My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E17 Hearts and Hooves Day: Difference between revisions

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''Are you talking about my brother?'' }}

 

 

Hearts and Hooves Day has come to Ponyville, a day for ponies to let their loved ones (be they friends, family, or significant others) know how much they mean to each other. The Cutie Mark Crusaders offer their teacher Cheerilee a huge, lavishly decorated paper heart the size of a rug, and in return discover that Cheerilee doesn't have a "very special somepony" to share the day with. According to Apple Bloom, a mare as wonderful as Miss Cheerilee clearly deserves to have somepony special in her life, and Sweetie Belle gets the idea for the Crusaders to go find him. One musical montage later, they've narrowed down the list of eligible bachelors to one: Apple Bloom's older brother, Big Macintosh.

 

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* [[Absentee Actor]]: With the exception of Twilight (who appears for less than a minute), ''none'' of the Mane Cast makes an appearance.

** Notably, this is the first episode of Season 2 where Applejack does not appear, meaning that no character appears in every Season 2 episode. (This may be partially to avoid answering the question as to whether the mane six have "very special someponies," especially since part of the point of FIM is to ''not'' be all about romantic relationships.)

** A [[Fourth Wall Mail Slot]] interview on [[McDonald's|HappyMeal.com]] later revealed that Pinkie Pie "celebrated by having the best Hearts and Hooves party ever with every pony in Ponyville!" Probably not canon as it was just meant to promote the [[McDonald's]] [[My Little Pony]] toys, but an explanation is an explanation.

* [[Alternate Animal Affection]]: Rubbing noses.

* [[Anticlimax]]: On the first attempt by the CMC to hitch Cheerilee and Big Macintosh, the fillies wait in a nearby bush, getting more excited by the moment, as the two get closer, and closer, and Cheerilee looks deep into Big Mac's eyes, and then utters...

'''Sweetie Belle''': (popping up out of hiding) '''OH, COME ON!''' }}

* [[Ass Kicks You]]: About a minute into the CMC's song, Sweetie Belle bounces into Scootaloo.

* [[Big No]]: The Cutie Mark Crusaders in unison, when they think {{spoiler|that the "love poison" is still in effect at the end}}.

** Twilight is shown as eager to get others interested in reading, just like the previous episode (perhaps to the point of not paying proper attention to ''why'' they're interested).

* [[Charles Atlas Superpower]]: Big Macintosh is easily able to pull two bulls and a cart of anvils without breaking a sweat. He ''initially'' notices the increased weight when Apple Bloom adds Berry Punch's house to the load, but then he just applies a little extra force and ends up dragging the whole house with him.

** Before that, we can see how, unlike Applejack, Big Macintosh can buck a whole tree's apple harvest at once, by merely tapping it with ''one'' of his hind legs.

** Consistent with the superior physical strength of earth ponies, Cherilee bursts open the changing room door blocked by furniture and [[There Was a Door|knocks down the Carousel shop's front wall.]]

** One of the jewelry pieces Big Mac and Apple Bloom consider buying has the gems arrayed like the Elements of Harmony symbol from the first episode. It's the one Apple Bloom claimed was too flashy.

* [[Cringe Comedy]]: Boy, and ''how.''

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Cheerilee is this when she responds to the CMCs' tree identification "question".

* [[Deconstruction]]: The whole episode is basically one gigantic Deconstruction of [[Shipping]], or [[Romance Novel|Romance Novels]] altogether.

* [[Disco Dan]]: One pony has an open jacket showing his [[Carpet of Virility]] and a disco ball cutie mark.

**** "Shipping ponies is bad, and I should feel bad"

* [[Foe-Tossing Charge|Filly-Tossing Charge]]: Cheerilee does this to the CMC to get at Big Macintosh.

* [[Fourth Date Marriage|First Date Marriage]]: Big Macintosh and Cheerilee are easily coaxed into getting married while under the influence of the love potion, but it's all a plot by the Cutie Mark Crusaders to keep them apart until the potion wears off.

* [[Funny Background Event]]

** When the CMC are discussing hooking Cheerilee up with somepony, Twist is playing "pin the heart on the pony". She pins it on ''Cheerilee'' instead of the target.

