They look adorable together, right? But then they start talking...
Sweetie Belle: We did it, girls! We found the one!
Who will send our teacher's heart a-flutter!
Who will send our teacher's heart a-flutter!
Apple Bloom: Wait a minute, let me get this straight.
Are you talking about my brother?
Are you talking about my brother?
Written by Meghan McCarthy
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.
The Crusaders try to trick the pair into a blind-date picnic at the town gazebo, but the situation that results is more awkward than romantic, and Macintosh and Cheerilee part ways. Back in town, the disappointed Crusaders run into Twilight Sparkle, who just happens to have a book on the history of Hearts and Hooves Day... which includes a recipe for a love potion!
The Crusaders borrow the book, whip up the potion, and serve it to Big Macintosh and Cheerilee, under the pretext of having the pair sample some punch they are intending to sell. The two older ponies drink down the potion, their eyes meet, and they fall head over hooves for each other! Unfortunately, the potion seems to work a little too well, as Cheerilee and Macintosh don't seem to be interested in doing anything but gazing into each other's eyes and calling each other sickeningly sweet pet names.
Checking the book once again, the Crusaders discover that the potion they whipped up was actually a love poison, one that led to the fall of an ancient kingdom when a prince and princess under its effect were too lovestruck to attend to their royal duties. Fretful of the chaos that will surely result from Cheerilee and Big Macintosh neglecting their duties, Apple Bloom leads her friends to find the lovebirds and cure them. Fortunately, the book also mentions that the spell can be broken if the victims can be kept from looking into each other's eyes for an hour.
Alas, Cheerilee and Big Macintosh are so utterly transfixed on each other that they resist the girls' attempts to break their gaze... until Sweetie Belle suggests the two get married! As part of the wedding preparations, Sweetie Belle manages to barricade Cheerilee in a changing room at Carousel Boutique while picking out a wedding dress, while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo try to keep Big Macintosh busy shopping for an engagement present. Unfortunately, Big Macintosh manages to make his purchase and slip away from the fillies; Apple Bloom has a devil of a time trying to stop her super-strong brother, as not even tying him to a house does more than slow him down. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle manage to catch him in a pitfall just outside the boutique, but with seconds left on the clock, Cheerilee barges out of the changing room to be with her "schmoopie doo", and the two end up at the bottom of the pit together...
Thankfully, the poison has just worn off, leaving the two very confused as to why they're on a mattress in a deep hole with Cheerilee wearing a bridal veil. The Cutie Mark Crusaders confess to spiking their drinks with the love poison, and admit they've learned not to mess with other ponies' relationships. Cheerilee is ready to forgive them... after they complete Big Macintosh's chores, that is.
Later on, the Crusaders are just about finished with the chores when Cheerilee and Big Macintosh announce that with the free time Mac's earned, the two of them have decided to go on a picnic together. And just to mess with the Crusaders' (and the audience's) heads a little, they throw in a little lovey-dovey talk before walking off into the setting sun together, while the Crusaders are horrified thinking they’re still under the love poison.
Tropes:
- Alcohol Hic: Big Macintosh and Cheerilee each let out one when they finish drinking the potion.
- An Aesop:
- "Don't force love on people who might not be ready."
- "Don't manipulate people."
- "Shipping ponies is bad, and I should feel bad
"
- Aesop Amnesia: Apple Bloom seems to have forgotten that the last time she dabbled in witchcraft didn't go so well, either. To be fair, she initially had second thoughts about using the love potion.
- Alternate Animal Affection: Rubbing noses. The closest they come to an actual kiss is when they share a cherry at Sugarcube Corner. Even Mrs. Cup Cake is grossed out by their sappy lovey-dovey talk.
- 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...Cheerilee: You have something stuck in your teeth.
(Record Needle Scratch)
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 that the "love poison" is still in effect at the end.
- Big "WHAT?!": By Apple Bloom and Scootaloo after Sweetie Belle reveals they didn’t give Big Mac and Cheerilee a love potion, but a love poision.
- Big "YES!": Sweetie Belle when Cheerilee asks Big Macintosh to be her very special somepony. Many have noted that it sounds a lot like Rarity's.
- Bring the Anchor Along: Apple Bloom ties Big Mac first to an ox-drawn cart full of anvils, then to a house. Both get dragged along with him, much to the dismay of Apple Bloom, the oxen pulling the cart, and the house's occupant.
- Call-Back: Apple Bloom's been known to dabble in the Ye Olde Potions department from "Cutie Pox". And once again, it ends up having very bad consequences.
