A right lovey dovey mess

Looks like the ponies were all in on the idea. But not a single one could follow through. Not even Recurve. He could not take his eyes off Sweet's beautiful pink eyes. He's never seen anything like them. But he could also feel that Shy was trying to make a move on Sweet. This got him angry enough to punch down a wall. Not just a hole, punch the wall until it collapses. But the warm, relieving feeling of Sweet Dreams combined with his 99% unnatural love kept him from releasing any anger. He almost hated having to stay away from Sweet for that long.

Thoughts were running through his head now about him and Sweet together. He hasn't had these feelings in so long. They felt wonderful. After this, he was planning, well, a part of him was, to get together with Sweet. The majority of him was still keeping him from loving her. But his hard, dark, crystal shell was beginning to crack and all of his emotions were ready to pour out. Then he remembered that those were the dreaded feelings that the ponies who shunned him were in favor of and resembled weakness. But he still felt like a sucker for her. He was torn between loving her and continuing to hate everything and cling to the past.

All of this was shoved away from his mind when he realized the Pegasus was looking into his eyes. He clearly still wanted him, even after the rejection. He wanted to torture him with it so badly, but he knew he would keep bouncing back, under the effects of the potion. He shook his own head and pushed the stallion away from him.

"We need to be as far away from each other as possible. And I certainly want to be far away from him." He pointed towards Fireseeker, the one who couldn't keep his eyes off that nice, sleek, crystal flank that nopony could resist. Too much? I think not. "Think you guys can handle being away from each other for an hour?"

Fireseeker was caught off guard when the crystal pony pushed him away. He stumbled back a few steps, then tried to unsuccessfully shrug it off as nothing.

"Right, so, we should split into pairs then," he said in agreement with the mare.

Fireseeker still wasn't sure exactly who was in love with who, other than who he wanted to be with. He turned to the blue earth pony and said, "So, are we a couple then?"

He remained oblivious to the fact he had said "couple," as opposed to "pair."

Sweets taps Fire on the shoulder "No I believe we are" She says with a grin, to be honest she wanted to be with Shy but their goal was to say away from their "Loves" "That means that "She pushes Recurve closer to Shy "You two are a pair please try to get along alright?" Turning to Fire she smiles" Fireseeker was it? Its nice to meet you I'm Sweet Dreams"

Well, this was awkward. Recurve was A rather violent pony, from what Shy had heard. He also knew that the crystal stallion had a thing for sweet. Shy really didn't even want to be in the same postcode as him, and here he was, having to bunch up with him for an hour.

Then there was the fact that the love potion was still in effect- he was finding it harder to think about anything but Fireseeker the further away Shy was from him. He also knew they'd need ground rules.

"Alright. I guess we need to set up a few guidelines. Firstly, I suspect we'll feel incredibly unhappy bring away from each other. Therefore, I think we shouldn't know where the other group are- we go off in different directions and go someplace busy so as to not see each other by accident. How does that sound?"

Recurve hated having to be away from beloved Sweet Dreams. And in place of her have Shy Smiles... It was terrible. He wanted to just run off with her, start a new life. That would be his third life, but the first two are pretty crappy. But, if he wanted to be sane, and have Sweet love him back, he would have to do this.

He didn't like the look of this stallion. He seemed like he really wanted Sweet. But he was too shy to make a move. But shy guys usually get the mare, because they seem really cute to them. From what he could guess, neither of them had great lives. So one would have the mare and live a great life, most likely, and the other would be sad and alone. Recurve's goal was to make sure that unfortunate pony wasn't him. He nudged Shy forward, having him lead the way to a hiding spot, away from his love, and the one that loved him.

Recurve was heading off, but he just couldn't leave Sweet. He almost ran back to her, just to gaze into her eyes. But, to satisfy himself to a degree, he took a quick glance. His heart was melting. He couldn't stand leaving her. But he had to. He promised himself that in an hour, he'd be back to make her his. And that wasn't coming from the Love potion. That was his own feelings. He knew it too. It felt too great to be under the potion's effects

"Yeah, it was Fireseeker. Urm, hi. Should we go...this way?" he replied, gesturing in the opposite direction of the blue earth pony and his true love, the crystal pony. It almost physically pained him to move away with every step he took.

Fireseeker vigorously shook his head to remove the thoughts that dwelled there, to little avail. In an attempt to distract himself, he started speaking to Sweet Dreams.

