A right lovey dovey mess

"Alright," Fireseeker nodded in agreement, "Food sounds good. We could-"

He was cut off by a sudden shouting of an angelic voice. Looking around, he spotted the source; the crystal pony. Fireseeker's wings uncontrollably flared out as he saw the stallion of his dreams. Everythign about him was perfect, from the way his mane seemed to float around his head to the shiny sparkles of his coat to his-

Something was wrong. His eyes were covered by a blindfold. Fireseeker wanted to see those eyes. Losing control of himself, he leapt onto the crystal pony, shouting, "Let me see those beautiful red eyes!"

Sweet had blinked and giggled at the sight of Recurve, that is right before she was knocked aside yelping softly as she hit the ground.

Looking up she sees Fireseeker pounce on Recurve, she knew she must act fast or this whole hour would mean nothing. Her horn lights up as she tries to pull Fire off him 'Fire snap out of it!" She says finally able to pull him off, looking into his eyes she saw nothing but hearts,

Sweets did the only thing she could think of, she raised her hoof and sent it across Fireseekers cheek with enough force to turn his head to the side. Some ponies stopped to watch the scene as Sweet Dreams panted before realizing what she had just done, She had just smacked Fireseeker,she had just hit another pony.

Her hoof stung as she stammered out her apology "Oh my gosh I-I'm so s-sorry! I d-didn't mean to!!" She says looking down her mane now covering her eyes, Fireseeker must hate her right now of course he hated her she had just hit him after all.

Feeling the stares of many ponies on her back she blinked back the tears that started to well up in her eyes and looked up at Fireseeker "P-Please don't h-hate me" she said still on the verge of tears.

Shy lay in bed, panting like a dog. He was trying to get his thoughts together, but that dream just helped to mix it all up. He had no idea what he was feeling- he supposed it was a mix of hopelessness, jealously, fear, regret.....

Need I go on?

He got out of bed and trotted to the kitchen. A daisy sandwich would help out. He thought of Sweet a little. His feelings for that Pegasus were gone- he guessed the hour was up. He felt....empty. He'd given up on ever getting Sweet Dreams to like him. As he'd thought time and again, Recurve was a dark, mysterious stallion any mare would at least admire. And who was shy? A small, quiet uninteresting pony who anypony would just ignore.

As he ate the sandwich, his mind cleared up a bit more. He supposed he was at a crossroads. He could go out there, socialise, get some friends. Maybe even reconcile with Recurve. Maybe he'd turn out to have half a brain cell after all. Then he'd get closer to Sweet. But Recurve would always be there. But them again, what did that other mare once plead at him?

Coat had tears in her eyes now. "Look, we're sorry! What do we have to do for you to forgive us all and..... and.... let us be together? Not even romantically, as much as I want it to be! Just as friends!"

It was scary though. He would get over this feeling- he'd simply lost a mare. He'd get over it. These ponies were all idiots anyway. Argh!

This was so confusing. So Shy did the only thing he could really think to do. He started breaking things. Paintings, furniture, didn't matter. All shy wanted to do was destroy, silence all the clones screaming at him until all was silent.

Shy lay in bed, panting like a dog. He was trying to get his thoughts together, but that dream just helped to mix it all up. He had no idea what he was feeling- he supposed it was a mix of hopelessness, jealously, fear, regret.....

Need I go on?

He got out of bed and trotted to the kitchen. A daisy sandwich would help out. He thought of Sweet a little. His feelings for that Pegasus were gone- he guessed the hour was up. He felt....empty. He'd given up on ever getting Sweet Dreams to like him. As he'd thought time and again, Recurve was a dark, mysterious stallion any mare would at least admire. And who was shy? A small, quiet uninteresting pony who anypony would just ignore.

As he ate the sandwich, his mind cleared up a bit more. He supposed he was at a crossroads. He could go out there, socialise, get some friends. Maybe even reconcile with Recurve. Maybe he'd turn out to have half a brain cell after all. Then he'd get closer to Sweet. But Recurve would always be there. But then again, what did that other mare once plead at him?

