Here we are, the night before another episode. Once again, I'm starting the official thread for the episode now, so it's ready for when everypony watches it.

This week, it's "The Hooffields and McColts". Sounds all wild west-y, like maybe in Appleloosa or somewhere.

Whatever happens, this should be interesting to watch!

--Sweetie Belle

MLP version of Hatfield's and McCoy's. Oh boy

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There'll probably be less death involved. They could surprise us, though.

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Sounds all wild west-y,

...I'd just like to mention this for anyone who doesn't know: The infamous feud from America's history that this episode's title is referencing, The Hatfield-McCoy Feud, happened around Kentucky/West Virginia, which is more on the eastern side of the country. Also, the time period the feud started is near the end of the Civil War.

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I stand corrected. It sounds all wild east-y.

--Sweetie Belle

4852273 you try living in a state that borders both of them. Crazy Southern Neighbors

4852264 I can only imagine

Well, main characters trying to deal with feuding families/clans is one of the oldest story types there are. I've seen it done well and god awful in the past. I guess it just depends on how well the writer handles it.

Hatfields vs. McCoys Pony Style

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To heck with all of this historical evidence, I say.
It's the Equestrian version of Bloods vs Crips.
Hooffields4lyfe.

Next time- Twilight tries to find out why the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I actually watched a stream this week!

First impression: This is another meh episode. It got repetitive in the middle, and it didn't really do anything different with the concept than what I've seen in other shows.

Eh, it was okay. Some great Twilight and Fluttershy moments, but the story didn't capture me.

Significant events for authors:
Real cannons are now canon.
Twilight has a power limit, but it's pretty big.
Voice amplification spell!
In case it was ambiguous to anyone before, Fluttershy can definitely understand what animals are saying.

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you try living in a state that borders both of them.

The closest I've been is a state that borders Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas, if that counts for anything...

Discovery Family was being a butt for me so I missed the episode.

Something else I noticed: Twilight and Fluttershy don't have an interesting dynamic together, compared to Applejack and Rarity, or Rainbow and Pinkie, or just about every other duo we've seen. They're not different enough to bounce off each other well.

First of, confesion time. As said in previous thread, I do enjoy the Avatar episode "The great Divide". Ang's solution is unique, and I love the two cultures.

That being said...I think this handled the Mccoys vs. Haddon fields feud cliche better. (As a guy who lives right on the border of West Virgina, this is kind of important to me culturally) In a few ways. First off, I love the fact that it actually showed the devestation that the war was causing without going to far. Secondally, I love the fact that Fluttershy and Twilight remained neutral. Lastly, it doesn't feel like it did too uch to make the solution tricky.

But there wass more tot his episode for me to like than that. I love how we see what Fluttershy brings to the group and to Twilight. Applejack is the support, Dash is encouragement, Rarity the investigator, and Pinkie Pie is the one who thinks outside of the box and the eternal optimist. Fluttershy is the caring and the encourager. She is the onel who can help Twilight keep going. I also love how this solution wasn't solved with magic, but with talking and smarts. I lvoe it when it show that Twilight still has to try to solve problems, that she has to think and be smart. At the ame time, we have prepared, OCD, and hyper thinking Twilihgt thinking too much about the probelm that she has to solve. Which brings me to another point.

We see that Twilight doesn't need to be told she has to solve a problem, just that there is one. I like the fact that she sees each problem as a new thing to solve, a new adventure to go on, an something brand new to try. That she has a hero streak a mile wide, and that these quests are just another thing to solve.

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Meanwhile, the map tasks Rainbow Dash with reconciling Quantum Mechanics and Relativity. Twilight is jealous.

4852261 Pretty good for only the second TwiShy episode of the whole show. But it took some time to get to the focus, and the story prior to that was kind of par for the course. Glad to see Twilight and Fluttershy showing off sides of their character they haven't shown in a while.

Now then, how long until we get a RariPie episode? It's the only pairing the show has yet to explore.

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My Little Inbred Redneck Pony, My Little Inbred Redneck Pony...

I thought this episode was okay, even if the story and resolution were predictable.

4852796 Let's kill us some motherfuckin' Bloods! Crips4Life, my homie! LOL

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To many people in America, anything west of the Charles, Hudson or Potomac Rivers is the Wild West (or "the flyover" as they so genially call it nowadays).

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anything west of the Charles, Hudson or Potomac Rivers

Nope. Anything west of the Mississippi is the Wild West

4852261 I'm really tired of the way Twilight is being written lately.

It's like this...

Twilight's personality is about more than this and yet it feels like her character has been picked up by a bad fanfition writer who doesn't understand Twilight's character. Heck, I'm even starting to forget what her character is supposed to be like and she's my favorite main character. I had to go back and re-watch some of the other Princess Twilight episodes to see how bad it was.

They are also propping up this "I'm a princess thing," when Twilight clearly didn't want any of that last season and in the beginning of this season. She is way more likely to ask her friends for what they think than always doing everything by the book. She is acting like season one Twilight all over again. The whole point of this series is how she learned to rely on the help of friends, but she doesn't ask Fluttershy about what to do at the feud once!

This isn't Twilight's fault. She has been possessed by OOC ghosts.

The only way I have been able to justify her behavior in the show as of late, is by summing it up to the stresses of being a Princess and that she has been "board" waiting so long to do something she had to do this one her way.

I think her character problems have made the last few episodes sub par. Twilight has a brain and a heart now. Let her use both.

It was a good fic in my opinion. It was amusing that both sides used whatever was shot or thrown at them to either eat or use as building material.

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4852964 My Little Hillbilly: Incest Is Magic

4857463 Agreed, but I think this is because the last couple of episodes were written by new writers. Hopefully, the finale will redeem Twilight's character to some extent, and then Season 6 can pick up the slack. They spent so much time building up her uselessness last season, and now they're trying to make it look like it was intentional. But outside of giving her a title and a castle, nothing has changed for Twilight, and at that point, this needs to change.

It doesn't even need to be a drastic change, just show us what her new title really means.

4859066 I still think they should have named her "the Princess of Harmony" or something similar.

Better yet, She should have been called the Princess of Magic. It's her talent and it links her to the elements, ie her friends. They kind of trapped Twilight's character from fighting like she did with Tirek, because she is supposed to be the Princess of Friendship. It would have been cool to see her continue to hone her magic (including friendship magic). Right now I don't see how being the princess of Friendship will really be entertaining.