An Ungrumpy Griffon Gathering
“I can't believe I’m doing this.”
Gilda stood on the front porch of a cloud home in Cloudsdale, a place she was only seeing for the first time. Compared to the crumbling buildings of Griffonstone, the home in front of her was practically immaculate. A two-story home, decorated with holiday lights that glowed in a festive rainbow of colors in the dimming light of dusk. The front yard, a well-manicured cloud, had an oversized cloudpony assembled and currently wearing a Wonderbolt scarf and hat.
This was the childhood home of Rainbow Dash, and Gilda was standing on the porch, glaring at the door, because of her step-brother Gallus.
The previous holiday season, Gallus had stayed at Twilight Sparkle’s School of Friendship over the holidays with his various friends. Honestly, she had been happy for him. Gallus had never really enjoyed the Blue Moon Festival back in Griffonstone. Well, no griffon truly “enjoyed” the Blue Moon Festival, but Gallus had particularly never liked the low simmer of tensions that was characteristic of the festival. It was the one time of year when griffons tried to be nice to one another: emphasis on the word “try.”
Even she wasn’t entirely fond of it. Every year Grandpa Gruff always found a reason to complain about her griffon scones and would declare his seed gruel was always the best thing at the table. The truth was always that the seed gruel was the worst thing at the table, but challenging Grandpa Gruff on that fact was a quick way to kick off a full-throated argument.
But this year was different in many ways. This year, it was going to be just her and Gallus.
For Gallus, his friends couldn’t stay at the School of Friendship again like they had. They needed to be back with their own families. Then, in Griffonstone, the various family members that they might have spent the holiday with had all been invited to other celebrations.
This had resulted in Gilda and Gallus, in theory, spending the Blue Moon Festival on their own. And truthfully, Gilda had been looking forward to it. It was going to be calm and quiet. Gallus actually liked and appreciated her griffon scones, and they could skip the seed gruel altogether. In so many ways, it might have been the best Blue Moon Festival ever had in Griffonstone.
But Gallus opened his mouth about their holiday plans at the School of Friendship, and then one thing led to another. And now, Gilda found herself still standing on the front porch of Rainbow Dash’s childhood home, where she and Gallus had been invited to celebrate a mix of Hearth’s Warming and the Blue Moon Festival.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Gilda said to herself again as she finally mustered her courage, raised a claw, and knocked on the door. The knock was swiftly answered, the latch on the door clicking and the door opening to reveal a familiar blue mare on the other side.
“Gilda!” Rainbow smiled brightly, stepping back to welcome Gilda inside. “ Was starting to worry you had gotten lost.”
“You saying I can’t follow directions, Dash?” Gilda snipped back as she stepped in the door.
“No, I… never mind.” Rainbow shut the door, then raised a leg to get a hoofbump. “Just good to see you, G.”
Gilda eyed Rainbow’s hoof a moment, then sighed and let herself smile. She balled her claw into a fist and bumped it gently against Rainbow’s hoof. “Good to see you too, Dash.”
“Hey, there she is! Gilda, so good to see you again!”
Gilda turned her head away from Rainbow, to see another blue-coat mare, this one with a mane made of various orange tones and perhaps a few noticeable wrinkles. She was poking her head out of what looked to be a kitchen. “Hi Miss Whistle,” Gilda said, reciting it with an undeniably juvenile cadance.
Windy Whistly came out of the kitchen, chuckling as she crossed the foyer. “Oh, you can just call me Windy, dear. It’s not like you’re still at the junior speedster’s camp.”
“Y-yeah, sure… Windy,” Gilda answered, though the word, the name, felt weird on her tongue. Still, she reached to her saddlebags, which were bulging with various odd shapes, and after a bit of digging, brought out a white box tied with some basic twine. “We’re… doing a Blue Moon Festival dinner tonight, right? That’s what Gallus told me, so I brought.”
“Oh. My. Celestia! Are these your famous griffon scones?! I heard from Rainbow Dash you’ve made quite a name for yourself with your baking.” Windy Whistle happily took the box, holding it in her wings as she quickly used her teeth to undo the twine. She cracked open the box’s lid, taking a deep smell. A blissful smile spread on her face as she basked in the aroma. “They smell delicious, and they’re still warm. You must have pulled them right out of the oven before you flew over.”
