History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E20ForWhomTheSweetieBelleToils

That night, Sweetie Belle is still angry and unable to sleep. While getting up for some water, she sees that Rarity left her door open. In her anger, she decides to sabotage Rarity's own work -- namely, by removing a key stitch from the elaborate headdress which will be the centerpiece of Sapphire Shores' costume. Satisfied, Sweetie Belle goes back to her room and falls asleep, soon finding herself in a dream about accepting an award for her play. Even there, Rarity is able to ruin Sweetie Belle's happiness, raining and thundering at her until Princess Luna enters the dream to intervene.

With the other Cutie Mark Crusaders in tow, Sweetie Belle heads for Canterlot, making it to Sapphire Shores' dress rehearsal. Rarity is just about to show off the headdress when the Cutie Mark Crusaders enter through a window, grabbing the box the headdress is contained in and fleeing. Sweetie Belle manages to get out of sight just long enough to fix the stitching, with the unexpected help of the real Princess Luna. Rarity finally catches Sweetie Belle, who explains everything and apologizes to her sister.

** Back to "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E6SleeplessInPonyville Sleepless in Ponyville]]", in which Luna is revealed to be able to enter others' dreams.
** Since "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E19ADogAndPonyShow A Dog and Pony Show]]" Rarity has become Sapphire Shores' "favorite designer" and has been hired to do the costumes for several of her shows.

* ChekhovsGun: Dolphins appear throughout Sweetie Belle's dream, with her swimming with them in the transition to the present, and a dolphin design appearing on Sapphire Shores' stage during the BadFuture portion. Guess what Sapphire Shores' lucky animal is.

* DolphinsDolphinsEverywhere: Sapphire Shores' spirit animal.

* DreamWeaver: In addition to [[DreamWalker entering]] Sweetie Belle's dream, Princess Luna is able to guide the dream to help Sweetie Belle realize the possible consequences of her ruining her sister's work. This includes showing Sweetie Belle an [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy alternate perspective of her fifth birthday party]] and Rarity fretting over the final changes to Sapphire Shores' costumes earlier that night.

-->'''Sweetie Belle''': I have to leave for dress rehearsal soon, Rarity! Is it finished yet?\\
'''Rarity''': Uh, not quite. I still feel it needs a certain ''je ne sais quoi''. Perhaps it needs... ''appliqués''.

* HumanLadder: The Cutie Mark Crusaders do one to try to get into Sapphire Shores' studio, but it didn't go very well.
* ImprovisedZipLine: The Cutie Mark Crusaders use a rope of hanging banners as a zipline to get into Sapphire Shores' studio, using Apple Bloom's tail to slide.

* PopculturalOsmosisFailure: Apple Bloom and Scootaloo mention a couple of Sapphire Shores' song titles, one of which Sweetie Belle [[WhosOnFirst mistakes]] for a snide comment about her sister. Sweetie Belle [[JustifiedTrope explains]] that she doesn't know Sapphire Shores' pop songs because she prefers show tunes.

* SchizoTech: Sapphire Shores' security guard is wearing an earbud.

* YourDoorWasOpen: Despite having no luck with Sapphire Shores' security before, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are able to run right in once Sweetie Belle gets in through the window.

!!Tropes present in this episode (YMMV tropes go [[YMMV/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E20ForWhomTheSweetieBelleToils here]]):

* ImprovisedZipLine: The CMC's use a clothesline as one to reach the studio window.

* SchoolPlay: Written, directed and acted by Sweetie Belle. Costuming, however, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles is Rarity's department]].

* AbsenteeActor: Although the Mane 6 appear in this episode, only Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow have lines.

* StoryArc: The second of the [[FanNickname "Dream Crusaders Trilogy"]] of episodes, following on from [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E6SleeplessInPonyville "Sleepless in Ponyville"]] and to be concluded in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E4BloomAndGloom "Bloom & Gloom"]].

* [[SassyBlackWoman Sassy Black Mare]]: Sapphire Shores returns in full style, sounding much like a ponified ArethaFranklin.

** At one point, Sweetie Belle rants at Rarity about her dresses in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICVXf8Vznec same manner]] that [[TheBradyBunch Jan does about Marsha]].

* DreamWeaver: In addition to [[DreamWalker entering]] Sweetie Belle's dream, Princess Luna is able to guide the dream to help Sweetie Belle realize the possible consequences of her ruining her sister's work. This includes a scene when Rarity was fretting over the final changes to Sapphire Shores' costumes [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy while Sweetie Belle was at the play]].

* DreamWeaver: In addition to [[DreamWalker entering]] Sweetie Belle's dream, Princess Luna is able to guide the dream to help Sweetie Belle realize the possible consequences of her ruining her sister's work.

* StopHelpingMe: In-universe example. When Sweetie Belle tries to explain to a security guard that she's not trying to see Sapphire Shores because she's a fan, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both cheerfully exclaim that they are. ("Not helping.")

** [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E6TheCutiePox Apple Bloom's tail can support the weight of three fillies.]]
** The CMC [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles once again go zip-lining]].

* DisasterDominoes: Pretty much how the sequence to the bad future will work if left unchanged, and all because of a pulled thread.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The feathered headdress Rarity designed for Sapphire Shores, and Sapphire's identification of Rarity as her favorite designer, brings to mind [[http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-style/news/cher-designer-bob-mackie-split-2014143 the designs Bob Mackie has made for Cher]].

* NonStandardCharacterDesign: One of Sapphire Shore's backup dancers is a long-legged unicorn with a fairly large afro-like mane. She kind of stands out against the others.
** Sapphire Shores herself is somewhat atypical as well compared to the standard female pony model such as Rarity.

* EarlyBirdCameo: This is the fifth episode title of Season 4 [[https://twitter.com/MMeghanMcCarthy/status/318896859638804480 revealed]] by Meghan [=McCarthy=] during a string of April Fools tweets in 2013.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The feathered headdress Rarity designed for Sapphire Shores, and Sapphire's identification of Rarity as her favorite designer, brings to mind [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2582646/Cher-reveals-heartbreak-favourite-designer-backs-Dressed-Kill-tour.html the designs Bob Mackie has made for Cher]].

* AgelessBirthdayEpisode: Actually averted this time around. Sweetie Belle's birthday shown in the past was specifically her fifth one, thereby making her at least older than five. It's also evidence that ponies age in the same way humans do.