Cheerilee licked the frosting from her plate with reckless abandon, the sweet embrace of chocolate and sugar placating her thoughts about her lack of romance. Roseluck had already cleared her own plate, and spun her fork disinterestedly atop the dish. Her eyes drifted away from the now functionally useless dishware to the rose and heart decorations around the cafe. Cheerilee winced as Roseluck's expression went from pensive to mildly annoyed and approached anger once again.
"Has it been that bad?"
"Wha-?" Rose snapped out of her reverie momentarily, before flushing, and sighing. "I'm sure you know what's going through my head. Why don't I have a special somepony?"
Cheerilee nodded. "I do understand, and I fully agree. We're both young attractive mares. And considering how everypony else seems to have hooked up today..."
Rose sighed, and pouted. "I can't bring myself eat any more of my roses today. They taste so.. bitter."
Cheerilee raised a curious eyebrow. "You're aware that that's probably ps-"
"Psychosomatic, yes, I'm aware it's all in my head." Rose grumbled. "That doesn't change the taste any."
The teacher considered her freshly tongue-washed plate in annoyance. "Normally I can handle my own emotions. I take solace in helping the foals and fillies whose special someponies didn't return their affections. But this year... even some of the more anti-social members of the class have hooked up. So I was left with my own thoughts." Her eyes drifted from the plate back up to Roseluck with a curious expression. "Why are you so angry today, anyway? I've always seen you as a more retiring type."
Rose stared at her plate, and poked at it with her fork. "I guess.. I guess I just feel even worse today because the other two members of our flower trio are enjoying Hearts and Hooves. Normally I grumble a bit about how my roses are being enjoyed by all the couples, or about how they decorate the floats. And then I can still have time with my friends. I still have ponies who I enjoy being with, and I can objectively feel that I made the holiday better with my roses. But today..." She gestured broadly. "Rose blossoms. Rose petals. All grown here in Ponyville, raised to their best color, aroma, flavor. Different colors if you want them, but red is always the most popular today. And no roses for Roseluck." She slammed her forehead into the table; the tableware clattered. "Sometimes I feel like I'm the thorn."
"Instead of the Rose?" Cheerilee tutted, reaching out to pat her fellow earth pony on the head. "So part of the problem is just not having someone to talk with. And the other part is the problem with Hearts and Hooves."
"Singles awareness day."
Cheerilee nodded. "There is of course the obvious option."
A hoof was pointed at the teacher from the still face-tabled gardener. "If you suggest we hook up, I'm going to leave the thorny branches I trim back around your house."
"I fear you misunderstand." Cheerilee grinned. "Today is the day for couples. This cafe is hardly the only place offering specials or limiting access to pairs of ponies. So, why don't we simply enjoy the rest of the day, the small parade, the dinner, as a pair? We can talk about whatever; make fun of the holiday if that's what you feel like; and simply enjoy the offers available."
Rose raised her head with a slight frown. "Take advantage of the day for personal gain? I'd never thought I'd hear you of all ponies suggesting that, Cheerilee."
Cheerilee coughed, turning away slightly. "It's this or we go home and sit, alone, waiting for the day to end."
Rose winced. "When can we get started?"
♥♥♥
The movie theatre. Under normal circumstances, it was at best moderately busy. Today? The theaters playing romantic movies were sold out until well past twilight hours. But with specials for the tickets, it was a great option for an early afternoon distraction, provided they could find something non-romantic. Cheerilee eyed the posters with 'sold out' signs over them with some trepidation. "Love in Storm Clouds, A Bushel Full of Romance, Spell of Her Heart..."
"Pandering to their audience."
"The Hearts and Hooves Day Slasher, Griffons and Gifts, Kiss of the Changeling..."
"Niche market saturation."
"Bitsy Bunny Saves Hearts and Hooves Day... I hope none of my students are rotting their brains with that cheap attempt to make them spend bits."
"It is sold out."
Cheerilee sighed, as she examined the final poster on the wall; the only poster not sporting a 'sold out' sign. "Well, it looks like our only option is Wisdom of the Forest. I can't say I've heard of it."
"It's actually pretty old, follows an exploratory team into the Everfree as they wrangle animals and collect artifacts."