"Look, we're sorry! What do we have to do for you to forgive us all and..... and.... let us be together? Not even romantically, as much as I want it to be! Just as friends!"

It was scary though. He would get over this feeling- he'd simply lost a mare. He'd get over it. These ponies were all idiots anyway. Argh!

This was so confusing. So Shy did the only thing he could really think to do. He started breaking things. Paintings, furniture, didn't matter. All shy wanted to do was destroy, yelling at the top of his lungs, silence all the voices screaming at him until all was silent.

Recurve was happy to hear Sweet's giggling, but then he was pounced on by the Pegasus. He tried to pull of his blindfold and ruin everything, just to look at his red eyes most ponies are terrified of. Then he felt him getting taken off and hurt a loud smack. Then Sweet was crying and apologizing. He put one and two together and guessed that Sweet slapped Fireseeker and she either felt bad or was mortified, or both. The last thing she said 'Please don't hate me' sounded all too familiar to Recurve. He said that many times when he was a colt. Out of sympathy, he got up and hugged Sweet.

"I certainly don't hate you. I never will. I... I.. l-... It's hard for me to say it, I'm sorry. " He hugged a bit tighter. He felt a little bit of his wanting for Sweet Dreams disappear, which must've meant the potion wore off. He knew the rest was purely his own emotion. He pulled off the blindfold and gazed into Sweet's beautiful eyes.

"Hour's up. But I still love you. I don't know if you feel the same for me. I doubt you do. Probably more interested in the other two." He could tell the other ponies were making Sweet a bit uncomfortable, and it did Recurve too. So he gave his glare with those vicious, beaming red eyes and they all dispersed. Then he gave his full attention back to Sweet Dreams. He took a very deep breath and looked straight into her eyes, growing a smile and blushing until his face was the color of an apple

"I... I love you." He wanted to move in for a kiss. But he didn't want to rush it and ruin everything

Fireseeker was moments away from bliss...when a strong and solid hoof came out of nowhere and smacked him across the face.

His head whipped to the side and he went limp, frozen in a standing position over the crystal pony. Then he very slowly toppled over onto the ground. For a moment, he saw only black and the sound of mumbled voices that he couldn't make out.

When he regained his vision, Fireseeker felt a throbbing pain in the side of his head. He lay on the ground, holding a hoof to his aching head. Looking up he saw Sweet facing the crystal pony...who he really didn't like.

Wait, didn't like? The potion must have worn off. He would of cheered in joy had his head not felt like it was going to split in two.

Sweets blinked as she felt Recurve hug her, looking up at him she blushed at how close they were almost kissing distance. Her eyes widened as he pulled off his blindfold but blinked when he said the hour was up. Now that he menched it the pulling on her heartstrings was gone as was her mad love for Shy Smiles, Sweets blushed as Recurve starts to confess his feelings to her and as she stared into his firey red eyes and she realized that maybe just maybe she had feelings for him too. But before she could say anything she heard a slight groan, looking over she sees Fireseeker on the ground holding his head, she had never ment to hit him that hard. "A-Are you alright?" She asks with concern in her voice

Shy was screaming, smashing everything he owned. He had no idea what to do, where he was, even who he was. He wanted everything away- just let it all fade away to dust.

He saw out of the windows while he was breaking them that the neighbours were staring at him. They then either backed away into their homes or flew off. He didn't care- he just wanted to break everything, smash it all, erase himself from existence. Like he was never there. He had been treated like hell sure, but the ponies who had done him wrong had tried to fix it, to reconcile...and he pushed them all away. He had caused suffering. Had he ever done anything of use? He had hurt, enraged, even assaulted ponies who tried to befriend him. He was a monster- he didn't deserve any of this. All this paint and furniture! It all had to go!

