It's Hearts and Hooves Day, and Big Macintosh wants to bake a pie to send to Sugar Belle, with a special invitation to a dinner date at his barn that night. However, with the mail due to go out soon, he and Spike find it's not going to be done in time. Spike gets the idea to call in Discord to help speed the pie along. Discord's rather annoyed since they aren't calling him to play Ogres & Oubliettes, and dismisses the whole idea of "love," until Spike points out how Discord frequently has tea with Fluttershy. Discord agrees to help, and rushes the pie's cooking. Big Mac takes the pie to be mailed, but the label gets smeared by Derpy while handling it, and instead the package is sent to Sweetie Belle. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, who are helping Big Mac decorate the barn for the dinner date, are surprised to see the package, and conclude that Sweetie Belle must have a secret admirer in town, and set out to figure who he is.
In town, Spike continues to talk about love to Discord, who remains dismissive of the concept, when they spot Sugar Belle talking to Mrs. Cake at Sugarcube Corner. They hide in a nearby bush, along with Big Mac who had come running into town to see her, and overhear Sugar Belle talking about how Big Mac won't need to come visit her anymore and if he would be fine on his own. Big Mac immediately assumes the worst, that Sugar Belle is breaking up with him.
Back at the farm, Spike tries to suggest other reasons for what Sugar Belle said, including the possibility that she might have a cousin come watch her shop for her while she comes visit Big Mac in Ponyville instead, but Big Mac dismisses these. Discord tries to cheer Big Mac up by magicking them to a nightclub to act cool, and then to the Ogres & Oubliettes world to introduce him to Skellinore, one of the enemy characters in the game, but Big Mac refuses to cheer up. They go back to the barn, where they hide when they hear the CMC approaching, having failed to figure out Sweetie's secret admirer. As the CMC talk, Discord teases Big Mac about how phony love is, leading Big Mac to decide to approach Sugar Belle. At Sugarcube Corner, Sugar Belle speaks to Mrs. Cake how she'll break the news to Big Mac by saying that "[they] have to talk," and Mrs. Cake warns her that if she says it like that he might take that as a breakup message. Suddenly, Big Mac arrives, and before Sugar Belle can tell him the news, Big Mac breaks up with her, telling her that "words hurt," and runs off.
When Big Mac returns to the barn, upset and angry, he lashes out at Sweetie Belle when she tries to calm him down, but comes to his senses, and realizes he reacted too fast. As they talk, Discord gets an idea and vanishes. The CMC and Spike help convince Big Mac to hear out what Sugar Belle has to say, and he races off to find her. Outside of town, a heartbroken Sugar Belle is pulling a wagon of supplies back to her village when the wheel breaks. As she tries to clean up, Big Mac arrives and apologizes for what he said earlier. Sugar Belle accepts his apology, and tells him what she was planning on telling him: that he no longer has to visit since she will be coming to Ponyville to take cooking lessons from Mrs. Cake for a few days each week, and had concerns about her cousin watching the store for her, exactly as Spike had said. Pleased to know she'll be around more, Big Mac fixes her wagon, and learns she never got the pie he made. He tells Sugar Belle that he has a surprise waiting for her back at the barn as he pulls her back towards town.
Sweetie Belle feels disappointed not having found her secret admirer, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo suggest they enjoy the pie that was sent, to help comfort her. On her first bite, Sweetie Belle finds the invitiation Big Mac had written to Sugar Belle, and realizes the pie was just a mix-up. Sweetie is relieved and hugs her friends. In town, as night falls, Discord still seems dismissive of love to Spike, but does reveal he was the one that made Sugar Belle's wagon wheel fall off, allowing Big Mac to catch up to her. With the night still young, Discord suggests he and Spike can finish off with a game of Ogres & Oubliettes.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: The fedora that Discord gives Big Mac in the jazz club setting is an in-universe version of Peter New's own fedora.
- An Aesop:
- Don't assume; communicate with your friends, and everything will work itself out. Even Sugar Belle lampshades this at the end.
- Don't be afraid to openly admit your feelings. Those who care for you will listen and understand.
- Rather than worrying over lack of romance, cherish the special friends you do have.
- Alone Among the Couples: After breaking up with Sugar Belle, Big Mac walks through Ponyville, seeing several couples enjoying Hearts and Hooves Day together.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: After coming to his senses, Big Mac runs after Sugar Belle to deliver one of these; not asking her to take him back, but let her know that he'll always love her and, though it hurts him, he'll respect her wishes if she wants to break up.
