Gilda (My Little Pony)

“	Don't you know how to take get lost for an answer? Dash doesn't need to hang with a dweeb like you now that I'm around.	„
	~ Gilda (threatning Pinkie Pie)

Gilda is a character in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. She first appears in the fifth episode of season 1, Griffon the Brush-Off, where she is the main antagonist of the episode. Later Gilda made brief cameos in season 3 and season 4 Magical Mystery Cure and Equestria Games. She really returns in the fifth season in the episode The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone as the main anti-hero. She is a griffon (or griffin/gryphon) who is a grumpy, selfish bully who thinks that she's cooler than everyone else (however, later she starts to tone down) and serving the main antagonist-turned-anti-heroine. Gilda was an old friend of Rainbow Dash, but after a quarrel their friendship collapsed for a long time until they finally reunited again after 4 seasons. Gilda is voiced by Maryke Hendrikse, who also voiced EqG character Sonata Dusk, Revy and Bubbles.

Appearance

As a griffon, Gilda has the head, wings and feet of an eagle and the body and tail of a lion. Her head feathers form a fringe that hangs ahead of her face.

Personality

Gilda thinks that she's cooler than everyone else and is not afraid to show it. She regards others as 'lame' compared to her and can be quite vocal about it when not in the company of her friend Rainbow Dash. She seems playful and competitive around Dash but actually she's very rude, violent, bad-tempered, mean-spirited and arrogant with an inflated ego. She doesn't seem to care about others' feelings. When she's calm her voice sounds apathetic and bored and vaguely annoyed with lack of emotion. She's also a liar, hiding her true colors by forcing herself to act friendly towards Rainbow Dash. She seems to dislike ponies and considers them "lame" and annoying.

Gilda also seems to like mean pranks. Unlike Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie she does pranks on others only for her own joy, without caring about the victims. But she can't take the pranks when she is the victim. She doesn't mind stealing things without pay or destroying others objects (like Pinkie's contraption).

In the episode 'The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone,' we learn from a flashback that when Gilda was younger, she was extremely shy, insecure, and gentle- natured, but that she was cruelly picked on by Pegasi bullies before befriending Rainbow Dash. It is likely that this mistreatment was a big part of what caused Gilda to develop her nasty, abrasive nature, as she was determined to not be an outcast anymore and stand up for herself more, but failed to realize that there's a big difference between being strong and assertive, and being an overly- aggressive bully. In 'The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone,' we also see that Gilda secretly felt really bad about losing her friendship with Rainbow Dash earlier in the series. This leads her to change her ways, help save Rainbow's life, apologize to her and Pinkie for how she had acted in the past, and reconcile her friendship with them. In fact, it inspired Gilda to spread this message around to as many of her fellow griffons as she could, so they'd all experience the joys of friendship.

History

Gilda is a long-time friend of Rainbow Dash, one of the major protagonists of Friendship Is Magic. They were best friends from their days at Junior Speedster flight camp. The two of them attended flight school together and were close friends. In the episode Griffon The Brush-Off, Gilda visits Ponyville to hang out with Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie tries to join them but Gilda wants nothing to do with her and keeps brushing her off in rude and menacing ways, going as far as threatening her and telling her to get lost (out of Rainbow Dash's earshot). Afterwards, Gilda is strolling through Ponyville and Pinkie Pie is watching her from a distance since she's concerned that she might just be overly judgmental of the griffon. Pinkie sees Gilda play a prank on Granny Smith, stealing an apple from a fruit cart and bullying Fluttershy until she roars loudly on her face, also scaring a family of ducks that Fluttershy was trying to guide and reducing her to tears since the Pegasus is very sensitive and shy. Pinkie Pie realizes she didn't misjudge Gilda at all and that the griffon really is a "mean meany-pants". Pinkie Pie then decides to try and do something about Gilda's bad attitude with the hope of improving it and making her smile by throwing her a welcoming party and inviting everyone in Ponyville. Gilda is not very happy about it and acts very annoyed and arrogant. During the party, Gilda fell for a number of pranks such as a joy-buzzer, relighting birthday candles, and various others. This definitely doesn't help to improve her attitude, as she tries to suppress her rage. During this time, Gilda suspects Pinkie Pie to be the one setting up the party pranks that were set up for the griffon. After falling for so many of these practical jokes, Gilda went into a rage and lashed out at everyone, insulting every pony at the party and accused Pinkie Pie of being responsible for all the pranks. She still thinks she didn't lose her cool (probably implying when she's angry she's worse than this). As it turned out, most of the pranks were Rainbow Dash's idea and they weren't all intended for Gilda, but the griffon managed to fall for all of them out of sheer dumb luck. Gilda had exposed her true colours to Rainbow Dash, who felt that the griffon only cares about herself and was a fake friend, decided to end their friendship right then and there. Gilda could have done something to not lose her old friend but she decided that Rainbow Dash had become 'lame' after hanging around all these ponies and left Ponyville in a huff.

Gilda briefly appears in one of Rainbow Dash's flashbacks during Magical Mystery Cure, in season 3.

Gilda also briefly appears in Equestria Games in the audience as Spike attempts to light the torch.

In the Season 5 episode 'The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone,' the Cutie Map summons Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to the distant kingdom of Griffonstone. They discover this once- great kingdom is now run- down, and see Gilda there attempting to sell scones, which taste terrible. She and Rainbow Dash exchange harsh words, and the ponies depart. Eventually, Rainbow Dash gets trapped in a canyon while trying to retrieve the Idol of Boreus, an ancient artifact that the griffons once possessed, and that she believed could help restore the kingdom to its former greatness. Pinkie Pie runs to Gilda (Whom she had aided earlier by teaching her how to make her scones taste better through the use of baking powder) and begs her to help save Rainbow Dash. Gilda initially refuses, claiming to not care about her anymore, but Pinkie causes her to have a flashback of when she and Rainbow first met at Flight Camp, and she relents and agrees to help. When all three are in the canyon, Gilda has a chance to grab the Idol of Boreus, but she abandons it to fall into the canyon so she can save Rainbow and Pinkie. She tells Rainbow, "You mean more to me than some dumb chunk of gold," and they make their way out of the canyon. Gilda apologizes to the two ponies for how awful she had been to them, and they make up, their friendship restored. Gilda decides to use what she has learned about friendship from them to help make Griffonstone into a better place to live.

Trivia

• Gilda is similar to Slash from the 2012 TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both reformed to become friends with the protagonists (Rainbow Dash to Gilda, Raphael to Slash).

Gallery

Gilda smiling warmly

Pinkie Pie hugging Gilda and Rainbow Dash

Gilda's new friend

Quotes

"Well you, you, you are such a, a flip-flop: cool one minute and lame the next. When you decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call."

— To Rainbow Dash, Griffon the Brush Off

"Uh, I'm a griffon? What's your excuse, dweebs?"

— The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

"The library's right there, so why don't you go inside and leave me alone?!"

— To Pinkie Pie, The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

You're more important to me than some dumb chunk of gold."

— The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone