fe.settings:getUserBoardSettings - non array given[pone] - Endchan Magrathea
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 >>/4860/
> It's been an interesting experience having different emotions on it in different days and trying to figure out what I liked and didn't like because what I like is coated under a layer of sadness and what I didn't like was coated under a layer of feeling of accomplishment 
oh boy, this definitely proves that this review is going to show two different perspectives towards the same material...and I am imagining your thoughts before you expose them explicitly. 

> Celestial Advice would seem to be the episode to cure her panic attacks, but in later episodes we see that the experience hasn't had much of a lasting change. 
that same argument could have been applied to Fluttershy until...maybe season 5 with her episodes learning how to be assertive (the last one being Filli Vanilli). From there, the cycle ended but she was constantly coming back to those episodes of: learning and then press the reset button.

> all she came to terms with was the fact that she was famous
but that´s another issue that a princess should deal with, she is going to be around Equestria and one should know how to act in front of the public because of such duties. Not sure if it counts for an arc but it seems plausible for her to have those issues.

> the core conflict of that episode felt a little weak to me.
fair enough. Okay.

> I mean in the sense that it will actually carry over in a proper story arc (by the looks of it), whereas before it felt somewhat like there was an episode reset button. 
I understand why you believe that and I do notice that Twilight´s episodes have been far and between that surround her. This is most likely due to the writer not having a clear idea what to do with her during a certain period (especially in season 4). Season 9 gave her the steps that she had to take, established an actual defined path but the rest....was as undefined as the future of this show (ironically enough).

In an in-universe explanation, I could give to its defense that her arc consisted about dealing undefined problems that come and go through her life, meaning that there is not an established role model to be a princess except from having an experience and face them properly, hence she has the tile of princess of friendship: compiling her experiences and values extracted from them and transfer them to someone else. 

> they had called back to the episode where Shining Armor ramped up security, so I had hoped to see some added skill from training, or something along those lines.
> As it was it looked like the security system was super tight when Shining Armor was trying to stop Twilight, but then as soon as he was gone they all slacked off.
you have answered yourself. Despite the past experiences, the mane 6 proved that they had a lot to be desired and explains why the guards are even less valuable than the original background ponies. The redeeming thing is that despite their lack of competency, the villain trio struggled to enter in the library because of those security actions.So,there is that.