Sunlight hit my eyes hard. Blue Jet walked me home last night and kept me from falling over, we ended up drinking hard cider with our meals. Soon as I got home I fell into Luna’s dreamland and refused to leave. I was rather embarrassed since I only had one cup and got drunk off my rocker.

Wasn’t all that bad though, the food was good. I especially liked the hash browns, I might ask Bliss for the recipe. Getting up I walked straight to the bathroom, my mane was wild. I don’t have a brush so I wet it and carefully dried it off with the bedsheets.

Note to self, buy towels.

I began wondering if the fridge had anything. Opening it I was surprised to see a brown paper bag with a note taped to it. I read the letter.

Lovely, I figure you don’t got any food yet so I flew back home and got ya some leftovers. Better than nothing, right?

Blue Jet.

That’s so sweet! I got to thank him next time I see him. Opening the bag, there were three tin foil wrappings. I opened one and was happily greeted by seven hash browns. I put the other tin wrappings in the bag and in the fridge, then greedily gobbled the seven hash browns. They didn’t taste the same but that’s probably because they’re cold.

Second note to self, buy a microwave.

Finishing breakfast I left the apartment and went to Mr. Swiss at the front desk. “Morning Lovely.”

“Morning Swiss. I’m ready to work.”

“Glad to hear, your uniform is here.” Mr. Swiss went under the desk and came back up with a hat, it was blue with a gold stripe in the middle. “Here.”

I took it and put it on. “So what do I do?”

“Jet told me about how hard you can hit, so I figured you can be the security guard.”

“Don’t you have to be a cop first?” I couldn’t help but think of the irony. I’m a mob daughter working for, or as rather, the law.

“Not really. Cops and security are two different things. All you need to do is walk around the hallways, roof, and outside. Anything suspicious happens you investigate or deal with, alright?”

“Yes sir.” I saluted.

“One more thing.” He went back under the desk and came back out with a pouch. “I know there’s not much in there so I’m giving you some bits to start you off.”

“Mr. Swiss, I-

“Don’t worry, this is the bits you’re supposed to earn today, so I just took it out of your paycheck.” He gave a sweet yet clever smile.

I thought for a moment. If They’re the bits I’m earning It’s not free money like what my parents always gave me, I’m earning them. Plus I need a few things. “Thank you Mr. Swiss.”

“Don’t mention it, also your shift ends in eight hours. Keep yourself busy.”

“Okay, I’ll patrol the halls first then.”

I walked to the other hallway away from my apartment. It didn’t look all that different from my hallway, but it did seem more… empty. Shouldn’t ponies be waking up by now?

Reaching the end of the hall, I was greeted with a stairway. Walking up I finally heard somepony.

“Going to school dad!” A young colt's voice yelled.

“Be safe!” “A raspy older ponies voice replied.

Four doors away from me a young colt exited one of the apartments. He was a sky blue unicorn with a cloud white mane and tale. As he closed the door he spotted me and remained still.

Pure fear and awkwardness filled my body. The colt didn’t look afraid or startled, but him not doing anything was scaring me even more than it should.

“Is… Is your name Lovely?” He asked.

Startled the colt knew my name, I backed up a bit. “Y… Yes. How did-“

“Cool!” The colt ran up to me and began jumping in joy. “My class hasn’t stopped talking about you since you came to town! We learned all about your DNA magic thing! What do you see!? What do you see!?”

“Slow down kid.” The colt stopped jumping but his tail was wagging like a dogs. “What do you mean you learned about my DNA?”

“When word got around somepony with a rare magical genetic disorder came to town the teacher decided to teach us about how it affects a pony.”

I’m actually intrigued. Blue Jet only told me a brief description of my… disorder. “What did you learn?”

“Purus oculos is a disorder that affects one in eighty thousand ponies,” That is rare! “From current understanding it’s cause is believed to be because the gene for race starts off as one thing, specifically unicorn, but changes to another before the pony is even a foal.”

“Wait, you’re saying I was gonna be a unicorn, but my DNA nope'd and switched to earth pony?”

“Something like that. They think the magic from the unicorn DNA was active long enough for pony to absorb and produce magic but not enough for the horn to grow. So the magic goes somewhere else, mainly the eyes.”

“Why are mine hearts then?”

“It’s different for everyone. But one theory suggests that a ponies special talent is a factor, but it’s nothing solid.”

“You’re a really smart kid.”

“Well I am sixteen.”

What!?! “But you’re so… young looking.” I failed at not making that sound insulting.

“Dwarfism meets Foal face, that’s me. I guess the way I was acting didn’t help either.” He grinned while scratching the back of hos head.

“So you’re in advanced schooling?” Ponies normally have eight years of school then take on apprenticeships once out.

“Yeah, the class really interested me because it’s all about genetics. I’m pretty sure you can guess why?”

“Yeah, I have an idea why.” Life can’t have been easy for this ki- Guy. And I thought my eyes were a handicap.

“Well, nice meeting you Lovely, I gotta go or I’ll be late again.” He started running but stopped at staircase. “Oh, names Gene Pool!” With that he was gone.

I never did tell him what my eyes let me see, did I? I’ll tell him next time I see him…. Me as a unicorn, huh, must be from moms side of the family, aunt Summer Dance is a unicorn.

After that ki… Gentlecolt Gene Pool left I managed to kill time by exploring. The apartment building is MUCH bigger than I expected. There’s even a pool on the roof! Granted it’s dirty and probably hasn’t been used in… forever possibly. I’ll ask Mr. Swiss about that later.

“You fucking bitch!” That sounds like I’m needed.

“Can’t take it? To bad!” The buck? That was a mares voice.

