Cryo-7

by Metal Pony Fan


Bleary-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed

Bleary-eyed and sluggish, Ribbon looked up and yawned as the office-slash-closet door opened. She didn't sleep very well after Mezzo's visit last night, and the patient that started walking into the office confirmed that she did indeed look like crap.

"I feel like crap too," she mumbled.

The patient, some pegasus she had never seen before, backed up and out of the office. With a sigh, she realized that even if he didn't know her, he knew of her. On a station this size, there were probably very few ponies that didn't know about her.

"So, um," the stallion cleared his throat, "I was supposed to pick up some prescription paperwork, but I'm late... for a thing... have it sent to me, please, bye."

He closed the door and, by the sound of hooves, ran away rather quickly, leaving Ribbon alone to sigh again. That was the worst excuse she had heard in a while. Most ponies at least try to inject some semblance of truth into their lies when dealing with her, thinking it will make it harder for her to notice. The problem is, thinking about it makes it that much easier to notice.

She would rather be told, to her face, that they are uncomfortable around her. What's wrong with being even a little honest that something creeps you out? Why not say you want it to stay as far away from you as possible?

It was a very short list of ponies who were able to be that honest with her. Most of them didn't have an issue with her powers, and her family made up half of them. Then, there was Growl, who flat out told her that she wasn't going to be trusted until she earned it, and James, who found her abilities fascinating from day one and took to trying to understand her as a personal challenge.

That only left Mezzo. She still didn't understand his reaction the other day. She spent most of a sleepless night sorting through her memories of the encounter, and was no closer to understanding it than she was when it happened. Not only did he not lie to her, the only anger she felt was directed inward, at himself. It was the polar opposite of most of her encounters. And what about the sadness on his face?

She laid her head on the desk. Just thinking about it was wearing her out, and she still had several hours left to her shift. "Stupid powers," she muttered. Why couldn't she have just been a normal unicorn? Life would be so much easier if her thoughts were the only ones going through her head.

"No!" She lifted her head and smacked the desktop. "I am not going to think like that! I can't change this, so I just have to make the best of it!" She sighed and slumped back to the desk, her sudden burst of motivation already waning. "Still, it would be nice to be able to just talk to somepony, to have to wait for a response, to have to trust that they're telling you the truth."

She rolled over and stared at the ceiling. She could kind of do that already, but it meant talking through a shield, like here or in her room. If only there was a way to carry a small shield around with her.

She blinked.

Maybe there was a way.

She sat up quickly. She then scrambled over to the computer, tapping the monitor to bring it out of sleep mode. Her holographic editing program greeted her with the file she had been working on during the day's lull.

"Ah, shoot!" She slapped herself in the face. She forgot about sending the thing she did for Astral. She made sure that the file was properly saved and logged in to the Interplanetary mail system. She would finish off Astral's request, then start on her research.

She sighed as she started exporting holofiles. The message icon on the bottom of the screen had just lit up. With the way today was going, it could only be bad news. She ignored it until she finished exporting her holoimages. When she finally tapped the little envelope icon, a simple message came up. It was plain text only, two sentences.

"From Dad, Radio,

It finally happened, we're free. See you soon.

Love,
Us. "


Out in the hospital's main bay, Growl rolled her eyes. Her human patient had a dislocated shoulder, and was insisting on waiting for the painkillers to take effect. Worse than that, a constant stream of complaints accompanied his groaning and whining. If he would just knuckle down for all of two seconds, his discomfort would be over, and she could return to her other duties.

A scream echoed through the medical bay, the high-pitched siren of a squealing filly, startling everyone, including Growl. The stoic head nurse was the first to recover though, and with her whiny patient distracted, she moved to take advantage of the distraction.

It wasn't long before a second scream ripped through the hospital.