and now, this reply will consist more about my perspective and what I have noticed by taking some pauses while rewatching the episode:

>>4503
>the biggest elephant in the room however is I think is less with the episode and more with th context around it.
I have to agree with that. It should have happened around season 8 and instead of Non Compete Clause, they could have replaced it and we would have had a better quality than that low point in the series.

>Perhaps larger still is the fact that if this is RD's last episode it didn't do anything new for her.
>It's one of the last episodes of the show, one which is running out of time and arguably has a lot of elements that could use some development.
eeeyup, I still have to agree that we have seen RD facing this kind of stuff before with Mare Do Well and 28 Pranks Later, we are repeating the same cycle like the arc Fluttershy learning how to be assertive over and over again. However, I have to disagree about one word: development.
>It didn't do anything big, even on a small scale of fanservice.
maybe you will get surprised but this episode does have development and gives a couple of characters a reason to exist ironically enough. Now, how do I explain this without sounding weak for this argument? Fortunately,(at least for me though) this episode does offer something to grasp on and rewards a little bit more than the first try (I am looking at you Rainbow Roadtrip), just that they are really subtle and for the most part, they don´t tell anything about the purpose of this plot.

It gives development to Twilight. How? She has done this to Rainbow Dash before in the other two episodes, does this make any difference? I think that she is learning how to act like Celestia which makes sense considering that she is going to become a princess. Now, acting like Celestia doesn´t mean that she is simply work on her duties. Notice the little grins that she throws subtly at the camera every time she talks to Rainbow Dash at the beginning and at the end of the episode. Combine it with the high five with Celestia and there you have it: Twilight has put in practice the trolling skills, in short, playing 4d chess like Celestia did in The Best Night Ever, Make New Friends but Keep Discord or Horse Play.

It gives development and a reason to exist for Ocellus. How? Well, she has usually acted shy, fearful, nerdy and kind of introvert several times (School Daze, Uprooted...) so you see her in this episode as if she fears at singing (?) the words of their performance in front of the public. So she has gained some sort of confidence at using the ordinary tone without any fear with this experience (with the help of a megaphone), feeling like she has learned the moral of Filli Vanilli without any diary to write in it. Another little aspect (around the 5th minute of the episode) that one could easily overlook is that she is doing this stuff because she wants to do something else besides shaping form like a changeling does. This means that she looks for a purpose and doesn´t want to be recognized as another drone that does the usual stuff for any changeling but doing something unique to her persona that others wouldn´t do on their own.