>>/11183/
Well-restedness and comfyness acquired! (As represented by Sunny here) Although, I do seem to have come down with a mild case of con flu. (lemme know if you wanna hear more about con, I'll message you)
 >>/11187/
> She feels like a real child character as opposed to an adult in a child's body with less anatomy and I think this feat is even more impressive when you consider that the adults in this show have that innocence to them to varying degrees. 
Definitely. I think the main way I see them as having managed this is Apple Bloom still learning about things like trust and boundaries. She trusts Pinkie, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quickly and easily, and she crosses boundaries more with her aggressive salesponyship and petulant complaints about not having a cutie mark to the Mane 6. It's more complex of a characterisation than that, of course, but those were the main things I noticed.
> This is one of the episode's that I see some say Twilight was shoehorned in
I agree with your points on this, but I also wanted to note that in this episode, following both Boast Busters and Winter Wrap Up, we see Twilight occupying a much more respected and integrated role in the community. She's regarded as important, just as she was in Applebuck Season, but now the awkwardness of this has dissipated and she feels to much more naturally occupy that role in Ponyville society. Once again, the show has a kind of continuity, one which at least in my experience can tend to go overlooked. 
 >>/11188/
> The obvious in universe explanation is that Sun Umbridge/Gl3mmer/GIimmer was replaced metaphysically by Sweetie Belle! 
I like this. Malleable reality does so much as a concept - it's close to feelings we have irl, at least for me, it explains certain plot holes, and it has a creepy unease more in the classy vein of Lovecraft than of cheap scares. Unnerving in that way that only phenomena beyond even enough comprehensibility to assign it malice can be. But also nice to keep such thoughts in the theorybox, where the show can just be it's comfy self too. I like to think of both coexisting, somehow.
> Mean this unironically. Twilight Sparkle should be more than cable of putting a fake mark on a flank if that is all she was doing. 
It kinda plays into my theory. Since the magic of harmony is stronger than that of any other magic that we see in the series, if harmony is the cosmic force driving the natural role ponies play in making the world a better place, then I'd posit that cutie marks are also one of harmony's many functions. Magic can override certain elements of the natural world, but where harmony is acting directly, as a force, the show is very clear that nothing can really stand up to it in the end. Even fake marks would go against the natural harmony of pony society, so I think even that makes sense. Canon changes on this later on of course, with Glimmy managing to alter cutie marks, although even there the best she can do is physically separate them from the pony, not eliminate or change them fundamentally.