That morning, Twinken met up with Rumble and Button Mash outside of the schoolhouse, which was already abuzz because of the day.
“Hey guys, got plans for today?”

“Kinda,” Rumble said with a shrug, Button saying, “We’re gonna give some Hearts & Hooves Day gifts to…”

They both blushed and squirmed a bit, Twinken chuckling.
“Who is it, come on, tell me!”

“Only if you promise not to laugh or tell anypony,” Rumble insisted, Button nodding in agreement.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twinken Pinkie-Promised.

Rumble and Button invited him into a huddle as they then respectively admitted their crushes.
“Scootaloo.”
“Sweetie Belle.”

“That’s cool,” Twinken replied with a smile. “I think it’s nice to have a special somepony.”

“You’re not gonna laugh?” Button was bewildered.

“Why would I?” Twinken asked rhetorically, “If you have feelings for somepony, you shouldn’t let anypony make you feel ashamed of them.”

“Y’know what, Twink? You’re right!” Rumble pulled on a determined look. “Before Hearts & Hooves Day ends, I am gonna confess my feelings for Scootaloo!”

“I’m gonna do the same with Sweetie Belle!” Button added. Then he asked, “Hey Twinken, have you seen the girls? They’re usually some of the first to get here before the bell rings.”

“Actually, the girls were over at my house bright n’ early,” Twinken informed them. “I saw them take a bunch of arts n’ crafts stuff to the clubhouse but didn’t ask what they were up to.”

“Prob’ly making stuff for Hearts & Hooves Day,” Rumble suggested, “it only comes once a year after all.”

“Hey isn’t that them?” Button pointed down the path, and they looked to see it was the girls.

“Yeah, but what’s that they’re bringing with them?” Twinken wondered aloud.

Whatever it was, it was big, and they were carrying it on a little red wagon, being quite careful. Twinken gestured his friends to follow and they went over, him saying, “Hey girls, what’cha got there?”

“It’s a present for Miss Cheerilee for Hearts & Hooves Day!” Scootaloo looked giddy.

“But we kinda… made it bigger than we intended and…” Sweetie Belle shrugged, Apple Bloom adding, “Since we couldn’t just stick it in an envelope, we have t’ lug it all th’ way t’ school!”

“Well, I‘m sure Miss Cheerilee will like it,” Twinken assured them.

Soon enough, the girls had presented their gift to their teacher in the classroom and the boys were blown by how big it was. It was a giant heart, easily taller than even Big Macintosh, bordered with lace, colored pink, glittered all sparkly, patterned with hoofprints, and ribbons added in strategic places.

“Does anypony else think they went overboard?” Rumble whispered to him.
“It’s the girls, of course they went overboard,” Twinken reminded him with a look that read 'are you seriously asking me that'.
“Well, I can’t tell you how overboard I went to get this game for Sweetie Belle,” Button whispered, holding out a wrapped gift, likely a game cartridge.

“Alright everypony!”

They, along with their classmates, looked to Cheerilee as she announced, “Who’s ready to play ‘Pin the Hoof on the Pony’?”

While the class got excited, the boy shrugged and went over to see the girls, who were already talking.

“Tha’ is th’ best idea ever!” Apple Bloom said as she and Scootaloo beamed at Sweetie Belle.

“What is?”

They regarded the boys, Sweetie Belle explaining, “Oh guys, you’re just in time to help us. We’re gonna find Miss Cheerilee a special somepony for Hearts & Hooves Day!”

“But you already gave her a gift,” Rumble reminded them.
“And besides, we…” Button trailed off, looking shy.

“You what, Button?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Uh… nothing, gotta go!” Button was gone with the sound of ‘kapwing!’

“Button come back!” Twinken and Rumble shouted as they ran after him.

Even though the party at school wasn’t over, today was a holiday. The students weren’t exactly obligated to stay the whole day, the party had been optional with all the students invited.

But as they walked around town, looking for their friend, Twinken and Rumble worried.
“It seems Button got cold hooves,” Twinken brought up.

“Ya think?” Rumble gave him a raised eyebrow. “So where’d he go?”

Then it hit them as they both deadpanned, “The arcade.”

The local arcade was one of the boys’ favorite hangouts, particularly for Button Mash. Oftentimes, if Twinken or Rumble didn’t know where their friend was, they usually found him at the arcade. Upon arrival, they heard a very familiar yelling.
“What? No, no! NO!!! Sweetie Beeeeeeellllee! Uh-huh-huh-huh! Six hours wasted! Uh-huh...”

They saw him, predictably bawling onto a game console, the game asking in its electronic voice ‘Do you wanna play again?’

They went over, Button just wiping his tears as he held up a bit, whining, “O-k…”

“Oh no you don’t!” Twinken levitated the bit away from the coin-slot, Button saying, “Hey!”

