Its All in the Eyes

by IamSquillium

The Sunset Mare

EVERY GOD DAMNED DAY
Every day since my stupid little cutie mark appeared I’ve been “blessed” with this “wonderful gift." You see, every pony has a special talent, and mine is seeing other pony’s souls. You know how they say that eyes are the windows to the soul? Well that’s true, and every time I look into someone’s eyes I see every single emotion, every feeling they have. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it can be fun (it sure makes mares easier to figure out), but other times…not so much. Any time a pony is in pain - any time they are sad, hurt, heart-broken – I know. I could live with that, but no, apparently that’s not good enough for the world; so my little “talent” has a catch. Not only can I see what they’re feeling, but I can feel it too.
So this is the story of a heartbroken mare and a freaking stupid talent that has recently taken the number one spot on my “Reasons I’m an Asshole” list.
I guess I’ll start at the beginning…
It was a day like any other, and it started out the same as any other. I woke up to the sound of Satan himself reverberating from the alarm clock on my dresser. I got, walk over, punched that glorious button on the top of the stupid device, turned around, and promptly fell muzzle-first back into bed. A while later I woke up to my sister banging on my door. Late…again. I don’t know why my work even bothers with me at this point, but hey its money, I’m not gonna’ complain. After my glorious Ke$ha shower (during which I almost choked on the cloud of cologne permeating throughout my room) I galloped down the street, trying not to notice the eyes of the other ponies begging me to take a trip into their lives. Instinctively looking down to avoid eye contact, I barreled down the street, praying today wasn’t the day I would be fired. It was because of this blind charging that I slammed into the poor little mare stumbling home after a night at the bar, half drunk and sobbing.
“SON OF A BI-” was all I got out before she slammed down on top of me after being tossed into the air by the blow, effectively knocking me breathless. At first she tried to apologize, but quickly realized that she was unable to form a coherent sentence. Looking up from my dazed state, my eyes met hers…
And everything changed.
Sure there was the obvious feeling of guilt and embarrassment from running into me – although it was completely my fault, – but there was something else too. Something…shit. I now realized why the poor mare was crying, and why she deserved to be drunk off her ass like this. Only last night her stallion-friend of four years had dumped her after revealing that he had been having an affair off and on for five months with some chick named…Trixie? I didn’t know who that was, but she certainly sounded like a bitch. Then again, my eyes were still locked with this mystery mare’s, so that could be her feelings influencing me. That’s when it occurred to me that we had probably been sitting there for a minute now and people were starting to stare.
“I-I am s-ss-so s-sorry sir,” the mare finally managed to get out as she broke our gaze, sliding off of me and pathetically attempting to walk away.
“No,” I reassured her, “it was my fault. I should have been watching where I was going.”
Now that I was really looking, I started to realize just how beautiful the mare before me was. She had long red, orange, and gold hair which curled around slightly at the ends, though it was currently sticking up in odd clumps from our collision and her previous night out. She had the most gorgeous fur, a pure golden-orange coat which immediately reminded me of one of Celestia’s sunsets. She was a Pegasus, and her wings looked magnificent as she tried shaking the mud off of her. The one thing I could not help but notice was that she had no cutie mark.
“Here, let me get that.” I offered, lighting up my horn and using a quick removal spell to take care of the mud plastered on her coat, and doing the same for myself. She nodded appreciatively, though she still looked a bit downtrodden, and started to leave before noticing my cutie mark.
“Wait a second,” she racked her brain thoughtfully. “Aren’t you that unicorn that has the weird connection to people’s souls or something. Broken Heart or something like that right?” she asked, leaning to the side to get a better look at the half-heart cutie mark on my flank. Suddenly, her face flushed as she realized that we had locked eyes, and she looked down in embarrassment. “You know, don’t you?” she mumbled, so quiet I almost did not hear her.
“I’m so, so sorry.” I answered, trying to explain the circumstances to her. “I didn’t mean to do it, it just kind of happens. I wasn’t trying to invade your personal space or anything.”
That was one of the big problems with my gift; I couldn’t control it. If I made eye contact with someone then I was going to get a big steaming bowl of emotion, whether I wanted it or not. Also, having someone else inside your head is weird for most ponies, and I often feel like I’m invading their one sanctuary from the judgment of the world.
“That’s alright; I know it’s not really something you can turn on and off. I’m just sorry you had to…experience? that. Why were you in such a hurry anyway?” she asked questioningly.
