"Going to Seed" Review: Apple Bloom catches Bighoof!

This episode gives me a huge "Apple Family Reunion" vibe, already at the beginning when we see how early Applejack woke them all up to get ready for the confluence, which makes me really nostalgic and choked up as it reminds me on Season 3, when My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was still young.
And it was a fantastic episode. In every possible way. It was mysterious, it still IS mysterious even after it ended, Goldie Delicious' cats were hilarious, Applebloom acted cute like she didn't do in a long time, the moral of the episode was good and pure and there even was a little nod to horror fans like me at the end.
And the moral is what I love most about it. We learned that Applebloom doesn't believe in the Great Seedling since she was little anymore, but when Goldie Delicious mentioned it and showed off her belief that it is real, Applebloom's own belief suddenly got reignited and she began to hunt for it again. Her newfound enthusiasm to catch the Great Seedling eventually infected Applejack and they started to hunt it together, first only because of a deal, then Applejack started believing in the Great Seedling again herself after she saw signs for its existence that she couldn't explain.
And that's where the moral not only came into play, but also really started to shine. Granny Smith told Applebloom how Applejack used to believe in the Great Seedling and tried to catch it just like she does, but that she stopped doing it after falling into a pit that she dug for the Great Seedling and couldn't help her family with the confluence, because she felt guilty that her family has to do more work since she can't help, which caused her to make the decision to stop trying to catch the Great Seedling so that this won't happen ever again. An event that, likely, caused Applejack to also lose the belief in the existence of the Great Seedling later on.
And one could see that she felt bitter about it that she made this decision, as she had a very regretful expression in her face after Granny Smith told this story about her. But when Applebloom talked to her about hunting the Great Seedling again and Applejack prepared traps with her to stick to her part of the deal, she suddenly had a huge smile on her face the entire time. One could see that she wasn't just doing it to keep her promise she gave Applebloom, but also that she had fun with it herself. And then she even regained her belief in the Great Seedling and was all the more determined to catch it with Applebloom.
I love how Applebloom taught Applejack something there: That working doesn't mean they can't have fun at the same time and that she isn't too old to believe in anything she wants.
And I am wondering if Goldie Delicious has to do something with all this. The episode wasn't completely clear about it, but Goldie Delicious didn't prove herself to be of much help for the confluence, yet Granny Smith has called her anyway. Goldie Delicious does, however, still believe in the Great Seedling and she kicked it all of by reigniting Applebloom's desire to hunt the Great Seedling again.
So, could it be that Granny Smith has called Goldie Delicious because she wanted that she makes Applebloom hunt the Great Seedling and both of them prepared the apple tracks and set off the traps while Applebloom, Applejack and Big McIntosh were asleep? The only thing that was really confirmed to be the cause of Big Mac's sleeptrotting was that he harvested some trees without remembering it on the next day, but there were no real implications that he was responsible for the apple tracks and the traps, too. And especially the latter isn't possible, because he would have gotten trapped in at least one of them if he had set them off. We've seen him tapping into Applebloom's traps before.
And Goldie Delicious was acting quite suspicious the entire time with all that secretive snickering and with how she teased Applejack, so it's quite possible that this was all a big plan by Granny Smith to make Applejack find her enthusiasm for the Great Seedling again, because Granny Smith knew that Applejack isn't happy with the decision she made back then. This would explain very well why Granny Smith has called for Goldie Delicious even though she is too old to contribute much to the harvest.
Another thing I'm wondering about is if Applejack is responsible for the carrot tracks they found after the confluence was over. She did mention earlier that she and Applebloom should prepare traps at the carrots, too, to make really sure to catch the Great Seedling. But when the camera panned over to them seconds earlier, there weren't any carrots on the ground yet and Applejack didn't leave the group the entire time. The episode ends on a mysterious note with that, so it can't be ruled out completely that the Great Seedling is more than just a story.

Speaking of stories, I found myself the most intrigued by Applejack's fear of the Great Seedling when she and Applebloom thought that it came. Applebloom was merely afraid of the dark, nightly orchard and she only started to fear the Great Seedling because her mind was already agitated with fear previously. But Applejack kept her cool and she only started to freak out when she thought that the Great Seedling is here.
This is suspicious and it makes me think if the story about the Great Seedling that they told Applebloom is really true like that. Applejack acted like the Great Seedling is, unlike the way it is portrayed in the story, a dangerous, menacing creature that is out to seriously harm her and Applebloom.
There is only one way how that reaction by Applejack makes sense. The real story about the Great Seedling is actually a very dark, scary and disturbing tale and the truth about the Great Seedling is something very sinister, but foals who live on farms get told a modified, harmless version of the story so that they won't start to fear living on a farm. I also loved this moment overall, as it feels a lot like it came straight out of a horror movie.
I am theorizing this heavily and I'm itching to write a horror story based on that theory. My mind is already toying with ideas for it.

More important than the horror fanservice, though, is the Applebloom fanservice. I haven't seen Applebloom acting so cute and with such contagious enthusiasm for a long time. We even got to see her getting booped on the nose twice, with Applejack's boop being the highlight for me. Was there an episode with a filly getting booped twice? I think that's a first.

Lastly, I greatly enjoyed Goldie Delicious' cats in this episode. Particularly, the moments when one of them was drinking water drops from the water faucet and when two others were stealing Goldie's breakfast from her plate. The latter caused me to laugh out loud. As someone who lived together with cats for most of my life, I am familiar with all of this. It reminded me on one particular cat I lived with until eight years ago and seeing all these cat moments gave me an additional enjoyment of the episode that only people who are familiar with cats can get.

This episode was a little different than I expected it to be. Okay, technically, much different. I was very much expecting that it's a classical CMC trio episode, with Applebloom calling Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle for help to catch the magical creature the synopsis talked about. And I was surprised to see that this wasn't the case, but I can see why Applebloom didn't. The Great Seedling is a creature deeply connected to her family's history and legacy, something very personal for her family, so it makes sense that Applebloom rather wanted to do it alone than getting Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle involved.
And their absence was made up by tons of awesome moments with Applebloom! I also know that there will be a full-blown Cutie Mark Crusaders episode soon and I can't wait to see it!