“It’s not like I planned it,” Gilda said defensively. “I just almost forgot I was supposed to do something, so I had to bake them last minute. They’re a total rush job.”
“I bet they’ll still be amazing. Now, me and Bow just need a bit longer to put the final touches on dinner. So, why don’t you go wait in the living room with Gallus and Rainbow Dash, and we’ll call you when it's time to eat.”
“O-okay,” Gilda said, feeling like she had been knocked a bit off balance. Normally, some griffon would chew her out for “almost forgetting” to bring food to the Blue Moon Festival. Then she’d say her last-minute scones were probably better than anything they brought, and thus the traditional bickering, yet not full-blown arguing, would commence.
But instead, her excuse was taken at face value. No argument, just acceptance and gratefulness. She could only imagine that, even if she hadn’t brought anything, she’d still have been welcomed all the same.
Still, Gilda did take Windy’s suggestion, following Rainbow into the living room. Gilda had seen Rainbow’s home in Ponyville, and she was now perhaps starting to appreciate how bare bones, or rather clouds, it was. Where Rainbow’s house had cloud walls, furniture, etc., her parent’s home looked far more like something you’d find on solid ground. Carpeting, wallpaper, solid furniture… it was kind of amazing how well you could hide the fact that you were in a house made of clouds in a city that was also made of clouds.
Gallus was already waiting in the living room, sitting on the largest couch and focusing on the coffee table, on which rested what looked like some kind of board game. However, upon hearing them enter, Gallus looked up and smiled. “Hey, there you are. Weren’t you supposed to be here an hour ago?”
“I’m here now, aren’t I?” Gilda snipped back as she took a seat next to Gallus on the couch, only to raise an eyebrow. “Nice sweater.”
Gallus looked down and used his front claws to gently stretch out the holiday sweater he was wearing. It was decorated with numerous snowflakes, clouds, and a few familiar tri-color lightning bolts. “It’s Bow’s. I sneezed once and he insisted I put it on. Honestly don’t really need it.”
“Then take it off if you don’t need it.”
“Well… I mean, I’m not too warm. It’s just… cozy, I guess… and I don’t want to be rude.”
Not be rude. Gilda had to roll her eyes at the very concept. Griffons almost never worried about “being rude,” and yet here Gallus was keeping on a sweater he didn’t even need just to please Rainbow Dash’s parents. Just all so strange to her, but she didn’t press further, instead looking down at the board game on the coffee table.
It’s at this point Gilda actually began to recognize the game. “Is that Raincloud Rally?”
Rainbow chuckled as she sat down on a soft cushion on the opposite side of the coffee table. “I was wondering if you’d remember it. I was just telling Gallus how we’d use to play this on game nights at the Junior Speedster’s camp.”
“And she’s been kicking my butt since we started playing,” Gallus said, though with no malice in his voice. He actually sounded happy, even though Gilda knew how unbearable Rainbow could be when she was on a winning streak.
“I keep telling you, you have to save your straightaway cards for the end.” Rainbow reached over to the game’s box, which was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table, and drew out another game piece, this one shaped like an eagle. “You want to play, Gilda?”
“You do realize that’s a game for kids, right?” Gilda said, though her eyes were locked on the eagle game piece. Somehow, Rainbow Dash remembered that she liked playing as the eagle, which might explain why Gallus was using the feather.
“If it’s just a game for kids, then I guess me and Gallus can…” Rainbow began to slowly put the eagle game piece back in the box, but Gilda couldn’t help herself. She reached forward, quickly snatching the game piece away before slamming it down on the starting line of the game.
“Sounds like you’ve been picking on my little brother. So, I guess I’ll have to play to even the score, especially if you’re still using your “save the straightaways” strategy. Seriously, you know the best card in the game is the banked turn.”
Rainbow grinned as she began working to reset the board. “No way, the banked turn? Seriously? Have you even played this game since speedster’s camp?”
“No, but I bet I still beat you, even though I’m out of practice.” Gilda held out her claw. “Now give me the cards to shuffle.”
“All right, dinners on the table,” Bow Hothoof said as he poked his head into the living room, only to be faced with an explosion. A mix of cheers and groans as Gilda triumphantly moved her eagle piece across the finish line on the game board.
