Before this gets buried, I have to give out some serious credit for getting the continuity on Mayor Mare's mane correct. That's something that only came up in one S2 episode, yet here we are in a generation ago flashback when she was young, so there she is with no dye. Just fantastic continuity.
I was a bit weirded out by baby-esque ponies talking, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Gotta love the inconsistency of how baby ponies are drawn as well as just how young they are...

Things definitely got rushed towards the end, as usual, but not terribly so. But you barely see Granny accepting Pear Butter, that's how little time we had. And obviously they tiptoed the line as much as they could, and a few lines here and there hinted they died. Let's get to those fanfictions now on how that occurred...
The Doctor wrote:I think this episode would have worked a lot better with just Apple Bloom seeing info about her parents since she never knew them. She's getting older and wants to know about them. Having AJ and Mac also know nothing about them just came off as odd.
You do have a point. I kinda just assumed Granny shut down conversation about them for the most part. If we assume they died when AB was a baby, Big Mac & AJ were still fairly young at this time (refer back to Cutie Mark Chronicles), and my assumption becomes more plausible. I mean, it's pretty believable to me that they didn't know Buttercup was actually Pear Butter. I assume Granny didn't talk about Pears because she resented Grand Pear for removing himself from Pear Butter's life, and not being there when they died.