Happy Hippogriff Day!!!
 
That’s right! Equestria Daily’s brought us a double creature whammy. Today’s not just about the Griffons, it’s also about those half-eagle, half-pony creatures from the south - HIPPOGRIFFS! Hailing from a small island south of the mainland called Mount Aris, the Hippogriffs of Hippogriffia are a race of beautiful creatures that fewer ponies have seen before Twilight Sparkle and her friends met them. It is unknown if they are all the descendent hybrid offspring of both ponies and griffons. What is not a mystery is their history. The hippogriffs lived a peaceful life, until the evil Storm King invaded their kingdom. After a ferocious battle between them and the Storm King’s forces, Hippogriffia was destroyed. Outmatched, the hippogriffs fled. Queen Novo, using her Pearl of Transformation, turned herself and her hippogriff subjects into seaponies (or perhaps hippocampi), and created a new kingdom in their refuge, Seaquestria. There they remained for years until the Mane Six, with help from their friends beyond Equestria (including Novo’s daughter Skystar), defeated the Storm King. Since then, the hippogriffs returned to their former home, restoring it to its former glory.
 
There are many hippogriffs throughout all of Hippogriffia, but there are four special ones who play a strong role in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Queen Novo, the regal ruler of the hippogriffs, her bubbly daughter Princess Skystar, her over-excitable niece Silverstream and her nephew Terramar. Let us here their stories.
 
The majestic ruler of the Hippogriffs, Queen Novo ruled Hippogriffia, wielding concern about the safety of her kingdom. When the Storm King attacked the hippogriff kingdom, Novo and her subjects fled, using the Pearl of Transformation to change into seaponies and live out a new life underwater. Since then, Novo became nonchalant, sarcastic, and somewhat egotistical, as well as distrustful of outsiders. One day, when the Mane Six sought help from the hippogriffs, Princess Skystar introduced them to her mother. Novo was very hostile toward the Mane Six at first and secretive about the history surrounding herself and her subjects. After Skystar vouched for them, she told them about their history, despite Novo’s objections. After Queen Novo used her Pearl of Transformation to turn the ponies into seaponies, Twilight asked if they could use the pearl to save Equestria from the Storm King, but Novo refused, wanting to keep the pearl from falling into his clutches. Though she was briefly sympathetic to the plight of the pony kingdom, Novo remained stubbornly steadfast in putting her kingdom’s saftey first. After Novo excused herself for a seaweed wrap and massage, she heard party in progress being thrown by Pinkie Pie, and got swept up in the merriment. Convinced that the ponies were worth helping, Novo prepared to do something for them. But before she could, Twilight got caught trying to steal the queen’s pearl. Novo, enraged by Twilight’s deception, used the pearl to turn her and her friends back to normal and banished them from Seaquestria. However, when the Storm King was finally defeated by the Mane Six and their new friends (including her daughter), Novo celebrated with the hippogriff’s new allies, and it seems she and Princess Celestia became friends.
 
Novo’s daughter Princess Skystar is quite different from her rather distrustful mother. Bubbly, chatty, curious and forever bored, she passed the time in Seaquestria by making friends out of shells and giving them names like Shelly and Sheldon. Lonely and yearning for friends, Skystar was thrilled when the Mane Six discovered their world. She quickly grew attached to them—particularly Pinkie Pie, whose excitability and eccentricities match her own. Skystar vouched for the ponies before Novo could imprison or cast them out, and she revealed—against her mother’s wishes—that they were in fact the hippogriffs the Mane Six had been seeking. After Queen Novo used her Pearl of Transformation to turn the ponies into seaponies, Skystar offered to let the Mane Six stay in their kingdom forever. However, the ponies declined and said they had to return to their families, much to Skystar’s disappointment. At Twilight Sparkle’s encouragement, Pinkie Pie and the rest of the ponies cheer Skystar up with a party. An overjoyed Skystar urged her mother to do something for the ponies in return. But before she could, Twilight got caught trying to steal Novo’s pearl, resulting in her and her friends’ immediate banishment from Seaquestria. Moments later, after Twilight was captured by Tempest Shadow, Skystar was ultimately the only Hippogriff to help the ponies in their quest to defeat the Storm King. Skystar defied her mother and used her pearl to change back into a hippogriff. She joined the rest of Twilight’s friends, as well as Capper Dapperpaws, and Captain Celaeno’s pirate crew in saving Twilight and retaking Canterlot. During their infiltration of the city, Skystar hid inside a cake being delivered to the Storm King, and fought alongside the others, using her clam friends to attack the Storm Guards. After the Storm King was destroyed, Skystar celebrated with all of her new friends at the Friendship Festival. During her reunion with her mother, however, she got grounded for going behind Novo’s back and left home to join in the ponies’ cause. Of course, Novo is proud of her daughter for rescuing Twilight and saving Equestria.
 