“Hah! That’s best two out of three!” Gilda said with a smug smile.
Rainbow let herself fall backward, flopping out of her cushion and onto the floor, legs in the air. “Ugh, that is so unfair! Gallus was actively helping you that time!” Such words could have easily been said in pure frustration, but there was still laughter in Rainbow’s voice and a smile on her lips.
“I mean, I came in last all three games,” Gallus said with a chuckle as he picked up and examined his feather game piece. “So if I couldn’t win, might as well help decide who does.”
“But then why did you side with Gilda?” Rainbow asked as she got up off the floor.
“Because she’s my step-sister.”
“Ugh, next time, it's going to be you two against me and Scootaloo. We’ll see who wins then.”
“Hey, why do you need Scootaloo when you’ve got your old stallion right here?” Bow came up beside Rainbow and hugged her tight. “But still, dinners on the table. Let’s sit down and eat before it gets cold.”
Bow then proceeded to hug and herd Rainbow out of the living room, her playfully protesting the whole way. Gilda looked over at Gallus, who just gave a shrug and got up from the couch, the two griffons soon following behind the pegasus speedster and her father.
The kitchen was awash with various delicious smells, too numerous for Gilda to identify any individual enticing aroma. Along one wall, Gilda could see the usual kitchen basics of a stove, a sink beneath a window, a fridge, and some open counter space. It was there, on the various available flat surfaces, that different dishes had been set out.
Opposite the counters and the stove was a kitchen table, which had a strange mix of seating options. One-half of the table’s seats was a single, long, diner-like cushioned seat wrapped around and nestled into the corner of the room. The other half of the seats were some regular chairs.
“Go ahead and grab a plate. We like to do things buffet style,” Windy said, gesturing to the various place settings on the table. Rainbow was quick to take the lead. She zipped away from her father, taking advantage of the home’s high ceilings to do a quick loop-de-loop and snatch up her plate from the table before landing near the various plates and bowls of food.
“Would you two like to sit in the chairs or in the booth?” Bow asked as he began walking towards the table. “We usually let guests decide what they are more comfortable with.”
Allowing guests to pick their preference… now that was far from the griffon tradition that Gilda was used to. Grandpa Gruff, when creatures were visiting his house, always had to do what he said when he said it. He’d tell you where you were sitting, or pretend he didn’t care until you dared to sit someplace he didn’t think you belonged.
“We’ll just…” Gilda began to answer, only to glance at Gallus.
Gallus took notice of his step-sister’s glance and began moving towards the table as well. “Gilda should get one of the chairs, because of how tall she is. But I can sit in the booth chair.”
“Right, guess you griffons are built a bit bigger than most of us ponies.” Bow picked up the two plates positioned for the regular chairs, keeping one for himself and offering the other for Gilda. “Then how about you and I take the chairs. Then Windy, Rainbow, and your brother can take the booth seats.”
“S-sure, I guess,” Gilda took the offered plate, looking at it and noticing the rather intricate holiday pattern around the rim. This was easily one of the nicest plates that Gilda had ever held… ever. When it came to the Blue Moon Festival… they’d usually be eating seed gruel out of wooden bowls.
“Hey, don’t worry, I get it. We tall creatures, we gotta have the leg room,” Bow said with a chuckle as he began heading towards food.
Gilda soon followed, finding herself at the end of the food line, but there sure didn’t seem to be any risk of anything running out. All the different food options were plentiful, and on top of that, no creature ahead of her was taking any excessively large portions. That was another common occurrence when it came to the Blue Moon Festival. The good stuff was usually scooped up pretty quickly by other griffon family members being far too greedy.
And set almost in the center of the food, as if given a place of honor, was her box of griffon scones. Gilda couldn’t help but reach out and take one for herself, the bready treat feeling warm in her claw. She set that one scone on her plate and began serving herself other things as well.
“Whoa, you must be hungry, G,” Rainbow said when Gilda finally took her seat at the table, revealing she had piled her plate pretty high.
“Well, I did fly here from Griffonstone, Dash.” There was a low growl in her reply, though the aggression in her reply didn’t feel right. A jab making fun of how full, or how unfull, your plate was; that was practically a Blue Moon Festival tradition. And for Gilda, it was all too easy to fire back with her normal level of aggression, but that wasn’t right. That didn’t feel right today, even though it was the most natural reply for her to give.
