The Hooffields and McColts

At Fluttershy's home, the Pegasus was about ready to begin her boo club story with all her animal friends, "Does everybody have their copy of weathering hooves?" Every animal held up their copy of said book. Fluttershy was about to begin reading when she heard something ringing, "What is that?" Fluttershy's cutie mark continued ringing which Angel Bunny pointed at, "Did somepony leave a light on? Oh, it's me. Oh! It's me! My cutie mark. That means the map is calling me," She suddenly felt as if her flank was dragging her off to answer the call, "We'll discuss things when I get back." She left on cue as her Cutie Mark shown. Fluttershy followed it all the way to the Castle.

Upon entering she was brought into the room where the map was, "I'm here."

Right on cue Twilight appeared, "Oh, I'm so glad you're here! Because look!" Twilight showed Fluttershy her cutie mark was glowing too.

"Oh! You were called, too! Thank goodness. I feel so much better going with a friend."

Twilight brought Fluttershy into the Map Room where Draco, Aang, and Astral were waiting, "Well, Fluttershy's here we finally get started." Draco said.

Astral spoke, "Thank goodness. Twilight's got the whole place stacked with books."

"Didn't think there was going to be any room." Aang added.

"Ever since the map called us, I've been doing a ton of research." Twilight explained.

"So just where are we going?" Fluttershy asked her.

"The Smokey Mountains!" Twilight cheered.

"The what?" Astral asked, as Fluttershy spoke.

"The Smokey Mountains? I've never been there before."

Twilight spoke, "Neither have I. And there isn't a lot of information on them. All I could find was this. The Smokey Mountains harbor the most beautiful valley in all of Equestria between its two majestic mountain peaks."

"Well, before we go we better check the map to see what Human Help is needed." Aang suggested.

They checked the map. The symbols for the Water and Earth Elements were up but they saw the Cooper Clan Symbol and an Orange Lined white Lotus. Draco explained, "Aang Astral, go get Kwame, Gi, Geoff, Seth, Benjamin, Carl, Carol, and Camille and tell them to meet you in the Smokey Mountains. You've got a lot of work to do." Astral and Aang nodded before taking off.

Later on the selected team were heading to the Smokey Mountains, "Good thing we're taking the balloon. I don't think dragging all of Twilight's books would've been good for us." Carol said.

"Got that right. I mean who brings this many books with them?" Benjamin asked rhetorically.

"Uncle apparently." Seth answered.

Twilight was too busy thinking about what they'll be doing, "Ooh! Could it be about when two friends just randomly decide to do something together, but they forget to invite the third friend, and the third friend feels left out?"

"I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get there." Camille calmed her.

Soon enough they arrived at the Smokey Mountains, "The place seems nice enough." Geoff observed.

"And it's peaceful too. Kwame. Gi, what do you guys think?" Carl asked.

"I actually a feeling something is bound to happen." Gi answered.

"And what do you think, Kwame?" Geoff asked.

"Flying Pumpkins."

"What?" Twilight asked in confusion.

They heard a boom go off and saw a pumpkin flying off from one side of the mountain onto the other, "We better check it out." Seth suggested.

They went to one of the mountains seeing one group of ponies launching pumpkins to the other side, "Excuse me but what's going on here?" Astral inquired.

An old pony spoke, "We're pumpkinin' our neighbors!"

"Why would you do such a thing?" Geoff asked.

"Well, because the McColts are just plain rotten. Hey, wait a tick. Who are all of you?! You're not spies for the McColts, are ya?"

"No we are not. Why don't we introduce ourselves?" Carol suggested.

"I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. And I am here to solve your friendship problem."

"I'm Fluttershy, and... um... I'm here, too."

"I am Avatar Carol. And this is Camille."

"Howdy. And this here is Kwame, Gi, Carl, Seth, Benjamin, and Geoff. We're all here to help."

"Can you please tell us who you are and what is going on?" Kwame asked.

"Ma Hooffield. Pleased to meet ya, but you're wastin' your time. We don't have a friendship problem. We have... a McColt problem."

Buzzard Hooffield added, "And there's absolutely no friendship there."

"Perhaps we can resolve this if we just talk to these McColts?" Kwame suggested.

