So really, the episode opens somewhat  In Medias Res, with the ponies already having their cutie marks swapped. That technique was supposed to lure the audience in by placing action sequences at the start of the episode, but instead it left me wondering what the hell was going on for a good five minutes (25% of the episode), only to have it briefly covered over by a Twilight-screws-up-a-spells cliché and there being no counter spells or whatever. Okay, fine.

After a second song, which I actually enjoyed very much, Twilight suddenly thinks up of a perfect solution and— oh and guess what? It’s also super duper easy to pull off too! And so Twilight heads off to see every one of her friends. With no significant obstacles to overcome, the problem is dealt with swiftly, restoring everything to normal. So the episode’s key problem has been set up, confronted, and all dealt with within twelve minutes. Now, that takes skill! Oh yes, don’t forget the absolutely overpowering deluge of songs.

Spam ALL the songs! Pacing is for dummies! Of course, why drag things on when you can summarize everything into a bite-sized packet? Everything gets across just fine.

Great, so now we’re left with greater part of the episode to... develop Twilight into a princess.

...

FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Now, one does not simply get zapped into a princess. Not even best pony. Not even after Princess Celestia’s utterly ridiculous and incoherent explanation which she chose to give through some sort of aetherworld. Basically, there was no explanation, other than “it is your destiny”, which is essentially the same as saying “it is that way because that is the way it must be."

Twilight is a princess because she has to be a princess.

Yes, I think flipping out over this is justified. It is no a small matter if you pay attention to its implications. Twilight now stands at a higher pedestal than the rest of her friends. There is a distancing in rank and status, and possibly a break away from slice-of-life episodes. And then Celestia and Twilight’s friends bow down to her. The only thing shittier than that was having Discord, King of the much-needed Snark, bow down to Celestia. It was terrible.

This episode has left a bad taste in my mouth. It failed on multiple levels. There was a needless deluge of songs. The plot and pacing is not much better than a randomly selected OC alicorn self-insert fic, and if this episode was a fanfic sent to me for a review, I’d rage so hard at it till my word processor breaks down and catches virtual fire. Now, I can only hope that the show we know and love pulls itself out of this abyss, eventually restoring Twilight to her comfortable spot as Ponyville most adorkable librarian.

With that, I’ll end with a referral to Ottermatt’s splendid blog post, in which he does a much fuller argument on why this episode was a fail.

Also, Luna's dress was awful. (Source: Aquillo)