But as he made his way upstairs, he realised he was running out of things to destroy. He continued to smash everything- he broke the windows with a coat stand, which he then snapped in half. He took the paintings off the wall and ripped them to shreds. Finally, he came to the bedroom. He took the doors off the wardrobe and stamped on the rest of it. He jumped on the bed, breaking all the planks and such, before coming to the dresser. He was about to smash it, when he saw something. A picture. He picked it up, and saw a picture of a small colt, with a red mane and cobalt coat, with piercing green eyes. He saw a Middle Aged, grey coated and blue maned unicorn stallion and an earth pony mare with a yellow coat and turquoise mane looking happily at the camera, the colt in the middle and the other two behind him. Mum and Dad, his adopted parents.

Shy stared at the picture for about a minute, his mind blank. Then one emotion took over- grief.

He hasn't felt like this in his entire life. Shy was upset about their deaths, but had assured himself at least they were always beside him in spirit. That was incorrect. They had left him. Everypony had left him. WHY DID THEY HAVE TO LEAVE!?!?

Shy curled up on the floor, picture held close to his chest while he cried in silence.

This was the perfect moment. Recurve was winning his mare over. But the romance was cut short by the Pegasus. Normally, he would've laughed or ignored him. But he could feel his old softer and nicer side coming out as a side affect from falling in love. Plus he didn't want to look like a jerk in front of Sweet. He wasn't going to screw up possibly his one chance at love. He rushed over to Fireseeker, trying to help him too.

"Are you okay? Anything I can do to help?"

He wasn't great at treating injuries. He was better at causing them. So he didn't know what exactly to do when a pony gets hit in the head that hard. He decided to step back and let Sweet tend to him for the most part. He would be on the side if she needed any assistance

Feeling a little shaky, Fireseeker was happy for the assistance of the others as he made his way onto his hooves.

"I'll live," he replied, trying to crack a little smile at Sweet and failing, "That was a good hit, I'll give you that..."

He trailed off when he realised that with the potion's effects gone, he had acted like a complete and utter fool. Fireseeker awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, trying to address the crystal pony without making eye contact.

"Hey, sorry for how I was acting and everything. It wasn't easy to control so I'm sorry...oh wow, I don't even know you name..."

Sweets walked over to Fireseeker "You are most certainly not fine! Now hold still" She takes Fires head gently in her hooves looking for any damage, after looking for a minute she couldn't find anything. "Well it seems like I didn't crack your skull open" She half joked, but in truth seeing Fire like this made her even more guilty about hitting him "Maybe we should find some place to sit...and maybe well could still have some lunch?"

Shy simply lay there, perfectly still. His tears had dried up- he didn't think he'd ever cry like that. Then again he wasn't really thinking at all. He just lay there, mind blank.

He vaguely registered the sound of ponies coming up the path. Quite a lot of them two- about 10 shy guessed. They would have knocked on the door but it was ripped off the hinges and crushed into planks.

Leading the group was a grey pony unicorn. He cautiously stuck his head in the door, looking around. He saw utter chaos- they pony who lived there was very quiet, so the racket and screaming the passers by had heard was a natural cause for concern.

"Hello? Are you OK in there Shy?" The Pegasus called.

After getting no answer, the Pegasus went further into the house. He didn't think one pony could cause all this- the furniture was in pieces, paintings were ripped, paints were strewn all over the carpets and walls, and even the walls themselves had a couple of dents in them. He lookked everywhere on the ground floor and basement for Shy- he vaguely knew him, never really spoke but he saw the name on the letterbox when he'd tried to introduce himself to the quiet stallion.

Satisfied he wasn't in the basement or ground floor, he only had upstairs to look. The other ponies were simply standing outside, waiting for the Pegasus to come back.

As the Pegasus climbed the steps, he became aware of how quiet it was. The pony who lived here wasn't loud, but he still could make sounds. The Pegasus looked through all the rooms, seeing similar destruction to what he had seen downstairs. He came to the final room, the bedroom, and saw the pony he was looking for lying on the floor, motionless. Oh no.

The Pegasus quickly roiled the pony over, and saw he was alive. Completely emotionless, but alive. He stared into space, but the eyes moved and he was breathing lightly, so he seemed medically fine.