Ma Hooffield spoke back, "We ain't talkin' to them! They done so many things. Why, just today, they shot pebbles at our farmhouse an' wrecked it. See, we're not very good at buildin', so all it took was a little pebble. But still!"

"But from what I can see here you do have a good talent for farming." Kwame noted.

"Ya darn right we do!"

Right on cue the sounds of mice squeaking could be heard as a Hooffield Pony took the pumpkin they were in and prepared to load it into the cannon. Fluttershy meanwhile was speaking to the mice, while the others talked to the Hooffields.

"Okay, Twilight, so what's the plan?" Carol asked.

"We're gonna talk with these McColts and hear their side of the story. Once we have all the facts, we can put an end to this using reason and rationale."

"Good plan," Fluttershy spoke to the mice, "That's why she's the princess."

"In the meantime, could you please call off the pumpkining?" Twilight pleaded to Ma.

"Oh, alright."

"Thanks. C'mon, guys." The group followed Twilight to the other mountain where the McColts resided.

Twilight knocked on their door as a peephole opened up, "State your business!" a pony asked from the other side, as another spoke.

"Don't even bother. They're probably spies for the Hooffields."

"Hey, wait! You're an Alicorn! I thought just the three princesses were Alicorns."

"There are Four Alicorn Princesses now. I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. The Princess of Friendship."

"And I'm Avatar Carol."

"And I'm Camille, Astral the Gold Dragon's Partner."

"And I'm Fluttershy."

"We have a new princess? When did that happen? A-A-And how did the Hooffields come by a princess spy?"

"We are not spies!" Twilight called, "Why does everypony assume we're spies?"

Before anybody could answer the question the doors opened, "Because we don't get a lot of visitors. I'm Big Daddy McColt. You caught us at a weird time. We're in the middle of a giant feud with our... Terrible neighbors!"

"Which is why we are here. To end your giant feud with the McColts." Gi said.

"So you're here to help us get rid of 'em." Big Daddy assumed, as the McColts cheered.

"No that's not what Gi meant at all." Twilight replied.

"Well, if you ain't fer us, you're agin' us."

"Wait a minute. We're not on anybody's side." Geoff calmed them.

"Geoff's right. We're here to help you become friends with the Hooffields again." Carl explained.

"Well, that's gon' be hard. I don't believe we've ever been friends with the Hooffields!"

"But you could be. They're just pissed that you wrecked their farmhouse." Benjamin explained.

"Wait a hog-wogglin' minute! We only did that because the Hooffields pulled the pin out of our wagon wheel!" a wagon suddenly collapsed, "A whole week's worth of food rollin' down the mountain. Us McColts are mighty fine builders, but we don't know the first thing about farmin'."

"Yet the Hooffields are excellent Farmers but they know nothing about building." Gi noted.

"If you and the Hooffields could learn to work together you'd both achieve more." Kwame added.

"What?! No! They'd sooner launch their dinners at us than listen to us."

"Well they'll listen to me. I'm an impartial third party." Twilight volunteered.

"We're gonna need to find a way to address both sides." Camille added.

Carol came up with an idea, "Why not let Twilight fly between the mountains and use something like a loud speaker to talk to the ponies present?"

"I won't need a loud speaker," She flew up and using her magic was able to enhance her voice like the Royal Canterlot voice, "Attention, Hooffields and McColts! I'm not on anypony's side, but I can see you're both wasting time and resources on being mean to each other. Ponies are supposed to help each other and be kind. So let's stop this senseless fighting!" she spoke normally, "There. That should do it. Ready to go home, guys?"

Fluttershy answered, "I'd love to. But if we solved the problem already, shouldn't our cutie marks be glowing again?"

"She's right and your cutie marks are not glowing." Geoff noted.

"Which means we haven't solved the problem." Kwame said.

"And from what Linka, Wheeler, and Ma Ti said solving friendship problems are rarely that simple." Gi finished.

"Oh, yeah. They should be glowing any minute now..." Twilight hoped, while looking at her flank. As she waited the two sides started launching produce at each other, "Or not. So much for potential friendship solution number twenty-eight."

