//------------------------------//
// Meanwhile, Back at the Station, 
// Story: Cryo-7 
// by Metal Pony Fan 
//------------------------------//

	A quiet knock at her door broke Ribbon out of the best sleep she had in years.  For a moment, the filly thought she had imagined it.  She laid on her bed, listening, but all she heard was the sound of faint music.

Oh, shoot!  She had completely forgotten about that.  That necklace needed to be returned, she was overdue in reporting to Growl, and she had to work a shift in the infirmary later!  Ribbon tried to jump out of bed, but her hooves tangled in the sheets and she ended up face-planted on the floor.

That was when the knocking started again, a little more forceful this time.  No, not quite forceful... Confident?  Ribbon looked over at her desk, the music had changed.  It was playing a tense, frenetic melody when she first woke up, but it was calming down now, becoming slightly louder as the notes calmed down.  It couldn't be...

After a third knock, the music changed again.  A soothing piano line, an embodiment of calming relief.

"Who is it?"  Ribbon called out, even though she had a pretty good idea who it was.

There was no answer, but the music changed once more, going back to the tense violins from earlier.

It was him!  The colt from earlier!  Ribbon tried to head for the door, but her hooves were still wrapped up in the bedcovers.  She stumbled around, bumping into her desk, a chair, and toppling a lamp before freeing herself from the sheets.

She straightened herself up as best she could, using a hoof to smooth out her coat and mane.  She then trotted over to the door, and took a few deep breaths before opening it.  "Hi."

The blue-maned unicorn gave a start when the door slid open, but quickly composed himself.  "Um, hi.  So..."  He nodded to her.  He had cleaned up since earlier.  His coat was now a nice, shiny white, which combined with the bright blues of his mane, really stood out against the station's dull grey metal.  But, he was just standing there, staring at her.

Ribbon blinked in confusion.  "Huh?"

The colt's eyebrows pulled together slightly.  He nodded at her again.

Ribbon's head tilted to the side.  She was starting to feel a little self-conscious, or rather, a little more self-conscious than usual.  "What are you doing?"

He hid his face behind a hoof.  "I'm sorry, may I come in?"

Ribbon nodded quickly.  "Sure!"  She backed away from the door and waved him in.  "Make yourself at home."

He gave a nervous chuckle.  "I'm sure I won't be here that long."

He walked in, and Ribbon's eyes lit up in understanding.  "Oh!  That's what you were doing!  I'm sorry, I should have realized."  She gestured to a small piece of machinery next to the door.  Pipes and crystals hummed and glowed, maintaining a consistent sound that was easily ignored.  "This thing makes a magic shield around the room.  You didn't make a fool of yourself, I should have realized that you didn't realize that I couldn't hear what you thought I could."

The colt blinked.  "What?"

"Um..."  Ribbon scratched her neck, looking at a spot on the carpet.  "This is embarrassing, but I didn't catch your name earlier."

"It's MezzoForte."  He shook his head.  This was going about as well as their first meeting.  "Yours is Ribbon Dancer, right?"

The smaller unicorn chuckled.  "Yeah, that was kind of a disaster, wasn't it?"

He blinked.  "What?"

"When we met in the hallway," Ribbon clarified.  She blushed lightly.  "Please don't pay too much attention to what I said.  I tend to talk too much.  And, I didn't think you would be able to hear me."

Mezzo tried to sort out all the jumbled information his mind was receiving.  "So... you are the telepath, right?"

Ribbon nodded.  "That's me.  Ribbon Dancer, the telepathic nurse."

"Ah."  The colt colt pawed at the ground.  So, she can read his thoughts.

"Yes, but it doesn't quite work like most ponies think."  Ribbon started tidying up the room, righting the lamp, and returning the chair and sheets to their proper places.  "I can only receive really strong thoughts, usually like hearing words or seeing images that somepony thinks of.  Like... Ooh!  When you read, a lot of ponies read it out loud, but in their mind.  It's called subvocalization, saying something mentally when you read or are about to say something.  I can't access memories, or anything like that unless you bring them up.  For example, I have no idea why you're here, or how you found me."

"I'm looking for something I dropped."  The colt looked around the room.  "I thought you might have picked it up."