"Er...are you...ok?" The Pegasus asked.

No response. All shy did was lie there, clutching a photo. The Pegasus tried to remove it but Shy had a surprisingly strong grip. He wouldn't let it go, but didn't speak or even give any indication he was aware of the Pegasus' presence. The Pegasus picked Shy up, carried him down the stairs and out of the house. He carried him through the streets of ponyville, all the way to the doctors. As he walked, he asked everypony he saw if they knew what had happened. He saw a unicorn punching another Pegasus. Strange. He decided to ask them- might help relieve tension. The Pegasus walked up to them and asked:

"Hey, sorry to bother you but do you know what happened to the pony on my back? He hasn't said anything, but I found him in his house, after hearing a lot of crashing and yelling. I went in and found the place in ruins- furniture smashed, paintings ripped that sort of thing. He was lying on the floor of his bedroom, clutching that photo as he is now. Do any of you know why?"

Recurve stood back and let Sweet do her work. At least Fireseeker didn't have a concussion. Sweet was really caring, very nice. Exactly what Recurve wanted to be. Maybe she would actually listen to him and he can become like her. His thinking was interrupted by his loud stomach growl. He still hadn't eaten anything all day. And Sweet did mention lunch. "Lunch, you say? You don't mind if I come with you, do you?"

In the distance, he could see Shy being carried on some Pegasus's back. He didn't look well. It also appeared he was clutching a picture. Did Recurve say something to Shy to make him do something crazy? Did he cause that? He tried not to dwell on it. After all, Shy did try to hinder Recurve when he needed a friendly ear. And with his history, he tends to hold grudges. He ignored Shy and waited for Sweet and Fire to finish up and lead the way to lunch

"Lunch sounds like a good idea, I could do with a sandwich," Fireseeker commented, before wincing and rubbing the side of his muzzle. "And maybe an ice pack too."

Having made it into a standing position, he was ready to go when he saw a pony walk up to them with Shy on his back. Fireseeker's eyes widened when he saw the state of him. He looked terrible and was clutching some kind of picture.

"What the hay happened to him?" he asked, looking at the others to see if they could give any answers.

Sweets was shocked by the sight of Shy Smiles. She walked over to him placing a hoof on his head to see if her had a fever, finding none she frowns slightly. She had never seen a pony like this before, lifting his head to met her eyes she spoke softly like she used to the younger colts and fillies at the Orphanage. "Shy are you there? Come on its alright its time to come on back dear."

Shy didn't seem to register anything. The Pegasus raised an eyebroe slightly. He knew he was quiet but not bone idle. He smiled at the mare.

"Good, somepony's showing concern. All the other ponies are either indifferent or even happy with this- one pony actually punched him. Do any of you know why?"

He observed them- another Pegasus, who looked more curious than worried. A unicorn mare who seemed to have at least an ounce of concern for Shy, and a crystal pony who was just ignoring the whole thing. The Pegasus had to admit, the ponies in this town could be downright cruel.

"So, do any of you think he's been attacked? He doesn't seem that well liked and he was found with all his furniture wrecked up. If you don't think he's been attacked, do any of you at least know what did this? And if it was him, why? I know it's not my business, but this pony seems a bit broken if you see what I mean."

He lay Shy down on the ground and poked him. He then shook him a bit, and still got zero response.

"You see? I don't think he's dead, considering his grip on that picture, but I want to know what happened to him."

Recurve walked up to Shy. Damn, he did all that? Shy went psycho. Recurve felt a little bad. He felt like he caused this. But in all honesty, it was bound to happen eventually. You can't repress things forever. But he didn't realize he would destroy his house over it and clutch a picture. Poor stallion... Recurve stepped up in front of Sweet and Firseeker and spoke.