"Let's go check on the Hooffields." Benjamin suggested, as they went back.

Ma Hooffield called to her family, "One at a time, Greenhoof. If you smoosh them tomaters in the slingshot, they won't break on the McColts."

"Ma Hooffield, what are you doing? Didn't Twilight ask you to stop fighting?" Carol asked.

"Oh, is that what you were hollerin' about? We thought the McColts rubbed ya the wrong way. So we tomatered them for ya. My mistake, Stop the tomater slingshots!" suddenly bales of hay fell on them, "Reload the tomater slingshots! We're gonna paint their mountaintop red!"

Fluttershy gasped as Kwame and Gi were shocked at the turn of events, "Twilight, if this was part of the plan then I think it sucks." Camille said.

"It was a good plan. We need to think of another one," Fluttershy said, "And soon. This fight is really affecting the animals around here."

"Not to worry. I'll just, uh..." Twilight started flipping through a book, "Find the root of the problem and work from there."

"Well, you better get moving and fast the plant life is also being affected as well." Kwame noted.

"Pardon us, Ma, but do you remember what started this whole feud in the first place?" Twilight asked.

"They know what they did." she answered, so they asked Big Daddy.

"They know what they did!" he answered.

Twilight sighed, "I'm starting to think neither of you know what either of you have done."

Big Daddy answered, "Sure, we do. Them Hooffields did us a grave injustice some time ago for some reason."

"Hear, hear!" his family agreed.

"Anybody got a Plan C?" Seth asked.

Twilight spoke, "Maybe we can find some common ground that you can bond over. What do you do when you're not fighting?"

"That's easy. Gettin' ready to fight." Big Daddy answered.

"What do you hope to get out of fighting?" Fluttershy asked Ma.

"The satisfaction of winnin'!"

"Of winning what?" Twilight asked Big Daddy.

"The fight, of course! To prove our family is the best!"

"The best at what?" Fluttershy questioned Ma.

"Winnin'! Haven't you been listenin'?!"

The group met up to compare notes and review all the information that they got, "So what do we know so far?" Geoff asked.

Twilight explained, "The only thing they have in common is that they both want to win a fight, and neither of them know what it's over. How can I end this feud if I don't know what it's about?"

"Ooh! Maybe somepony just needs to say they're sorry." Fluttershy suggested.

"That's a good idea. And friendship solution number forty-eight. But we can move it up." Twilight replied.

"Good luck with that. These families are too prideful to just say they're sorry." Camille said.

"She's right." Astral agreed.

Carol gave some orders, "Gi, Kwame, Take Geoff, Carl, Seth and Benjamin and explore the valley. See what you can find out. There has to be something here that we're not seeing."

Soon Twilight, Fluttershy, and the Hooffields were carrying a big cake over to the McColts, "I'm so glad you agreed to do this. This apology cake will go a long way to making amends between you two. Which part of my argument changed your mind? The part where I said the benefits of friendship outweigh the cost of war, or the part where I said forgiveness is an investment in happiness?"

"Yeah, yeah. All of it." Ma answered.

"Wait. Are you even listening to me?" Twilight asked suspiciously.

"I really don't think she is." Aang replied.

"Who goes there?!" A McColt inquired.

"It's Ma Hooffield."

"Hooffield alert! Arm the cannons!"

"With an apology cake!" Ma offered.

"Did you say "cake"? As in... cake?"

"Consider it a gesture of goodwill from us to you."

The guards looked happy and hungry, "I haven't had cake in ages."

"Open the gates!" The gates were opened.

"Oh, it's such a bee-utiful cake." one of the McColt's sniffled.

"Think of this as more than just a cake. It's the first step in the long road to forgiveness." Twilight said.

"Nothing says "let's be friends" like a cake that says, "Let's be friends!"" she whispered, "I wrote that in icing on the top."

"I think that Princess Celestia would like these ponies." Carol noted.

"Considering she's so easily distracted by cake." Camille joked.

Suddenly the cake exploded to reveal the Hooffields used the cake as a trojan horse, "For glory! Whoa!" The Hoofields announced.

"McColts! Assume Delta Force formation!"

"Ready... aim... fire!" Ma ordered.

