to share what they taught her with the rest of Griffonstone. While she was in Ponyville at the time, she even made friends with Spike, and since Grandpa Gruff demands regular updates from Gallus, she now visits Ponyville regularly, allowing her and Spike to hang out often. When a jealous Rarity's attempts to get more time with Spike made it look like Spike didn't want to hang out with her anymore, Gabby almost broke off their friendship. Fortunately, the repentant Rarity patches things up between them.

And then, we would be introduced to one griffon who would play a really huge role in this story — Gallus! Like the rest of his half eagle, half lion kind, Gallus is portrayed as sarcastic and rude. He, however, has a very sad history. As an orphan in a civilization of egotistical griffons, he has no family to call his own. However, things would change for the better. When Twilight opened up her School of Friendship, Grandpa Gruff had Gallus attend, representing Griffonstone. It was there he would get to know the five non-griffon students who would come to be his friends, as well as his family. Although he acted sarcastic and apathetic at first, but in time he came to embrace them, becoming more friendly and warm but maintaining some level of nonchalance (and has a tendency to tease and play pranks on his friends). Gallus desired to stay with his new family, to the point when, on Hearth's Warming Eve, to prevent going back to his uncaring "home," he sabotaged the Hearth's Warming Tree and kept it a secret in order to stay with his friends. When his friends started arguing and accusing each other of causing the sabotage, he confessed to them, not wanting them to fight over what he did. When the rest of gang learned that he had no family of his own, they agreed to stay with him. Gallus never got to experience anything even close to friendship growing up in Griffonstone. Griffons only have one day of the year where they even attempt to be nice to each other, but with no family of his own the orphaned Gallus never even got that. When he went to the school and met the rest of the Young Six, he got to have that kind of companionship for the first time and it became something he couldn't bear to lose. That's why he tried to get everyone punished into staying at school over the holidays: Even if it was only for a short time, he couldn't stand the thought of leaving his friends and going back to that place where nobody cares. Although he tries to hide it with sarcasm and acting aloof, Gallus has proven to be the one who cherishes their friendship most of all, and thus would be the new bearer of the Element of Magic.

He also helped Silverstream face her fear of the Storm King, then he and the rest of the Young Six foiled the evil filly Cozy Glow's plan to drain magic from Equestria, and restored the Tree of Harmony after it was destroyed by King Sombra. Not to mention he rallied the griffons of Griffonstone to help the ponies in their final battle against the villains, with help from Gilda, Gabby, and Grandpa Gruff, and he, along with his friends for life, joined the Mane Six and Pillars of Old Equestria defeat them. And as a bonus, he would become Equestria's new captain of the royal guard. This griffon left a huge mark on Equestria, Griffonstone, and the magic of friendship. All these griffons are truly incredible creatures.


Here are the Griffons of MLP:FIM. While I already had vectors of Gallus and Gabby, I tried to find references for Gilda and Gruff, but met with no success, so I had to improvise. The rest was easy.

Gallus, Gabby, Gilda, and Grandpa Gruff by me

Griffonstone by :iconboneswolbach:

These guys might've gone through a slump, but the magic of friendship got them back up on their talons and paws. Griffons are one of my favorite mythological creatures, and MLP:FIM certainly made them enjoyable.

Well, that's it for the Griffons. And now it's time for…

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Posted previously at: 2020-08-14T14:51:51 | Posted previously by: AndoAnimalia