Well, I must say I have been blown away by this new episode. Finally, we have a canon interpretation of Princess Luna, and while I'm overjoyed to have it, I have to change a lot of the way I have been thinking about her personality.
While a lot of the artists and writers nailed several aspects of her, there were some things that I don't think anyone ever expected. Fic writers are going to have to take some grit with this. It was inevitable, though. I think the biggest aspect of her that will take some getting used to is her extreme anachronism. She carries herself with extreme melodramatic royal overtones, even using the olde English (or royal Canterlot, as she put it) style of speaking. I think that in time, if she gets more episodes (and I hope she does) that this will diminish, as she gets more modernized. She also looks different than the last time we saw her (That's going to drive some artists crazy.) Her color is a bit darker than it last was, and she now has the flowy, starry mane, instead of the familiar blue curls. I like the mane, but the coat color will take a bit of getting used to. I feel like it's not as welcoming. The common interpretation, and even Lauren Faust herself theorized this, is that when the Mane 6 freed Luna from the Nightmare, she was completely depowered and weakened. Now that she's had some time to recover, a lot of her original magic is resurfacing and she's showing more signs of being like her big sister.
Overall, I think she's really adorable. From underneath that brash royal shell, she repeatedly lets slip out that familiar sad little sister that just wants to be loved by her subjects. She has issues with her manner of execution though, which repeatedly has the negative effect of generating fear, not love. It almost seems to echo what probably happened to her before she fell into darkness. Still, when she steps down from the thundering voice and the regal commanding attitude, she has a soft side, that's really endearing. It becomes very clear as the episode goes along that if she just chills out a bit, and opens her heart, with the help of Twilight and her friends, she could become a very loved and welcomed figure in Equestria.
It's also now canon that Luna can shapeshift, She would like for ponies to just call her Luna (when she's not in royaldrama mode), and she's got a prankster side (a fact that I love!).
Other points of note:
-Zecora is pretty much confirmed to be some kind of alchemist. I'm also OK with this.
-The character Pipsqueak is going to become the next Nyx, as far as fandom love/hate. I'm already seeing people lining up on both sides of this.
-I genuinely expected to see the CMCs featured in this episode, since it's all about the kids, but they got less exposure than some of the background characters. Weird.
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