- Charles Atlas Superpower:
- Unlike Applejack, Big Macintosh can buck a whole tree's apple harvest at once, by merely tapping it with one of his hind legs. Later on he easily pulls 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 drags the whole thing with him.
- Consistent with the superior physical strength of earth ponies, Cherilee bursts open the changing room door blocked by furniture and knocks down both the door of Sugarcube Corner and the Carousel Boutique's entire front wall.
- Chickification: The Cutie Mark Chronicles established that Scootaloo has a much lower tolerance for so-called "sappiness" than Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. In this episode, though, she's just as eager to see Cheerilee and Big Macintosh get together. It's not a bad change by any means, but it is jarring and makes the Cutie Mark Crusaders seem more homogeneous than usual. Ultimately justified as the goal is to make Cheerilee happy, and she's just as disgusted as the others by how sickeningly sweet they become.
- Continuity Nod:
- An incredibly subtle one is done during the course of the song, as Scootaloo never actually sings any of her lines, since "The Show Stoppers" established that she's not a very good singer.
- There's also the fact that every ingredient has something to do with pegasi ("making hearts soar" indeed), and it's Scootaloo who collects them. She picks off a bit of cloud with her teeth (Pegasi can naturally walk on/touch clouds), vacuums the rainbow (produced by the Weather Factory), and of course, provides one of her feathers. (Well, Sweetie Belle plucks it without asking.)
- This isn't the first time panic has ensued from the prospect of "little ponies starvin' for apples".
- 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.
- Twilight Sparkle is shown carrying the book about the Elements of Harmony from the first episode.
- This is not the first time we get to see how much trouble can result from mind-controlling someone as strong as Big Macintosh.
- The Crusaders claim to have fixed the gazebo by themselves, which is plausible, considering how Apple Bloom managed to rebuild their clubhouse.
- Among the various things Sweetie Belle uses to block the changing room door and keep Cheerilee inside Carousel Boutique are Rarity's chaise longue and a kitchen sink.
- A subtle one: Again, something outrageous and ridiculous happens to Berry Punch (like when Discord collapsed a bunch of houses as she sneezed). No wonder she drinks.
- The music that plays at the beginning of the episode is a somewhat slower version of the music that plays at the start of the first episode.
- We have seen rainbows turned grayscale before.
- 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).
- Cringe Comedy: Seeing the effects of the love potion makes one want to both retch and chuckle.
- Cryptic Background Reference: The story behind the love poison that apparently involve a prince, a princess and a dragon.
- Damned by Faint Praise: The best compliment Cheerilee can come up with for the CMC's massive card is that it's "so...big!"
- A Day in the Limelight: A rare spotlight for Cheerilee and Big Mac as the CMC ship them.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cheerilee is this when she responds to the CMC's tree identification "question".Cheerilee: That's an apple tree.
- Deconstruction: The episode deconstructs
Shipping and Romance Novels in general. This is what a deeply-in-love-at-first-sight couple looks like from the perspective of everyone else and what the effects of pushing two people together are. - Disco Dan: One pony has an open jacket showing his Carpet of Virility and a disco ball cutie mark.
- Dunce Cap: When Apple Bloom imagines a dilapidated Ponyville, a background pony is seen wearing one as a consequence of Cheerilee no longer teaching due to the love poison.
- Eat the Camera: Done by Sweetie Drops at the end of Apple Bloom’s vision of Ponyville running into chaos due to Big Mac and Cheerilee not doing their duties due to the love poision.
- "Eureka!" Moment: A simplified one when Sweetie Belle has her "idea."
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Mrs. Cake, who regularly exchanges pet names with her husband, is turned off by the cutesy things Cheerilee and Big Macintosh call each other as shown in the page image.
- Expressive Accessory: Apple Bloom's bow droops when she learns Cheerilee doesn't have a very special somepony.
- Failed a Spot Check: The CMC not only fail to read the story of the potion until it's too late, they also don't notice that Big Macintosh and Cheerilee are already friendly with each other before they drink the potion. So the potion accomplishes nothing but trouble, since all positive effects come earlier.
- Fantastic Aesop: The moral of the episode is "It's wrong to use a magic potion to force someone to fall in love."
- Faux Horrific: We know you're worried about Cheerilee, Apple Bloom, but the inability of an Elementary school teacher to teach is not going to turn all of Ponyville into idiots, and one apple farmer not harvesting apples won't cause the entire town to starve to death.
- Fourth-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.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: Cheerilee plows right through the CMC and their barricade to get at Big Macintosh.
- Foreshadowing:
- Normally the CMC doing something that ends in Epic Fail is a given, but this time their "YEAH!" Shot is punctuated with melodramatic "doom" chords instead of something appropriately Hot-Blooded.
