Going to copy and paste from the pre-reader e-mail thread discussion I started after the episode aired. Bear in mind, this was really, really hard to write, as a member of the biggest muffin pony fansite out there.
"Ironically, despite me being the one to start this thread, and initially enjoy the two-parter, and on some level still do... there's just too many problems with this season finale for me to enjoy the show, in a sense.
I realize, this is a cartoon made to sell toys to little girls. I understand that. But when you go so wildly off-course from S1E1 of "Celestia and Luna are Goddesses" to S2E25/26 where Celestia's getting beaten with... not much in the way of trouble, no sign of the massive amounts of Royal Guards shown earlier, no sign of Luna save for those three brief moments and lines, and no explanation as to how Cadence became an alicorn, or where she's from (is she from outside Equestria? if so, then does each province have an alicorn ruler? if THAT'S the case, then the whole 'all-powerful-deities' canon from the VERY FIRST EPISODE is thrown out the window) or any other details beyond 'she foal-sat Twilight'. Shining Armor? why didn't we see him in Cutie Mark Chronicles? Why wasn't Twilight writing letters to him, if they were so close?
There's so many holes here that you could fly the entire Wonderbolts squadron through, backwards, blindfolded, and pulling simultaneous Rainbooms.
... ... what happened to the show I knew and loved? Maybe... I don't know. If this is the way the show's going, I don't know if I'll even have much interest in season three."