"Oh, the necklace.  Yeah, I found that."  Ribbon trotted over to her desk.  "It was right here."  She stopped at the empty desk and broke out in a cold sweat.  "Ho boy, that's not good."  She could sense that the relief he felt was rapidly morphing into worry.  "It's ok," she tried to reassure them both, "I'm sure it's here somewhere."

Mezzo sighed and sat down, leaning a bit to one side.  Ribbon turned and looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern.  "What do you mean, it's ok?  I just lost your necklace.  Why aren't you mad?  Most ponies hate me for just existing, never mind losing something so valuable."

Mezzo winced as her words brought up an unpleasant memory.  He tried to push it back, but he couldn't box it up fast enough.  Ribbon gasped as she saw and felt a tortured moment from the past.  Fire and steel, coal-fired smoke, hatred expressed through wicked laughter, that, and...

A searing pain shot through her side.  Ribbon bit down on her hoof, using the sudden, and real, pain to forcibly break the connection to what was imagined.  She looked up as the colt ran to her.  He said something, but she couldn't hear it over the sound of blood rushing through her ears.  No, she realized.  Not imagined, remembered.  She also realized that she was shaking, breathing heavily and shaking from adrenaline.  That pain was real.  

"Hey!  Are you okay?"  After asking that for a second time, Mezzo gave the erratic filly a gentle shake to pull her out of her shock.  When that didn't work, he pried her hoof out of her mouth.  "What's going on?  Why the hell did you just do that?"

Slowly regaining her bearings, Ribbon kept staring at him.  "Mezzo, what was that?"  

The colt shook his head.  "I don't know what you mean."  He backed up. "Look, if you're ok, I should just go."  He turned for the door.  "If you don't have the necklace there's no point in bothering you."

"Wait, please."  Ribbon took a few steps after him, glancing back at the desk.  "There it is!"  The rainbow unicorn pulled a one-eighty and dove for the desk.  The jewelry box was behind the desk.  It must have fallen back there when she bumped into it earlier.

Ribbon stretched her hoof back for the box.  The desk was bolted in place, and didn't dare use her magic on the necklace.  Last time, she just touched it, and it created a total sensory link from across the station.  What would it do with direct access to her magic while he was in the room?

The box was just out of her reach.  She swung at it, hoping to catch the corner and knock it towards her.  When that didn't work, she tried to stuff herself behind the desk.  She flattened herself to the ground, and pressed her face up against the desk, all to get one more centimeter ,or two, closer to the box.  She grunted and groaned, swatted and flailed, and got no closer to removing the box.  All the while, she was blissfully unaware that her rump was still very much in the air.

The room's only other occupant was much more aware of this, and quickly averted his gaze.  Unfortunately, he was a bit slow about it, and Ribbon caught him admiring her cloud and red cross cutie mark.

Her face tinted rose red and she jerked upright, straight into the desk's overhang.  She yelped, planted her flank on the ground, and backed away from the desk while maintaining her sitting pose.  She parked herself near the bed and ripped the sheets off of it.  She tied one around her midsection, fashioning a makeshift skirt.  She then pointed at the desk.  "You get it!"

Mezzo kept his gaze averted, trying not to focus on the blushing young mare, and used his magic to retrieve the box.  "Sorry about all this.  I'll be going now."

Ribbon stood up slowly.  "Wait, Mezzo, there's something you need to know."

The colt grabbed the box in his mouth and walked out the door.  Once he was in the hallway, he spit the box out and caught it in his magic.  "This way is better for both of us.  What is it?"

Ribbon stopped cold.  It was better.  Being separated was easier.  She didn't have to deal with random thoughts, and he was probably much happier knowing he had some privacy.  She couldn't tell though.  With the shield in place, she couldn't sense his mood or tell what he was thinking.  And, since he brought the box with him, the music had stopped.  It was quiet.  She was alone.

And it was better that way.

The filly looked down at the floor and closed her eyes.  "D-don't lose that.  I don't know why, but it's connected you in a very powerful way."

Mezzo looked at the box.  Of course it was.  It was a piece of his past, bitter though it may be.  "Is that it?"

"No!"  She shook her head and stormed towards the door, stopping just short of the shield.  "You don't understand.  That thing is magically linked to you.  You can't lose it."

"Linked?"  He looked back at Ribbon.  That would make sense, given what the necklace was made from, but...  "How would you know that?"

