If I was going to say that there was anything wrong with this episode, I would say they messed up on the part where Rainbow Dash began to change herself into her friends hoping that one of her friends personalities might win over the wonder bolts when her own hadn't. This would have been much better if they had portrayed it as a mental break. So far most of the main six have had one. Fluttershy at the gala, Applejack during apple buck season, Twilight has the most insane mental break in the show as far as I can see. Then finally Pinkie Pie.
But they didn't.
All through what's going on we see that Rainbow is clearly in control of her actions and doing these things not because of a mental break which would not have just been entertaining but would have given this more reason to exist, no, she did it because for some reason ungiven she seemed to think it would work.
Though I must say that it wasn't nearly as bad I thought it was going to be. Though he didn't give any spoilers and he's a dear for not doing that sort of thing. My friend did warn me ahead of time to not expect too much from the episode. While I can see why he would cring at this.
My reaction ended up being more akin to
"Meh, could have been done better. Moving on."
I didn't find anything about the overall episode cringe worthy. Not that I'm saying I don't believe that you cringed. Not that there is anything wrong in finding fault in an episode. There are many ways they could have done this, many, many, many ways that thing that could have made this episode great. The episode was fine. But that is just it though. It was just fine. (Wow, I probably sound all over the fence here.) This is the next step in Rainbow's Dash's whole story arc. This is where you're supposed to go up and beyond. Take some risks. But it felt a little safe at times. Now for the goods things about the episode. I do like that Rainbow Dash didn't go join the Wonderbolts and become the greatest Wonderbolt ever the moment she sat hoof there. I read through some of the posts here yesterday before I saw the episode, (Sorry, Bucky). One of the posts made a really good point.
I'm sorry I have no idea who you are and I'm feeling pretty lazy, too lazy to go back through the posts and find ya. But this person said it was like the smartest person in a school finally going to college and learning that there will always be someone better. No matter what you go into there will always be a person one step above you. The point isn't to give up, the point is to work harder and improve. And I think it is wonderful that it got touched on in this episode.
Though at the same time I must say
There were a few times it felt like they might have lowered her skill level to furth that point. I would have liked to see more moves from the wonderbolts. Maybe one of them did a trick that Rainbow Dash was supposed to replicate but failed at, and that could have started the Rainbow Crash nickname. Side note; Isn't it kinda dark that Rainbow's foalhood shame came back to haunt her here? Though I guess by the end of the episode she had taken the nickname back and wore it as a badge of honor.
"Ponies called me Crash, but even though ponies back then doubted me I still made my dreams come true!" Seems less dark if you think about it like that. No longer a past insult but a reminder that you can fufill your dreams if you keep working at them. So those are my thought on the episode. It may not be going into any lists but it certainly wasn't the worst poissible thing that could have happened. At least not the way I saw it. So I will remain happy and looking forward to more steps down the road if our beloved elements making their dreams true.
"But Celestia help them if this happens with another main six story arc episode."