I'm sorry, but the show has changed a lot.
Um, no.
It is no longer focused on the original thing it was about. The original creator of the show is gone and it really shows.
And the show wasn't even the original creator's original vision for the show, anyway. She wanted a somewhat darker and more action packed series with longer plots to begin with. If anything, this is more in line with what Faust intended. So there.
You can tell the fanbase has really affected the direction of the show, and not in a good way in my opinion. Season 2 was worse than season 1, but it was still a great show. Season 3 was a little worse than season 2, but not by a huge margin. And it had a lot of good episodes and good things about it too so it made up for it.
All your opinion, not fact.
But so far aside from one or two episodes, season 4 is really different.
GASP! D-d-d-different! Oh, say it isn't so! How dare a series gradually expand and change over the course of its run! How dare the creators not allow status quo to be The Almighty Word of God that dictates how the show continues! I mean, keeping a show and it's focus and characters stagnant and exactly same from start to finish was ALWAYS worked out so well for shows that last longer than 1-3 seasons. Right, Smallville? I know I just loved how ridiculously staunch it's show-runners were about maintaining the status quo long, long after it was sane to do so (and then mercifully, they were replaced in the final stretch). I also "love" that Clark Kent was firmly grounded from flight even though HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ON A JOURNEY TO BECOME SUPERMAN.[/sarcasm]
If you like it or if anyone likes it, that's fine. But it's really changed a lot and it's not the same show I fell in love with.
And if it didn't change, it wouldn't survive. It can't just be Twilight sending Princess Celestia friendship lessons into close a hundred episodes.
Will I still watch it? Sure. But it is vastly different from the original season when Faust was still there. And my "opinion" is shared by many in the community.
And my opinion is shared by far more in the community. If we're going to go this route of the argument, I'm afraid you'll find yourself vastly outnumbered. I also love how you put "opinion" is quotations, like you think that it's ridiculous to have your point of view called such. It's almost like you think that it's an absolute fact that the show sucks now and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. I hate to break to you, but I'm not wrong in saying that it's still a great series. And honestly, if you don't like the newer episodes, just stop watching.
Unfortunately a lot of them don't express this in a very mature way. Thankfully I'm not like them otherwise you'd have a flaming fireball flame flying right at you right now WR. You need to cool your jets. Lots of people in this fandom (speaking of MLP, not LBT) are very hot-headed when it comes to the show, and I've never quite understood why. It's just a show after all. It's not like I'm insulting your dead mother by spitting on her grave or anything (and just in case your mother has actually passed on, please forgive me if she has. I really don't know. It's just a figure of speech.).
I don't need to cool my jets. I just think that you're taking the fact that the series WILL and HAS TO change way too poorly. Yes, I get that you fell in love with Season 1, and maybe the show isn't exactly the same anymore, but it's hardly fair to judge the new episodes based just on that and not on their own merits.
As for the "evil" thing, go back to the first season and watch all the episodes. You won't find anything REMOTELY dark or evil in ANY of those episodes. It just doesn't fit and it's not something that belongs in ponies. It gave me a sick feeling watching that episode. I plan to rewatch it soon just to make sure, but I'm pretty sure I'll still have the same opinion about it.
Actually, the darker tone DOES fit and it DOES have a place in ponies, like it or not. Also, you're remembering the first season wrong. Nightmare Moon? She was evil. Granted, she was Luna having lost control of her powers and gone insane, but still evil. Think about the effects of casting an eternal night over Equestria for a good, long minute. It isn't pretty, is it? Yeah, it's actually a pretty dark premise when you think about it. Let's see, without the sun the plants die and there's no heat to keep everything from freezing over. So in all casting nocturnal eternal over Equestria turns it into an uninhabitable wasteland and all the ponies and every other creature that ever lived there either freezes or starves to death. So yeah, Twilight and friends were fighting for THEIR SURVIVAL AS FAR BACK AS EPISODE 1!
Also, the G1 Pony series was much, MUCH darker in many ways. In the original setting of Dream Valley, there was always some dark overlord or eldritch abomination wreaking havoc of apocalyptic proportions.
Here's a little something to keep in mind: bad things exist. Period. Dark, evil things exist. Children's fairy tales, movies, and TV shows exist for the purposes of helping parents prepare their children for the real life and some of the not-so-pleasant things they WILL face when they grow up. The fact that MLP: FIM has brought more villains into the mix is a good thing, if anything. Not everyone is your friend, and as a matter of fact, actively want to screw you over or harm you in some way. Tell me again how introducing a few villains is a bad thing.
Okay, sure, the bats were just hungry and not exactly villains, but they're also hardly the first thing to ever try to wreck the Apple family's farm and I never heard you complain about any of the other times they had problems. And Twilight's magic has ALWAYS had weird side-effects. What happened with Fluttershy is not out of the norm for the series.
Truth be told, I think you're just trying to find things to hate on.
