These are my thoughts on the episode.

This episode was SO different then anything else. I was surprised at how awesome this actually turned out to be. Probably the scenes that stuck out most in my eye were the flashback scenes with NMM and Celestia and the whole glass window scene. The first because of how all around epic it was. The action was perfectly done, and it had some nice CGI thrown in. The transformation scene was CRAZY! Everything about it was intense and I must say it had my attention. The Glass window scene in the beginning stood out mostly because of the lighting, but also this scene seemed so different then what they have done before on the show. Everything seemed so smooth. The animation during this entire episode was really stepped up. I couldn't believe some of the stuff they had put in this episode.

 

The character that stuck out most in my mind was Applejack. She has always been the pony that the others go to for advice or help on different matters. It seems that now she'll be getting more a leadership role in the mane 6. I cannot wait to see how that fleshes out. Twilight was very good in this episode and I feel they handled the Alicorn thing very well. It doesn't impede her character, but it makes it stronger. Especially in the scenes where she starts freaking out or learning to fly. I still think ponies with wings look like swans if you take away the legs, but that is beside the point.

 

The pacing was SO GREAT! (for the first episode and half the second one.) Everything went down the drain the moment they stepped into the Everfree forest. It's not that big of a deal, at least for me, but it felt odd watching it. The whole Twilight going back to Ponyville thing was resolved REALLY quickly. I was thinking that the others would get captured or something, but no they reunited and were friends.

 

The action was also brought up in this episode. Namely the fight scene between the plants and the main 6 and the whole flashback scene with NMM and Celestia. I always wanted to see NMM and Celestia fight and now I got to see it. It was one of the coolest battles in MLP. It's truly insane the amount of time and effort that went in to create that scene and and all the other scenes. The plant battle was also very cool. I especially enjoyed the way they showed each character do different jobs during the fight.

Discord is discord. I thought the twist at the end was really done well. There were little things about his time in this episode that caught my eye. Namely, even though he's reformed he isn't reformed at heart. He still does things and gets characters annoyed at him. This is what I hoped they would do with his character.

This episode gets a solid 9.4/10. Best season opener thus far, and one of the greatest episodes as well.

Source: S04:E01+02 - Princess Twilight Sparkle