“Why’d you take off like that?” Twinken asked, Button’s defiance deflating, Rumble going over and patting their friend on the back understandably.

“It’s okay, bud,” Rumble assured him. “Lot’s of ponies have a little trouble confessing their feelings.”

“Not you,” Button’s ears drooped. “You weren’t nervous at all about confessing to Scootaloo. Sorry I distracted you from that…”

“Honestly, Button, I’m a bit relieved I got side-tracked by you,” Rumble admitted. “I was acting cool but inside my heart was starting to pound so hard I was scared Scootaloo would hear it!”

“Why don’t we go see Big Mac?” Twinken suggested. “He and Fluttershy are close, perhaps he’ll have some advice!”

The colts got to the farm and found Big Mac unloading some haybales from his wagon.
“Hi Big Mac!”

“Howdy boys,” Big Mac greeted them but noticed the looks on their faces. “Wha’s got y’all down?”

“Since it's Hearts & Hooves Day, Rumble and Button were gonna confess their feelings to their crushes today at the party at school,” Twinken explained.
“Button had second thoughts and took off, so we went looking for him instead.”

“We were hoping, since you and Fluttershy are so close,” Rumble brought up, “that maybe you’d have some advice for us! Me and Button really want for Scoots and Sweetie Belle to be our special someponies but…”

Big Mac chuckled in understanding.
“Sure thing haystacks. By th’ way, do any y’all know wha’ th’ girls are doin' t’day? Ah saw `em by th’ haybale pile in town and they asked me if’n Ah was doin’ anything for Hearts & Hooves Day.”

“Are you?” Twinken asked.

“Nnope, Fluttershy is,” Big Mac explained, “Flutters told me yesterday that Ah’ve done so much f’her lately tha’ she wants t’ do sumthin’ special for me on Hearts & Hooves Day!”

The boys shared a wary look.

They boys lent Big Mac a helping hoof before going inside to have a drink after having worked up a sweat. Granny Smith poured them each a nice glass of chilled applejuice, as they discussed their plans for Rumble and Button to confess their feelings to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

“Maybe if we get them in a nice pretty spot in the park,” Twinken suggested.

“In the same place?” Rumble asked with a raised brow. “Wouldn’t it be weird for us to confess to Scoots and Sweetie at the same time and place?”

“I’m not too sure I’m comfortable with that either,” Button agreed.

“But maybe confessing together will make it easier,” Twinken debated when in walked Midnight, wiping his brow and hanging a pair of welding goggles onto a coatrack.

“Hey everypony,” he sighed as he took a seat.

“Busy in the workshop, big brother?” Twinken asked.

“Yeah, this project I’m working on isn’t getting anywhere,” Midnight leaned onto the table, holding his head up with his hooves.
“I thought I’d try and make some kind of converter that absorbs ambient emotional energy and turn it into power. However, the gems I used aren’t getting squat.”

“Well, Rumble and Button are having girl troubles,” Twinken informed him, Midnight giving them a curious look.
“Rumble and Button wanted to confess their feelings to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at the Hearts & Hooves Day party at school today, but they got cold hooves, and right now, the girls seem to be trying to play match-maker between Cheerilee and Big Mac.”

“Don’t they know Mac’s already with Fluttershy?” Midnight inquired.

“Apparently not,” Rumble stated when they noticed Big Mac headed for the door.

“Hey dude, where ya goin’?” Midnight hollered to him.

“Th’ girls asked me t’ fix up the gazebo,” Big Mac replied. “Ah’m jus’ gonna grab muh toolbox in th’ shed and head over.”

“Okay, see ya later,” Midnight waved when he gasped.

”Did you say a love potion?” asked Sweetie Belle as she and her friends laid at the hooves of Twilight Sparkle.

“That’s right, it even has the recipe,” Twilight showed them the page in a book.

“I… don’t suppose we can borrow that book from you, do ya?” asked Sweetie, the girls all pulling hopeful smiles.

“Of course you can,” Twilight said as she levitated the book to them.”

…Midnight? Are you okay?”

“Huh, what th-” Midnight shook away the fog in his mind and found himself on his back on the kitchen floor, the boys standing around him looking concerned.

“You gasped and fell off your chair,” Twinken worried, Button adding, “You were out for almost an hour!”

“An hour?!” Midnight suddenly Flashed out of there.

“Where’d he go?” Rumble asked, and nopony answered.

Midnight ran through Ponyville, frantic with worry.
Oh I hope I’m not too late!

He searched a couple more minutes when he finally saw her, just leaving a magazine kiosk.
“Twilight!”

She stopped and turned to see Midnight screeching to a halt in front of her, looking panicky.

“Oh hey, Midnight, what’s the rush?” she asked in a neighborly way. “I was just getting this week’s issue of-”

“Twilight!” Midnight interrupted, “Please tell me you didn’t give anything to the Cutie-Mark Crusaders!”