"This whole potion thing is so embarrassing. I'm not even normally attracted to stallions. I'm into mares, like you."
He suddenly realised what that sounded like and quickly backtracked.
"I-I don't actually mean you. I don't like you. No, wait. I-I mean, I don't hate you, I just don't like you like you. Not that there's anything wrong with you, you seem very nice and...oh Celestia...

Fireseeker trailed off, deciding he'd embarrassed himself enough.

Sweets giggles "Its alright I understand with you mean." She says with a smile "To be honest besides taverns I'm not around Stallions much..." she says trailing off, her heart was hurting it felt like somepony was pulling at it from behind wanting for her to turn around. But Sweets took a deep breath and looked up at Fire " So Fireseeker tell me about yourself what do you do?"

Shy and Recurve walked in silence. It was pretty awkward being near a pony who was barely being civil. Still, it was only for an hour and after that they could sod the whole lark and he could go home and paint while fireseeker- Shy was trying not to think about him- could go away, along with Revurve and sweet.

He felt angry thinking about them together- Shy couldn't help himself. It was just the love potion, he told himself. And even if it isn't, she'd just leave you for anypony the moment she met somepony richer, or more handsome, or nicer. Shy really had to see somepony about these confidence issues.

Still, the fact remained he had feelings for Sweet. He had mostly pushed Fireseeker out of his mind due to his other thoughts being so strong, and he knew it was the love potion. It had to be. He decided to try and at least be reasonable with Recurve- less likely to get curb stomped that way.

"So, you see anywhere that looks like it'll eat up an hour?"

No matter what this stallion did or said, Recurve still had bad feelings about him. And he didn't know of any time consuming places. At this point, all he knew was him and Sweet Dreams should be together, and Shy was beginning to step in the way of that. He could've just killed him, but that was too easy. And Sweet didn't seem like she condoned murder, nor would it get her on his side. So he decided to be a bit more subtle, but with a bit of authority in his tone.

"Look, I know you want Sweet. I know you know I want her too. But, can you just let me have her? See, it's been ages since I've felt anything like this. I forgot how amazing it was to be liked to any degree by anypony. And this is not the potion talking, I'm sure of it. I just want to be happy again. I want to love Sweet. She's the only thing making see the errors of my old ways. Just please, let me date Sweet Dreams." He hid his face from Shy. "I don't want to be like this..." He began to tear up. "It's not my fault... It wasn't my fault... They made me this way..." He was crying. Something he thought he forgot how to do. "Don't worry about this. I don't want you to listen to my sob stories"

Fireseeker sighed in relief that Sweet didn't slap him across the muzzle. Close call that. He was also thankful that she was providing some kind of distraction for him.

"Well, I'm originally from Manehatten, but I left as soon as I could to go travelling. My talent is writing, so I have a job for a magazine," he said, "I came here to Ponyville to concentrate on my novel and find the one true love in my life. Oh, that mysterious crystal pony. What I wouldn't give to be in his hooves right now. I might go find him...

Sweet's magic surrounded Fireseeker stuggling to keep going forward "I understand how you feel but remeber it's all the potion talking!" She says as the pulling on her heart became stronger and stronger with each step. "Y-You said you were from Manehatten? S-So am I what part?"

Shy sighed. Big tough Recurve crying.

"Pal, there's a few things is like to point out. Number one: no, I don't give a damn about your sob stories to be honest. I have to put up with them from the morons from school trying to reconcile with me. Secondly, you think you're the only pony who has ever become bitter? Alone? Antisocial? The idiots at my school treated me like crap, and funnily enough I'm a bitter, antisocial, heartless ice prince. You aren't the only one with problems. Finally, I really don't see why you're begging me to let you have her when she's clearly going to go for you once the potion wears off."

He was trying to keep his voice even, but he was really getting angry.

"You angsty, mysterious ponies make me sick. You waltz in, all handsome and dark and brooding, and the mares are all over you. What about the rest of us, huh? The ones who suffer in silence, letting you lot go off with the ones we feel we like and not raise a finger to stop you. The moment you feel we're a threat, you come on the scene and cry your eyes out, like a foal who didn't get the toy he wanted."

Shy's vision was going red.

"Every single time I've had an oppurtunity to be happy, one of you comes along to mess it up, be it violently, verbally, taking my stuff. And here you are doing it all again- I see a mare I like to such a degree that it starts to break a love potion, and guess who comes along to take that from me? One. Of. You ."

