The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone is the eighth episode of the fifth season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the show's ninety-ninth episode overall.

In this episode, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash have conflicting ideas of fixing a problem after being called by the map to the city of Griffonstone.

Production
S05 Unknown Griffon 1 was previewed in one of the animation images shown at Ponycon NYC on February 16, 2015.

The illustrations in "Bygone Griffons of Greatness" and Grampa Gruff's flashback were drawn by Rebecca Dart.

A new friendship mission
The episode begins at Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie is baking one of her Granny Pie's old cake recipes with Gummy. Her cutie mark suddenly starts glowing, indicating that she is being called by the Cutie Map. Before heading out, Pinkie entrusts Gummy with the baking.

At Twilight Sparkle's castle, Twilight is excited that the map is calling Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to the griffon kingdom of Griffonstone. Though Twilight has become a bit of a griffon history buff, Rainbow is less than enthusiastic because of the way Gilda treated her friends during her visit to Ponyville.

According to Twilight, the griffon kingdom has a rich history centered around an ancient treasure called the Idol of Boreas. She expresses disappointment that the map is not summoning her to Griffonstone, but she is confident that Pinkie and Rainbow can solve whatever problem the kingdom has on their own.

Kingdom of griffons
After a train ride on the Friendship Express, Rainbow and Pinkie climb the mountains to Griffonstone, following a written guide that Twilight gave them. Upon arriving, they find the supposedly majestic kingdom to be a small, shabby-looking town with impolite citizens. They encounter Gilda, who still bears a grudge toward them, and her grandfather Grampa Gruff.

Grampa Gruff explains—for a few bits—that Griffonstone was once a grand city of proud and united griffons thanks to the Idol of Boreas. But sometime during the reign of its most recent king, a monster named Arimaspi attacked and stole the idol. The idol was eventually lost to the Abysmal Abyss, and Griffonstone fell into a state of misery.

Rainbow Dash believes that she and Pinkie were sent to Griffonstone to find the Idol of Boreas and restore the kingdom's pride and glory. Despite Gilda's indifference about the idol, Pinkie goes to the Griffonstone library while Rainbow plans an expedition into the Abysmal Abyss.

Diverging ideas
As Rainbow Dash is forced to deal with money-hungry griffons, Pinkie Pie finds the library to be just as much a shambles as the rest of the city. She chats with a very embittered Gilda and discovers that the kingdom doesn't have singing, a party store, or a bakery. All it has is griffon scones, which Gilda sells to make a living, but they taste terrible, so Pinkie offers her services.

When the distracting smell of their baking causes a griffon named Greta to fall out of the sky, Gilda helps her up. Pinkie Pie notices this and sees a good side in Gilda, but Gilda insists that no one is friends in Griffonstone. As she laments having had a friend once, Pinkie remembers Rainbow Dash and goes looking for her.

Meanwhile, as Rainbow goes spelunking into the Abysmal Abyss, her rope snaps, stranding her on an Abyss ledge with a sprained hoof. Unable to fly out because of the harsh ravine winds and out of bits to pay her griffon guide for assistance, Rainbow Dash cries out for help. Pinkie soon hears Rainbow calling out and goes back to town to get help from Gilda.

Quotes

 * Pinkie Pie: Why don't you just come with us? I mean, you are the Princess of Friendship.
 * Twilight Sparkle: No, no, if the map wanted me to go to the coolest kingdom in all of Equestria and tour the palace and see the actual idol that unites an entire species, which would be super amazing, I'm sure it would've said so.


 * Pinkie Pie: Watcha reading, Rainbow?
 * Rainbow Dash: [sighs] Twilight literally wrote a book on what we need to do in Griffonstone.
 * Pinkie Pie: You mean like a guide on how to figure out what problem we're supposed to fix?
 * Rainbow Dash: And then some. It's like Twilight herself in book form. [imitating Twilight] 'Always carry plenty of bits. The griffons are sure to help you as long as you share the wealth.'


 * Rainbow Dash: Hello, Gilda.
 * Gilda: Dash.
 * Pinkie Pie: Pinkie!


 * Pinkie Pie: [to statue] It's sad what happened to your town, King, but Rainbow Dash can't be right! This can't all be because of a missing hunk of gold. [as King Grover] You are right, Pinkie! And you've got amazing hair! [normal] Oh King Grover, you old charmer!


 * Pinkie Pie: [gasps] I know what Griffonstone needs!
 * Gilda: Fewer ponies?
 * Pinkie Pie: A song! I've got a super song about smiling that sure to make even the most grumpy griffon grin! [inhales]
 * Gilda: Can't sing here!
 * Pinkie Pie: But- how do you break into uplifting musical numbers with no singing?
 * Gilda: Yeah, that's Griffonstone's biggest problem, lack of uplifting musical numbers.


 * Pinkie Pie: [chewing] Grandpa Gruff's recipe is good, but it's missing one important ingredient.
 * Gilda: Don't tell me. 'Friendship'?
 * Pinkie Pie: Uh, no. Baking powder.


 * Pinkie Pie: [in distance] There you are! Forget about finding the idol, I figured out how to solve Griffonstone's real problem! Scones!


 * Pinkie Pie: Don't go anywhere!
 * Rainbow Dash: [sighs] Where does she think I'm gonna go?
 * [rock crumbles]
 * Rainbow Dash: [panicked noises] I hope I don't go anywhere!


 * Gilda: Fine, I'll help her. But that doesn't make me her friend.
 * Pinkie Pie: Duly noted. [to the audience] Except it does!


 * Gilda: Hang on, loser! I'm coming!
 * Rainbow Dash: What took you so long, doofus?!


 * Gilda: Nothing's better than gold to a griffon.
 * Pinkie Pie: That's because you don't have friendship! If you can learn to care about each other again, Griffonstone could be a mightier kingdom than it ever was before! And you don't need some golden idol to do that. You just need each other.
 * Rainbow Dash: Whoa Pinkie, that was... really sappy.
 * Pinkie Pie: Eh, what can I say? That's how I roll.