“Well, I just gave them this book about Hearts & Hooves Day,” Twilight admitted. “What’s the problem?”

“Twilight! The girls are gonna play match-maker, with Big Mac and Cheerilee!”

As the truth of the girls’ inquiry about the book and the recipe for the love potion inside dawned on her, Twilight’s eye suddenly started twitching but Midnight shook her by the shoulders.
“Focus! How long ago did you give them the book?”

“Uh, maybe about… a half-hour?” Twilight guessed.

“Oh, they may have already completed it!” Midnight looked like he had hot-hooves as he worried.
“We have to stop them before they serve that potion to Mac and Cheerilee!”

“Okay, calm down, uh… The recipe requires a tuft of cloud, a rainbow’s glow, and a pegasus feather to stir it!” Twilight recalled when another fact hit her. “Oh, but with Scootaloo they’ll be able to get it all!”

“Okay, I’m gonna try a spell to track `em, lemme concentrate,” Midnight closed his eyes and focused. Twilight sensed the flow of mana swirling around Midnight as his senses stretched in search of the girls or even Big Mac and Cheerilee. His eyes snapped open.
“They’re at the park!”

Without warning, he grabbed Twilight and Flashed to the park, and saw Big Mac and Cheerilee standing at a picnic… with two glasses of a magenta liquid in their hooves!

“To good friends,” Cheerilee toasted as she and Mac clinked the glasses together.

“STOOOOOOOOPPP!!!”

They both startled as the glasses were levitated from their hooves and saw it was Midnight and Twilight doing it, looking relieved as they panted.

“AW, COME ON!”

They all looked to see an annoyed Sweetie Belle in the bushes before Scootaloo popped up and pulled her back into the shrubbery. Midnight and Twilight’s eyes furrowed and Midnight's horn glowed as a blue flame suddenly ignited and burned up the bush, revealing the three fillies who all looked like they’d gotten caught with their hooves stuck in the cookie jar.

“Girls…!” Midnight said with a warning rise of his tone before gesturing them to come forward. The look on his face told them it was not an invitation as they nervously approached.
“Y’wanna tell Big Mac and Cheerilee exactly what you just tried to trick them into drinking?”

Big Mac and Cheerilee then pulled their own stern faces, looking expectantly at the fillies, Cheerilee prompting, “Well?”

“It’s… a love potion,” Sweetie Belle admitted, Scootaloo suddenly pointing a hoof at her, yelling, “It was Sweetie’s idea!”
“Ah weren’t so sure `bout this!” Apple Bloom added. “Ah jus’ went along!”
“Hey!” Sweetie Belle snapped at them for selling her out.

“I don’t care whose idea it was!” Midnight snapped them quiet.

“You girls should be ashamed of yourselves,” Twilight admonished. “Forcing two ponies to love each other, however well-intentioned you may think it might be, is wrong. Love cannot be created by magic, only by true and sincere caring for another! In fact, love potions are prohibited magic because they cause trouble and the feelings they invoke are not real.”

“And you can think about your actions while you’re all doing Big Mac’s chores at Sweet Apple Acres,” Cheerilee decided, before asking Big Mac, “Does that seem fair to you?”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said while giving his little sister and her friends the stink-eye before holding out his arm towards the path, commanding, “March.”

The fillies shamefully started walking, Big Mac following, to Sweet Apple Acres while Cheerilee talked with Twilight and Midnight.
“Thank you so much for saving us from that, you two. I should’ve realized the girls wouldn’t leave the matter alone. Earlier today, I told them I didn’t have a special somepony for Hearts & Hooves Day, and for some reason they chose Big Mac.”

“I’m just glad we prevented what might have happened,” Midnight said with a sigh. “Fluttershy would’ve been devastated if she thought Big Mac had dumped her.”

“I’m so sorry, Cheerilee,” Twilight added. “I’m the one who gave them the book with the love potion recipe in it. I thought they were just curious about Hearts & Hooves Day!”

“It’s alright, Twilight,” Cheerilee assured her. “Now, I’m going to go look into the girls and discuss things further.”

As Cheerilee left, Midnight and Twilight sighed in relief.
“I’m so glad that worked out okay,” Midnight wiped his brow.
“Y’know, all that excitement kinda made me thirsty,” Twilight brought up.
“Here,” Midnight levitated a glass of juice to her. “To another disaster averted.”

They clinked their glasses together and sipped. But suddenly, a horrible thought crossed Twilight’s mind.
“Wait a second… what did we just drink?”

Midnight’s eyes widened in realization but before he could answer…
*Burp*
*Hic*

Midnight and Twilight had respectively burped and hiccupped a pink bubble each, the both of them floating until they touched and formed a heart and they started into each other’s eyes.

“Uh-oh…!”

Next Chapter: 78. Hearts & Hooves Day - Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 88 Hours, 7 Minutes