- When Twist pins the heart on Cheerilee instead of the pony on the picture, she shows no pain whatsoever. Maybe that's the first sign of just how tough she is.
- Funny Background Event:
- In the opening, "Truffle Shuffle" gets a card from Twist and gives her a hug, much to the disappointment of a dejected admirer. Interestingly, it isn't entirely clear which pony the filly who gets sad was interested in.
- 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...Diamond Tiara!...gets an H-and-H card. She's pretty shocked. It's from another filly, though at their age schoolchildren routinely hand out valentines en masse to boy and girl alike.
- Caramel rubs noses with Sassaflash at one point during the Cutie Mark Crusaders' song, then later on is seen rubbing noses with a different mare. This moment lead to his characterization in fanon as being a two-timer.
- Funny Terrain Cross Section: We briefly see one of these in the scene with the pit, including a Stock Femur Bone, an abandoned horse shoe, and a rubber car tire.
- G-Rated Drug: The love poison. It's served in shot glasses, it makes Big Macintosh and Cheerilee hiccup and they both appear to be drunk with love after taking a few sips.
- The Glomp: Cheerilee pounces on Big Mac as the latter waits in the pit, just as the spell is about to be broken.
- 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, to the point it once caused the fall of an entire kingdom because the prince and princess under its effects were to distracted by their love for each other to rule their kingdom properly.
- Gonna Need More X: "I think we're gonna need a bigger envelope." The letter is bigger than the three of them combined.
- Head Desk: Apple Bloom, when she finds out that she and her friends may have permanently screwed up Cheerilee and Big Macintosh.
- Held Gaze: Cheerilee and Big Mac after drinking the love potion. Defying this trope for one hour is what breaks the potion's effect.
- High-Class Glass: The stallion Apple Bloom dismisses as "way too uptight" wears one.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: The phrase "very special somepony" is used constantly, as Equestria obviously has no St. Valentine.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Big Macintosh towers over Cheerilee. She's not especially small but Big Mac towers over everypony (with few exceptions).
- Human Ladder: The Cutie Mark Crusaders do this to grab a cloud for their concoction.
- 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. It is punctuated by Sweetie Drops' scream.
- Innocently Insensitive: The CMC ask Cheerilee straight out why she doesn't have a boyfriend on the setting's equivalent of Valentines' Day. The girls aren't trying to be mean. They honestly can't see why someone they think is as great as her would be romantically unattached. Cheerilee is clearly uncomfortable discussing her romantic life with her students.
- Insane Troll Logic: Apple Bloom's overexaggeration of the effects of Cheerilee and Big Macintosh remaining under the influence of the love poison is obviously nonsense to show her panicked mindset.
- Insubstantial Ingredients: "A bright rainbow's glow" is substantial enough to be sucked up by a vacuum cleaner. Even accounting for the time that Pinkie Pie once tasted a rainbow doesn't make it less strange.
- It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: Sweetie Belle's plan is hailed as the "best idea ever" by herself and the rest of the CMC.
- The Juggernaut: Nothing can stop Big Mac from reuniting with Cheerliee. He doesn't notice Apple Bloom biting his tail, effortlessly pulls two bulls carrying anvils off their feet, and being lassoed to a house only slows him down. The CMC finally stop him by trapping him in a pit but they know this is only a temporary stop gap measure.
- Kids Play Matchmaker: The Cutie Mark Crusaders try to find a boyfriend for their teacher Cheerliee.
- Kissing Under the Influence: Or rather, Rubbing Noses Under The Influence of a love poison.
- Kitchen Sink Included: The barricade Apple Bloom sets up to keep Cheerilee in the dressing room includes one.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Both Big Mac and Cheerilee have their minds wiped clean after the Love Poison wears off.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: Applebloom has to check to make sure Sweetie Bell is referring to her shy big brother.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle split up in two directions to keep Big Mac and Cheerilee from meeting each other.
- Love Makes You Crazy: The Potion is named Love Poison for a reason.
- Love Potion: Deconstructed. The CMC create one to use on Big Mac and Cheerilee. Unfortunately, it turns out to be more of a love poison. Big Mac and Cheerilee go from clearly not being interested in each other to using lovey-dovey nicknames. It disgusts and/or annoys everypony around them, and we quickly find out how bad the realistic consequences of said trope could possibly get.
- Love Ruins the Realm: What happened to the original prince and princess that ruled the land. They were too busy calling each other cutesy pet names to do any ruling.
