I can’t believe I never got around to actually drawing and uploading art of such a vital character in the Silver Star Apple Cinematic Universe. Part-Owl, part-White Lion, and all-awesome!
 
This is Aquilla Snowstorm, and she’s the Maid, Bodyguard, Secretary, and secret best friend of Silver Star Apple.  
Yes, her foreclaws are supposed to be that big. Do you like how her featherstyle brings to mind a mohawk and an Eagle?
 
Long ago, she was an abandoned Egg left on the doorstep of a small seaside town’s holiday home, a home in which a rich couple were enjoying their vacation. Her rich parents immediately began searching for a family actually from this town with far more free time on their hooves, and upon finding a seemingly nice candidate, they gave the egg away to that family. She ended up living with a married couple: He owned a seaside ice-cream store, and she manned(Ponied?) the cash register. Her loving parents raised her with kindness, warmth, and stories of History and Fiction’s greatest and most heroic Griffons. Stories of brave rebels slaying tyrannical evil Kings and Queens in the name of freedom, stories of righteous protectors facing down impossible odds with determination and pride, stories of razor-witted genius tricksters overcoming enemies armed with overwhelming might, stories of self-sacrificing heroes who went down fighting so their teammates could take the magic chosen one to where he needed to be to save the day and destroy the forces of darkness, heroes who never gave in to the bitter cold around them or the dark ways of darkness, never allowed the cold darkness to claim their hearts, and always stayed true to their ideals and virtues, stories of magic and grit and self-sacrifice and determination and the strong considering it their duty to protect the weak… And the most incredible and epic-sounding PG-13 violence a young Griffon cub-chick could ever ask to hear more about.  
Aquilla was raised to believe there was a reason why so many stories written by Ponies and Griffons alike featured strong and true and brave and heroic Griffons. And when she grew old enough, she would learn it.
 
She went to a fairly normal school like any other normal pony, and had a perfectly normal foalhood. Or… Bird-Lionhood. Many young ponies thought she was scary and probably evil at first, but they warmed up to her over time and she turned out alright. She was somewhat well-liked, she was considered rather cool, she protected a few ponies from bullies and scared those bullies straight, but she didn’t have anypony she could really call more of a friend than anypony else. She was great at acting during Drama class, she was terrible at Woodworking, she took up a passing interest in surfing, and hated when Summer Vacation rolled around, as it always resulted in the local beach getting massively overcrowded.
 
On the day before she turned thirteen, she made up her mind: Tomorrow, she would set off on an epic quest north, heading for her frozen homeland! There, she would track down her true parents, and reconnect with her ancestors and cultural heritage, and make super-awesome Griffon friends, and, and…
 
And on that day, her parents told her they had something to say, and took so long to figure out how to word it, Aquilla ended up just yelling “Get on with it!”. And on that day, her parents shattered her illusions and revealed their secret: Every single story they had raised her on was one they had censored, sanitized, or made up entirely. Stories of brave rebels freeing the populace from tyranny? Ha! The only successful Rebels in Griffon history were power-hungry opportunistic conquerors who turned out to be far worse than the old order, and were soon replaced by new bosses, same as the old ones. Heroic Griffons sacrificing themselves so their comerades could escape? Ancient Griffons were proud of their willingness to trample their own friends and family to flee fights they couldn’t easily win! Razor-witted trickster Griffons? Griffons were heartless and irritable brutes who abused their natural talents for deception to fool the gullible and innocent, and would never risk their lives by trying to trick the rich and powerful when they could instead scam the vulnerable and stupid! And the true reason why so many Griffons and Ponies wrote about fictional heroic Griffons? Everyone was honestly that sick of reading about real cruel/evil/cold-hearted/brutish/exploitative/selfish/greedy ones! At best, rare good Griffons were willing to tone down their inherently-dishonest violence-loving Griffon nature, or try to keep a lid on it and get real jobs, or use their natural talents for good, and at worst, they embraced it completely and went into the criminal life. Aquilla was told that day that if she went north, she would only find disappointment.  
And so, she gave up on that dream. But real dreams don’t give up on you until they’re over. When she turned 16, she left and went North anyway. And she found that her parents were right: She found nothing but disappointments and a ruined kingdom full of selfish and cold-hearted losers who had let the bitter cold of their surroundings claim their souls and freeze their hearts completely. She felt alone, because right there, in her own homeland, she was alone. She was in love with a mythical version of Griffonkind that never existed, and would likely never exist for as long as it remained under its current rulers. So she started to head home… But she decided to take the scenic route home, and see more of the world first. She might not have been the fastest around, but she could fly great distances without tiring. She did not yet know it, but she wasn’t just searching for entertainment and pretty sights, she was also searching for a sense of belonging. But when stopping at a shady Inn somewhere in Equestria, a shady pony hired her for a shady job, and she accepted. A rich and obviously-evil pony with plans to get up to some Daring Do-style action in Zebrica was looking for henchponies, and to her, that sounded like fun. She talked herself up, threw herself into her hammy acting as the coolest and darkest and most dangerous assassin any could ever meet, and was hired in an instant.  
And so began a long career in the criminal underworld of planet Equestria, flying all over the world and kicking butt for the highest bidder, serving incompetent villains alongside laughable buffoons, wrecking stuff and having a great time. Still, her hidden heart of gold shone through in secret, as she always made sure to ‘Accidentally’ let the hero escape the death trap or destroy the evil doom ray if the villain she worked for this week got too close to winning. In this fun game of playing pretend and battling awesome heroes and evil rivals for random stone trinkets, money, incredibly powerful ancient artefacts, and even the fate of the world, she found a sense of belonging and the excitement she’d always searched for.  
And even though no villain who hired her ever won unless she was facing off against another villain, she always made sure to get paid. And upon gathering far more money than she knew what to do with, she decided to head to Canterlot and pay for some magical surgery from the only Enchanter within her price range, and the only one with something new and experimental she really liked the sound of on the menu. There, she had Silver Star put her to sleep for a bit and proceed to enchant one of her ribs in the same way one would enchant a sword, staff, or helmet, before healing her and waking her up. From that day on, she gained the ability to create and control the conceptual magical element of ‘Snowstorm’ without needing any deep knowledge about how it or magic works. She knows the basics of magic and the basics of how Snowstorm works: Snowstorm is a Fusion Element, a combination of one part Lightning, one part Wind, and two parts Ice. It’s magical energy made manifest in the form of an idea, a ‘Cold Lightning’ that cannot electrocute, but can still arc between clusters of targets, start fires, power machines, and channel itself through objects, all in the same manner that real electricity would. The element can take on a solid, snow-like, gas-like, or electric-like consistency and chill anything it touches, eventually freezing it. In the real and dangerous way, or in the harmless magical way? She decides that when she mentally gives her Snowstorm orders. The element draws its power from her determination and her emotions in lieu of any true magical energy, so while she couldn’t outlast many of the foes she’s faced, she could quickly and precisely overpower most of them.
 
After the surgery was complete, Silver Star told her that he saw right through her ‘Epic Villain’ act, but explained that he approved of it and wouldn’t reveal her secret to the world, not when she was doing so much good in such a roundabout way. Still, he offered to give her a better place in the world, a less subversive and more direct way to do good, and he gave her a job offer: Serve him as his new Bodyguard, while masquerading as his Secretary and Maid, and he would pay her double her standard rate. She accepted in an instant, her villainous days came to an end, and Silver obtained a new friend and powerful right claw to assist him when taking down the evil that lurks in the shadows of this and other worlds. He also obtained a hyper-competent and rather cute new maid who adorably takes her domestic duties just as super-seriously as her violent one.