The Hooffields and McColts Review · 5:00pm Nov 15th, 2015
So it looks like we have the fourth use of the Cutie Map in play today! On top of that, it's Fluttershy and Twilight who are to take care of this friendship problem! And it's a shout-out to not only real-life history based on a feud that lasted over twenty years, but also to movies of a similar theme. Interesting!
Also, on a quick note, I've seen Friendship Games and I made a review of it! You can view it right here on my Tumblr. 
Anyway, without further ado, let's dive right in!
Our story begins with Fluttershy having a book club meeting with some of her fellow animals. D'awwww! That's adorable! It turns out she's reading a ponified version of Wuthering Heights and is about to discuss the theme of Heathcliff's love... But is interrupted by her cutie mark indicating that the Cutie Map is calling for her.
She arrives at the castle, with a very excited Twilight glad to FINALLY be going on a friendship mission! It turns out that they're due to travel to the Smokey Mountains, so Twilight is crazy prepared to deal with any kind of friendship problem! Upon arriving at this place, they come to find that the problem is indeed a lot more than they bargained for.
There are two families who reside on each mountain, the Hooffields on one side and the McColts on the other side. They have been feuding for ages now, over matters even they don't even seem to know. It's practically built-in at this point for them! All they do is fight fight fight. All to win an argument. An argument they don't even know why they're even having. Nice.
So this is very much like season one's "Over A Barrel", where the settlers and the buffaloes were having a dispute over the land. Even with Twilight's best efforts to get the two families to settle this, it all falls on deaf ears. And with a trojan cake, no less! (Fun fact: Poison Cure called out the idea of a trojan cake. XDDD)
Interestingly though, Twilight has really gained a lot of confidence in herself as one of the Princesses and feels that her authority could definitely help. This was an interesting showcasing of how far she's come along as a Princess and how she's trying all she can to use what she's learned to good use.
It was also nice to see the buildup to the reveal by having Fluttershy saving the animals from time to time when they needed help. Not only is that intrinsic to her character, but it was done in just the right way. Yes, it was obvious after a while, but it was very effective and paid off nicely.
Another nice thing was getting a chance to see Twilight and Fluttershy playing off one another. Beforehand, they never really had one-on-one time together, so it introduced a fresh new perspective in just the right way. Fluttershy is clearly very comfortable with her and does everything she can to help. Twilight may at times be a little oblivious, but she means very well and helps Fluttershy along however she can. So it was nice to see them working off each other and showing the friendship they had.
Then of course we have the reveal, which was helped with Fluttershy communicating with the animals, who knew what went down between both families. She spoke up about what they told her and what they needed to do. To work together as a team with their strengths and to preserve the land around them so the animals could also live safely. It manages to bring both families together and realizing the feud was pretty silly. It wasn't fixed with fighting, but with friendship and understanding.
So while the episode was very laid back, it was still a good message to bring across. It was very cute! Twilight and Fluttershy were both in top form, the characters were interesting, the humour was pretty well done, and it all came together very well.
Now all of the Main Six have had a chance to be called by the Cutie Map! I bet season six will have much more opportunities to come! Heck, I would even be willing to bet that the CMC will eventually get called by the map! You never know. ;)
While I know with only three episodes left, there won't be a moment, but I'm hoping when season six rolls around, we'll an episode revolving around Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. I mean, we haven't see an episode with sole interaction between those two since "Trade Ya!". It'd be interesting if next season, there's a Cutie Map adventure which Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have to resolve. Still, it was nice to see an episode where Twilight and Fluttershy are the prominent characters (episodes like that seem pretty rare to me), although I don't know how I feel about that ending with Fluttershy having to lug her heavy saddlebag again.