I just watched the latest MLP episode, “What Lies Beneath,” and I gotta say, Gallus’s test was seriously fucked up! The Tree of Harmony must have gotten seriously pissed when Gallus mocked it, or maybe the tree just hates griffons?
 
I mean, how was Gallus’s test supposed to test his friendship anyway? I mean with all the other students, you could kind of make a connection; Sandbar had to turn down his idols to be loyal to his friends, Silverstream had to trust her friends and gain strength from them to face her fears, Yona had to overcome her fear of spiders to find friendship with them, Ocellus had to trust her friend to assure her to stay on the right path… I guess, and Smolder… is cute? (I donno, that one was just weird).  
But with Gallus, his test was like something off a Saw movie or something, where his life was literally in jeopardy. And I don’t really see any way you could apply his “test” to friendship at all. I mean, after he escaped his deathtrap, he went on to search for his friends rather than flee the cavern, but that was after his initial test! The only thing I can think of is that the Tree was just pissed at him.