"But you know what really annoys me? Me telling you all of this is completely redundant. You won't listen- none of your lot can. You'll blindly go around, taking what you want when you want it. And nothing I can say will ever change that. So go- take another chance from me. She'll be happier with you anyway.

Without another word, Shy trotted off home, knowing it was a lost cause.

Recurve wanted to stop him and try to help calm him down and show he wasn't like the ponies he was talking about, but that would be a lost cause, just like he said about him. Recurve walked away, his head hung, still tearing up. This is what he thought his life was destined to become. Sad, alone, miserable, stuck in the past, hated, untrustworthy, and a villain. That was the thing he was trying to abandon. But Shy just reassured him that there was no way he could fix it. But, at the very least, he gave up on Sweet Dreams. He wanted to run back to her so badly, but he couldn't, for the sake of himself being sane and actually loving her.

There were many places Recurve could hide. Out of all of them, he chose a dark, quiet, lonely alleyway. Just like him... He sat there, looking down, thinking about everything that he's done, and how he wanted to change it. But Shy represented everypony. They wouldn't let him change. They wouldn't hear him out. They would just keep him down in the dirt, until he eventually snapped.

While he was sulking alone, another emotion rose inside of him. A more common one for him nowadays. Anger. The tears disappeared, his sadness gone, all replaced with rage and hatred. The emotions he was forced to feel by those damn Crystal Ponies he lived with his entire childhood. The emotions that he was driven to after the accident, after everypony shunned him, after they all made stories and lies about what had happened, after they turned the entire Crystal Empire against him.

He was so enraged, you could almost see literal fire in his eyes. Every bit of sadness faded, and rage coursed through his body. He got up, and stormed over to Shy's house. Out of everypony who would suffer his rage, Shy would be the first, and get the worst of it.

On his way there, he shoved many ponies out of the way, glaring at them, hitting them, just like he did before the love potion incident. He had no regard for anypony. He made it to Shy's residence. He knew because he could see him through the window. Oh, the terrible things running through Recurve's mind right now. Even disappearing wouldn't keep this poor stallion safe from his wrath. He knocked on the door, almost knocking it down. This shy stallion is going to have Hell to pay for what he did to Recurve, and Lucifer was standing right outside his door

Fireseeker felt a magical grip on him, forcing him to keep walking. Of course Sweet was right. It was the love potion making him feel this. He would have to ask that vendor for a refund...
He told himself to focus on the distractions of conversation.

"South of Centrot Park, among the average kind of housing area," replied Fireseeker, shrugging. "It was ok, I guess. Not in the slums, but certainly not up with the elite. What about you?"

Sweets chuckled "Oh i lived right in the middle of the slums in a place called "BlackWood Orphanage" She says with a smile "after that i lived in with a family in the Elite area for a few years before i left on my travels, now I'm just a simple storyteller and performer."

Shy heard a banging on the door. He half expected this- you tell one of those morons to get their damned act together and they respond with violence. Simpletons.

He debated for a moment over what to do. He felt weirdly empty. He supposed this was what lost hope was. Or the love potion wearing off. Either way, he didn't exactly feel peachy. And what exactly would Recurve do? A sadist would do it slowly and agonisingly, taking his sweet time. Argh, don't think that word......

Recurve never struck Shy as a sadist however. This would be a blind rage. The simple, idiotic cretin. He acted by emotion. Shy let those go years ago, around the time Dad died. Sigh. Dad. That stallion was the only pony Shy could trust. Mum was perfectly nice, but almost too nice. All doting and smothering. He missed her though- that showed she at least cared about him. Still, they both had to go and die! That's what everypony does! They leave! Leave you all alone to be savaged by an angry crystal pony!

Shy sighed and went to the door. He would stand his ground. He opened up, looked Recurve over and knew his suspicions were correct. He laughed. He felt almost.... Relieved. A way out, from this existence? Result! He looked Recurve right in the eyes, saw the fire and said;

"Pal, do what you will. I can't stop you. But would you really benefit from this? Sweet would just LOVE you when you brained me against my own door and decorated the walls with my organs. I'll say it again, one last time. You think you're the only pony who's ever felt bitter and alone? Be a Stallion and take it. That's what I did. And I broke free of this cycle of monotony- this society. Isolation is key."

"So, with that said....do it. I'm not even sure I don't want you to."

