The first CMC episode post-getting their Cutie Marks have arrived. And I think it was a pretty decent follow-up to a momentous occasion from only about half a year ago. It’s definitely my favorite of Season 6 so far as I do think this is up there with some of the good CMC episodes of the series. Now I wouldn’t say it’s Flight to the Finish or Sisterhooves Social level of good, but it may be the best Applebloom episode in the series.

I think what I like most is the direction the CMC are taking now that they have their marks. They can start individualizing themselves more often, now I’m not saying they didn’t do that enough before. As of course from Season 2 and on there were quite a few episodes where at least one of the CMC were involved the biggest in an episode but the episode was barely about getting their cutie marks allowing the characters to shine by themselves. The best CMC related episodes usually were those ones in fact and Sweetie and Scoots at least got two of those. Applebloom has had her fair share of episodes not involving Cutie Marks too much too but often it was a big part of the episode still since Apple Bloom has always been the one wanting her cutie mark the most ever since Call of the Cutie. This episode even shows Apple Bloom has gotten so used to searching for her cutie mark that in the beginning of the episode she even briefly forgets she and the others already have there’s.

So for the very first time Apple Bloom can be really out of her comfort zone. So her character can grow to be more then the cutie mark obsessed filly she is in most episodes that star her. As that’s always been a little bit of a concern with Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo got episodes where their characters can shine by themselves or have great interactions with someone from the main cast. But Apple Bloom most of the time is left out character-wise in comparison and shares a bit of the burden that her sister Applejack has that while both Applejack and Apple Bloom both are both at least part of the glue that makes their respective groups who they are. Their individual episodes sometimes leave a lot to be desired compared to the others. Now I’m not saying either Apple Bloom nor Applejack are not interesting characters, as they do have their really awesome traits that I love to see. They’re just often overshadowed by the others. Any chance for them to shine by themselves though is a welcome opportunity even if in terms of fandom popularity in comparison to the others, it could be too little too late.

It’s also nice to just have the CMC not be too rushed into going everywhere to help ponies with their Cutie Marks. As of course the CMC are still fillies, they have all their lives to help out. And now they can just focus on developing talents and enjoying the rest of their childhood. I do gotta say the grown-up CMC traveling across Equestria would make a decent Spin-Off or even just a fanfic series.

Tender Taps was also a pretty cute colt character, it was pretty obvious he was going to be a major thing for the rest of the episode as soon we see him. It’s also not surprising that shipping art between him and Apple Bloom happened not long after the episode.

All-in-all a pretty solid CMC episode. Now next episode is going to personally interesting for me because I do have some plans for Genie Twilight and Spike to come back to the Dragon Lands sometime in the blog’s future when I have enough time for another story. So this episode where the Dragon Lands are involved may have some strong influence depending how it goes. I just kinda hope that unlike the last episode that involved the dragon lands there’s at least one dragon character that isn’t a big jerk. Dragon Quest has always been one of those episodes with the most missed potential, perhaps this episode could at least make up for some of that.