"I wondered why the cake felt heavier than it looked." Carol realized.

"Nice use of the Trojan horse plan. Odysseus would be so proud," Camille noticed Twilight frowning at her, "I'm just saying."

"Ma Hooffield, you planted ponies in that cake?!" Twilight shouted.

"Yeah!" she laughed before realizing, "Wait. Were you serious about apologizin'? Why in Equestria would we do that? We didn't do anythin' wrong!"

"What're you talkin' about?! You done so many things wrong!" Big Daddy argued.

"Not as many as you!" the two growled before fighting.

"Um, if you could just not yell so much or maybe stop saying words altogether..." Fluttershy tried calming them, but to no avail.

Unfortunately the two began fighting even as Carol and Camille spirited Fluttershy out of the area. They saw Twilight walking away ripping pages out of her book, "You okay, Twilight?" Carol asked.

"We should probably get back there. I mean, if you need a break, that's fine, but I really can't do this without you." Fluttershy said.

"I don't know if we can do this at all. Even if I make things right, they're just gonna fight again." Twilight started giving up hope.

Camille slapped Twilight in the face before she spoke up, "Do you hear yourself, Twi? Because what I'm hearing is not the Twilight Sparkle I know!"

"But what else can I do?"

Fluttershy saw some animals hiding, "Hey, little fellas. Oh, that's okay, you can come out." They came out, as they suddenly hear a groaning sound.

"What was that?" Twilight asked.

They saw it was coming from the critters stomachs. Fluttershy gasped, "Oh, you poor things! There isn't enough food here for you! Oh, brrr, and you're freezing! I'm gonna take you all home with me and get you all hot cocoas. How do you feel about book clubs?"

Kwame and Gi along with Geoff, Carl, Seth, and Benjamin showed up and they had some more animals with them, "We're back and we've done some exploring." Kwame spoke.

"And what did you find out?" Aang asked.

Carl answered, "Where do we begin? The Valley is a mess. Broken trees and trampled ground are everywhere."

"This looks more like a warzone than a beautiful valley." Seth added.

"What we need to do is restore this place to its original state." Geoff suggested.

"And there isn't any water for any of the animals." Gi put in.

Astral spoke, "The books said that this was the most beautiful valley and pardon my language but what the fuck happened here?"

"All the constant fighting happened here, duh." Aang answered.

"We know that but what we don't know is how the fighting began." Carol said.

"I could travel the time stream, but we don't have that kind of time." Camille suggested.

A squirrel spoke to Fluttershy, "What's that? Oh! Uh-huh... Everyone! They know what happened here!"

"You mean they know how this feud began?" Carol asked.

"That's right."

"Well, tell us." Twilight said. After Fluttershy told them, they headed back to stop the madness between the two feuding groups.

Back with the two feuding clans they were still duking it out. Twilight flew over and attempted to talk sense into them, "Stop! You have to listen to me!" But none of them paid any attention. Twilight knew there was one thing left to do, "Everypony freeze!" her voice echoed. She used her magic to freeze the groups in place, but was straining, "Fluttershy! You have to tell them! It's a lot harder to freeze an army of ponies than just six of them!"

Right on cue Fluttershy flew up with the Squirrel on her back, "Before you keep fighting there is something you should know. Long ago, there were two best friends..."

She narrated the tale told to her by the critters.

"Grub Hooffield and Piles McColt. When they found the valley between the Smokey Mountains, they knew it was something special. So they made a promise to each other to protect and preserve the valley for all its adorable furry inhabitants. But they disagreed on how to go about it. Grub wanted to start by planting crops so that everypony would have something to eat. But Piles thought it would be better to start by building a shelter to protect them against the cold and wind. The two ponies were unable to come to an understanding, so Piles went ahead and built a shelter anyway, exactly where Grub was gonna start his farm! Grub was upset, so he tore down Piles' shelter so he could plant his crops! They kept fighting back and forth, until it turned into a feud! The valley suffered from the constant destruction, until finally the Hooffields and McColts moved to separate mountains. Even then, the valley and all the animals in it continued to be caught in the crossfire. You see? By fighting, you're destroying the very thing that brought you here in the first place! So it's time you both put your differences aside and come together! If not for yourselves, then for the sake of these cute and cuddly guys!"

