A True, True Friend

I don't think a two-parter would have really worked all that well. Where would you split it, exactly? If you were to split it between the second act (the resolution of the cutie mark fiasco) and the third act (Twilight's transformation/coronation), the most logical point to split it at, you'd have to find something to fill the remaining space in both sections that still made them feel like a unified narrative with a single dominant friendship lesson.

Twilight's possible anxieties about becoming a princess could be put in the second part, but wouldn't necessarily connect with the friendship lesson in the first part and might be better saved for the next season. The first part, meanwhile, has a nice smooth flow to it, even if it goes by very quickly. I think adding any more twists and turns to it would make it seem to move in fits and starts.

A lot of people have suggested having Twilight at first suspect Discord's involvement, but I think a complete red herring like that would have just delayed the real meat of the episode unnecessarily (for starters, it would require taking time to introduce Discord to viewers who hadn't seen his previous episodes). It also makes more sense at this point in Twilight Sparkle's narrative for her to be a bit more self-aware when it comes to magic, so it follows that she would be able to put two and two together and find the real root of the problem without having to take time to follow an unrelated trail.

Overall, I liked the episode and all its songs. While it might not be the best episode on its own, it's an excellent capstone to the series so far and sets up a bunch of new story opportunities for the next stage in Twilight's life.

Eh, I thought the episode could've been totally redone with its approach and delivery and then remade into a movie (which should've been done with the past finale in my opinion because they didn't have any time for an epic Twilight vs Chrys sword fighting magic duel).  Seriously, the finale had the feel of a movie prologue with Twilight singing at random, and then the rest just kinda... rushed by...

 

Even so, the songs were wonderful and I agree that this opens up many doors for the next season.  ^^

The songs were beautiful but there was like, 6 of them? It guess Twilight was ready to be a princess given that she just kept singing and singing.