- Ascended Meme: Big Mac uses the phrase "wrinkle nose cutie face" for the scrunchy face thing that ponies do. He finds it as adorable on Sugar Belle as the fans do on all ponies.
- Attractive Zombie: Skellinore is an in-universe fantasy example, presented by Captain Wuzz as a suitable partner for Sir McBiggun and seen as attractive by Garbuncle.
- The Bet: Discord and Spike have a bet over the dragon convincing the master of chaos that love is real.Discord: Loser has to mow my lawn for eternity!
Spike: Is it like a riding mower, or...?
Discord: Tweezers! - Blush Sticker: Skellinore briefly sports two oval-shaped, pink blush spots on her "cheeks" when getting introduced to Big Mac... despite being a skeleton with no flesh, blood vessels or blood.
- Brick Joke:
- While trying to cheer up Big Mac, Discord claims that "cool people" lean to show they don't care about anything. Big Mac later starts leaning while breaking up with Sugar Belle.
- Discord Lampshades the
Unfortunate Implications of spying from the bushes. At the end of the episode, Big Mac realizes and comments on the same thing.
- Call-Back:
- The original activity that brought Discord into Spike and Big Mac's friend group in "Dungeons & Discords", Ogres & Oubliettes, reappears as the main thing they do when they get together. Discord is throughout the episode rather annoyed that the day's misadventures are getting in the way of playing it, and at one point tries to set Big Mac up with one of the Squizard's skeleton warriors. He also brings the three of them to the club from the same episode.
- Big Mac and Sugar Belle's relationship is brought back into focus, having begun in "Hard to Say Anything".
- The Cameo:
- The colts the CMC ask about Sweetie Belle's secret admirer are, in order, Pipsqueak, Button Mash, and Snips and Snails. Rumble and Chipcutter also make appearances on their diagram of possible secret admirers along with the others.
- Maud Pie and Mudbriar make a brief appearance during Big Mac's The World Mocks Your Loss montage, chaperoning a date between Twiggy and Boulder.
- Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda are seen about to do a Spaghetti Kiss during the same scene, although the scene changes before the kiss actually happens. The former also has his old toupee from "A Friend in Deed".
- Cardiovascular Love: Big Mac is surrounded by pink heart as he runs toward Sugar Belle in slow motion. Then a big, pumping heart is seen turning to stone and breaking apart when Big Mac misunderstands her and thinks she wants to break up.
- Cargo Ship: Maud Pie's and Mudbriar's "pets" Boulder and Twiggy are out on a date (with their owners chaperoning). It sounds like a flimsy excuse for Maud and Mudbriar to go out, except those two have no problems admitting they're a couple.
- Character Development:
- More for Discord. He's not only developed an equitable and rather easy-going friendship with Spike and Big Mac but takes it upon himself to get Sugar Belle and Big Mac back together without letting them know it, marking perhaps his first gratuitous act of kindness to someone not Fluttershy.
- The Cutie Mark Crusaders, particularly Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, have started taking an interest in colts.
- Chekhov's Gag: Discord frequently ignores Spike, instead building a ship in a bottle. At the end, he uses a wagon in a bottle as a sort of voodoo doll to break Sugar Belle's wagon as she's leaving Ponyville, allowing Big Macintosh to catch up with her.
- Continuity Nod:
- Captain Wuzz's left hand is still the cluster of parsnips he accidentally turned it into in "Dungeons & Discords".
- During the Cold Open, Discord temporarily dons the same outfit his Alternate Timeline self wore in "The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2".
- Spike's love poem, which he claims was written by "a great dragon poet," recalls his ongoing Precocious Crush for Rarity.
- Spike, annoyed by Discord teleporting him without permissions, tells him to warn him the next time, just as he did the first time Twilight teleported with him.
- During his rant to Sweetie Belle, Big Mac mentions how he used to talk more.
- Two of the colts on the CMC chart of potential admirers, on top of the ones they asked onscreen, are Chip Cutter and Rumble.
- Damned by Faint Praise: The best compliment that Discord can come up with for Big Mac's pie is that it "smells palatable." Spike quickly points out that Big Mac isn't much of a baker and baked the pie as a romantic gesture.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title refers to both Big Mac's emotional breakdown and Sugar Belle's cart losing a wheel.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Big Mac does this with cider when he thinks that Sugar Belle wants to break up with him.
