Garble and Gilda were never the typical “lovey-dovey” couple…in fact they were never even a couple in the first place. The young adult Garble was frustrated during the annual dragon mating season, and especially lonely as most of the other dragonesses in his group were taken at the time. He flew away to find some way to ease his nerves…yet all he can find were “namby pamby ponies” wandering about. Then his eyes caught sight of a lone griffon (Gilda) flying around, looking bored of her surroundings. With no other option left, Garble did his best to charm her in his own gruff/rugged dragon way…which Gilda fought off at first until she finally succumbed (having nothing better to do that day) and they mated. Afterwords they left eachother without saying a single word afterwords. Gilda didn’t really mind that since she was mostly an independent gal and preferred her privacy…and though he was at first heartbroken eventually Garble found his own love in the Dragon Lord, Princess Ember, and they went to start their own family. Things were peaceful until Gilda was feeling ill one morning, and to her shock ended up laying an egg. Having never slept with anyone else since that encounter with Garble, Gilda knew that only he could be the true father. After a 3 to 5 month-long period of incubation, her hybrid son Valhallen was born (but she usually just called him “Hal” for short, to make things easier).

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((Explanations of each side picture next to Hal’s full-body portrait, going counterclockwise/right-to-left))

1. What Hal’s egg looked like. Griffons don’t get pregnant like ponies do, as they are mostly aviary creatures (despite their cat-like lower-half), so normally they only lay one egg at a time (as in Hal’s case). On rare occasions though, they can lay up to 2-3 eggs and even more if they’re lucky.

2. Once her son was hatched, Gilda didn’t quite lose her grumpy attitude, yet she was still sternly protective of her little chick. Though the kingdom of Griffonstone had prospered greatly since RD and Pinkie’s visit, the Griffons there were still shocked that a hybrid (and a half-dragon hybrid at that) was born in their midst. Gilda couldn’t ignore the wary and awkward stares forever, and so growing irritated of their prejudice she decided to move out of Griffonstone and start her own path with her son. During her time of travel she refused to let anyone else touch her baby, no matter how friendly or helpful they tried to come across as.

3. After several weeks of wandering around, Gilda finally managed to set up a home deep inside the Everfree Forest. Though she could easily defend herself against the dangers that lurked there, Gilda couldn’t stay hidden forever as eventually some of the ponies from Ponyville discovered her and offered their assistance. She would’ve refused had Fluttershy (a friend of RD and Pinkie) stepped up to coerce her…being too forgiving of a pony to hold a grudge at her for their bad encounter all those years ago. Being introduced to the rest of Fluttershy’s family, Hal ended up befriending her oldest child, Spring Melody. With her confident and spunky attitude despite being so small in stature, she became a role model for the cowardly Hal and naturally they became the best of friends. In shorter terms, Mel was the “Tommy Pickles” to Hal’s “Chuckie Finster”…..only Mel’s clearly more of a bad influence on Hal :lol:

4. By the time Hal was 18, he had discovered his skill for breathing fire. Though it could be linked to his half-dragon heritage, this ability amazed Hal’s classmates so much that Hal decided to make a living by performing fire breathing stunts for money. This was also especially helpful for his friend Mel, who would invite her friend over to breathe fire over the stage as she was performing her rock music.

5. Another notable thing about Hal, is the infatuation he secretly has for Emerald Gleam (daughter of Spike & Rarity). Having never met another hybrid beforehand, young Hal was in awe of Ema and how she’d always carry herself with a carefree smile to annoy bullies. By the time the two were older, Hal finds it more and more difficult to control his feelings as Ema has grown into quite a lovely young lady. A rather ditzy and gluttonous lady, but a lady nonetheless. Whenever Hal is in close contact with her, he starts to fluff up more than usual and start shaking in place.

6. This is what Hal’s eyes look like underneath his messy bangs. With his piercing gold eyes he inherited from Gilda, he could easily scare away any onlooker that catches sight of them. But he’d only ever do this if he’s being annoyed or pestered by someone.