Recurve looked at the stallion. His thoughts of anger were starting to fade, and he was beginning to actually think. What he said was true. Sweet would hate Recurve if she found out he murdered another pony. And a pony she most likely had interest in. He let go of his thoughts of murder, and just looked at Shy. He had a point, just taking all the pain. But he didn't want to end up like Shy. He didn't want to become him. He wanted to be happy, nice, like he used to be. Not isolated from everypony, like he already was.

"You have a point Shy... But, I don't want to become a pony like you who closes himself off from the world. And what you said about the dark and brooding thing? I don't want that. My history is awful. And I don't intend to use it as some cheap advantage to getting mares. Trust me, that's the last thing I wanted. I'm just trying to get ponies to see the good in me. Trying to forget what happened. You think I want to keep that hidden in my mind?"

He stepped back, and took a deep breath, realizing this would get him nowhere. Shy didn't seem like an easily convinced stallion

"I don't know why I'm bothering to tell you this either. Not like YOU would listen. Just like everypony else. So go back into your house, and sit there by yourself, slowly eating yourself away with your thoughts. I'll be on my own, trying to resolve them."

He stormed off, oblivious to Shy. He tried not to walk in Sweet's direction. He was drifting towards her, but pulled himself away, back to the Marketplace. Maybe some food will take his mind off of all this. He was getting a bit hungry from being so frustrated. At least his thoughts of murdering Shy went away. Now he can focus on winning over Sweet Dreams

"Oh..." muttered Fireseeker, rather surprised at hearing about BlackWood Orphanage. He did remember a few orphanages in Manehatten and had even been in one. It had seemed like a depressing place then and he still thought so now.

But he suddenly picked up on the later part of what Sweet had said.
"A storyteller? So, you tell stories and I write them. What kind do you like telling best? I love tales of adventure.

"To be honest I do enjoy a good adventure story, but my favorite kind are stories of friendship and hope" She says blushing "Does that seem silly to you?' Sweets was always a little sad when ponies always asked for her adventure stories, but it brought in the bits so she so started looking up many in her spare time.

Shy laughed. Laughed. He laughed harder than he had ever laughed before. He sounded hysterical, shrieking. After he finally calmed down, he actually thought a bit over what Recurve had said. Closes himself off to the world? Was that not the best thing he could do? Whatever the case, at least Recirve got his act together. Shy was taken aback when he thought about that. He'd had a positive affect on another pony? He had to admit, that was alien to Shy.

He sighed, and went up to his bed to lie down. He thought about everything that had been done, been said to him. He couldn't get this mess of thoughts in order, so he took a nap to clear it.

Shy stood in a clear white room. There was another Stallion opposite him, smiling. He was drinking some tea and looking almost....proud? Satisfied? Something like that. The weird part about this pony was he looked identical to Shy, except his mane and coat were a lot cleaner and cut more neatly. He looked at Shy and held out a teacup.

"We need to talk." The pony said.
"Who are you?" Asked Shy, ignoring the statement.
"Well, I'm you. But not you. I'm what you could have been, could still be. Look at yourself- you've been beating yourself up about every little negative thing that's ever happened to you. You sit at home, moping over mistakes others forgave long ago. You need to clean up your-"

That was as far as he got before Shy snakes right in the face, sending him staggering.
"Argh! Why'd you-"
Another punch, this time to the teeth.
"Look, I'm here to-
Third smack, right in the chops.
"Do you think I need help? Do I LOOK like I need help? You seem to think I stay in the house because I'm a bit sad. That is the most narrow minded, simplistic little theory I've ever heard. I stay home because I WANT to. Not because I mope, but because I hate every single pony out there. They're all the same. They follow a leader, a Shepard. They go along with whatever they're told to out of their stupidity. So I cut myself off- left them to their own thing. I could have been you, but I'm me, and while that might not be the happiest me, it's the one I need to be." Shy explained, rather calmly.

Recurve stole an apple at one of the market stands, as he did the love potion earlier that day. That brought Sweet right back into his memory. He was so tempted to go running back. He had to resist. He was grunting and struggling in front of everypony. It looked very awkward and strange, but he couldn't focus on them. He was too busy pulling himself in the direction opposite of Sweet Dreams and Fireseeker. He almost started bolting towards her. He managed to pull himself away, and ran back to his house, to shield himself from everypony.