Everyone saw the animals next to Fluttershy before Kwame and Gi spoke up, "Ma Hooffield, you mentioned earlier that you are talented farmers. I bet you could teach the McColts a few things about farming." Kwame suggested.

Gi spoke, "And to the McColts, you could teach the Hoofields a few things about building. What we're trying to say is that by working together you could achieve much more."

Then two family heads looked at each other knowing there was some truth, and also knew there was someone else they had to apologize too. They looked down at the animals.

Big Daddy began, "Aw, shucks, we never meant to hurt you little critters."

"Yeah, we're sorry!" Ma apologized.

Fluttershy smiled, "They say they accept your apology."

"Now that we have that settled let's get to work and restore this valley." Seth ordered.

"Uh, princess? You can unfreeze us now." Big Daddy said.

"Oh, right!" Twilight dropped the spell releasing the ponies from her hold.

"So what have we all learned?" Camille asked the family heads.

Big Daddy spoke, "Ma Hooffield? We promise we won't fight you no more."

"Us too, except we promise not to fight you. I suppose it doesn't matter who's right. We're both wrong."

"That's one thing we can agree on." Big Daddy said, as the two spat on it.

"Now don't go fighting each other over who was wrong and admitted it first. What matters is that you both saw sense." Carol told them.

Ma spoke, "Aw, thanks. Though I would just like to point out that I was the, uh, first to admit I was wrong."

Big Daddy countered, "That may be, but I promised not to fight first. That counts for more!"

"Oh, yeah?!" The animals came between them reminding them, "Oh, all right. We don't have to speak animal to know what y'all are sayin'. Truce?"

"Truce." Big Daddy agreed.

"Glad to see that you're listening." Carol smiled.

The ponies humans and Dragons began working to not only restore the valley but also make it better than it was. Soon enough both families were pitching in and helping each other fix what they all broke. After hours of hard work and with a lot of help from Camille, Seth, and Benjamin in magic the valley had not only returned to it's original state but there was now a statue of the founders.

"Woo-hoo! Ain't that a pretty sight?" Big Daddy asked Ma.

"Sure is! The McColts are gonna help us rebuild our homes! Good ones this time."

"And the Hooffields are gonna help us grow some crops!"

"Not pumpkins."

"Thanks for teachin' us that friendship is so much better than winnin' a silly argument." Ma thanked the group.

Right on cue Twilight and Fluttershy's Cutie Marks glowed, "I'd say that our mission here has been accomplished." Camille said,

"Yay! I told you we'd figure it out." Fluttershy cheered.

Twilight smiled, "We did, and we didn't need my friendship portfolio to do it. We just needed each other. So, what do you think will happen next? We've all been called by the map now."

"I'm sure we'll find out when we get home..." Fluttershy answered, as Twilight pondered.

"What if it summons all six of us and every one of our allies to another place? Or another pony we weren't expecting? What if it wants us to solve other kinds of problems, like quantum physics, or why the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" The others rolled their eyes.

"Perhaps the map might call us to take on the Forces of Darkness next?" Astral suggested.

"So many possibilities!" Twilight cheered.

"All I know is that the Map will activate when it is time. Just let it run it's course." Carol said.

"And these forces of Darkness won't know what hit them." Geoff added.

Speaking of the Forces of Darkness they were in the newly completed Everfree Forest base holding court, "Okay so we all know why we're here," Mindy began. Her followers nodded as their foot soldiers were off to the sides, "We now know that the map tends to call Ponies away in teams of two along with two of the rangers at most. Which means the teams are not at full strength. Which means when the map does call them away that is the perfect time to attack." They all nodded.

Mavro spoke, "So next time they are called away we will strike again. And next time there will be no failure."

"I'd like to point out that sometimes entire ranger teams are called away which means that we could easily ambush them." Jack added.

"Agreed and this time there will be no mistakes." Mindy said.

"For now let's pace ourselves." Mavro suggested.

"Agreed. We have to stock up and gear up." Malkor ordered. The Forces of Darkness agreed as they got their gear ready and began drawing up battle plans for the next attack.