"I think I know why he did this. I'll try to keep it brief. The four of us drank a love potion and fell for somepony. Shy and myself split off from the other two so we could be cured. But I told him how I wanted Sweet Dreams even without the love potion and I explained why I should have her. He didn't want to hear my sob stories, and I guess given his history he's quite similar to me. I was shunned and picked on, and so was he. So he responded with anger and went to his home. In a blind fury I almost tore his door down, and he told me that Sweet would hate me if I hurt him, and how to deal with my problems. I thought it was a bad idea, repressing everything instead of talking about it and resolving it. I told him to go back into his house and let his thoughts eat away at him and I guess he freaked out."

He took a deep breath and stepped back behind Sweet Dreams and Fireseeker. At least everypony knew what happened

A few moments of silence passed as Recurve told the story. Fireseeker let everything fall into place and gather his thoughts before speaking.

"Look. None of that really matters right now. You can sort it all out later," he explained, "For now, I think it would be best if we went to the hospital and got him some proper help, just to be safe."

Fireseeker gestured to Shy while saying this, as the stallion looked rather unwell, and despite Sweet's aid, it may not be enough.

Sweets nodded "I agree with Fire maybe somepony at the hospital can help him..." Sweets was angry very angry her face didn't show it but her eyes did. She hated how some ponies treated others if ponies had been nicer to both Shy and Recurve maybe they would of turned out different. 'we can also get you looked at to Fire..."

The Pegasus looked at the crystal pony. At least he now had some clue as to what had happened. He wasn't sure of the crystal's involvement though- there had to be more to it than that. Well, sometimes simple stories are the best ones. He carried Shy on his back again and set off for the hospital.

"You ponies want to come along? He'll probably need friends around- that can help. Though the crystal pony I think should keep out for now- no offense, but you seem to have caused Shy considerable emotional distress. He probably won't want to see you. You can check up on him when you want, but I don't think it's a good idea to see him until he's at least stable. Im not a doctor but my dad was a psychologist, so I know what I'm on about."

With that, the Pegasus went off to the hospital, hoping the others would follow.

Recurve was ready to follow the Pegasus, but he told him to stay behind. He could understand, because of Shy. But he didn't want to be alone again. Bad thoughts came when he was alone. He would only want to be there so he could be with Sweet. And maybe he could try to help Shy. But then his bad memories kicked in, and he became sad and depressed.

"Oh... I understand... Go ahead without me. I'll be fine on my own... Like always..."

Most ponies would do that just to grab attention. But Recurve genuinely felt alone and sad. His memories of what happened at the Crystal Fair were coming back. He didn't want them to see himself cry, so he quickly walked away, not turning his head, Making sure they weren't going to follow him and make him feel like he was crying for attention. He would still like somepony to talk to. But he felt he needed to be alone. He sat under a nearby tree and looked the other way, off into the distance, whispering to himself

"Why would they treat me like that? I never meant to hurt anypony... No, don't think about it. You get angry when you think about it. Calm down Shining... Calm... Down..." He sat back, beginning to tear up and cry. On the up side, it wasn't as bad as the Crystal Ponies treated him

"Yeah, you've got a point there," he agreed, nodding at Sweet, "I can check to see if my brain is still intact."

Fireseeker started to follow the pegasus carrying Shy when he looked back to Recurve who was trotting away.

"Hey Sweet," he said quickly, "Maybe you should talk to him. We've already got one pony injured from being on his own. Better make sure we don't have two..."

Sweets nods "You may be right.." she says before turning and trotting after Recurve, seeing him sit under a tree getting closer she notices that he is crying causing her to stop a few feet in front of him. "Recurve....are you alright...?....please don't cry..." Sweets ears were turned down, she was never used to comforting ponies especially Stallions but she felt she needed to do something. "Do you want to talk about it...?"

The Pegasus continued walking off to the hospital. He felt bad to leave the Crystal Pony behind, but Shy's mental well-being was at stake here. He could attend to somepony feeling a bit lonely after he had taken a pony who seemed on the brink of insanity or becoming a vegetable. He knew which was more important.
He noticed that the unicorn had gone off to talk to the crystal. Useful. The Pegasus turned to the blue pony who had tagged along to the hospital.

