@CloudMistDragon
Yeah, like you said, they made it clear they didn’t care about Sunny’s causes, and were only listening to her as the Alicorn because she was the new, shiny thing (also presumably because there hadn’t been an actual known Alicorn in generations?). Sometimes the episode doesn’t do the best job of making it clear that it’s Sunny’s causes the townsponies don’t care for, and not her herself, which is a bit hard to swallow, but the good more than outweighs the bad - in addition to what you mentioned above, I loved the dynamic of Sunny’s friends comforting her, as well as her worrying that the Alicorn was the only worthwhile part of her, which was some solid characterization.
And I’m fine with Sugar Moonlight being a little bitchy like she was in the episode, considering she had no canon characterization before.
Here’s perhaps an unpopular opinion - I roll my eyes whenever I see people say that the episode ruined her character, since like I said, she had none before, so either it’s people who saw her as prime waifu material, or else can’t let go of any fanon characterizations.