- Lower-Deck Episode: More so than usual; not only is it a CMC episode but the Mane Six don't appear at all (save for Twilight making a brief appearance when the CMC get the idea of the love potion from her).
- Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: The pony who's "Strangely obsessed with tubs of jelly." Yeah...
- Mandatory Line: This is presumably the reason it's Twilight Sparkle and not Spike, Zecora, etc. who gives the Cutie Mark Crusaders the recipe for a love potion; she has to be involved.
- Market-Based Title: The episode was released under the title Valentines' Day in Asia for whatever reason.
- The Matchmaker: CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MATCHMAKERS, YAY!
- Maybe Ever After: The ending leaves the possibility of Cheerilee and Big Mac getting together for real very open, while still being ambiguous enough to avoid conflict with the Aesop.
- The Meadow Run: A variant—Big Mac and Cheerilee are running toward each other at the episode's end since they can't stand being separated by the CMC, but Big Mac spends part of it at the bottom of a hole and by its end, the love poison's effects have worn off.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Cheerilee and Big Macintosh, thanks to the love potion, can be seen with swirly eyes.
- 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 is completely blown out of proportion.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The CMC's reaction when they realize the effects of their so-called love potion is horror.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Initially Apple Bloom is hesitant to hook Cheerilee up with her brother but she gets over it rather quickly. Instead of the usual "no-one is good enough" attitude, she's worried that Big Mac will be too shy to make it work.
- 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 provided the recipe for the potion that caused the initial disaster.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The CMC really screw up; they turned Big Mac and Cheerilee into love-dovey zombies!
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Yes, the CMC's hearts (and hooves) were in the right place, and yes they're really sorry, and yes Cheerilee and Big Mac appreciate that they care about them. They're still getting one heck of a punishment for pulling a stunt like that.
- 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".
- Non-Standard Character Design: Several of the ponies in the inappropriate love interests montage, including an abnormally short one and an abnormally tall one.
- Nothing but Skin and Bones: Lily is seen as this in Apple Bloom's panicky Imagine Spot because Big Mac isn't bucking apples and that is apparently all she eats.
- Oh, Crap!: Apple Bloom's face when it happens makes it even more memorable than most.Sweetie Belle: Uh, oh...
Apple Bloom: What do you mean, "Uh, oh"?! - Old, Dark House: during an Imagine Spot, Applebloom visualizes their school becoming one of these, complete with boarded up windows and the sky becoming dark.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The first thing that tips off the CMC that the potion isn't working the way they expected is when 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. Also, during the cold opening, Twist and "Truffle Shuffle" can be seen as a couple as well.
- The Pigpen: One of the stallions is rejected for being abnormally filthy and messy. He even has a garbage can for a cutie mark.
- Pit Trap: In order to prevent Big Macintosh and Cheerilee from meeting each other while under the effect of the love poison, the CMC resort to digging a very large pit, placing a mattress at its bottom, and tricking Big Macintosh into falling in.
- Platonic Valentine: Played with, where this episode has the Cutie Mark Crusaders give their teacher a heart-shaped card for a Fictional Holiday called "Hearts and Hooves Day" which is similar to Valentine's Day. They're doing this to show their appreciation and because their teacher is single.
- Promoted to Love Interest: The CMC decide that Big Mac is perfect for Cheerlie and push him to become her special somepony, when they have never shown interest in each other before.
- The Power of Love: The love poison may or may not have improved the strength of ponies afflicted by it because earth ponies are already really strong.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: The Cutie Mark Crusaders expect Love at First Sight when Big Macintosh and Cheerilee first meet. Instead, they get a friendly and slightly awkward talk between two ponies who are just acquaintances at best. Given that situation, Cheerilee's question over whether Big Mac already has plans is quite straightforward, as is her idea to play along with the CMC's plans for a while.
- Record Needle Scratch: Happens during the Crusaders' first attempt to pair Big Mac and Cheerilee together. Immediately afterward, the music starts up again, only off-key.
- Relationship Upgrade: Cheerilee and Big Macintosh begin the episode as just acquaintances (and it's clear that Big Macintosh is not interested at all in 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 royal couple under the spell's thrall, the kingdom couldn't function without them and collapsed.
- Schizo Tech:
- We see a colt and two fillies playing stand-up arcade games.
- The CMC use a vacuum cleaner to suck up the rainbow's coloring.
- Ship Tease: Intentionally downplayed so as not to conflict with the Aesop. 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.
- Shipper on Deck: CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CHEERIMAC SHIPPERS YAY!!!!
- Shout-Out:
- An episode where a trio of grade-schoolers pair up their teacher and a family member...and in the process turn them into lovey-dovey idiots who neglect their responsibilities? Not the first time this has happened.
