I can see some people thinking of this episode as a little heavy-handed, but I didn't mind.
I also like how they subverted the "reverse blackmail" trope. I don't know the name or if there's a page, but they did. Rightfully so too. Not only was it a good moral lesson, but sensible. After all, getting Diamond Tiara wouldn't have solved shit. Everypony would still not trust them, and even less so if they didn't want to fix things. Bravo, CMC. CMC are best fillies.
On another note: There's a lot of nonstandard character design going on this season. Featherweight is a key example.