Well, despite my recent feelings, I couldn't avoid the finale. Unfortunately, it didn't really change my mind... I'll probably keep out of here from now on, as I don't want to be a constant negative presence in the thread.

First, the songs. Songs, songs, everywhere! Some were decent, others... not so much. Did Nicole Oliver sing for Celestia? Whoever it was, she has a beautiful voice. On the plus side, the episode would have felt even more terribly paced had they not made into a musical.

Second, the book. Hey, remember that book from the season opener? Yeah, it was actually important. On that note though, exactly why did finishing that spell make Twilight entitled to become a princess? Okay, so she understands friendship and she did what Celestia wanted her to... so... why was she made a Princess? What will she rule (the twilight? The Twilight Zone? That'd actually be interesting...)? Will she share power with Luna and Celestia? Are they going to slowly acumulate alicorns for the rest of eternity, diluting the monarchy and making the position of princess essentially become meaningless? Will Luna and Celestia leave her to take over?

Third, the pacing. Shortened season, two part opener, I guess they didn't want to split the finale too. That was a terrible decision, wherever it was made. This was probably the worst paced episode of the entire show.

Fourth, the plot. The whole switching cutie mark thing was a cool idea. Problem is, it was essentially S2E2 redux. Oh no! The ponies can't remember who they are! We'd best remind them (via memory spell/helping out), elements of harmony, rainbow explosion, everyone's happy again, blah. It wasn't the exact same thing... but it just felt like we'd been there already. (Why didn't Twilight just cast the spell again until they got back to the right combination...?) To be fair, this was probably because they had so little time in which to actually get through everything that they needed to.

Unfortunately, this whole season has been a let down. Most of the songs were decent at best and terrible at worst, with only one or two that I really liked. I don't think I really felt that any of the episodes were as good as previous ones. And I really have just lost a lot of interest. Will I be back for season 4 (or the movie)? I dunno, maybe. I'll probably be relatively aware of the fandom, since I plan on keeping up with a few artists on youtube, but beyond that... eh. Regardless, I have had lots of fun while watching the show, and I'm glad that I found it.

there are only thirteen episodes in season three