So I wanted to express my feelings on the season 5 finale. I have nothing to do at the moment, I don't even review episodes, but for this one instance, I need to. Did I enjoy the season finale? Overall, in some ways yes, but there's so much problems that it pales in comparison to all the other season finales. Let me explain, that I can tell genuine effort was put into this episode, it screams "DHX made it and Hasbro wasn't sticking their noses in the creative department."( That's a relief)

Time travel episodes are hard to do. I am not saying I can write the best one ever. There was too much crammed in for a two part finale. Usually all the well done plots invovling time travel I have seen were done in 4 or 5 parts. You need to absorb what is going on and you need to care about what's going on. I will bullet point my main problems with this finale, and what it could mean for the series and potentially me even staying for a season 6.

- I don't like Starlight Glimmer. And this finale made me dislike her more. I will get to that in detail.

-This was Rainbow Dash torture porn for 42 minutes, and seeing one of my favorite characters being treated like that rubbed me the wrong way.

-Twilight's friends( real timeline) were not present. Another finale where they did nothing.

-Alternate timelines were a tease. I will go more in detail.

-No tension in time travel.

-Starswirl the bearded being shoe horned in... Not even a flashback with him.

Starlight Glimmer... Oh boy. If people like her, all power to you guys. I understand many people don't even like Sunset Shimmer, and loving her, I can understand why people don't enjoy watching here. The issues with Glimmer rest souly on the fact that I refuse to accept she's truly reformed. Her childish backstory made me pretty angry that this unicorn possesses intense magical abilities. It makes Twilight Sparkle seem average no. This also renders Sunset Shimmer, a garbage character. So people didn't want Shimmer to be in the show? Well, that's bad for you, because Glimmer is basically another Sunset Shimmer retold and to me it's pure laziness to even add her to the main cast.

I don't mind new villains. I really was happy to see the old ones return. Everyone got a little something here. If you were a fan of Nightmare Moon, you got to see her for 4 minutes. Chrysalis fans, you and I got what we wanted. Sombra had an excellent cameo. That's the problem, all these felt like trailers for another separate episode all together. These timelines aren't the threat. It's Starlight Glimmer, this angsty little brat who has power over our heroine Twilight. It made me so irritated that Twilight couldn't over power her. The whole fate of Equestria was on the hoofs of a foolish and selfish mare who cared that she couldn't have better success than others.

Sunset Shimmer's redemption felt appropriate for an 1hr15min special. She had a history with Celestia. And to see her in a ditch crying a river, showed me how real it was. She showed how real she was in Rainbow Rocks when she had the Sirens to worry about, while trying to mend her reputation.
Starlight Glimmer didn't show anything real. It felt forced because the plot needed a good ending.

Rainbow Dash went through hell in this episode. Getting shot by Glimmer made me feel awful and a character as cool as Dash didn't deserve that. It be like Sonic tripping over his own shoe buckle. I know no one is perfect.. But seriously, no one left Dash alone.

I would have honestly thought a single timeline would have been ideal. I really think the show needs a format change. Its been 5 seasons and we're still using this structure.

Two part opener
slice of life for 80% of the season
two part finale.

I love the slice of life, because we don't always need action and adventure, every good story needs some down time and character and plot development. Maybe we should get a 4 part finale? It might work. Change things, because I think the old format has grown stale.

Season 1's finale was a slice of life episode. But I was fine with that. I can go back and enjoy every minute of the Gala. Season 2 is when we started to get more action oriented with Discord and Chrysalis. My main point is that while no season finale is perfect, the first four seasons were focused on one thing. This finale explored too much, and left me wanting more than I should ask for.

This is not the worst episode in the show. But I was let down. I enjoyed seeing the alternate timelines. Personally seeing Dash and Rarity as Nightmare Moon's servants was hard to watch. That's amazing writing. But again..... It was about Starlight Glimmer, and all this villains ruling in another period didn't mean anything, because they weren't real threats.

I don't know if I will like season 6. I am sure of it. Starlight Glimmer will most likely overshadow Twilight's friends. I am fine with Cadence and Armour's baby though. Season 6 is just looking to be bad. I don't know if we're going to see Chrysalis, Sombra or Tirek again, or even the Sirens. I find it funny that a toy company will make new heroines and villains and will not sell them. I walk down Toys R US and see no pony toys that show Hasbro cares about their roster. Ponies are like the female counterpart to Transformers, so it's odd that they don't do this.

My finale score is a 6.5/10. Things could change in the future. I may like it more. But I am just stating how I feel now.