The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

First off, have you seen the new episode? If not, SPOILER ALERT.

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Okay, spoiler people gone?

Oh my god, you guys! Holy shit, AHHHHHHHHHHH!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

It's Gilda, you guys! She's back! I mean, I had hoped! When I heard this episode was called The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone, I recognized it sounds like it could be a Daring Do story, but I hoped they'd be going to griffon lands. Then when the description said it was about Dash and Pinkie going to griffon lands, that hope was confirmed, PLUS it was about Dash and Pinkie specifically. The two with the most connection to Gilda. I wished and dreamed, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too much knowing that they weren't likely to bring her back. But they did! Oh shit fuck goddamn they did! Ohhh, my precious waifu, you're back and you're glorious!
"Jesus, calm the fuck down, weirdo."
"But, Gilda, I'm madly in love with you!"
"Yeah, that's not creepy at all. Declaring your love for a cartoon character who's not even your species. I mean, I know I'm Gilda, and I'm a glorious ultimate badass, but tone it down, creepazoid."
"Yeah, you're one to talk about interspecies romance."
"Huh?"
"You and LB."
"Come on, Bones isn't canon. You made her up. And she started out as basically just you, ya creepy narcisist."
"Oh. Right."

So yeah, speaking of canon. This episode completely destroyed my headcanon about the Griffon Kingdom and Gilda's backstory, both before and after Griffon the Brush Off, and I don't even care because I loved it so much. I mean, yeah, they barely developed anything, and all we really saw was basically just that tiny village from The Emperor's New Groove, but we did get those story book motion images, and that was cool.

There's no clan council based meritocracy. It's not based on ancient Greece and Rome (except for the name Grifinland). Instead, it seems to be somewhat eastern European. At first, with the mountains, and the "Borean" thingy, it seemed Scandanavian. Then the mountains and sherpas and the hats seemed Asian, like the steppes and Himalayas. But someone pointed out to me that it kinda seems like it settled somewhere in the middle, in, like a Carpathian-type area (think Romania).

We still haven't seen anything of Gilda's family life and her relationship with her mom, but I think it's pretty safe to assume she's not the heir to leadership of an extended noble clan. She didn't run away from home to flight camp in defiance. We don't see HOW she wound up there, but she was actually shy. And so young. Younger than I would have expected and wrote her. and OH MY GOD SHE WAS FUCKING ADORABLE! But I did hit pretty close with the general trajectory of her character after Brush Off. She didn't go back to Cloudsdale, go on a drunken sex bender, become a guard, and learn discipline. There obviously wasn't any secret romantic crush on Dash. But she did still run off home and lose her shit after losing her one friend. I got that much right. She was a hot mess about losing Dash, the only person she cared about. Fucking nailed it. Though, that's kind of low hanging fruit. This next part, less so. If you recall in the original Five Score, it mentions that in a supposed Season 5 episode (remember, season 3 had just ended when 5S/4 started), Dash became a Wonderbolt captain, and went to Cloudsdale to make up with Lightning Dust. In Good Griff! I amended that so she also hashed it out with Gilda. A season 5 episode where Dash travels to Gilda's home and they make up. Boom! I'm so fucking amazing, I even surprise myself!

other than Gilda, the episode was a lot of fun. Pinkie is my favorite of the Mane 6. (She's my spirit animal.) She was a blast as usual. Dash was done really well. I loved seeing the new location, even if it was basically just the one street where Pacha lives. The griffon's varied designs were a lot of fun. I'm glad they didn't do that thing where they bring along all 6 for no reason. Rarity and Fluttershy had no business being here and I'm glad they didn't just shove them in. Dash and Pinkie's relationship is one of the most fun in the show. Together, they have this joint "let's just push buttons and see what happens" mentality that I love. Also, "Pinkie Pie: official terrible foreign pastry taster" confirmed.

I didn't like that they confirmed the headcanon that some people had, which I frankly thought was ridiculous and stupid, where all griffon's names start with G. Also, now that they not only know the Borean idol is real, but exactly where it is (and what are the odds that the spot they'd pick to descend the crevice would be the exact spot where it was? and what are the odds that Gilda just happened to be right there when they arrived?) why can't they just arrange another trip down to go get it? Climbing doesn't seem to be that huge an issue. This was a completely amateur climbing expedition. Arrange a real one with expert climbers and good gear and you've got your legendary artifact. I know that the message was "You don't need things and trinkets. You need to put forth the effort to be a friend and friendship will spread." But still, having that legendary historical artifact that brings them pride couldn't hurt.

TL;DR : In summary, ERMEHGERD GILDAAAAAAAAA!!!!!1!!!shift+1!!!! *gasp* AAAAAAaaaaa *passes out*