Nah. Pandering would be like her appearance in Rainbow Falls. They might as well have had trumpets sounding and spotlights on her with that "cameo".

Of course, no matter how good or bad the episode turns out, people will still vilify it as just "nothing but fanservice." Hell, Luna can't even have an episode without people saying that… (And she's in this one! Aha!)

Thing is, they're doing a special episode for a special event. And when you get down to it, is a little fanservice really that bad? It's not exactly like the Season's been bombing and they're desperate to get attention. The episodes have been pretty damn good so far, and there's no reason to think the rest will falter.

To me there has always been two ways to look at it, fan "pandering" or fan "catering". For those wondering what the difference is in using these two distinct terms its this: Pandering comes with the distinct connotation that there is little more to an idea's implementation in a given form of media then being fluff or filler put there to distract its audience from realizing the weaknesses inherent in the episode itself (think jingling keys effect if you will).

Where as "catering" as it were is having the distinct knowledge of what the fanbase likes but also having the creativity and knowhow to insert it into the media without being awkward or forced. Usually its a little nod in the background, it certainly doesnt get its own focus or an abrupt stop in the episode to blatantly point it out to people.

As far as the media of FiM is concerned if you want a shit ton of examples of blatant pandering look no further then the EqG Movies. Stories so completely nonsensical and dumb they shroud this fact with needless frame cuts to popular characters in the fandom doing fuck all to actually drive the plot forward or make sense of what has already been laid bare. Where as catering and knowing what fans like, without insulting their intelligence by making an episode that is 100% complete fluff, look to the constant where's waldoing of Derpy circa the last roundup. A slight nod here, a wink and a nudge there…SUBTLETY as it were.