- Endangered Soufflé: At one point, Big Mac has a soufflé cooling on the stove. Spike bumps into the oven and the soufflé predictably collapses.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Discord looks shocked after Big Mac takes his anger out on Sweetie Belle, making her cry.
- Flashy Teleportation: Discord, as usual, uses his Reality Warper power to move around, and he teleports a lot in this episode. He also brings Big Mac and Spike with him several times, causing Spike to crash once from the too-sudden change of scenery. Spike asks Discord to warn him when he keeps doing that afterwards.
- Forgot About His Powers: Discord tries to snatch the telescope out of Spike's claws, rather than simply take it back with his magic or create another one.
- Frivolous Summoning: Spike and Big Macintosh summon Discord, an all-powerful Reality Warper... just so he can cook a pie Big Mac is making for his girlfriend faster. Needless to say, Discord is not amused at being summoned for such a trivial matter.
- Furry Reminder: After giving his package to Derpy, Big Mac lets out a whinny and starts pronking.
- Good Feels Good: Discord, in his own way, shows a bit of pride at his wagon in a bottle and helping Big Macintosh without letting him know.
- Hidden Depths: Discord shows off his knowledge of tea, reeling off a long list of varieties and flavorings.
- Hypocrite: Discord claims that love isn't real, like all things "warm and fuzzy" (he apparently doesn't count friendship among those things). Spike seems to acknowledge this, even claiming at one point Discord is just "putting on a front."
- If Only You Knew: Spike's ridiculous idea about Sugar Belle having to leave her cousin in charge of her bakery (which even he has a hard time believing) turns out to be completely accurate, matching Sugar Belle's explanation almost word-for-word.Big Mac: Wait'll I tell Spike!
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo complain that they don't have their own Special Someponies.
- Incoming Ham: It's Discord. When Spike successfully gets him to arrive by saying he's calling him to play Ogres & Oubliettes, he immediately pops in dressed in his Captain Wuzz outfit, knocking both Spike and Big Mac to the ground.Discord: Huzzah!
- Indestructible Edible: Subtle, but with the abuse we see the packaged pie go through at the post office, it's surprising that it's still intact when it's opened.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Big Mac becomes uncharacteristically vocal about his feelings for Sugar Belle when he thinks she's breaking up with him.
- Irony: Discord, a Reality Warper and Mad God, claims to be a "realist."
- It's All About Me: For most of the episode, Discord is irritated that Big Mac's romantic woes are preventing him from playing Ogres & Oubliettes, and his attempts to cheer Big Mac up are centered around getting him to move on and play with them.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: This is at the heart of Big Mac's apology.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Discord. Despite scoffing at the idea of love, and showing little sympathy to Big Mac's romantic woes, he is genuinely angry at Sugar Belle for "breaking up" with Big Mac, tries to have Big Mac Kick the Dog as what he views as justified revenge, and when the truth of the matter comes out, he sabotages Sugar Belle's cart so the two can reconcile.Spike: I knew you had a heart.
- Literal-Minded: When they see Big Mac running towards Sugarcube Corner to see Sugar Belle the first time, Spike instructions Discord to hide with him in bushes and take note of what love is all about. Discord, after teleporting into the bushes, pulls out a notepad and writes: "Spike: Love is about spying in the bushes."
- Love Letter Lunacy: Big Mac's pie meant for Sugar Belle is accidentally mailed to Sweetie Belle because Derpy smudged the label as the package was being sent.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The episode focuses entirely on secondary characters, without any of the Mane 6 anywhere in sight.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Boulder is over two thousand years old and will probably "live" a few thousand more; unless Twiggy is petrified, it can't be more than a few years old.
- Mundane Utility: Spike calls in Discord to quickly bake the pie Big Mac made for Sugar Belle. Discord is understandably a little annoyed at being summoned for such a minor task.
- My Car Hates Me: Sugar Belle's cart breaks down while she's leaving Ponyville, giving an opportunity for Big Mac to catch up with her. Discord has a paw in making this happen.
- Ocular Gushers: Big Mac cries a few of these during his emotional breakdown, notably after telling about his woes to Skellinore.
