So, my thoughts on this episode. Let's go through all of the things it did and why I feel as a whole this episode was above average, though not stellar.

First, this episode had two principle ideas that arguably could have benefited from being fleshed out into a two parter. The first idea is that of cutie marks being rewritten. The second was Twilight Sparkle's coronation.

Because both of these ideas could have fit whole episodes easily, the pacing was a sprint. The episode needed to cover everything as quickly as it could, and it didn't really have a chance to. Thus, musical.

From the beginning with this episode we see it's going to be a musical. Twilight sings about how everything's going to be a perfect day(which is just begging for disaster) and then it turns out it's not. How she failed to notice Rarity's patchwork clouds before she ran into Rarity on the bridge, I'm not sure, but eh, failing to notice things not in camera view is hardly unique to Friendship is Magic. Once she did notice the problem though she was lightning quick trying to find out what caused it.

It turned out to be a half finished spell, which I think was a phenomenal idea because it gives us new insight into Starswirl the Bearded. How? Well let's consider what the spell did. The spell was intended to rewrite the cutie marks of who knows how many ponies. I suspect it wouldn't have worked without access to the Elements of Harmony, and that it only affected the Elements of Harmony(and thus, the Mane Six) because it was Twilight casting it.

But notice what this means. It rewrites destiny. That means it changes things... just like things could be changed through time travel. Starswirl is the only one we've seen experimenting with time travel, and his lone time travel spell only succeeded in creating a stable time loop. Thus it seems like Starswirl was constantly trying to change things. Why? There could be any number of reasons, and my personal speculation is that it involved a tragic backstory where Starswirl, ever the loner, wanted to make friends, but couldn't. He'd lost the chance, or he had friends and lost them, and was doing everything he could to get them back; that's why the time travel. (Alternatively, it could be the time travel was created after this spell when the spell malfunctioned and did horrible things to a number of ponies.)

What's interesting too is the way the spell affected the minds of the Mane Six selectively. Their memories seemed to change only in certain ways to make them believe that they're supposed to be doing different things, but at the same time we heard from Fluttershy that she was going to move back to Cloudsdale. If it had been a complete memory swap she would have talked about moving "back to the rock farm" instead. Because of the nature of the spell I am hesitant to argue that this episode indicates how cutie marks and destinies are supposed to actually work. Things became screwed up too much; it was likely the spell that made them think they had to follow their new "talent" as far as they could.

So the whole of that plot was wrapped up in musical format within the first ten or so minutes of the episode. Once Twilight rewrote the spell, she was immediately torn away to a cosmic realm of something or other.

This is the one place where I'm going to fault the episode a little harshly because this cosmic realm presents a few too many questions. What exactly is it supposed to be? Is it supposed to be some dimension that Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and now Twilight can enter and stay separate from the rest of reality? Is it what gives them their princess powers? Is it something that grants them immortality? Is it the godly realm from which they rule over? I have no clue.

I did enjoy Celestia singing though.

Once Twilight became an alicorn, the episode couldn't slow down. She needed a coronation event, which again could have covered a whole episode. But it didn't; we were left with her giving a speech on how friendship and her friends were the most important to her, and were left with one final song.

All in all the episode was definitely rushed. So what makes it above average rather than below average like other episodes?

Firstly, this episode was written under some serious constraints. Season three, as far as the production staff knew, could have been the last season when they were writing it and putting it together. Additionally, there were other executive requirements: Twilight had to become a Princess. So they needed to create what was probably going to be the end of the series, without the ability to give things two parters like they needed. They were consistently forced to write forty-four or longer minute episode ideas into twenty-two minute episodes.

That alone isn't enough though. What really makes this episode stronger is that they did it in a musical format. A musical is something this show has needed from the beginning, ever since it started having songs, because it's practically built for it. It was about the only way they could fit both ideas into twenty-two minutes without the episode completely crashing down on itself. I am willing to give the episode serious bonus points for that alone.

Additionally, while the first part of the episode could have easily fit a full episode or even an episode and a half by itself, the latter half of the episode probably couldn't have. Sure, it could have been expanded, with some questions answered, but I'm finding it hard to believe you could fit Twilight's coronation into an entire episode without the pacing slowing down significantly. Plus, it would have been same sort of episode formula we've been seeing throughout the whole show. The musical format changes things up and makes it fresher.

This episode had a lot of little fun moments too. I listened to "True True Friend" when it was leaked/uploaded a few days before the episode, without the animation, and it didn't seem all that great until we saw it in the episode, where the lyrics made far more sense in context. The way the crowd was so happy to see Pinkie Pie was, as a result, rather spectacular. Then there was Pinkie's taking a drink of water in order to spit it out; having done similar things many times myself(only with a dramatic pen drop instead of water because it doesn't make a mess) I really laughed hard and appreciated that.

So on the whole, yes, the episode was rushed. Yes, it could have benefited from spreading out. But I feel like it was a strong episode even with that issue. The time constraints and the fact that it was so fast paced is why I don't feel it was a stellar episode, and the unanswered questions continue to gnaw at me. We don't know exactly what Twilight is a Princess of, though it could be Magic or Friendship. We also don't know where she's going to be living after this. Will she move to Canterlot? Will her friends move with her?

But we do know that she values her friends highly. She said it as much herself. She wouldn't be a Princess without her friends. So I'm not worried about her losing her friends in season four. Quite the opposite: they'll stick around. The question is just in what form.

If Season Three as a whole has taught us anything, it's that the show was becoming far too stale. Within the formula they had for the first two seasons, there was only so many new ideas they could do. And the new ideas they did have, the ideas they wanted to use to innovate with, were always too big. Too huge. Practically every episode of season three, with only one or two exceptions, such as Sleepless in Ponyville and Games Ponies Play, could have benefited from being two parters or longer. Every episode idea was so grand and so high, yet because they were stuck with the twenty-two minute formula and only thirteen episodes, they couldn't do much. If the show had just kept being about the Mane Six learning about friendship, we'd have been stuck with things becoming boring. How often can we watch the Elements whip out a rainbow to smack enemies in the face? How often could we watch the Mane Six beat down yet another threat to Equestria? How often could we watch them learn some of the same friendship lessons over and over again?

We needed a change up, and that's exactly what Princess Twilight offers. This episode could have been the last one of the series, which would have ended things on a high note. Because it's not, and because we know season four will have twenty-six episodes, we're left with a brand new start for things to go in who knows what sort of direction. This is hardly the first show to do this sort of thing; lots of shows have innovated in this way.

For example, one of my favorites, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, did so through the introduction of the U.S.S. Defiant at the start of its third season. Prior to that point, the show was limited to the space station(the titular Deep Space Nine) and as a result there was only so much the writers could do with it. The Defiant allowed them to leave the station and travel the rest of the Alpha Quadrant, dramatically changing the formula.

Princess Twilight does the same thing. Her new situation means the show can handle new ideas. Picture, for example, Twilight having to deal with ambassadors from the Gryphon Kingdom, or maybe even her and her friends traveling the world as ambassadors, giving us chances for high action and world-building drama. That's just the tip of the potential iceburg we have here.

The finale wasn't the best episode, but neither was it terrible. Because of its musical format, and because of how it changes the series, I am willing to give it a 7/10. (A reminder that my one to ten scale has five as average.) It is above average, but neither is it stellar. It doesn't need to be though.

I, for one, welcome our new Princess Twilight. She deserves to be an Alicorn. She deserves to be a Princess.

Let's see what happens in season four.