YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S5 E4 "Bloom & Gloom"

• Accidental Innuendo: "It's been a busy night for all of us."
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Apple Bloom's nightmare of her family rejecting her due to not having an apple Cutie Mark is based on her fear of her family rejecting her. However, Applejack's and Big Mac's speech mannerisms are similar to their responses to the whole Gabby Gums incident. Could it be Apple Bloom's guilt about it reserfaceing?
• Broken Base:
  • Was the episode itself a great in-depth look at the actual fears that ponies may have in terms of finally receiving their Cutie Marks, or does it fall victim to a painfully predictable plot (admit it, you knew Luna was going to show up and save Apple Bloom from her nightmare) that doesn't really do anything to make up for it?
  • This episode also caused a rift between fans due to Babs Seed getting her cutie mark. She had only appeared twice in the show before, both in the third season, with defenders saying the time was right for her while opponents claim they should have explored her crusading in Manehattan more. Fans are also divided on how she got one with little fanfare with some fans saying it was just the episode's way of her getting one. Fans who weren't happy bring up Zipporwhill, a filly no one had ever seen before, getting her cuteceañera as a plot point in "Filli Vanilli".
• Crosses the Line Twice: Apple Bloom being shunned by her family for not getting an apple-related cutie mark? Tragic. Said cutie mark being a ridiculously stupid-looking dolphin and everyone speaking in Big Mac's voice? It suddenly wraps around to being hilarious.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Luna's Dream Walker abilities gain more definition here.
  • What sort of dreams were happening behind all those other doors?
  • Babs' cutie mark abruptly got some fans shipping her and Snips.
  • Applejack's song to Applebloom to try to make her sleep gives the idea that the song was actually by her deceased parents.
• Fan Nickname: This episode, along with Sleepless in Ponyville and For Whom The Sweetie Belle Tolls, was dubbed the "Dream Crusaders Trilogy" by the fans due to Apple Bloom being the last to be visited and helped by Luna in her dreams.
  • Similarly, the fandom has named Apple Bloom's Living Shadow "Shadow Gloom" to go with (A) that its true form is just Apple Bloom's shadow, and (B) the episode's title.
• Harsher in Hindsight: As terrible and heartwrenching as Apple Bloom's final nightmare is, after Brotherhooves Social, where it's revealed that Apple Bloom saw Big Mac as her hero when she was little and still does to this day, it gets even worse. Apple Bloom saw her brother, her HERO, berate her and even disown her. She knew it was just a nightmare, but the thought of her hero doing this to her in real life would more than likely shatter the poor filly completely. And it sort of happened before.
  • Imagine if one of the horrific scenarios shown in this episode must have been going on in Apple Bloom's mind when King Sombra hypnotized her in the season 9 premiere, since his magic induces a pony's most dreadful fear.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Many fans, especially ones who never forgave Babs for her first episode, naturally got upset that she got her cutie mark first. This turned out to not be that big a deal as the founding CMC members didn't have to wait that much longer to get their own.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Friends Forever #13 had Babs unable to stop talking about Shadowsmack's spiky hairdo during her final conversation with Rarity, where she wonders if she can do something similar with her hair. This all makes her hairdressing cutie mark slightly less out of the blue while sparking yet another argument over if IDW is canon or not.
  • Scootaloo's nightmare of getting a cooking Cutie Mark, for fans of A Taste of the Good Life.
  • Shunning a pony with a dolphin cutie mark? Yes, it's happened.
  • When Sweetie Belle realizes that the girls are all still dreaming, Scootaloo happily takes advantage of it by flying under her own power. This concept comes into play nine episodes later.
• I Knew It!:
  • After "Sleepless in Ponyville" and "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils", fans presumed Luna would be paying Apple Bloom a visit this season. She does here, and once it becomes obvious she is dreaming, Luna's arrival is likewise obvious 20 minutes before she actually appears.
  • The Enterplay series 3 trading card for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, published before this first broadcast, which has Luna as the protector of their dreams, strongly hinting Apple Bloom would be getting her dream episode.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Babs Seed gets her cutie mark off-screen. An episode could have been made about her returning to visit and all three of the other Crusaders dealing with the same issues as Apple Bloom in regards to her, but instead it's just a plot device to kick off Apple Bloom's nightmares.
  • Apple Bloom gets a cutie mark she doesn't like and runs into the Everfree, where she meets a mysterious pony who offers to remove her cutie mark. Because it's a dream, said pony has nothing to do with Starlight Glimmer from the season premiere; had it been real, the event would've been a perfect fit for Starlight's methods.

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