I knocked on the door the noise was coming from, F6. “I got it!” A colt’s voce yelled. The door opened and a young earth pony colt greeted me, and dropped his juice box when he saw my eyes. His coat was yellow, and his mane grey. “Mom, dad.” The colt moved to the side, letting me enter.

Once inside I spotted the mare and stallion. They both were earth ponies, had grey coats. The mares mane was orange while the stallions was pink. When they saw me they both dropped something they held in there hooves.

“Who are you?” The mare asked.

Wow, somepony who doesn’t know who I am. That’s refreshing actually. “My name’s Lovely, I’m the new Security guard. I heard shouting.”

“Oh, that. My sis here just beat me at Immortal Combat: Royalty Edition. For the twelfth time.” The stallion replied.

“Oh, well that’s-“ SCREECH. My brain froze as something the colt had said. He called them mom and dad, but the stallion just called her his sister… “You two are siblings and have a kid!”

“NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!” The two yelled in a panicked unison.

“It’s not like that!” The stallion yelled.

“Brawler is my brothers son but I’m not the biological mother! We had a surrogate mother! We don’t even sleep in the same room!” The mare blurted out.

I stood frozen in thought for a bit. These two definitely didn’t mean to let their relationship slip out. “Story. Now. Please.”

The stallion scratched his front leg with the other. “Well, my sis and I are twins, identical, except for gender of course. We wanted to have families of our own but everypony we tried just never clicked.”

“We became good friends but could never seem to let them in more, like something removed or blocked off that spot for spouse relationships.” The mare cut in. “I’ve dated dozens of stallions and more than a hoof full proposed but I just never could say yes, not to marriage or sex.”

“Same went for me. After a few hundred bits spent on psychologists we found out we’re A-sexual. Meaning we don’t care for, well relationships. But we still wanted a family and kids, so after a long talk and a few bottles of whiskey we decided to find a surrogate for my child and now we’re looking for a  sperm donor for my sister.”

I was at a mix of thoughts and a loss for words. My brain was still processing the information. Part of me felt the need to walk out of here and forget everything this just happened, another wants to hear a bit more, and the rest is struggling to make a decision.

“Uh, miss?” The mare spoke and broke me out of my train of thought. “Don’t take offense but do you need to see an eye doctor?”

I burst into a suffocating fit of laughter. After a while I got up, still giggling like a school filly. “No, no. I was born like this, it’s fine. I’m actually kind of happy someponies don’t know who I am.”

“Are you new to town then?”

“Yeah, but I spent most of that time in the hospital. Got knocked off the back of the train when I was moving here.” I almost paused. I said that lie like it was the truth. And I almost believed it.

“Oh, well we don’t go out all that much. We usually like to properly examine our work.” The stallion said.

“What, you’re shouting?”

“No, we’re beta testers for Bearthesda game studios. They send us a copy of a new game and we send back a review about quality, bugs, and replay value.”

“I never played that many games.”

“Not most adults do, but Equestrias youth has certainly picked up the pass time. Our… my brothers son enjoys them as much as we do.”

“I beat dads high score last week.” The colt replied from somewhere, I couldn’t see where.

“And couldn’t be prouder.” The stallion replied.

“Well thank you for explaining this to me, and sorry to disturb. Glad there wasn’t an actual argument.”

“Sorry about being so loud, we’ve been meaning to soundproof this place.” The mare said.

“Well, thank you foe your time… sorry what was your name?”

“Oh, I’m level Up, and my brother’s name is Experience Points.”

I gave a nod and left. They were nice, odd, but nice. Then again who am I to call ponies odd, I have hearts for eyes. I looked at the clock, I only have an hour left of my shift. What to do?

I heard a shuffling behind me. Turning, I didn’t see anypony behind me, turning back forward I was met at eye level, by a bear!

I yelp, falling backwards in terror. How did a bear get in here!?! The sound of laughter rang behind me and bear disappeared. “Wow, that was way to easy.” I was suddenly surrounded by a magic aura and brought back to my hooves. Looking up I saw the unicorn responsible.

He was young, purple coat with a hair color similar to mine. “Who are you?” I asked.

“Well ponies call me asshole, but I prefer J.P.” He replied.

“Well J.P, was that you’re magic that had a bear appear in here?”

“Yes.”

“You do know I’m the new security guard right?”

“Oh, I’m fully away of who you are Lovely, mystery mare rescued from near death in Steady Ravine, discovered to have a rare magical genetic disorder… thought to be dead daughter of Gold Trott and Light Brade.”

I froze, my heart dropped to the deepest pit of my stomach. My breathing became rapid. “How… did… you?”

“Now that’s my special talent. See my cutie mark?” He shifted so I could see it, it was a clock with an eye in the center. “I see past and future, with a little magic I can see some impressive things, hear to, but that makes the process even more tiring. I saw you run away, saw your parents worry, your old teacher get killed…”

I started backing up, only to stumble and fall on my own flank. “Y… you’re lying!”

“Am I now? We’re the same you see.” His horn lit up and when a flash came and went I dropped my jaw. His eyes looked like clocks. “The only difference between you and I is that I was lucky to be born a unicorn, illusion magic is a fun trick of mine.”

“Y… You’re like me.” I stuttered.

“Yes, but I only want you to know this because we share these cursed eyes. I envy you actually, I see any and every point of time of the timeline of a specific pony, you only see love when it is present.”

“Why? Why only tell me?”

“I’m a wanted pony, my gift/curse makes me valuable to military and royals alike. Figured a fellow runaway can keep a secret.” His horn flashed and his eyes became like normal ones.

“Wait!” I yelled as he started to walk away. “You said my teacher…”

“Killed by your mother, she was a loyal friend till the end.”

He left. I broke down. The floor beneath me became a puddle in seconds. First Desire’s parents, now my first real friend from within that cage! I… I’ll never forgive them! NEVERNEVERNEVERNEVER! “NEVER!”