Gilda

Gilda is a griffon and an old friend of Rainbow Dash and minor antagonist who appears in the episode Griffon the Brush Off.

Personality
Gilda is first introduced by Rainbow Dash as her griffon friend, a "half eagle, and half lion", to which Gilda adds "and all awesome". She is playful and competitive around Rainbow Dash, and she mentions she enjoys a good prank before setting out on several flying excursions with Rainbow Dash. She turns angry when Pinkie Pie asks to join her and Dash, and at first tries to discreetly ditch Pinkie by racing with Dash. This fails when Pinkie pursues them with the aid of ballons, prompting Gilda to pop Pinkie's ballons and send her floating down to the ground when Dash is preoccupied with a race. However, Pinkie manages to catch up to Gilda and Dash again; when Dash isn't looking, Gilda menaces Pinkie Pie, calling her a dweeb, a dork, and "Stinky Pie", and sends Pinkie hurtling to the ground again. Pinkie Pie describes Gilda to Twilight Sparkle as mean and grumpy. But Twilight thinks that Pinkie Pie is being jealous of Gilda. Later, Gilda steals an apple from a food cart, makes Fluttershy cry by roaring at her, and calls the ponies around her "lame".

At Pinkie Pie's party, Gilda seems to hold back her temper and misbehavior around Dash, but she eventually snaps after getting repeatedly pranked, and lashes out at Pinkie and the other ponies. She goes on about being "cool" and leaves in a huff when Dash tells her she better find other "cool" friends.

History
Rainbow Dash introduces Gilda in the episode Griffon the Brush Off as an old friend of hers, from their days on the Junior Speedsters flight team. Pinkie Pie tries to join in on the two's time together, but Gilda keeps brushing her off in rude and menacing ways.

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 is 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 attends 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 goes on, one by one, Gilda falls for the pranks set up at the party, making her irritation more evident, but she 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' leaves 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 is 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 can'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 to change 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 foreva, 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

 * Gilda image gallery

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 chirps 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.
 * In mythology, griffins used to dine on horses.
 * The Hubworld description for the episode, as well as Lauren Faust's concept art, refers to Gilda as "Grizelda".

Gilda