"Sorry, I don't think I've introduced myself. Name's grey shade. Weird name, I know, but I can't pick it. What's yours?"

(Shy's POV)
Shy heard the occasional noise and felt like he was lying on something. He didn't care. What was there any point in it? It would just go away again. They always do, float away lalala lala. Still, he felt serene here. Little thought, zero feeling. Perfect. Absolute isolation.

Recurve felt almost total isolation. Then he looked to see that Sweet had come to comfort him. He was still sobbing, but he was more grateful than he's ever been to see Sweet had cared. He had a lot to talk about, so he patted the ground next to him, signaling for her to sit down.

"Get comfy Sweets. This is going to take a while."

He took a deep breath, and began talking about what made him like this. His history...

"You can already tell I was born in and grew up in the Crystal Empire. I was like any other colt. Happy, friendly, social, all of that. Then one of my friends showed me a sport called Archery. He gave me a recurve bow and some arrows, and I had a natural talent with it. It was more fun to me than jousting."

"I wanted more ponies to know about it and practice it. So I tried to get it as an event at the Crystal Fair. Most of them were pretty skeptical. Bows and arrows are pretty deadly weapons. So having lots of ponies play with them is a bit, unsettling. I showed them what I could do. They were amazed, needless to say. But then... it happened..."

"A couple walked by the range where I had the target set up. Without noticing them, I fired and accidentally hit both of them. It was an accident, but everypony saw it as if I meant to harm them. I ran home and locked myself in my room for the rest of the day, crying myself to sleep."

"The next morning, it was scary. I trotted out of my room, but my parents didn't seem to recognize me. I thought I was just being quiet and sneaky, so I trotted up and greeted them. They both acted like I didn't exist. It was odd, so I went to talk to my friends about it."

"I saw them hanging out by our favorite fruit salad vendor. I went up to them and said hi, but they all ignored me. Even my best friend I knew since I was one year old wouldn't look at me. I was getting worried that I offended one of them. Then I asked the vendor for some fruit salad, and sure enough he ignored me too. I had no idea what was going on. Then my best friend came up to me and told me what happened."

"Because of the accident, everypony in the empire shunned me. They thought I meant to hurt those ponies. My friend still didn't show any remorse. Right after he told me, he threw my face in the dirt and laughed at me. I ran home to hide again, but my parents locked the door. They didn't even want me anymore."

"Not long after, they began to label me with these awful names. They called me evil, savage, brutal, villainous, some even called me the Son of Discord. That stung the most. I felt hated by everypony. Even though I was one of the nicest colts around, they still treated me like mud. Because of how they treated me, I became all of that. I became the monster they thought I was"

"From that day, I treated every pony the exact same way they treated me all those years. I picked on them, I hurt them, I crushed their spirits, I sent them to the hospital, I ruined their lives... It was what they deserved. They ruined everything for me... So I ruined everything for them."

"But for some reason, my hate didn't stop there. I felt as though everypony didn't deserve to live well if I couldn't. When I moved to Ponyville to escape the Crystal Ponies, I brought my hate, anger, and memories with me, even though I destroyed every shread of my history in the Crystal Empire. I even changed my name. I wasn't born as Recurve, my real name was Shining Heart. And that name still haunts me..."

"To this say, I treated everypony the same way I was treated. Like dirt, being trampled on, ignored, despised... It all felt like the right things to do. That was until today... Until I met you..."

"When I'm near you, my dark clouds fade, and my spirits rise. I become what I was so many years ago. Happy, kind, loving... But Shy made me realize that I could never escape it. I'm forever labeled as a monster. A villain... I'm trying to change it, but every time I try, I remember what I became, and that nopony would ever listen to me... Except you..."

He looked down, still crying, but most of the tears were from joy that somepony took the time to listen. He turned around and hugged Sweet.

"Thanks for actually caring. Nopony would ever listen to me. This means so much to me." He didn't want to let go. He wanted to hold Sweet in his arms for the rest of his life if he could. Nopony in the world mattered to him more than Sweet Dreams