“It’s fine, Gilda. Please have as much as you want,” Windy said reassuringly as she was using her wings to spread a bit of butter on a dinner roll. “Honestly, we always make too much, but that’s my mother’s recipes. She had four siblings, so the recipes from my side of the family always make such big batches.”
“But hey, big batches means plenty of leftovers for tomorrow,” Bow said with a chuckle as he leaned in to give Windy a kiss on the cheeks. “And I’ll always take an excuse to eat more of your cooking, honey.”
“Oh Bow, stop it, we have company,” Windy replied, only playfully trying to push Bow away, which only made him smile and lean in a bit further. Rainbow Dash’s cheeks blushed with embarrassment, and she tried to turn her eyes away.
Gilda glanced at Gallus during the strange display, who happened to turn to look at her at the same time. He smiled, shrugged, and proceeded to eagerly bite down on one of her griffon scones. In all this unfamiliarity, seeing the contented look on his face eating one of her scones managed to make Gilda smile a little. It was enough to let her focus on her own plate and begin to eat, but still, the weird sensation remained for her.
The lack of fighting and bickering, it felt like something was missing. But she wasn’t sure it was a bad missing. It was like missing a thorn in her paw. The pain was gone, but the lack of that sensation… in some way, the holiday just wasn’t feeling right.
Once the meal was done, the evening made an even stranger turn as the group of five found themselves heading out of the house. And it was not for some Equestrian tradition. Instead, this was Rainbow and her family trying to “honor” a Blue Moon Festival tradition that Gallus had explained.
For the Blue Moon Festival, once the meal was done and the packages exchanged, it was tradition for every visiting family to fly home almost immediately. Didn’t matter if there was a raging blizzard, no guests were extended an offer to stay the night, at least not for free.
And of course, Equestrians with their kind hearts, had missed some of the points when Gallus had explained their traditions earlier. Or perhaps he had intentionally avoided certain truths. Either way, Gilda was currently flying behind Rainbow and her family, with Gallus at her side, as they were basically just doing a leisurely lap around Cloudsdale.
“Oh, this is so nice. We should start doing this ourselves each year.” Windy’s eyes were turned toward the various cloud houses they were flying past. “It’s a nice opportunity to appreciate everyone else’s decorations.”
“Yeah, and it feels kind of nice to spread my wings after that big meal,” Rainbow said as she did a lazy barrel roll.
Gilda couldn’t help herself. She huffed and rolled her eyes, but forced herself to keep her beak shut. She didn’t have to ruin their fun by explaining how the after-dinner flight wasn’t meant to be some “nice casual flight.” There was nothing wrong with this. There were literally zero things wrong with this situation, so she didn’t have to ruin it. She didn’t have to be argumentative.
“Hey, Gilda, you okay?”
Gilda winced as she realized that her frustration must have been showing on her face. She glanced at Gallus, who was looking right in her direction, and she couldn’t help but sigh. She slowed her flight a little, just enough to give herself and Gallus some space from Rainbow and her family. No reason they needed to hear this. “Yeah, just…”
Gallus flashed a knowing smirk. “Things are feeling a bit too wholesome?”
“Oh my griff, yes.” She said, letting the words fall out of her mouth alongside an exasperated sigh she didn’t even realize she had been holding back.
Gallus chuckled as he let his vision focus back on Rainbow’s family, the two griffons still hanging back but still following dutifully behind the pegasus family. “Yeah, I was feeling that a bit last year. I heard how all my friends celebrated the holiday season, and except for Smolder’s, the others sounded way too sweet. I mean, the most traumatic story Sandbar had to tell was about how some doll almost fell into a fireplace.
“But… after they all gave up their holidays to stay with me last year, I realized that I think wholesome is okay. I know, not exactly very griffon of me, but… it’s nice not being grouchy, at least once in a while.”
Gilda chuckled herself, letting her gaze flick upward. The skies had been cleared, without a cloud in sight. Above them was nothing but an endless sea of stars and a big, beautiful moon looking down. “Well, isn’t that why it's called the Blue Moon Festival. Because once in a blue moon, we griffons are supposed to be able to be nice.”
“Doesn’t really turn out that way usually. If we were back home, I think we’d be into our sixth full-throated argument by now.”