The blood drained from my face as I realized how late I was by now. Scrambling to turn around, I attempted explaining myself to the mare before I ran away. I probably didn’t manage to get much out, and I felt bad about just abandoning her like that, but I was LATE! I never even looked back as I sprinted to the grocery store where I worked.
I was greeted at the door by a very angry and very impatient boss.
“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN MR. HEART!” he screamed at me as I dashed to the doors. “YOUR SHIFT STARTED TWENTY MINUTES AGO.”
“I’m so sorry boss” I said in a desperate attempt to save my hide, looking down to avoid his eyes. “I slept in a bit late and then crashed into some poor mare on the way here and…” I trailed off as I raised my eyes and felt the fury of my boss. “I’ll start immediately and work late today, I swear!”
“Don’t bother,” he spat out as he turned to go back into the store. “You can consider yourself done at this establishment. We have standards to uphold, and they are not met when workers show up late for two weeks in a row. I expect your uniform dropped off at the store by Monday.”
I could say nothing as he walked back inside, leaving me out in the middle of the road. “Well this is just fucking PERFECT” I thought to myself as a angrily stomped away from the hell I’d called a job. “Not only have I gotten fired, but I also made a major ass of myself to some innocent mare who was emotionally unstable enough as it was. I can’t believe I’m such an idiot.” I was so consumed in my thoughts as I stormed away that I would have run into a beautiful golden-orange mare had she not stepped aside and turned to walk with me. After realizing that I was no longer alone, I lifted my head and looked into the eyes of the same mare who I had plowed over before. Great. Pity.
“I heard what happened.” she stated with downcast eyes. “When you ran off like that, I figured something was wrong so I followed you to see if I could help out. Sorry your boss is so rude”
“Nah, I deserved it. I’ve been late more times than I can count.” I responded, not really in the mood to talk about it. “Anyway, I never did catch your name Miss…”
“Sunset, Sunset Rains.”
“A beautiful name for a beautiful mare” I commented, trying to lift her spirits. Even without my ability, I could tell she was still very upset about her current circumstances. Her cheeks flushed red at this, and she started to smile a bit. It was the most amazing smile I’d ever seen, one of those smiles that just makes you feel like everything is going to be alright. Seeing it, I didn’t want to leave her. “Do you mind if I walk you home, as an apology for earlier that is?” I inquired hopefully, praying she would say yes. She looked at me a little confused, carefully avoiding eye contact, but eventually nodded in agreement. As we walked, I learned everything I could about her and tried to comfort her as much as possible. She was an only child, and her parents were working most of the time so she was often alone. The one thing that had made her happy was her stallion-friend, and now that he was gone…
She threw herself into me, crying against my chest. I could do nothing but stand there and hold her close, stroking her mane and waiting out the tears. She cried for what seemed like hours, but as horrible as it sounds, I never wanted that moment to end. The feeling of her pressed close to me, our hearts beating in time with one another, I never wanted to let go. I wanted to just stand there and hug the pain away. “You know,” I whispered, “A mare as beautiful as you should never have a reason to cry. Maybe you were better off without him.”
I heard a slight laugh as the sounds of her tears stopped for a moment, and she looked up with that adorable little smile back on her face. “You’re too sweet, really” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Thank you so much for staying with me today. I means a lot to know that someone out there cares.”
We walked the rest of the way home in silence, neither one of us knowing what to say. When we finally reached her house, only a few blocks from mine, she said goodbye and kissed me on the cheek, shyly backing away and looking down when I suddenly tensed up. Without another word she trotted into her house and left me standing there, mouth agape, with the stupidest grin on my face. I was so amazed I never even noticed she had gone inside without me saying goodbye. I walked the rest of the way home happily, though a little sad that I hadn’t been able to tell her goodbye. I didn’t even bother avoiding eye contact with others because I knew that nothing could possibly ruin my good mood now. It wasn’t until I got home and my sister asked me if I’d gotten off work early that I remembered I’d been fired. Eventually, I managed to convince her (with the promise of my famous homemade cupcakes) to keep my unemployment secret from my parents. With that out of the way, I happily trotted up the stairs and plopped down on my bed, losing myself in thought.
It wasn’t until much later that night that I heard the tapping at my window. Thinking it was the wind, I just ignored it at first, but when the tapping persisted I heaved myself out of bed and went to check it out. Though no one was there, there was a note taped to the bottom of my window sill. I opened it and read.

Shining fell back on his bed with an even bigger grin than before and felt that maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright.