This was another big one. We hadn't seen the Princess of the Night since the very beginning of season one, and you could tell a palpable bit of crazy had start to set in by this point. Luna being an overwhelming favorite of both official and fan-made polls isn't a recent development, not by a long shot. Despite the fact that she- not Nightmare Moon- had a total of about ten seconds of screen time and spoke about as many words, the community took off and ran with whatever they had, and a substantial amount they had to make up. I can't even tell you how many 'Luna is secretly plotting to overthrow Celestia and take back the throne' fanfictions were penned before this episode aired. Hell, even I wrote one. Good luck finding it, though.
Rather than stem any of the fan-made theories about her personality and mannerisms, this episode merely fed the fire. Reappearing with a complete redesign that to my knowledge hadn't been leaked beforehand certainly helped- I don't know what conditioner the princesses use, but I need to get my hooves on some.
More moon-butt wasn't the only thing we got out of this space-mane extravaganza. Pinkie Pie in a chicken costume, Rainbow Dash reintroducing the Shadowbolts attire, and as Seth is unlikely to let us forget: bat pony guards for Luna's chariot. Cut from the episode before its airing was a more full-featured shot of Derpy and an entire costume-design scene with Rarity. For those keeping track of voice actors, though, Rarity's disappearance was only a little ironic.
Enough yipping. Catch Luna's Twelve Step Guide to Becoming a Better Princess after the break.
... no, I promised I'd be good about captions. For now. Until the Followups start again.