** Diamond Tiara...''[[Alpha Bitch|Diamond Tiara!]]''...gets an H-and-H card. She's pretty shocked.

*** Or even further, to remember the big rule about experimentation: READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU START.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Played with. Cheerilee is able to pick up on the CMCs' plot and quickly explains the situation to Big Macintosh, apologizing for her student's setup. However, she doesn't count on them using a love potion.

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]

** The "love potion" is served in what are obviously shot glasses.

** If you've ever had a teacher who's a [[Christmas Cake]], an old maid, or a jaded divorcee, Cheerilee's first scene will seem awfully familiar.

** One of the stallions the Cutie Mark Crusaders reject as a possible boyfriend for Cheerilee is "strangely obsessed with tubs of jelly." The faces he makes only add to the suggestiveness.

** There's something about the baffled (and slightly horrified) way Cheerilee reacts to the situation she finds herself in when the love poison wears off: "Girls, [[What Did I Do Last Night?|can you explain why it looks like I'm getting married at the bottom of a pit]]?"

* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: The CMC discover (too late) that the love potion they've given to Cheerilee and Big Macintosh is actually a love ''poison'' that works a little ''too'' well at making ponies fall in love.

* [[Gonna Need More Trope]]: "I think we're gonna need a bigger envelope."

* [[Head Desk]]: Apple Bloom, when she finds out that she and her friends may have permanently screwed up Cheerilee and Big Macintosh.

* [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]]: The phrase "very special somepony" is used constantly, as Equestria obviously has no St. Valentine.

* [[Huge Guy, Tiny Girl|Huge Stallion, (relatively) Tiny Mare]]

* [[Imagine Spot]]: Apple Bloom has one about Ponyville's certain doom when she is told that the Love Potion is really a Love Poison and how it led to the destruction of a kingdom.

* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: Apple Bloom's overexaggeration of the effects of Cheerilee and Big Macintosh remaining under the influence of the love poison.

* [[I Want Grandkids]]: When the Cutie Mark Crusaders ask Cheerilee why she doesn't have a "very special somepony", the expression on her face could be seen as someone who's received the same question ''lots'' of times from her parents...

* [[Karma Houdini]]: {{spoiler|Averted. The CMC get a proper punishment for their actions instead of one of those "I think you learned your lesson" lines.}}

* [[Kissing Under the Influence]]: Or rather, [[Alternate Animal Affection|Rubbing Noses Under The Influence]].

* [[Kitchen Sink Included]]: In the Barricade scene that Cheerilee is in at the Wedding Dress Shop there is a [[Kitchen Sink Included]] with the barricade.

* [[Love Potion]]: The CMC create one to use on Big Mac and Cheerilee. Unfortunately, it turns out to be more of a love ''poison''.

* [[Love Makes You Crazy]]: The Potion is named Love ''Poison'' for a reason.

* [[Mind Control Eyes]]: Cheerilee and Big Macintosh, thanks to the love potion.

* [[Minor Injury Overreaction]]: Not exactly minor, as the obsession would've certainly hurt Cheerilee and Big Macintosh personally and maybe affected others, but Apple Bloom's apocalyptic vision of "starved uneducated ponies" running amok and dying out en masse was completely blown out of proportions.

* [[Neat Freak]]: One of the rejected stallions, who's rejected for being "too clean".

* [[Neglectful Precursors]]: The authors of Twilight's book on the origin of Hearts and Hooves Day actually provided the recipe for the potion that caused the initial disaster.

* [[No Hugging, No Kissing]]: For the Mane Six, who are almost completely missing from the episode. Probably justified in that they're quite young and none of them is in a relationship, and the writers didn't want to show them shunning the holiday either.

* [[Non-Ironic Clown]]: One of the rejected stallions, rejected for being "too silly".

* [[Off-Model]]: The pony soaking in jelly blinks just once, causing the jelly to ''overlap'' the rest of his face, for no other reason than to make him look [[Uncanny Valley|even MORE creepy.]]

* [[Old Dark House]]: during an [[Imagine Spot]], Applebloom visualizes their school becoming one of these, complete with boarded up windows and the sky becoming [[Always Night|perpetually dark]]

* [[OOC Is Serious Business]]: The first thing that tips off the CMC that the potion isn't working the way they expected is when [[The Stoic|Big Macintosh]] starts using rather cheesy pet names for Cheerilee.

