“So Gummy,” said Pinkie as she busy wrote with a crayon at her desk. “I asked Twilight about Griffons after Gilda's party ended... less than spectacularly. She says that she doesn't know as much as she would like, but her books do say that pretty much all of them are selfish, greedy, and unfriendly. Does that mean that it isn't fair for us to get upset with her for being a grumpy grump pants?”
Gummy's eyes widened a smidge further than usual.
Why, that IS quite a puzzler! Allow me to consider. An individual's behavior is a combination of imitating family and friends as well as one's own choices. In an area where all friends and family are apparently already grumpy, the only chance for a griffon to be generally friendly is for them to choose to be friendly, even knowing that it will cause them to be outcasts among their own kind. Therefore, I am not at all surprised that any particular griffon would be grumpy.
But just because I am surprised does not make acceptable. But I think there may not be enough information to pass a judgment. I don't know about Griffon nature, most especially. For example, any creature smart enough to communicate is smart enough to realize that acting negatively toward other creatures results in negative responses. However, while ponies many other creatures find that result to be undesirable, there are many more who do not, because it is in the nature of some species to exert dominance over others, an act which they enjoy. I know this very well. I was the victim of such activity when I briefly lived with Fluttershy. I also observed that it appears to be a behavior of carnivorous creatures, but not herbivorous ones.
I do not know if gators are supposed to enjoy exerting superiority, but I do know that I do not. However, I also am aware that I am very much an unusual gator, thanks to my limitations. I suspect that being toothless left me in an unusual circumstance that forced me to alter the way I do things. Perhaps if I was not toothless, I would have been controlled by my carnivorous instincts to spend my time hunting instead of thinking.
I have never thought of that before. That is the first time I have ever seen anything positive in having no teeth.
Perhaps it takes hardship to force individuals to become something greater than the base creatures that we are.
None of these reasons definitively say whether Gilda should be blamed for her behavior, however. You can decide one way or the other based on opinion, but there is no hard fact.
Now, at this point it should be told to the reader that Pinkie Pie is at least partially aware of how clever her little gator actually is, despite the skepticism of everypony around her. But, as it happens, she has rather a lot of experience with interpreting even the most subtle of non-verbal cues, thanks to a spectacularly inexpressive sister. Of course, understanding a baby alligator and understanding another pony are still two very different things, and while she can accurately tell you how her sister is feeling by merely looking at her, when it comes to Gummy, she only understands the underlying meaning and tone of his messages. She is hoping to learn to understand them even better as time goes on, but she has not been with him for even a whole year yet.
Pinkie did in fact perceive that Gummy was giving her an answer. It took quite a long time for everything to come through. Because she can only interpret his response into short and simple sentences, she might have easily be fooled into thinking that Gummy thinks very slowly. But Pinkie Pie was smart enough to know that behind the slow answer was a powerful mind. For the time being, all she is able to make out is the following:
'Hmm. Griffons are mean. I think they are mean because other Griffons are mean to them. Being mean might be in their nature. It might not be her fault. But mean is still mean.'
“I do think Gilda was being awfully mean,” mused Pinkie, putting a hoof to her chin. “Which makes me want to not like her at first, but then I remembered I don't like not liking others, even if they are mean. But if all of this was really not her fault, maybe we can show her how wonderful having friends is and then she can be the friendliest griffon ever!”
Not every creature is like me. Most of them do not even consider the possibility that their instincts given by nature might be inferior to an alternative. I don't actually know how hard it would be to go against one's nature, but it might be harder than I think. According to Pinkie's story, this Gilda ate an apple after stealing it, which if we put aside the obvious problem of theft, does mean that she is either herbivorous or omnivorous. My own experience with birds is that nearly all of them are omnivorous. Therefore, teaching one to be friendly should be harder than with ponies, but easier than entirely carnivorous creatures, generally speaking. The important thing here is that I think it should be possible. However, we cannot reasonably expect a griffon to adopt a friendly demeanor without a catalyst. If one lived among ponies for an extended period of time, that might do the trick. Gilda is obviously not willing to do that, however, so that is not an option. The only catalyst that might work is if Gilda was made witness to something big, or something that she particularly cares about, that gives reason for her to act friendly. But you also cannot simply stay around her waiting for something big to happen. If you approach Gilda without being prompted, she will just get even more mad at you. That will hurt your chances of making her friendly.
This is what Pinkie understood from that:
“It's not easy to turn nice if one is already mean. Maybe you can teach her. But she doesn't want to listen. Maybe she will want to listen if something happens. But not if you make bad thing happen.
Pinkie put down her crayon and turned to her pet. “What do I do, Gummy?”
“There is only one way that I can see to befriend Gilda. You must let her go.”
Pinkie cringed. “Are you sure that's the only way?”
It is the only way that I can think of. Once you let her go, there is the possibility that she will face hardship one day. It seems hardship has a way of getting creatures to reevaluate themselves, and possibly change themselves. She might experience hardship, and then she might remember her friendship with Rainbow Dash, and then she might decide to return to her. If that happens, then it will be Rainbow Dash who she wants help from, not you. You can help Rainbow Dash.
Pinkie smiled. “Thanks Gummy. You're so clever, you!” She leaned down and gave the gator a kiss on the snout, and then stood back up.
“Then I don't have to worry about Gilda any more, at least for now!” she declared. “I know what I will do if she ever comes back, and until then, I have parties to plan!”
I am pleased that you are happy.
And that particular 'phrase' was one that Pinkie understood perfectly.