A large part of my judgement of an episode is what I remember about it. When the only things I can remember are the characters doing stupid things, the episode sucks. Such is the case here. The only things I remember are Spike running around making a mess, Twilight being so wrapped up in her books that she ignores Spike (a nasty example of Flanderization IMO--sure she cares about impressing Celestia, but so much that she neglects Spike? I don't think so), Rainbow Dash saying she wants to fly into rocks and actually doing so, hurting herself in the process, and the staged Timberwolf attack. I don't think this episode had any redeeming qualities, unlike most bad episodes. At least some are funny or have good songs. This is just a strain to watch.