History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E23TheHooffieldsAndMcColts

* BigOlEyebrows: The Hooffields (including the mares, save for one) have big bushy eyebrows that would put Tree Hugger's to shame. The [=McColts'=] aren't small either, but not as noticeable since they are straight.

* CanOnlyMoveTheEyes: The ponies that Twilight immobilizes with her freeze spell can still move their eyes and mouths, allowing to see some range of expression as Fluttershy's story of how the feud started sinks in.

** When Twilight turns around suddenly to show off her glowing cutie mark, Fluttershy cringes as she barely avoids getting slapped in the face by her tail. Clearly, [[https://derpibooru.org/1025272 she remembers this happening twice to her with Rarity's mermaid costume]] in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E15ScareMaster "Scare Master"]].

** Twilight pulls out the freeze spell from [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E3CastleManeia "Castle Mane-ia"]], even noting that it's a lot harder to hold all these ponies than just her friends.

* FreezeFrameBonus: Three of the [=McColts=] appear to be triplet sisters as their cutie marks are various types of saws.

* MiniatureSeniorCitizen: Big Daddy [=McColt=], as his name doesn't indicate, is a midget elderly pony, a fact that is made fun of from his very introduction. It's all the more noticeable since the other [=McColts=] as a whole are rather big ponies, even the youngest-looking mares being taller than alicorn Twilight.

** Two feuding settlements on mountains on either side of a valley tossing odds and ends at each other is similar to the ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' version of "The Good Samaritan."
** The feud and the way it's solved is similar to the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheGreatDivide "The Great Divide"]].

** The [=McColts=] are shown to be expert carpenters, and three of them are mentioned under FreezeFrameBonus as having saw Cutie Marks. [[spoiler:They're sawhorses.]]
* StraightMan: Surprisingly, Fluttershy is this to Twilight Sparkle throughout this episode. Twilight is too focused on solving the problem by the book through following her notes to see the bigger picture.

* WholePlotReference: The title and plot of the episode are based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfield%E2%80%93McCoy_feud Hatfields and McCoys]], two families from the American Appalachians who were engaged in a bitter blood feud for decades.

* BlindingBangs: The Hooffields are all quite hairy, but one even has his frizzy hair entirely covering the eyes.

* CanOnlyMoveTheEyes: The ponies that Twilight immobilized with her freeze spell can still move their eyes and mouths, allowing to see some range of expression as Fluttershy's story of how the feud started sinks in.

* DoubleTake: In TheTeaser, Fluttershy distractedly notes that her cutie mark is glowing, before turning back to her book. Then she snaps back to it when realizing what it means.

* LadyLooksLikeADude: One of [=McColt=] mares has the ''exact'' same body structure as her stallion siblings, with the only discerning differences being the show's usual TertiarySexualCharacteristics, as well as her voice.

** The [=McColts=] are shown to be expert carpenters, and three of them are mentioned under FreezeFrameBonus as having saw Cutie Marks. [[spoiler: They're sawhorses.]]

* StrongerThanTheyLook: While she was never notably weak physically, Twilight (perhaps as a result of becoming a alicorn and thus gaining Earth pony abilities) is shown able to carry without any visible effort saddle bags that have Fluttershy struggling to move.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent
** The episode is chock-full of hilarious fights going on in the background while Fluttershy and Twilight are trying to solve the issue.
*** The image title itself reveals the end result of such a event where a Hooffield mare with a pineapple mace is slowly and menacingly advancing on a downed [=McColt=] just before she see's a [[OhCrap hay barrel coming to flatten her]]. [[https://media.giphy.com/media/6bxdfakQcrdTi/giphy.gif]]

*** The image title itself reveals the end result of such a event where a Hooffield mare with a pineapple mace is slowly and menacingly advancing on a downed [=McColt=] just before she see's a [[OhCrap hay barrel coming to flatten her]].https://media.giphy.com/media/6bxdfakQcrdTi/giphy.gif

*** The image title itself reveals the end result of such a event where a Hooffield mare with a pineapple mace is slowly and menacingly advancing on a downed [=McColt=] just before she see's a [[OhCrap hay barrel coming to flatten her]].
*** When Twilight freezes everyone, one unfortunate [=McColt=] stallion gazes forlornly at the Hooffield cupcake he was just about to eat during the entire time they are frozen [[http://i.imgur.com/ohBZYvR.jpg]]

** The episode is chock-full of hilarious fights going on the background while Fluttershy and Twilight are trying to solve the issue.

*** The image title itself reveals the end result of such a event where a Hooffield mare with a pineapple mace is slowly and menacingly advancing on a downed McColt just before she see's a [[Oh Crap! hay barrel coming to flatten her]].
*** When Twilight freezes everyone, one unfortunate McColt stallion gazes forlornly at the Hooffield cupcake he was just about to eat during the entire time they are frozen [[http://i.imgur.com/ohBZYvR.jpg]]

Twilight uses a spell to freeze all of the Hooffields and [=McColts=] in place while Fluttershy explains: the feud started when their ancestors Grub Hooffield and Piles [=McColt=] wanted to preserve the valley and protect the animals, but couldn't agree on how to do it. Grub wanted to start growing crops for the animals to eat, whereas Piles wanted to build a shelter for the animals to live. Since both of them were insistent on doing things their own way, and neither one was willing to back down, they eventually began sabotaging each others efforts. Their arguing turned into a full-blown feud with each other that eclipsed their original goal to preserve the valley, a feud that their descendants are now pointlessly continuing. The Hooffields and [=McColts=] finally see that they've been fighting over nothing and, after realizing how their fighting has hurt both the land and the animals, the call a truce. As the two families come together to start farming and building, Twilight and Fluttershy's cutie marks glow, indicating they solved the problem. They begin heading back to Ponyville, with Twilight wondering out loud that, now that the map has summoned all of the Mane Six, where they'll be sent next.