- One-Steve Limit: The downplayed aversion of this, with some ponies sharing parts of their names, kicks off the B-plot; The "Sugar Belle" label — some sugarcubes and a bell — on the packaged pie gets partially smudged, leaving only the bell. When the CMC receive it, they assume that the bell refers to "Sweetie Belle," leading them to believe that she has a secret admirer.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Big Mac, Spike and Discord only overhear the tail end of Sugar Belle's talk with Mrs. Cake, with Big Mac assuming, from what he heard, that Sugar Belle has plans to break up with him.
- Poor Communication Kills: Both the main and secondary plots of the episode (Big Mac & Sugar Belle and the CMC's) could have been easily rectified if somepony had realized the crossed signals and explained the situation before things got out of hoof. After Big Mac and Sugar Belle reconciled, even Sugar Belle points out that they both learned a lesson about communication and talking rather than assuming and eavesdropping.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Skellinore, whom Discord states is only working for the Squizard in order to "pay off skeleton student loan debts."
- Rebel Relaxation: "How 'cool' guys lean against things" to show their carefree nature, according to Discord.
- Running Gag: Discord not paying attention to Spike, instead trying to build a ship in a bottle.
- Ship Tease:
- Spike lampshades Discord spending so much time with Fluttershy, and not just because he likes the tea. Discord quickly insists he does like the tea!
- Among the other romantic couples Big Mac sees — like Matilda and Cranky, and Mudbriar and Maud — are Lyra and Bon Bon, exchanging gifts and hugging.
- Sweetie Belle is disappointed that she doesn't have a secret admirer after all but is happy that she has two "special friends" and hugs Apple Bloom and Scootaloo (albeit this is just as easily seen in a non-shippy way).
- Shout-Out: When Spike expresses interest in Skellinore, Discord points out that she's an "imaginary one-dimensional paper cutout skeleton." Spike's response? "Well, nopony's perfect."
- Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Spike is certain that Discord is a romantic under his "formerly friendless immortal despot" exterior.Spike: I mean, you don't have tea with Fluttershy every weekend because you like tea.
- Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: Discord dismisses Hearts and Hooves Day as just a greeting card holiday and romantic love as an illusion.
- Spaghetti Kiss: Cranky Doodle and Matilda share one during Big Mac's The World Mocks Your Loss montage.
- Spoof Aesop: "Love is about spying in the bushes."
- Stealth Pun:
- The three mailmares outside of Derpy have cutie marks suggesting rainclouds, snow, and a sun. This mimics the United States Postal Service's motto: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
- After Big Mac's breakdown, Discord turns his ship in a bottle into Sugar Belle's cart. He uses it to save Big Mac and Sugar Belle's 'ship.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Spike teases Discord about how often he has tea with Fluttershy, Discord immediately starts talking about how much he likes tea.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Towards the end, Big Mac apologizes to Sugar Belle for his earlier break up. He then tells her if she wants to break up with him, then come what may, he'll never forget all the good times they had. However, after some talking, it turns out Sugar Belle was never going to break up with Big Mac. Still, his apology and kindliness are what mend their relationship.
- Tempting Fate: Just moments before Big Mac storms in with intention of "getting back at" Sugar Belle for 'breaking his heart', Sugar Belle tells Mrs. Cake she's glad Big Mac is such a good listener.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Supplementing the main story of Big Mac believing that Sugar Belle is planning to break up with him is a plotline where the Cutie Mark Crusaders try to find out who Sweetie Belle's secret admirer is.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Derpy's smudging of the note Big Mac wrote for Sugar Belle on the package is what leads to the events of the episode.
- Valentine's Day Episodes: Once again, another Hearts and Hooves Day episode.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: This comes into play after Big Mac breaks up with Sugar Belle on the basis of "getting back at her." Instantly, he feels horrible at what he said to Sugar Belle, especially when seeing all the other happy couples reminds him of what he gave up.
- Visual Pun:
- After initially complaining that Spike and Big Mac seem to see him as a "clown magician," Discord takes on the appearance of one after being convinced to speed-bake the pie.
- Skellinore is literally a Flat Character.
- Wingding Eyes: Big Mac gets hearts in his eyes when posting his pie to Sugar Belle, or when running toward her.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: As a literal Flat Character, Skellinore is two-dimensional, not one.
- The World Mocks Your Loss: After Big Mac tells Sugar Belle they're breaking up, he passes couple after couple enjoying Hearts and Hooves Day together.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: Discord mutters "oy vey" to himself when Big Mac starts bawling in the nightclub.
