Mostly interacted with the show through the fandom. I'm still actually participating in a RP set in that crazy Conversion Bureau subsetting that's been going on since at least 2013, and one of the writing projects I've been slamming my head against the wall at for the past few years has MLP as a key element.
I think it was pretty good for it's time, but by now it's kind of been surpassed by other cartoons (or maybe it's still above average within it's target audience range and I'm comparing it to the wrong shows in my head, but whatever). I think it ended up not living up to it's potential by being a bit too conservative, both politically and not.
Not, in the sense that they seemed to have been a bit limited how they could structure episodes outside of season openings and finales. If they been able to do somewhat more running plotlines and adventure episodes (at least the latter of which was the original showrunner starting intention) I think the later seasons wouldn't have gotten as stale as fast as they did.
Politically, in that I think they missed a chance to be a bit groundbreaking in LGBT representation. But mostly because it ended up kind of picking up a few bad habits. Like, for example the way the concept of friendship, which is central to the show's themes, is closely associated with the culture of Equestria often gave episodes featuring other races rather culturally imperialist overtones. Like, how early episodes with Spike would have the lesson that he should abandon attempts to learn about his people's savage culture and fully assimilate into Pony society. Or that one episode which basically stated that what an improvised minority group didn't need an idol (or rather, a symbol of their own cultural past) but rather friendship (which just so happened to be the guiding principle of the dominant culture). Or the buffalo episode. (To the show's credit, they seemed to recognize this and backtracked somewhat last season.)
And then there's also Starlight Glimmer's initial appearance as a villain, where she was coded as a hilariously cringeworthy combination of baby's first stereotypes of Social Justice Warriors, and I can't believe that's not what Socialists actually want!