Ribbon winced.  She knew it was coming, but she still wished it could happen differently.  This is the part where he realizes she can't be trusted.  Or, he becomes afraid.  Or, becomes angry.  Whatever the reaction, he'll start avoiding her.  "I need to apologize."  For what?  He didn't know.  Did he really need to?  He might be happier not knowing.  "I touched it.  When I found the necklace, I touched it.  It was just an impulse.  The necklace was so beautiful, I just wanted to run my hoof over it.  I don't know why.  But, when I did..."

Mezzo noticed that Ribbon was starting to feel nervous.  He couldn't sense it the way she could, but the shifting gaze and stunted shakes of her head were more than enough.  It made him feel rather uneasy.  "When you did..." he prompted.

Ribbon tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry.  There was nothing there to swallow.  "When I touched it, I was pulled into a total sensory link.  For several seconds, I experienced everything you did.  I didn't know it would happen, and I broke the link as quickly as I could, but I still...  I'm sorry."

The colt sighed.  "So that's what happened."  He rubbed the back of his neck.  "Honestly, something weird happened when I was shopping earlier.  I didn't pay it any attention, but it kind of seemed like there was an echo."

Ribbon nodded.  "You bought fresh carrots.  It was the last bunch, and you talked the shopkeeper down."

"Yeah, but anypony could know that," he reasoned.  "This link, it just let you see what I did, right?"

"No."  The colorful filly shook her head slowly.  "You were running late because I bumped into you.  You were supposed to cook for your aunt and little sister.  You wanted the carrots for the carrot soup they like, the one that you think takes a week for the smell to wear off your fur.  That's either an exaggeration, or you didn't make it yet.  And the reason you talked the shopkeeper down was because you spent all your disposable income on sands and needed the extra bits to get some chocolate, in case the soup wasn't enough."  She managed a wry smile and looked up.  "You have one bit left, and it has to last until you get paid next week."

Her smile was not returned.  "All that was from a few seconds of touching a necklace.  That's a pretty frightening ability."  Mezzo looked down the hallway, but made no move to leave yet.  "Do I have any secrets left?"

While he was looking away, Ribbon reached out through the shield.  She ran a hoof along his side, tracing a long scar hidden under his fur.  He jumped back, but she let her hoof hang there.  "I don't know the whole story, but I know this wasn't an accident."  She slowly pulled her hoof back.  "You still have secrets, far more than you should have to carry on your own.  And, please know I'll respect your privacy.  I won't tell anypony anything."

Mezzo just stared down the hall.  His expression was hard to read, but Ribbon could see the muscles in his jaw tighten like a vise as he clenched his teeth.

Ribbon waited as the colt chewed over his thoughts.  The silence made every second slower, and painfully so.  Was he angry?  Was he scared of her?  He hasn't started yelling yet, was that a good sign?  "Please, say something?  Anything?"

Mezzo didn't look back at her.  "You should stay away from me from now on."

He started down the hall, and Ribbon leaned against the doorway.  The colt could have just stabbed her with the necklace's sharp wings if he wanted to hurt her, but those few words were more than enough.  She knew it was going to happen, the same scene played out by dozens of different ponies, each with their own reaction, like auditions for a role.  Some chose disgust, some played the part with contempt, and others fell on the old standby of fear.  And no matter how much she tried to prepare herself, she couldn't keep it from breaking her heart.

This colt was the worst yet.  She couldn't tell what fueled his reaction.  Even without her powers, rage and fear were easy to recognize, but she couldn't make sense of the expression on his face.  He almost looked sad.

"Yeah" she said quietly, answering a statement several moments gone, "I'll do that."  She closed the door and walked back to her bed.  She climbed in, laid down, and buried her head in her pillow.

Then, she screamed.  She vocally vented her frustration and pounded on her mattress like a foal throwing a tantrum.  She kept smacking away until her hoof slipped and hit the bedframe, denting the metal with a loud clang.  After that, she stopped, and just laid there, letting her ears droop against the cool fabric of the pillow.

Why did he look sad?  Did he pity her?  Pity for the freak?  She snatched the pillow up and pulled it down over her head, blocking out the lights she left on, and cried herself to sleep in silence.

Pity was the worst yet.