Gilda

Gilda is a griffon and an old friend of Rainbow Dash. Her only appearance so far in the TV series has been in episode five, Griffon the Brush Off.

Personality
When Rainbow Dash is around, Gilda appears to be a friendly griffon around others, and is genuinely polite, pro-active, praising, and pleasant, but only to Rainbow Dash. When Dash is not nearby, Gilda's true colors are revealed. She is mean, rude, even sadistic, and has a cruel sense of humor. She bullies the other ponies in Ponyville she deems 'lame' and not worth her time, even going as far as bullying Fluttershy to the point of tears and terrifying Granny Smith into believing her tail was a rattlesnake. Admitting she is in the wrong is incredibly difficult for her if not impossible, and when backed into a corner, she chooses to leave rather than admit her mistakes.

What Gilda cared most about was being cool, and only deemed Rainbow Dash as cool over the rest of Ponyville since they were both old friends. When Gilda realizes that Rainbow Dash is on the side of the ponies of Ponyville, she groups her in with the rest of the ponies, and because she regards ponies of Ponyville as lame, she ditches Rainbow Dash and effectively calls off their friendship.

History
Gilda seems to have been a friend of Rainbow Dash since their days on the Junior Speedsters flight team. She made her debut in the episode, Griffon the Brush Off, when she visits Dash in Ponyville. When Pinkie Pie wanted to join in on Dash and Gilda's racing games, Gilda was irritated by her presence and challenges Rainbow Dash to race her to high clouds as an attempt to get away from Pinkie Pie. Surprisingly, Pinkie Pie was able to keep up with the two, by means of balloons and on 'a crazy flying contraption'. Gilda then has Rainbow Dash show off her latest flying tricks, so that she can talk to Pinkie one-on-one. The griffon rudely threatens Pinkie Pie and calls her a dweeb, attempting to sabotage Pinkie's friendship with Dash. Gilda then sends Pinkie hurtling towards the ground, ultimately stopping the pink pony from following her and Dash.



Later, when Rainbow Dash leaves Gilda on her own to take care of some weather jobs around town, Gilda's mean behavior to the other ponies is revealed. Not only does she scare Granny Smith by using her tail to fake a rattlesnake and steal an apple from a fruit stand, Gilda bullies Fluttershy, who was only trying to guide a family of ducks through town, to the point of tears. Scoffing at Fluttershy's crying, the griffon then leaves the scene, greatly annoyed by the presence of the ponies around her she deems lame.

Having spied Gilda's mean behavior nearby, Pinkie Pie becomes mad at how Gilda treated Fluttershy, and calls for 'extreme measures' by throwing a party in Gilda's honor, hoping to improve her attitude. Gilda attended the party, and when Rainbow Dash is out of earshot, the griffon warns Pinkie Pie she knows something's up, to which the pink pony fakes innocence. (Actually, her innocence here is genuine, but this scene was sort of meant to trick the audience into thinking that perhaps Pinkie Pie really did have something prank-worthy planned for Gilda.) As the party went underway, one by one, Gilda fell for the pranks that were set up for the party, making her irritation more evident, but still puts up a good face when Dash is near. During this time, Gilda suspects Pinkie Pie to be one setting up the party pranks that were set up for the griffon.

When the game of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony' left Gilda covered in cake and the 'tail on the wrong end', the griffon finally snaps, calling the entire party attendees 'dweebs' and singling out Pinkie Pie as 'Queen Lame-o' with her party pranks. She then declares herself and Dash as 'ten times as more cool' than the rest of the party and was ready to bail out with Rainbow Dash at her side. However, to Gilda's shock, Rainbow Dash reveals that she was one who did all the pranks at the party and that they weren't all meant for Gilda specifically. Gilda couldn't believe it, and says that the party was all Pinkie Pie's idea of revenge to make a fool of her. However, Pinkie Pie defends her idea by saying she threw the party for Gilda in hopes of improving the griffon's attitude.

Having seen Gilda's true colors, Rainbow Dash breaks off their friendship and tells Gilda that if being cool is all she cares about, she 'should go find some new cool friends someplace else'. Having thought no proper response to this and not wanting to apologize for her behavior, Gilda calls Dash a 'flip flop' and deems her 'lame' for defending her new friends and siding with them. She says that Rainbow Dash is cool one minute, and lame the other. The griffon then storms out of Rainbow Dash's life, but not before telling Dash to give her a call when she decides not to be 'lame' anymore, slamming the door behind her.

Appearances

 * S1E5: Griffon the Brush Off

Gallery

 * Complete image gallery for Gilda

Trivia

 * Rock music, serving as Gilda's theme, plays during scenes depending on her mood and in various moments: if she feels irritated, a guitar playing a single note can be heard, and if she feels annoyed and rude to others, the guitar can be heard playing rock music.
 * Bird sounds can also be heard depending on Gilda's mood as well: when she is excited, bird cheeps are heard, and when after she shows her mean streak and leaves Ponyville, a red-tailed hawk's screech is heard.
 * Gilda is voiced by Maryke Hendrikse, who co-stars with Rainbow Dash's voice actress Ashleigh Ball as the Test twins, Susan and Mary, respectively on the Teletoon series Johnny Test.
 * It is possible that Gilda's near total disdain for the ponies of Ponyville, with the notable exception of Rainbow Dash, may be a reference to the dietary habits of Griffons as depicted in mythology. A Griffon's preferred meal is horse flesh.