Since the Storm King’s defeat, the hippogriffs returned to their former home and formed a newfound friendship with Equestria. When Twilight opened up her School of Friendship, Novo sent her niece, Silverstream to represent Hippogriffia, escorted by General Salty Spray. Maintaining the Hippogriff royal family’s reputation for extreme bubbliness, she is super excitable and as bubbly and chatty as her cousin Skystar. Like the rest of her half eagle, half equine people, she spent most of her life under the sea when the evil Storm King attacked Hippogriffia. So naturally, it took some time to be readjusted back to living on dry land again, and seeing stairs too. And she got to make some new friends after the storm-obsessed tyrant was defeated: the five non-pony creatures who she would share her joy and freedom with. Like Pinkie Pie, Silverstream always brings levity to her friends. As a result of the invasion by the Storm King, Silverstream’s passion for life comes as a result of the trauma she suffered. Silverstream refuses to take anything at all for granted, even something as simple as a flight of stairs, because she knows how easily it could be lost forever, especially if the Storm King could return to make it so. This explains why she approaches life with such gusto. That’s also why she wants everyone else to appreciate the lives they have as much as possible too. The element of laughter seems to fit her like a glove. With help from Gallus the griffon, she overcomes her fear of the Storm King. She, along with the rest of the Young Six foil the villainous filly Cozy Glow’s vile machinations to become the “Empress of Friendship,” and restored the Tree of Harmony after it was destroyed by King Sombra. Later on, Silverstream inspired the hippogriffs to join the final battle against the villains, and she, along with her friends, joined the Mane Six and Pillars of Old Equestria defeat them. In the future, she would become one of the new teachers at the School of Friendship.
 
And then, there’s Silverstream’s younger brother Terramar. Ever since the Storm King’s defeat, some hippogriffs returned to their old life in Hippogriffia, while others chose to stay in Seaquestria. And unfortunately for poor Terramar, his parents were among those hippogriffs; his father Sky Beak live on land while his mother Ocean Flow lives underwater. This left him torn between his two homes. He thus became the subject of the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ Cutie Map-given mission. The Crusaders tried to help him decide between the two, but a disagreement arose between Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo over which place was preferable. Feeling more lost than ever, Terramar decided to live in a tree so that he didn’t have to be on land or in the water. Following an apology and pep talk from the Crusaders, Terramar talked with his parents, who told him that he doesn’t have to choose between either of his two homes and can keep going back and forth as he pleases. Terramar was overjoyed by this news, and he thanked the Crusaders for their help. A year later, when Silverstream didn’t return back to Hippogriffia, Terramar was sent to meet up with Starlight Glimmer and report the situation. He joined her and her friends in trying to find Silverstream. After running afoul of a flock of cockatrices, they found Silverstream at the Treehouse of Harmony, learning that she got so caught up in a school project that she forgot to return home. Terramar then appears among the characters the Cutie Mark Crusaders helped at their Appreciation Day parade. Hippogriffs have become true friends to the ponies, and always will.
 
 
Well here it is. Silverstream, Terramar, and Skystar already have their vectors, but I had to deal with the challenges of finally making Novo’s vector and creating a background for the pic. Good thing the reference of Novo I found made it easier for me to trace since it was a moderately big screenshot. As for the background, at first I thought I would create the village of Hippogriffia, but not only did I find it to be an incredibly daunting task, but it didn’t seem to fit (fortunately, I didn’t make it; just used the screencap template to see if it fit). Finally, I decided to create the beach of the island, which was easy, quick, and fits the pic perfectly.
 
Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, Silverstream, and Terramar by me
 
Hippogriffia Beach by me
 
That’s all. I hope you enjoy this, as well as my Griffon Day project.