Twilight uses a spell to freeze all of the Hooffields and [=McColts=] in place while Fluttershy explains: the feud started when their ancestors Grub Hooffield and Piles [=McColt=] wanted to preserve the valley and protect the animals, but couldn't agree on how to do it. Grub wanted to start growing crops for the animals to eat, whereas Piles wanted to build a shelter for the animals to live. Since both of them were insistent on doing things their own way, and neither one was willing to back down, they eventually began sabotaging each others efforts. Their arguing turned into a full-blown feud with each other that eclipsed their original goal to preserve the valley, a feud that their descendants are now pointlessly continuing. The Hooffields and [=McColts=] finally see that they've been fighting over nothing, and call a truce. As the two families come together to start farming and building, Twilight and Fluttershy's cutie marks glow, indicating they solved the problem. They begin heading back to Ponyville, with Twilight wondering out loud that, now that the map has summoned all of the Mane Six, where they'll be sent next.

** Fluttershy reads ''[[Literature/WutheringHeights Wuthering Hooves]]'' to her animal friends, a book which inspiration is full of animal cruelty, where several animals get killed for no reason at all.

* StealthPun: Part of Twilight's AppliedMathematics chalkboard includes Pinkie Pie's, Rarity's, and Rainbow Dash's cutie marks as "elements" of a molecular model.

** The McColts are shown to be expert carpenters, and three of them are mentioned under FreezeFrameBonus as having saw Cutie Marks. [[spoiler: They're sawhorses.]]

** Piles [=McColt=] and Grub Hooffield resemble the two hillbillies in the Bugs Bunny short ''WesternAnimation/HillbillyHare''.

** Fluttershy reads [[Literature/WutheringHeights Wuthering Hooves]] to her animal friends, a book full of animal cruelty, where several animals get killed for no reason at all.

* MistakenForSpies: Twilight and Fluttershy are are initially accused of being spies of the opposite family when they first meet each side.

* ItRunsInTheFamily: The Hooffields are a family of warm-colored Earth Pony farmers with curly, frizzy hair whereas the [=McColt=] clan are a family of blue-hued Earth Pony builders with straight hair. Given the normal variations of color within pony families, this [[ImpliedTrope suggests]] each clan has its own TangledFamilyTree.

* BigBallOfViolence: Several occur during the fight between the Hooffields and [=McColts=].

* CircularReasoning: The whole reason the Hooffields and [=McColts=] continue feuding. When they aren't fighting, they're getting ready to fight, and what they hope to get out of fighting is the satisfaction of winning...the fight, to prove their family is the best...at winning.

** When Twilight turns around suddenly to show off her glowing cutie mark, Fluttershy cringes as she barely avoids getting slapped in the face by her tail. Clearly, [[https://derpibooru.org/1025272 she remembers this happening twice to her with Rarity's mermaid costume]] in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E15ScareMaster Scare Master]]".

** As [[http://cheezburger.com/8585538048 Cheezburger pointed out]], Twilights big freeze spell was just in time to prevent one [=McColt=] mare from flat-out killing a Hooffield one with a shovel.

* HopeSpot: A giant cake made by the Hooffields when it arrived to the [=McColts'=] compound due to Twilight's suggestion and lampshaded by Twilight herself when she said it would be the first step toward forgiveness. That's when [[TrojanHorse several Hooffields explode out of the cake and attack the compound from the inside]].

* MiniatureSeniorCitizen: Big Daddy [=McColt=], as his name doesn't indicate, is a midget elderly pony, a fact that's make fun of from his very introduction. It's all the more noticeable since the other [=McColts=] as a whole are rather big ponies, even the youngest-looking mares being taller than alicorn Twilight.

* PermaStubble: One of the [=McColt=] stallions (seen in the page image above) has some rather scruffy, unshaven facial hair in addition to his mustache.

** The feud and the way it's solved is similar to the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheGreatDivide The Great Divide]].
** The valley resembles the one in the Disney short "[[Disney/MakeMineMusic The Martins and the Coys]]". Both even has a house at the top of each hill.

* StraightMan: Surprisingly, Fluttershy is this to Twilight Sparkle throughout this episode.

* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: Neither Fluttershy nor Twilight questions why the Map has specifically summoned them. After the events of "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" and "Made in Manehattan," they understand from the beginning that they were summoned because they're the right ponies for whatever friendship problem is at hoof.

* VisualPun: Part of Twilight's AppliedMathematics chalkboard includes Pinkie Pie's, Rarity's, and Rainbow Dash's cutie marks as "elements" of a molecular model.

** The feud and the way it's solved is similar to the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheGreatDivide.

->'''Big Daddy [=McColt=]:''' If you ain't fer us, yer agin' us.

->'''Big Daddy [=McColt=]''': If you ain't fer us, yer agin' us.

->''"If you ain't fer us, yer agin' us."''
-->-- '''Big Daddy [=McColt=]'''

** Twilight pulls out the freeze spell from [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E3CastleManeia "Castle Mane-ia,"]] even noting that it's a lot harder to hold all these ponies than just her friends.

* SeriesContinuityError: Twilight remarks that she previously froze six ponies, when, in fact, she really only froze four.