My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E17 Hearts and Hooves Day/YMMV


 * And the Fandom Rejoiced: Sweetie Belle sings again!
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Next time the fandom wishes Big Macintosh to talk again...hopefully, they won't use the Monkey's Paw next time.
 * Broken Base / Die for Our Ship:
 * When the episode was announced, the Big MacIntosh x Anymare-(Or Stallion)-But-Cheerilee shippers cried Ruined FOREVER.
 * If anything, by the end, the only ships sunk were those involving Caramel Ho Yay, given that he's seen flirting with a filly. Well, maybe...
 * Straight Caramel shippers (he's been shipped multiple times with Twilight, Applejack, and Bon Bon if you can believe it) on the other hand has bitten the dust.
 * The episode lesson seems to be "Don't try to force Love" or "Don't manipulate people." Plus, the episode's ending was left deliberately ambiguous. Mac and Cheerilee could get together, they could stay single, we don't know, and the writers were very careful about doing exactly that.
 * In the end, all this episode really did was add Cheerilee to Mac's list of potential ships.
 * 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. Though to be fair, the goal is to make Cheerilee happy, and she's just as disgusted, if not more so, as the others by how sickeningly sweet they end up being.
 * In Scootaloo's defense, she was the one who quipped that the first encounter might have been too romantic.
 * Agreed, Scootaloo is still the least girly of the Crusaders. The fact that she isn't constantly complaining about how "sappy" everything is doesn't mean anything. And anyway, we can all say safely say that this trope will never again be applied to Scootaloo. Also, this isn't the fist time Scootaloo's done something that wasn't totally masculine.
 * Ho Yay: Look closely at the opening shot in the classroom, and you'll see that a very surprised Diamond Tiara gets an H&H card from another filly.
 * From the same scene, who Tootsie Flute was going to give her card to is a little more ambiguous but the fact remains its either Truffle SHUFFLE! (the chubby gray colt) or Twist.
 * Most Wonderful Sound:
 * Sweetie Belle gets almost an entire song all to herself.
 * Considering that Michelle Creber not only does the singing work for Sweetie Belle, but as well as Apple Bloom's normal talking and singing voice, this was pretty much her song especially considering Scootaloo didn't actually sing.
 * Memetic Mutation: People are associating the stallion who likes jelly with the phrase "U JELLY?"
 * He also looks fairly like Trollface, especially the eyes. Dear Celestia, those eyes.
 * Mostly he's been associated with "ME GUSTA".
 * Nightmare Fuel/Squick: During the song,
 * Tastes Like Diabetes: In-Universe. The CMCs are disgusted by Big Mac and Cheerilee's displays of affection.
 * Tear Jerker: Tootsie Flute finding out her Valentine likes somepony else. Poor little filly.
 * What an Idiot!: Twilight Sparkle gives Apple Bloom a book with a recipe for a potion because she's interested in the history of Hearts and Hooves Day. In "The Cutie Pox" Apple Bloom almost killed herself by misusing a potion. And potions are arguably the most potent tool or weapon in the My Little Pony universe. So basically this is the equivalent of somebody loaning an 1858 Remington pistol and the bullets to go with it to a kid who's interested in the Civil War. A kid who's already accidentally shot herself once.
 * She's a librarian, she can't deny anyone wanting to borrow a book.
 * But THIS BOOK?!!!!. Seriously, it's a very stupid decision to a very smart pony. Even if she was obligated to let Apple Bloom borrow the book, you'd think she'd be a little bit concerned about her misusing the knowledge. But she's so oblivious to the danger that she just blurts out the fact that it has a recipe for the potion.
 * Most librarians are actually not allowed to deny someone the borrowing a book (unless they owe the library large amounts of money), even if they or others feel it is inappropriate. It's a censorship issue.
 * Plus, she's very clearly excited at the prospect of Apple Bloom reading, and is about to offer them another book as well before she sees they're gone.
 * The question isn't why Twilight let them borrow the book, the question is why does the book have the recipe for a mind altering substance in it? For all that Equestria is a Sugarbowl par excellence, they seem to care bugger all about anypony's safety.
 * See: Any MLP:FIM recap with a No OSHA Compliance entry.
 * Amusingly, it might also actually be OSHA compliance. Rainbows, clouds, and pegasi feathers routinely come into close contact -- you have to let the knowledge of the harmful consequences be generally known among pegasi, or else you're going to have Love Poison breakouts everytime somepony drops a feather in the mix tank at the rainbow factory. So that recipe is as much a Material Safety Data Sheet as it is a recipe. Especially since we see in-episode that the warning about how hideously dangerous this stuff is on the very same page.
 * Amusingly, it might also actually be OSHA compliance. Rainbows, clouds, and pegasi feathers routinely come into close contact -- you have to let the knowledge of the harmful consequences be generally known among pegasi, or else you're going to have Love Poison breakouts everytime somepony drops a feather in the mix tank at the rainbow factory. So that recipe is as much a Material Safety Data Sheet as it is a recipe. Especially since we see in-episode that the warning about how hideously dangerous this stuff is on the very same page.

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