"You've seen it before?"
"Two hooves up." Roseluck smiled. "Plus it doesn't look like anypony else is watching it, so we might have the theater to ourselves."
"So?"
Roseluck cackled wickedly and rubbed her hooves together. "We can commentate and not get thrown out!"
Cheerilee chuckled and rolled her eyes. She approached the ticket counter, and gestured to the rather bored colt behind it. "Two please!"
♥♥♥
Cheerilee laughed as they exited the theater, Roseluck smiling beside her. "That was the twist? Really?"
"Hey, it was a cheap movie. And you can't say you were expecting it."
"The party leader was the camera man because of a time travel artifact? Which wasn't even mentioned until the end of the movie?" Cheerilee exploded into raucous laughter again. "I thought it was pretty serious right to that point. But Miss Snarky over here..." Cheerilee chuckled at Roseluck's shameless grin.
"You can't tell me you weren't thinking it yourself. Those lines were trite and overdone. The bridging scenes between the actual animal wrangling were so painfully scripted. And the artifacts..." Roseluck grinned at Cheerilee, who failed to contain her laughter once more. "It's so bad, it's worthy of two hooves up!"
Cheerilee's laughter finally broke as she hiccuped, which earned a full laugh from Roseluck. "Per*hic*- perhaps we should check out the *hic* the parade? That's about now."
"Sure!"
♥♥♥
Cheerilee paid for a small smoothie to bury her hiccups, and stared around main street as it was made. The main thoroughfare had been cleared for the parade floats to pass through, but all the market stalls were still operating along the sides of the road. As could be expected, enterprising ponies had taken the the holiday and made game stalls with small Hearts and Hooves themed prizes. The bustle of pony bodies was nearly solid as pairs jockeyed for positions on this or that favored stall with the prize that their special somepony wanted. She couldn't help but smile as Cheery lived up to her name, as she cheered and kissed Archer on the cheek for winning her a plush heart.
"Your carrot/cherry smoothie Miss Cheerilee."
Cheerilee perked and smiled, raising a curious eyebrow at the rose petal garnish on top. "Thank you." She turned back to Rose, who had once again begun to grumble at the colorful decorations strung between lampposts, many of which appeared to have been covered in rose petals rather than simply colored in. She rolled her eyes and gave the gardener a small hip check. "If you keep frowning like that your face will get stuck that way."
Roseluck blew out a frustrated raspberry at the teacher. "I think I'm allowed to frown at the amount of roses they need each year. Couldn't they just color the decorations normally?"
"You have to admit it looks a bit better with the rose petals instead of some flat dye."
"They use almost three roses per decoration! That's just wasteful!"
Cheerilee thought about it as a teacher would, breaking it down into components. "Well how many flowers do you get per rose bush?"
Roseluck blinked, and pointed an accusatory hoof at the teacher once more. "We are not turning my annoyance into a word problem." Cheerilee offered a sheepish smile as her plans were so brutally cut short.
Cheers from further down the street and a sudden addition of band music announced the arrival of the Hearts and Hooves day parade. The pair exchanged glances as they settled onto the road sides with partial smiles. As the first wave of marching band strode by the crowd cheered. Colorful floats, most topped with happily waving couples passed in their wake. Cheerilee was surprised to note that the floats themselves followed the same pattern as the decorations, covered in colorful layers of rose petals.
It was only a small local parade, and as the last of the eight floats passed them by, Pinkie posed atop the massive heart. In her arms were two miniaturized party cannons, which she wielded with a mad grin. Applejack stared up at her from a more stable position on the flat deck of the float. The party pony cocked the two cannons, and fired. Swirls of rose petals were sent curling through the air on either side of the float. They fell gracefully around and between the audience who now cheered wildly. Couples stared at one another with blissful expressions. Curious, Cheerilee looked to Rose, who looked back at her.
Framed by the falling red petals, Roseluck stood out in stark contrast, the few vivid petals that stuck in her mane serving to emphasize her own colors. Cheerilee found herself blushing in surprise, and noted a similar color drifted onto Roseluck's cheeks. The gardener coughed slightly, looking away with a grumble. "I can't believe how many roses Pinkie must be wasting with this." Cheerilee chuckled happily.