He bolted through the door and hopped on his couch, trying to make himself comfortable. Trying to remove all of the thoughts of Sweet, Shy, and his past. He lied down and stared at the ceiling. Eventually, he fell asleep. At least he didn't have to think in his sleep...

Recurve found himself back in the Crystal Empire, to the time where his fate came upon him. The day of the accident. Recurve was a young foal, lining up his shot to the target. Everypony was crowding around him in amazement from the impressive shots he had before. He was feeling great. Then, a young mare and stallion wandered near the range and ended up with an arrow between them. All of the ponies stared at him, like he meant to hurt them. Recurve ran back to his house and hid in his room, crying his eyes out.

The next morning, when he rose from his bed, things seemed odd. His parents weren't greeting him like they would most mornings. He was a bit worried, so he went to talk to his friends. They all acted like he didn't exist. He went to his favorite fruit salad vendor, the owner wouldn't speak to him. He later found out everypony was shunning him for what had happened the other day. Everywhere he went, the ponies were either mocking him or ignoring him. Even his best friends and family were in on it. They were calling him brutal, evil, villainous, some went as far as to label him the Son of Discord.

Several years of feeling these pains finally made him snap. The crystal colt they used to know and love was now gone. He was replaced with the beast they thought he was for years. Ponies tortured him, he tortured right back. Called him names, he ruined them. He was getting his revenge on those damned Crystal Ponies. It felt great. Almost like everything they said about him became his future.

He was trotting about, making everypony's lives miserable, having a joyous time doing so. Then, there was a bright light, a shine. He looked to see Sweet Dreams trotting over the hill towards him. He trotted towards her, happier than he's ever been. The mare he held dear to his heart was right in front of him, coming towards him. He met her halfway and closed his eyes to hold her in his arms, but he felt nothing. He opened his eyes to see Sweet Dreams had vanished.

He snapped awake and sat up on the couch. He looked around to see that he was in his house, and not back in the Crystal Empire. He had a quick sigh of relief, then began to cry, remembering what happened and how the dream was him reliving the worst moment of his life. He held his face in his hooves, crying his eyes out, like he did many years ago. He wished Sweet Dreams was there, to hopefully comfort him in this time of need. But all he had was himself. All alone. Like always...

Fireseeker grinned at Sweet, chuckling a little. In fact, if it wasn't for the pains he was feeling for not being near the nameless crystal pony he felt so strongly for, he would go as far to say that when she blushed, it was kind of cute.

"No, that doesn't seem silly at all," he replied assuringly, "Considering everypony wants friendship...and love..."

Sweet smiled a little "Well most do anyway" Suddenly a noise like a growling animal ripped though the air "Hehe....maybe we should stop for something to eat...im sure it will be time to go back when we are finished....that is if its alright with you?" She asked with hope in her voice. Truth was she needed to stop moving the pain was getting almost to strong for her to bear.

"I couldn't care less about them. They could all Rot for all I care. You aren't me- you are an ignorant, stupid little idiot. I'd ratherdie than become you!" Shy hissed.

"You've contemplated death though, haven't you? You were almost relieved when you thought Recurve was going to kill you. Face it pal, you want to die. Why don't you?"

The clone's face was now evil, demonic. It was everything negative Shy could have been- psychotic, sadistic. Shy was suddenly in chains and couldn't move. The clone moved towards him, slowly creepily.

Shy woke up in a sweat.

Recurve kept crying and crying. He cried for ten minutes straight. At least it killed some time between him seeing Sweet again. But he couldn't take it anymore. The loneliness was almost too much to bear. He cleaned off the tears, got up, and walked out the door, looking for Sweet.

He knew he couldn't look into Sweet's eyes, so he took a bandanna he wore once when he was vandalizing a few shops and wrapped it around his eyes. Like he said, can't look into her eyes. He looked like an idiot, and he bumped into quite a few things on the way, but he managed to find her. His heart was leading him straight to her. He was calling her name half of the way there.

"Sweet? Sweet?! Sweet Dreams?" He couldn't find her anywhere. But he remembered her sweet scent and eventually caught up with her. He could feel the Pegasus there too. But he couldn't care for him. He just wanted Sweet.

"Oh Sweet, I'm glad I found you. I couldn't stand another second alone. That Shy guy is a real jerk, and I needed somepony to talk too. And... and, aside from the effects of the love potion, I may have some feelings for you. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He pointed to the blindfold. He didn't know what exactly was going on, since he couldn't see anything