>>34415535S1 and S2 had an interesting edginess to them that was rare for a kids' show. They were packed with pop culture references, the writing was equal parts wild, fresh, and heartwarming. Most importantly, the main protags were balanced. None of the Mane Six really took priority over any of the others. They all complemented one another. Season 3 comes along. The writing and the animation both take a massive nosedive. Everyone's expressions are more rigid, the acting is more rigid, the dialogue isn't as witty, and the background music isn't quite so epic and sweeping in scope anymore.
Twilight Sparkle becomes an Alicorn and therefore royalty. The reason why this doesn't work is because Twilight Sparkle's entire character is based around girls being into astronomy, chemistry, literature, and STEM stuff, but in a direct contradiction of Lauren Faust's original vision, she was instead made into yet another generic magical princess.
Cue a long, slow recovery in writing quality, followed by the introduction of Starlight Glimmer, a character whose motivations for brainwashing an entire town of ponies are laughable rather than relatable, which is then followed by a few more seasons of almost pure filler interspersed between The Starlight Glimmer Show.
To cap it all off, they opened a damn school and made the Mane 6 into teachers when they all already have full-time jobs that have previously been shown to be exhausting enough on their own to induce nervous breakdowns.
The Mane Six were at their best when they were shown to be able to use teamwork, creatively solve problems together, and behave as a sum greater than its parts, but rather than letting them all go together on adventures jointly and shine as a group, we got a contrived magic map room plot device that forced a focus on two at a time.
Keep the epic score, keep Twilight a unicorn, keep the pop culture references, and keep the Mane Six together, and you know what? S3 onward could have been actually good.