- The music while the CMC mix up their love potion is very similar to The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas.
- Arguing over who's "Schmoopy".
- The way Big Macintosh bounces while head over heels in love is very similar to Pepé Le Pew.
- The "love poison" thing is very similar to the legend of Tristan and Iseult.
- During the song, the way the Crusaders jump up the pyramid of hay is very reminiscent of Q*Bert.
- Sickeningly Sweet: The CMC are disgusted by Big Mac and Cheerilee's displays of affection.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Cheerilee and Big Mac become these after drinking the love potion. The CMC are visibly sickened by how extremely sweet it is.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The CMC decide Big Mac is perfect for Cheerilee because he's "nice and very hardworking."
- Solo Duet: In a meta sense, the song in this episode is one, since Michelle Creber is the only one who actually sings.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: The CMC pull one on Twilight after borrowing her book, leaving only a tiny dust cloud in the time it takes her to look at her book bag and back.
- 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.
- Stepford Smiler: Cheerilee briefly has one of these moments. When Sweetie Belle asks her why she doesn't have a special somepony, her cheerfulness fades for a moment. note . However, the second she turns around, she's smiling cheerfully again.
- Stopped Reading Too Soon: The Cutie Mark Crusaders find a storybook about a prince and princess who fell in love with each other thanks to a love potion, and decide to use it on Big Macintosh and Cheerilee. It's only afterward that they read on and find out that the prince and princess were so in love with each other, that their respective kingdoms fell into ruin because they literally couldn't stop looking at each other.
- Students Playing Matchmaker: The Cutie Mark Crusaders find out that Cheerilee, their teacher, is single and, because it's a Valentine's-type festival, try to find her a boyfriend. They find Big Mac (Apple Bloom's older brother) and give him and Cheerilee a Love Potion (or, as they call it, a "love poison"), but then they have to get it to wear off because it leaves them obsessively infatuated.
- Super-Strength: Both Big Mac and Cheerliee are earth ponies, which are stated to be stronger than unicorns or pegasi.
- This episode makes it clear that Big Mac is very strong.
- Cheerilee shatters two separate doors (and the wall one of them is built into) and ramming past the barricade Sweetie Belle set up to keep her in Carousel Boutique. The Power of Love, everypony.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: The Crusaders' song is something like this, with them going around town rejecting various stallions (and one colt) for various reasons.This one's too young, this one's too old
He clearly has a terrible cold
That guy's too silly, he's way too uptight
Well, nothing's wrong with this one, he seems all right
(His girlfriend sure thinks so!) - There Was a Door: ...And Cheerilee explodes through two of them, destroying the wall around them for good measure.
- Troll: Big Mac and Cheerilee get back at the CMC by making the fillies think they're still under the potion's influence.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Twilight offering the CMC the book on the history of Hearts and Hooves Day with the "love potion". In her defense, she seems to have no idea they're going to do what they do, and is possibly more interested in the fillies reading/studying something. Not to mention that the book has a warning on the very same page as the recipe.
- Valentine's Day Episodes: The episode takes place on Equestria's answer to Valentine's Day, Hearts and Hooves Day.
- Vocal Dissonance: Big Macintosh's love-struck voice is both appropriate and yet completely unlike what one would expect (particularly compared to his longer, in-character speech from "Ponyville Confidential".
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Ever hear the term "I just threw up in my mouth a little"? Cheerilee and Big Mac are so sappy, it happens to Apple Bloom at one point and in a surprisingly audible fashion for a kid's show.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The CMC basically trick 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.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: You may notice that the CMC never use all of the love potion, leaving quite a bit in the pitcher. What happened to it? Who knows!
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Cheerlie and Big Mac's reaction when the love potion wears off is bewilderment, considering that they are standing on a mattress, in a pit, and Cheerlie is wearing a wedding veil.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The Powerpuff Girls also once fixed a male relative up with their teacher to disastrous Sickeningly Sweethearts results in the episode "Keen on Keane."
- 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".
- Wingding Eyes: The illustrations of the prince and princess under the love poison spell have hearts in their eyes.
- "YEAH!" Shot: When the love potion works, this is the CMC's initial response.
- You Mean "Xmas": "Hearts and Hooves Day" for "St. Valentine's Day". Like Halloween and "Nightmare Night," or Christmas and "Hearth's Warming Eve," it's basically this in all but name. Strangely, the French dub alludes to "Valentin".
Cheerilee: Well, this has been... strange!
Big Macintosh: Eeyup.
Big Macintosh: Eeyup.
