Season Finale (SPOILERS) · 9:34pm Apr 21st, 2012
Hey everypony.
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for those of you who still haven't watched the Royal Wedding episodes)
Now that I've had the chance to calm back down from the excitement I felt while watching the season finale, and had a chance to think it over and discuss it with a few friends, I'd like to attempt to formulate an informed opinion.
While I watched these episodes, I could probably not be more excited about anything happening on my screen. I was literally biting my own fist and squee'ing when Lyra and Colgate spoke.
There were moments that felt off for me, even while watching. Most of these stemming from Shining Armour and Princess Cadence being cardboard cut-out mary-sue characters. None of them had even a percentage of the personality that I have come to expect from Characters in this show.
Yes, they only had this story arc and will probably (hopefully) not be brought up again, but Trixie, Gilda, Stephen Magnet, Photo Finish, Fancy Pants and even Hoity Toity were given significantly more personality than these two.
One thing I loved about these episodes (and will be using in my fic) is the villain. Despite the misnomer (the changelings of MLP and the changelings of myth do not match up), they were fairly well thought out, and gave me some ideas that quickly sorted out some plot problems I had been struggling with for my own fic.
There were some issues that could well be seen as plot-holes, the big one being how the Changeling Queen could so easily defeat Princess Celestia (which could be bad enough in itself), but then was so easily defeated by Twilight's brother (is her whole family OP?). With some work however, I was able to come up with a decent enough excuse (in my mind).
Warning: Head-canon ahead!
While the ponies' magic stems from the magic and harmony that flows through the world of Equestria, the Changelings' magic is fueled by the emotions of other beings.
This makes the magic of the ponies constant and inexhaustible, while changelings need to feed on emotions to store up power and energy that they can then use up.
The Changeling Queen had been planning the attack for a long time and feeding on many in preparation for an inevitable confrontation with Princess Celestia and after defeating her, had used up most of the power she had saved up.
Now, why does Shining Armour seem to be so much more powerful than his sister, the Element of Magic? Her special talent is magic in general, his is defensive and protective magic... it even fits with his name and cutie mark.
The whole thing still smells heavily of cop-out deus ex machina... but I'm willing to let that go, for the sake of my enjoyment of the show.
So... how do these Changelings solve some of my fics plot problems? Well, one fanfic that has inspired me greatly is the one called Griffin the Griffin by BlackWing, and I wanted the Gryphon Lands to be in roughly the same situation in my fic as they are in his, but not for the exact same reasons... so in Just One Man, I will have the Gryphon Lands sandwiched between Equestria and Arcadia (what I'll be calling the Changeling Kingdom).
If you haven't already read it, I recommend checking out Griffin the Griffin here on FiMFiction, as it is a good solid fanfiction with some really interesting ideas.
War... war never changes.
Cordovan Splotch
This finale was like 15 times better than season one's finale. It was like a whole disney movie in an hour, tons of songs (remixes for months!) and a few small brony shout-outs (vinyl scratch at the end, for one :3) IT WAS GLORIOUS
I you're developing such a complex/divided landmass (reminds me of Lord of the Rings, such a complicated map
) then you must be planning to make this story really long! 
anyway, how's the next chapter coming along?
79994 I honestly haven't started writing chapter four yet, so far I've had a pretty busy weekend, going out of town to help a family member of a friend to move to a new house. I'm still not home yet, I will be a little later today though.
What's more is that I didn't have Chapter 4 all made out in my head when I finished Chapter 3, so I needed some time to decide on what I actually wanted Chapter 4 to be. And finally yes... I have plans for a very loooong story, it's going to be a bit before our little protagonist even gets to leave the facility he's in.