Knowing what Equestria is like these little devils are probably real but Applebloom isn’t very knowledgeable about them or just subconciously needed to remind herself about them.
@BellyButtonsAreMagic
Seeing how she reacted as she didn’t know of them before, it’s very likely they are not real.
Why would one need someone to tell then what they already know outside of badly written exposition?
So one has to wonder if these bugs were either entirely a part of AB’s imagination, or if they’re real, but their powers were glorified by her imagination. These things look as bad if not worse than parasprites and we’ve never heard of them before.
Seeing how she reacted as she didn’t know of them before, it’s very likely they are not real.
Why would one need someone to tell then what they already know outside of badly written exposition?
Still seems very obvious.
It’s not as much as being a repeat (DHX loves its bookends) but that timing of the sequence was spot on.