“Hah, that’s if Grandpa Gruff hadn’t thrown everyone out already.” Gilda took in a deep breath of the cool night air, holding it inside before letting it out, the steam quickly curling and disappearing behind her as the group continued to fly around Cloudsdale. “But it’s still our tradition, as messed up as it can be. I mean, it’s the one time a year I can actually talk back to Grandpa Gruff.”
Silence fell between the two step-siblings, and eventually, Gilda couldn’t help but glance over at Gallus. He had brought a claw up to his beak, a deep and contemplative look on his face. But then, like a spark of fire, a smile spread on his beak and a glint of inspiration flashed in his eyes.
Gallus glanced over and met Gilda’s gaze for only a moment, a bit of mischievousness slipping into his smile before he began beating his wings with greater purpose. He flew forward, getting ahead of Gilda and catching up with Rainbow Dash, where he proceeded to quickly whisper something in her ear.
Rainbow listened and then responded by glancing back at Gilda. She was now wearing a mischievous grin of her own as she shifted her flight position, and was now whispering something to her parents. As the pegasus family plotted, Gallus drifted back to flying with Gilda.
“What are you doing?” Gilda asked.
“What do you mean? I’m not doing anything,” Gallus answered, but his voice was thick with sarcasm.
Gilda opened her beak to interrogate her step-brother further, only for the words to die in her throat when she felt something hit her face. Something cold and wet, and the impact was followed by Rainbow Dash’s uproarious laughter.
Bringing a claw to her face, Gilda wiped off the cold mush. She looked down to her claw and saw the wet, clumpy remains of a snowball. She flicked her gaze up to Rainbow, who was all grins as she had somehow already procured another snowball.
“Rainbow Dash,” Gilda said with a deep growl in her voice. However, the subtle threat in her words was entirely ignored as Rainbow Dash reared back, threw and landed another snowball straight in Gilda’s face. Gilda wiped the snow from her face again, a deep glare in her eyes but a smile on her beak. “You are so dead.”
Rainbow just laughed, turning and diving out of the sky and towards the open park field where she had procured her ammunition of snow. Gilda was quick to follow, diving out of the sky with all the skill and precision of an eagle. She swooped, she scooped, and she swiftly armed herself with a snowball in each claw.
And she soon spotted her target, rearing back and throwing a snowball straight at Rainbow Dash, who had taken refuge behind a park bench. The snowball managed to find its mark, smacking Rainbow in the back of the head with a satisfyingly wet slap.
But once Rainbow Dash had been hit once, the reinforcements arrived. Windy Whistle and Bow Hothoof landed near their daughter, quickly scooping and starting to throw snowballs of their own. Gilda was sure to be pelted by the volley, only for Gallus to swoop in and snatch his step-sister out of danger. The pair of them were able to take cover behind a tree, allowing a moment's respite and protection.
“So, feeling better?” Gallus asked as he began preparing a few snowballs.
“Yeah, but how–?”
“Something I remembered from when I spent last year with my friends. Me and Smolder were pretty bored by the storytelling and singing and all that stuff. But then Rainbow Dash started a snowball fight with Applejack, and that was probably one of the most fun things I did last year.
“Let’s face it, sis,” Gallus said as he offered Gilda a freshly packed snowball. “Griffons, we crave conflict. Just the way we’re raised, I guess, or maybe it’s in our blood. But being with my friends has made me realize that conflict doesn’t have to be arguing and bickering and being unhappy. It can be board games and snowball fights.”
Gilda smiled, taking the snowball from Gallus and gently bouncing it in her claw. Well packed, good wet snow. This was practically the perfect snowball. “Give me some cover, I’m going to hit Rainbow right in her nose.”
“You got it, sis,” Gallus said, clutching his own snowballs eagerly as the pair prepared to pop out from behind their cover.
Maybe the pair wouldn’t always be able to spend the holidays with Rainbow’s family, but this year still represented the start of something fresh for them. New traditions that focused on being happy and making the holidays something to be looked forward to.
The Blue Moon Festival might never be like Hearth’s Warming, but at least for Gilda and Gallus, they could strive to make it a time of year they could look forward to. A true time of happiness.
A true, once-in-a-blue-moon day when they, as griffons, could enjoy something wholesome and nice.