* [[Pair the Spares]]: A literal case, as Cheerilee is single and the CMC find out that out of all the candidates they list, Big Macintosh is the only one that fits their "good" and "still available" criteria.

* [[The Pig Pen]]: One of the stallions is rejected for being abnormally filthy and messy. He even has a garbage can for a cutie mark.

* [[The Power of Love]]: See [[Super Strength]]

* [[Promoted to Love Interest]]: The CMC do this to Big Mac

* [[Relationship Upgrade]]: Cheerilee and Big Macintosh begin the episode as just acquaintances (and it's clear that Big Macintosh is not interested at all on her), but after passing through their love poison ordeal, they have clearly become closer than before.

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: This trope is what doomed the ancient land in Twilight's book. With the [[Princesses Rule|prince]] under the spell's thrall, his kingdom couldn't function without him and collapsed.

** The CMC use a vacuum cleaner to suck up the rainbow's coloring.

** This hasn't stopped certain parts of the fandom from calling her [[The Beard]].

** {{spoiler|A number of Fluttermac and Twimac shippers are also crying [[Ruined FOREVER]], [[Completely Missing the Point|in spite of the episode's Aesop]] and the fact that the [[Ship Tease]] is implied to simply be a ''literal'' tease to the CMC}}.

* [[Ship Tease]]: {{spoiler|The episode ends with Big Macintosh and Cheerilee going on a picnic while the Crusaders are forced to do Big Mac's chores as punishment. They smile and wink at each other after seeing how the CMC react to their use of the cutesy pet names from before, but they are also seen walking off into the sunset together.}}

** {{spoiler|Intentionally downplayed so as not to conflict with the Aesop. If anyone's getting teased, it's the Crusaders.}}

** The music while the CMCs mix up their love potion is [[Suspiciously Similar Song|Suspiciously Similar]] to [[The Sorcerers Apprentice|The Sorcerer's Apprentice]] by Paul Dukas.

** Big Macintosh shouting for Cheerilee may be one to ''[[The Graduate]]''.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: The CMC are looking for the "perfect stallion" for Cheerilee or, in other words, a major stud.

** It also qualifies as giving an Apple to their teacher.

** Alternatively, since she's clearly rolling her eyes, she's just annoyed at once again being asked why she's single.

* [[Super Strength]]: This episode makes it clear that Big Mac is ''very'' strong.

** Cheerilee shows off quite a bit of strength as well, busting two separate doors to smithereens and ramming past the barricade Sweetie Belle set up to keep her in Carousel Boutique. [[The Power of Love]], everypony.

** They are both earth ponies, which are stated to be stronger than unicorns or pegasi, and Big Mac is stronger than any other known earth pony.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?|Sweet Celestia, What Have We Done?]]: This is the CMCs' reaction when they realize the effects of their so-called love potion.

* [[Terrible Interviewees Montage]]: The Crusaders' song is something like this, with them going around town rejecting various stallions (and one colt) for various reasons.

(His ''girlfriend'' sure thinks so!) }}

* [[Team Rocket Wins|The Cutie Mark Crusaders Win]]: Subverted in that they do get Big Macintosh and Cheerilee together, but now [[Gone Horribly Right|breaking the love potion's hold on them]] is the crux of the episode. {{spoiler|[[Double Subverted]] when they manage to pull that off too without any of The Mane Cast intervening.}}

* [[There Was a Door]]: ...And Cheerilee explodes through it, taking out chunks of the wall with her.

* [[Troll]]: {{spoiler|Big Mac and Cheerilee get back at the CMC by making the fillies think they're still under the potion's influence.}}

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]]: The CMC basically tricks Cheerilee and Big Macintosh into drinking a rape drug potion, but they really meant well and they really just wanted to see their teacher happy.

** To fanfic writers this could be the loose end that launched a thousand [[A Worldwide Punomenon|ships]].

* [[Why Didn't You Just Say So?]]: Apple Bloom's reaction to Sweetie Belle revealing there is an antidote ''after'' she's had a panic attack.

* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: The episode's resolution hints that after their ordeal, Cheerilee and Big Macintosh ''may'' have become more than just friends. The keyword here is "''hinted''".

 

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