Turns out there's a G3 pony called Meadowbrook. mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Meadowbr So much like Starswirl, Larson (or whichever writer) probably took the name from Hasbro's pony list. I based this design on the pony. If I recall the gender wasn't specified, so Meadowbrook could end up as either. I decided to draw a female pony because this design idea is what hit me the moment I saw the G3 pony.
As to the premiere itself. It was the most "meh" premiere to me.